The FITSPRO Podcast

Annie Miller keeps it real (as always) in episode 246 of The FitsPRO Podcast. She discusses starting and growing your biz from her perspective as well as the perspective of many coaches she has worked with. Tune in to learn more!Get full show notes at anniemiller.co/246-realistic-expectations-in-starting-and-growing-your-biz

Annie Miller covers 5 common mistakes in program design that apply to both templated and individualized coaching. Tune into episode 245 to get the breakdown on the 5 mistakes and what to do instead. For full show notes visit anniemiller.co/blog

Annie Miller breaks down three ways to get leads (or create warmer leads) and turn them into customers. Tune it to learn then apply these to your own business. For full show notes visit anniemiller.co/blog

Annie Miller discusses four different points to consider when choosing your accessory work. Whether you program for others or yourself, you'll want to tune in. Get the full show notes at https://anniemiller.co/blog/

Annie Miller shares a free resource to get clear on your ideal client and breaks down exactly what your first offer in the online space needs to do. Tune in now!Get the full show notes at https://anniemiller.co/blog/

Annie Miller discusses goal oriented programming, having both client and coach goals, and client efficacy. She gives multiple examples of how to align workouts to seasons and specific objectives. Tune in to learn more. Get full show notes at https://anniemiller.co/blog/

Tune into Episode 240 as Annie Miller shares more behind the birth of her second child, the prep involved both physically and mentally, and how early postpartum is going so far.

Today I bring you five specific things to focus on if you're wanting to build an online business in the world of health and fitness (and bring in a profit!) I created a workshop in 2020 - 3 steps to build a PROFITABLE online heath and fitness business.  And named it this for more than one reason…  Businesses need to not only generate revenue but be PROFITABLE. Many people think “oh I am just going to start an online business” because perhaps it looks “easier” than other options in life…I can assure you the benefits and possible autonomy are there, but make no mistake it is NOT easier. And to be very frank, most people won't be successful. Because most people are not meant to be entrepreneurs. The online world has simply created an allure - the allure that if you're a coach or practitioner in person, you can do it online with ease and make boat loads of money. LOL False. Now, with that…I am team, if you think it can happen, and you have what you need to MAKE IT HAPPEN, you can. PERIOD. So, if that's you. If you're driven by the possible freedom and okay with the reality that will be anything but easy, you're my people. If the idea of being the creator and the solver of your own problems is more appealing than passing issues to someone else to handle, or worse, solving someone else's issues, then lets do this. If it physically pains you to do things someone else's way when you have a different idea, this might be for you. If being everything - the social media manager, the email marketer, the web designer, the coach, the accountant and the customer service manager is okay with you, then this might be the right path. I don't say these things to scare you away or paint a big black x over your rainbow and butterfly painting. I keep it frank because it's reality. And I want you to be prepared. Prepare to go from passion to profit in the online space. So, let's. I called this episode the New Coaches Guide but let me be clear… Not NEW Coach NEW to the online space. NEW new coaches should work in person however it makes sense in your area of focus. But ALSOOOOOOO you're winning if you can do both - build and establish that online presence for FREE while working in person as you strategically and organically make that transition online. 1 - CLARITY on what makes you different - your area of focus - your niche. Call it what you want. I don't care. Find this through ACTION What made you different in person? What comes easy to you? What is your philosophy? Listen to episode 237 on how to set yourself apart as a do it all coach ICA avatar creator download Know your niche content guide. 2 - CONTENT frequency Messaging becomes more clear You have a passion - how well do you communicate that online? Put in those reps Builds dependability, knowability and credibility Keeps you front of mind - thiiiiiiisssss is profitable  3 - YOUR OFFER What do you sell? Who do you help? How? What's your process?  GET NITTY GRITTY HERE Client experience  Collecting social proof and sharing it 4 - SALES You HAVE to sell your offer. Often in the beginning, without hesitation or doubt. Not that others can see and feel anyway. You have the least confidence in this phase. But you NEED PROFIT. Weekly - mentions, and direct sales Build awareness and welcomeness! NOT asking people to apply or work with you WILL NOT create profit. 5 - CONSISTENCY Be in this for the long haul and the daily grind Remember that frankness we started this episode with? We're closing it out with the same vibe. You gotta be here for the process. My most successful fitsPROs are: Curious about themselves Curious about their process Curious about their audience  Here for the learning and refinement.  Here for the reps. They enjoy this. Not EVERY part. But genuinely, the journey. And THAT + their clarity is WHY they're profitable.

No matter the weight training program you follow when starting out, you will likely experience a honeymoon phase.  You'll feel like you are adapting quick, making gains and getting stronger. This is what we call the newbie phase. And I hope you enjoy it. Because its a precious time in training. That phase ends at some point however. The weights stop increasing with ease. The same shit feels just as hard as it did last month, or three months ago and you're like, what is happening? Have I plateaued? Am I overtrained? Do I need to do more? That's what we're unpacking in today's episode - all you need to know about newbie gains and lifting.  Many adaptations are taking place when you ask a muscle to contract repeatedly as a given load, with a given speed and then recover. To be clear, the adaptations to training happen in the recovery from said training. That's where the anabolic affects take place. Two of those adaptations driven by different styles of training can be… Neurological AND metabolic adaptions You need BOTH and can HELLA benefit from both when starting out. That's heavy load, low rep lifting, and high rep low load lifting. Both should be challenging, but in a different way. And both can help build a strong foundation of movement patterns, capacity and strength. So when you start training and you're PRing every week, upping weight on every exercise, are you getting stronger? Are you gaining muscle? What's actually happening? That leads us to: Skill vs actual muscle growth You are not likely putting on significant muscle growth, or rather your “gains” and improved force output week to week in the first month or two of training are NOT from increases in muscle mass. They are from building skills - neurological adaptations. Your muscles and mind muscle connection are becoming more proficient from practicing these movements for several reps every week.  These neurological adaptations don't STOP as you start acquiring more muscle mass. They simply account for most of your “newbie gains” in the first few months of consistent training. And that neurological piece will be there, responsible for weight increases regardless of your program, or rep scheme. But then we do have those differences that I mentioned earlier - in the long term, neurologically demanding training stimuli is going to be more pronounced in lower rep, higher load training like traditional strength training. Strength is very much a skill. While higher reps and lower loads (but still challenging) will likely drive more metabolic adaptations - more mitochondria inside the cell, a high demand for ATP regen and production, etc. What happens when the PR's slow, and weight stops going up? You haven't plateaued per say. You simply need to begin and will likely benefit from more variance in training factors and intention in program design. That doesn't mean you need to confuse your muscles. It simply means that upping JUST WEIGHT or JUST ADDING REPS isn't enough week to week or month to month anymore. We can manipulate tempo, rest periods, yes - load and volume, exercise variations and more when it comes to training factors that can lead to more muscle growth or strength gains for you as a trainee. Question worth asking: What are you expecting from your training? More muscle mass? More force output (strength?) Higher capacity/fitness? Your program needs to be pushing for and providing the right stimulus. And you as the trainee need that clarity so you can find the right program for your needs. If you think you don't have training expectations, you likely do. And your reaction to results from said training will reveal your expectations. ;) If you're coming off newbie gains (in your first year or two of training you likely have not PLATEAUED. If you switch a training factor up or just stick to whatever program you're following, the gains will start to appear again in time.

This episode is for my people. The people who go against the “be a master of one” narrative. You can't have more than one offer. You can't have more than one ideal client or area of focus. While I understand that perspective and the truth in it (I mean I have an Ideal Client Avatar download and a Know Your Niche content guide), I also think it's misunderstood in the online health and fitness industry. YOU NEED CLARITY. Clarity breeds confidence. Confidence in your offer, how you help, who you help, how you got to where you are and why you take the approach that you do. If you can gain clarity in these areas, you'll be far more likely to TALK about them - in your content, in sales, in all the places it likely matters. And THAT, I assume, may even lead to more revenue for you. Which you need. Because you own a business. You don't have to CHOOSE nutrition OR mindset OR training. It you DO need clarity on HOW you do those things and how to differentiate yourself from competitors. Some of this will happen, naturally, if you are building a personal brand. Someone may literally choose to work with you, because of your music preferences, that you share, or other pieces of your life that are intertwined into your online presence.  But you do need to be clear on the business side of things and your actual methods. As a byproduct, you will likely become more confident in talking about your offers, and how you help people. It's a win-win.  So, if you feel like you do it all, just like everybody else, and you don't know what sets you apart, hopefully today's episode can lead you to a bit more clarity. Or at least how to find that clarity in your own time. DEFINE YOUR VALUES 3-5 core values. May overlap with personal values. Drive behaviors - ACTION. What do you believe - in general and in terms of you approach as a coach? Philosophy IS a massive piece of health and fitness. Take my long haul mentality for instance. That is not a value, but a belief, based in a value I am sure. Of what? Maybe tied into efficacy. One of our core values here at Annie Miller Concepts. Free write or google some values. But DEFINE them. Then after you list those values, ask WHY? Answer that question. Then paint a picture. What does that look like? How does that core value manifest itself in your approach to health and fitness, or in health and fitness in general? This needs to apply to your area of focus of course. But considering this episode is for “do it all” coaches, it may be a more broad belief/picture and that's fine! Your values, as I've said, permeate everything. So, let's get into that. DEFINE YOUR METHOD/APPROACH You have one. Whether you've written it down in a system, and on your sales page or not. Today, you have no excuse. You now know you need to.  WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH? Is there a series of steps you take every client through? Many of you work with clients 1:1. That's great and each of their protocols can be individualized, but HOW DO YOU GET TO THAT PROTOCOL? That's my question. If you've never considered your method, CONSIDER IT NOW. FIND IT, carve it out. It exists. You may not have a coined method. But can you define pieces of your coaching approach more clearly? Can you give them phases? Or names? What does your coaching include? What are all the pieces and why do they matter? What do they do? Ask all these nitty gritty questions to find the answer of what sets you apart. You should have a pretty good idea if you answer these honestly. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED:

If you want growth on Instagram, you need to focus on engagement. Shareability, and engagement, which means your content needs to be engaging. Today's two tips, or how to make all content more engaging for your audience, from stories, to reels, to static posts and more. These are simple, and they are going to require consistency and time in order for them to work. But you will be able to implement them immediately. And that's the goal. There's action that you can take even while you are listening to this episode. Which is, how you're going to get more engagement. #1 way to make content more engaging... MAKE IT EASY  You are the leader of your audience and I need you to view yourself as such. Recently, I posted a question box that got no engagement. I got one question from someone asking me where I buy my jewelry. Which is a fine question if it's amongst other valuable questions in relation to fitness, business, or education. That can be rather discouraging or annoying. When it's the only question you get, and you're offering your time for free in order to help people. That's probably one of the top frustrations that I hear from people trying to build a personal brand on Instagram. Question boxes can make your life so easy because content begets content.  People are literally providing pieces of content for you to create. And it feels good when your audience responds and interacts with you. That's the connective piece of social media.  So instead of moping around about the fact that I got no engagement after thousands of people saw my question box, I just got in my stories, and called out my audience and said something along the lines of you guys really have no questions this Sunday morning? I will gladly get in my fourth lift of the week and stay off this app, but I really do enjoy answering your questions. So if you have any, go back and put them in the box. I basically made fun of the situation and brought light to it. Within five minutes I had like at least 15 to 20 questions. I'll say it again, you are the leader of your audience. That doesn't mean you're a dictator. It means that people have chosen to follow you and you do have leverage and helping them help you. So first things first, you need to view yourself as and take on the role of being a leader for your audience. There is agency in that and truth in that. Then you're going to make it easy for them. Always always always filter everything through how easy it is for your audience to engage with you. It's not putting up a question box in your stories, or simply having a call to action in your caption. Can you put the call to action in the actual reel? Can it be the first thing that you say in the caption? Can you give them options to choose from? Can you have them vote on some thing? If you did a number to post, 10 things you've learned from 10 years of fitness, ask what number resonates with them the most. Make it easy. Have them DM you a word if they want more information on some thing, put up a poll with only two options. You get the idea. How can you make an engaging with your content easier for people who already follow you? If you bought your contact or created on the fly, think about that this week or this month. MAKE IT HUMAN One of the weakest points I see in people trying to build personal brands in the health and fitness industry online is that they minimize the personal piece. They don't embrace storytelling, or even identifying with their stories are. They're brand story, we're looking at daily life as a story. I encourage you to embrace that if you feel that this might be somewhere that you're lacking. Tell at least 1 story per week. In your stories OR in a post. PRACTICE. doesn't need to be serious but can be Can be funny and connective! Kid drop off line chronicle, what you're shopping for, any experience you've had! Identify your brand story if you haven't 

Proficiency is truly the name of the game when it comes to movement patterns, strength and muscle building. When people talk about muscle memory or mind muscle connection, what are they really referring to? WHAT In short, I'd say, the proficiency, strength, and consistency of your neural pathways from brain to muscle when contracting. WHY This is where touching, visualizing or thinking about a given muscle contracting can actually cause a stronger contraction, and more fibers to be recruited (find study). That is the mind muscle connection. And it will likely behoove you to work on it it gaining muscle, strength or better movement patterns are goes of yours. HOW First off SLOW DOWN - focus on tempo Isolated movements VS compound movements isolated - touch, or think about. Close your eyes OR look at the muscle (where mirrors aren't actually a terrible idea) Compound - rather than just going through the movement, focus ONE section or muscle. Either that is prime mover, or that you want to work on. Squat - focus on quads let's say Picture them lengthening across the knee as you lower down. Think of them controlling the descent for you. Then… Think of them pressing the floor away as you stand up from the bottom of the squat. Picture them shortening as they straighten your leg, bringing the knee from flexion to extension. In a pull up - focus on the lats Picture the lat contracting, pulling your upper arm toward the low back and hips.  You get the idea. You may or may not find that you experience a burning sensation QUICKER than you normally would when going through the motions in a bit more disconnected manner. That's normal. And should be celebrated! You're also not doing it wrong if that DOES NOT happen. Can be applied to warm ups and movement prep or mobility as well Overall really important even as trainees to be curious about the muscles you're using and the direction of the fibers you're attempting to work. Fiber direction and attachments This might be a stretch, no pun intended, but, like I mentioned with the squat and your quads, it can be helpful to think about when the muscle is stretching, and in what direction. This is where, focusing on range of motion, and shortened, or length and positions can be helpful. Obviously, if you are a trainer, you can educate your clients on this. If you are a trainee, don't sweat it. But feel free to be curious, and slowly learn about the muscles, roughly where they attach in the body and the directions in which they contract. Let's look at the glutes because who doesn't love working their glutes in 2024. Next time you work, your glutes, focus on the lengthening phase as well as the shortest position. In the hip thrust, that length and position is going to be at the bottom. And then want you to contract your glutes from that bottom position in order to bring your hips into extension. Literally think about your glutes being the muscle that controls that movement. We can then look at some thing like a curtsy, reverse lunge, where the glutes are, both lengthened, sagittally, and you could argue transversely or along the frontal plane at the hip. Basically you're stretching Gluth max in the center of your butt cheek if you will, as well as Gluth, Max fibers and Gluth need with the working leg crossing your midline. So your outer upper butt. This would be especially true. If you're doing a curtsy reverse lunge with your front foot elevated. So from a deficit. That's what you were looking for in that movement. Is creating a big and deep stretch at the bottom of that curtsy reverse lunge. That's where the tension is going to be highest on the working Glute. In that lengthened position. Again, this is not something to stress about. And if you're not able to accurately picture, a muscle and its lengthen or shortened position, it's not like you can't build muscle. You'll be just fine.

2023 was not my norm...It was my first year as a mom-preneur. And though I don't love that title. It's a thing. It's very real. And it took some trial and error. So, let's dive in. No revenue goal but a need to maintain Biz + baby trial year (unexpectedly grow another one

Flexibility is the capacity for mobility. And mobility CAN certainly make for superior strength and hypertrophy.  I mentioned in another podcast recently that more and more I view mobility as youth. Range of motion can be looked at in passive and active lenses. Passive = flexibility. Think sitting in the splits or doing a pec stretch in the doorway. These are passive and/or assisted. Active range of motion = mobility. How well can your muscles move your joint through its range? Think about sliding into a straddle and using your legs to pull yourself back up. Or for the pec example, doing shoulder CARs. What is your shoulder mobility if you simply and SLOWLY take your shoulder through internal and external rotation as you flex and extend your shoulder in as large of a circle as you can? If you don't have the passive range, you won't have the active range. But you can absolutely HAVE the passive range and still not have the active range. So what is the role of mobility and flexibility in performance (let's say strength and movement patterns in this case) and building muscle? That's what todays episode is all about. And it matters. It's why mobility is integrated into Built by Annie programming. Mobility and Flexibility benefits for Hypertrophy More muscle fiber recruitment (more range often = more STRETCH leading into a contraction) More functionality Potentially less pain More range = more time under tension *potentially* Mobility and Flexibility benefits for Strength More range = more potential to build strength at different angles (improving OVERALL strength of a movement pattern or muscle group)  More mobility potential to be GAINED     Loading an end range and pushing that end range can be HIGHLY effective for gaining even more mobility (light loads likely) More range, like hypertrophy = more fiber recruitment if loaded properly which IS potential for strength gains  More comfortability within a movement pattern Less energy leaks within said movement pattern  Hyper mobility is a thing. And it's VERY important that we gain STABILITY in addition to flexibility and mobility. But generally, for most people, there are few downsides to gaining mobility and strength. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

Coaching philosophy is so much more than the methods you adopt and whether or not you think cardio should go before or after a lift, whether you think macros are necessary or not. A massive part of your coaching philosophy is shaped by core values. Rather than saying “crafting,” it's more like identifying or carving out. It likely already exists but you have yet to claim it, identify it. Why brand values matter they're the foundation and backbone of your brand - from content to hiring to how you work with clients, and even the structure you choose for your offer. They'll align with or misalign with your audience and potential customers They *can* and ideally do keep you grounded as a coach and entrepreneur What are core values Personal core values vs brand core values Business: Personal: I'd say are beliefs that drive BEHAVIOR. THEY'RE DIFFERENT but absolutely have carryover if a personal brand THEN we have, and those values will permeate and sometimes dictate the actual methods you use. YOUR METHOD Schools of thought you pull from / align with Personal experience within the field (performance and professional) Who do you look to? Researchers? Brad Sheonfeld is my go to, Charles Poliquin was massive in influencing my program design approach. Joel Jamieson in conditioning. Why? They're simple, easy to apply and WORK. That aligns with my no bullshit, long haul mentality and value. They also EDUCATE. Aligning with my value of efficacy and knowledge. So, how have your values shown up in your philosophy? In your methods? Look for it. Write it down. A beautiful thing happens when your brand and coaching philosophy are rooted in values. It only leads to clearer communication in your content, emails, across all platforms. Which brings aligned clients and more ease and joy in your business. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

I've done my fair share of yearly, half yearly and quarterly reflections. Big fan. Today I am sharing some of my all time favorite reflection questions.  These are questions that I believe best set you up for a more successful and aligned year ahead of you. That's the goal. I am NOT a fan of planning next year in the absence of reflecting on the current one - whether you had goals and plans this year or not. Reflection questions: We start off positive, and then get into some more challenging questions - where I want you to question and push yourself. Answer these for career or business and personal. What went well this year? Where did I grow the most? Where did I surprise myself? Where do I feel stagnant or apathetic?  How did I get uncomfortable? Did I get uncomfortable? Or did I stay in comfort? What did I let go of, if anything? AND what should I have let go of - Totally or sooner? Monthly bullet point + emotional reflection Got this from Hillary Rushford's year in review. I don't know what she currently offers, but I love this exercise and it's the most important thing for me to do annually. Go month by month - look at your planner (this is what I do), and jot down key events. I do this for life and work. For instance if I was on maternity leave, or we had guests every weekend, or we were moving, or had 7 contractors at the house that month, I'd note that.  These add context to the emotion or theme you're going to choose for that month. You can note revenue as well. See trends, highs and lows. When you got influxes of clients. Did you join a course or go to an event? Jot these things down. Once all your bullet points are in for the month recap, then choose ONE WORD - an emotion or theme that encompasses that month. This is a challenge, and where things get…real. You will likely see a trend or overall vibe of your year - maybe seasons. And that, in my opinion, leads to clarity on what might need to change for the year ahead. AND THAT, leads to our last question to ask. How do you want to feel next year?  Then plan some decisions that  You have control over Will bring you that/those feelings regardless of circumstance. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

It's no secret I am team lift for life. That is largely where my phrase “long haul mentality” came from. Because I am a sucker for the grind - the day to day that no one wants to do, but everyone needs. The process by which they get the REAL results that they want. It applies to weight lifting, career, building a business, any pursuit of something more than the mundane. Today we dive into physical, mental and spiritual reasons for women to lift weights. Most of these apply to men as well, but 85% of you are ladies, and that's who my clientele have always been, so, that's who we speak to today. Weight lifting is in the simplest sense, applying science to a set of skills that you build over time. This CAN and more often than not, does, manipulate the body in the form of adaptions. Those adaptations are WHY women need to lift weights. Being stronger, more mobile, having higher self efficacy and esteem are rarely bad things. First up and possibly the most focused on FEMALES: 1 Increase bone density Osteoporosis is far more prominent in women than in men. We naturally hold less muscle mass, and provide less tension to all of our connective tissues. Bone is not highly vascular which means it takes LONGER for the bone to adapt to stimulus. Muscle adapts quickest, tendons and ligaments next, due to their lack of vascularity. And lastly, bones. Locomotion happens via our muscles pulling on bones via tendons. That's literally how our bodies move. Providing tension to these tissues is how we cause NEW tissue to grow, and become stronger. That's what we want. In this case for bones. It can take six months to a year for significant bone growth to take place from weight lifting. Again, applying LOAD and tension to the skeleton is what causes this demand for new growth.  Load and tension can come in many forms - ie jogging. But weight lifting is the most superior way for this to happen. Improve and USE mobility  There is some kind of saying about your mobility and age or lifespan. Like you're only as old as your spine is mobile or something like that. This is true in my opinion for all mobility. I trained people in person for five years before going fully online. And for me, the sixties was where I saw the largest gap in ability. I trained three to four 62-67 year old women. One was a national swimmer and had amazing fitness, though she did lack strength, which is what we were working on. One could not get off the floor from a split squat and had a terrible base of fitness. I've had family members in their sixties hiking mountains and playing with grandkids and those who need assistance for daily movements. There is obviously context there, and many variables at play. But witnessing these differences is what brought the importance of mobility and strength to my mind as a trainer. Mobility, and many other pieces of fitness fall under “you don't use it, you lose it” 2 Increase muscle mass This might be an obvious one. But important nonetheless. I like to think of this in relationship to other tissues which the human body can be comprised of - mainly fat. If you're not building muscle, or largely comprised of muscle…and muscle is how we cause our bodies to MOVE, what are you made of? Truth is, a fair amount of that will be fatty tissues. Overall health benefits from hosting and maintaining muscle mass in comparison to fat mass.  Muscle is harder to build for women than men. This is due to our natural make up as well as hormone profile. Not a bad thing, we can certainly build muscle, but we definitely have to be intentional about doing so. And muscle mass becomes harder to hang on to as we age. So the importance of building and maintaining becomes more and more pertinent. Dr Gabriel Lyon has so much research and information on this. I never thought of muscle as so metabolically advantageous until hearing her speak on several podcasts. Look her up.

There can certainly be a lot of carryover between how to grow your brand audience on IG and how to increase your income. Often just being front of mind for people is the lowest barrier to increasing applications or enrollments. We'll separate the two for clarity but know that there is mainly positive carryover from audience growth tactics *possibly* to income. Brand GROWTH (audience) None of these are new - I simply want to do a refresh for you in order to bring your focus back to 1-2 of these if you've slipped up in your IG approach lately - it happens. And we then we bring it back. You know I love stories, but they aren't for GROWING. They're for selling and connecting with your warm IG audience so we'll talk about those during income growth. Client centric + personal story telling OWN YOUR STORY (past or present process) Bring it back to the consumer and THEIR experience Content that helps them NOW, where they are (they'll share that!) Frequency - high volume posting More posts = more reps for you, better messaging, better creatives, more engagement, more potential for exposure and viral status posts, and less overall pressure 7-21 times per week. 7 minimum if GROWTH is the goal. ***posted 2 times per day when I came back from my 8 week break this year and had 2 posts/reels go viral from that. Those posts alone Brough in 3,000 new people. The double posting was worth it due to those two posts landing. Mother categories Covered in FitsPRO and IG 101.  Still live by this Provides bumpers - which build trust and area of focus (expertise) Go deeper with less.  [repeatability + sharabelity]) Growth = SHAREABILITY and relatability Something people get fired up about (positive or justice vibes), a common experience or struggle - can be funny (taking off a sweaty sports bra) or serious (over sexualization of women in fitness) Both are RELATED to my area of focus but not DIRECT. So it would bring in IDEAL CLIENTS. That's KEY. Trends don't always bring quality followers. But low key saying fuck the checkboxes and trending reels…YES even for growth.  I find half the time that whatever the trend is, it dies or doesn't work. I can count on one hand the amount of times that a trend worked in my favor - meaning I gained IDEAL CLIENTS into my audience. By all means, if a trend feels right and you can capitalize on it within brand alignment, GET IT. But please don't let the pressure of hopping on trends keep you from creating actual content that your audience and ICA would find helpful, relatable, or sharable. A twitter graphic with a bold statement goes a long way. Income / application GROWTH (clients) I was talking to a past 1:1 biz client turned colleague a while back. We were discussing lofty financial goals and what refinement it takes from a business standpoint - very “slow down to speed up” vibes. She made the comment “I doubled my income in ___ (year) by just yelling about my offers more on instagram and email” and I died. Because #TRUTH. I can't tell you how many times I've had a biz client, follower or fitspro embrace talking about their offer more consistently and BAM - they see applications and enrollments.  Not ONCE, not vague information. But REALLY commit to talking about “all things your offer.” - clients, who it's for, problem solving, the process, options people have, etc. IG stories or - client case study posts How I grew my biz (bless IG stories) The how, process, your personal coaching approach! Prospects see themselves in their shoes Depends on your offer model but  1x per week hard call to action to apply Client case studies Story telling (the why, your own experience right now or in the past) FOLLOW UP - Lord Almighty people have forgotten about the best way to make to money in the online space - follow up with people who have inquired!!!! People get busy,

Today's episode can be applied to any platform where you provide content to an audience. That means podcasting, email, YouTube, instagram or elsewhere. I've been talking a lot lately about building trust with your audience because trust is the #1 thing we need as businesses in order for people to PAY YOU. And most online health and fitness coaches I talk to want to get paid. If you happen to be building a personal brand, then I believe you have an extra opportunity to expedite that trust. People relate to, and connect with PEOPLE. You're the face of your brand and likely who the audience is interacting with. Do not limit yourself with how you could go about sharing any of this. I can see these sent in a newsletter, on an IG story, in a graphic breakdown with context, etc. 1 Walking the walk  Show them your process  Relatability Imperfection You are human and struggle to + this is how you make decisions easily. Ie: how you select foods, how you use a certain piece of programming within your training, mental struggles and processes You don't need to be more fit or strong than your clients. However, it might make sense if you are also active and share your own journey. I always say you don't HAVE to train the way you train your clients (or eat the way) but there is certainly power, and I believe, respect in seeing a coach apply to themselves what they as of us as clients. 2 Client case studies OR self study, OR use other other people as examples if you don't have clients yet Allows people too see the HOW Take them behind the scenes  Ie: helping a client PR, decrease body fat, increase muscle mass, experience food freedom, ear more, get out of pain etc. Where were they? What did or do you plan to implement? 3 Providing SOLUTION based content I think people get lost or held up when we say “solve a problem.” Sometimes, thinking in the frame of solutions, or tips can be easier to apply. Bite size, digestible content  APPLICABLE IMMEDIATELY Keeps them coming back for more (aka THEY TRUST YOU) Shows you know what they are currently experiencing, thinking, feeling etc Sometimes before they were even aware of it. You have to know your ideal client and your niche for this. Which are not the same thing. You'll find clarity ON your ICA and your NICHE through creating content and interacting or receiving feedback from said audience. IMO This is the foundation of the other two pieces we talked about. Do this at a high frequency to build trust. I know these can seem simple. And that's because they are. Building trust is not a complex task. It's simple, and takes intention, consistency and time. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

I asked my IG audience and my email list to send me topics they'd like me to either rate as over, or underrated, mainly in the field of fitness. And let me tell you, this was a FUN ONE. This episode was unplanned. I literally answered these spitfire, off the cuff. First thoughts that came to mind is what you get here. So, tune in for details on the following topics. Here are my ratings: Squats: Overrated by those who want to grow their glutes, underrated in terms of functionality and bang for your buck hypertrophy. Lululemon: Underrated. I know. I know. Trust me. Pre workout: Overrated Converse: Undecided. Back in the day, overrated. Much better training shoe options now Lateral raises: Underrated - sooooo many uses and variations if boulder shoulders are a goal of yours. Spotify premium for workout playlists: LOL I don't listen to music. What is underrated for shoulder mobility? This one was fun...Not giving it to you here. Tune in. Personal training certification: Needed, overrated but they shouldn't be. They just wildly underdeliver. It's complicated. Social media content creation: UNDERRATED. I said what I said. Deload weeks: Underrated Morning routines: Over romanticized but actually underrated in the simplest use of them. Exercise Bands: Overrated by people who think they are going to built a booty by only using bands. And underrated by people who think they are dumb. Scheduled non-working hours: Mmmm neither. Tune in for my personal experience with this. Intermittent Fasting: Overrated. Big time. Creatine: Underrated. Even with it's popularity. More people could benefit from it than do. The (athletics) background of your coach or trainer: VERY interesting... The equipment you are using: Overrated in the sense people put too much weight on this (no pun intended). These answers require context. But I wanted to give you my short answers here. Again, listen in to hear more about where I draw these conclusions from. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

You know the kind of testimony you read - either as a consumer or as the recipient - that just makes you go YES! That's exactly what I wanted to hear! (the power of social proof!) This can be the norm for your business if you help your clients out. YES, the way in which you ask for testimonies absolutely shapes the type of testimony you receive. We want testimonies that do a few things: Meet the prospect where they are via the completed client taking them back to the beginning. Demonstrate CLEARLY the aha, takeaway, win, result etc. I am careful using the word “promise” here due to us not LEGALLY being able to promise an outcome. Generally is CONCISE. Authentic WE have to ask the RIGHT questions to get all of this. I am the queen of recieving long-winded testimonies - which are great for ME, but not for someone reading my sales page and wanting to get the bullet point takeaways from my services.  With that…  I find it interesting that a lot of coaches I work with and speak to find it awkward or strange to ask for feedback and testimonies from their clients. OR only use screenshots as testimonies and never get a formal testimony! WHAAAATTT ARE YOU DOING?! There is so much more praise left on the table. And possibly great marketing material. Today we're going to go over different types of testimonies that you might receive in the online health and fitness space, how to use them; but more importantly, how to help clients give you the highest quality testimony that you are looking for from a marketing standpoint.  The power of social proof Low pressure marketing Confidence for YOU & PROSPECT When you have testimonies from clients, backing up your coaching approach, that gives you confidence in marketing your services.  It can also provide confidence in prospects to invest their money with you. … Your motive vs a client's motive is not the same. The prospect knows that. Unless a current or past client is in an affiliate program of some kind, and they're getting a kickback, most social proof is not from someone who is trying to sell you something.  It's from someone sharing their genuine experience, and likely some kind of transformation that they had in working with you.  There are no strings attached for this person.  And that's why social proof is so vital for a brand.  Because it can do a fair amount of the selling for you.  Or at least affirm the rest of your marketing.  … Other people have trusted your process and had success with it. And now potential prospects know that. Not because YOU told them, but because your clients did. GAIN CREDIBILITY through “social PROOF” - YOU HAVE BACKING NOW. You've gained credibility because people say that what you do works. And they're using their own words to do that. This is a massive reason people and brands will BETA test before launching something. Not only to improve the service or offer but to GET FEEDBACK that backs their marketing from consumers. Let's look at different types of social proof that you might receive as an online health and fitness professional.  THREE TYPES OF SOCIAL PROOF: Screenshots, Written testimonies, photos/video Especially in the digital era, this can come in the medium of screenshots from a training app and successes that the client has had, or from a communication app like Voxer or slack. Get legal approval - form, asking, make it anonymous, put it in your terms when they join. It can be built into your terms that they agree to when signing a contract, or joining your program. And there are also more specific client testimony release contracts, and forms that can be implemented into your business.  Back to the screenshots. Just because something is a screenshot does not mean that it's a “low quality” testimony.  SUPER POWER OF SCREENSHOTS = ORGANIC in real time of the process If you can get an organic screenshot of someone sharing their succ...

To be clear, I am not a Physical Therapist. I am simply a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, I have a degree in Exercises Science. This is for educational purposes only. You need to consult with a physician, chiropractor, physical therapist, or some other medical professional to make decisions and your training on pain. Today's episode will hopefully bring to light some things you can focus on within your training that may help prevent injury specific to what we can control through weightlifting. These are in my opinion just generally good practices if you are someone who lift weights and wants injury prevention. Or if you are a coach in the strength, and hypertrophy world. Movement prep Specific to prepping the joints and muscles used that day. I.e. Bulgarian split squat rock backs before a squatting day, or shoulder cars, or prone wire raises before shoulder press day. If for a one on one client, these movements would be individualized based on assessment and strengthening, weak points. In a templated program, this could absolutely address general issues, we can says, or in balances, that we know people have. I.e. doing tibialis, taps or ankle dorsiflexion work before squat day, or scapular, pull ups or push-ups before benchpress. Generally people like ankle dorsiflexion, and also like control of their scapula. By focusing on movement, prep and implementing this before, you're lifting, you might be mitigating possible, weak points in the gaps that you have within muscular and balances as well as movement patterns. RPE simply working at an appropriate rate of perceived exertion. Being sure that whatever load you are working at is not exceeding your capacity for a given movement. Meaning that you can complete all of the reps with proper form and little to no pausing. Conservative Weight Always start conservative and build Don't be afraid to drop weight if load, it does happen to exceed capacity Particularly helpful and coming back from injury or a rehab phase. But a general good rule of thumb. Tempo I learned the phrase slower down, then up from active life during their immersion course. This goes in almost all of my programming unless there is a specific tempo. The intentional with tempo. Don't just go through the movements. Can be fast, or slow. But generally we want to control eccentric. Rest actually take it I thought here is avoiding working at challenging loads under fatigue. Particularly true with high central nervous system demand. So larger, compound movements, or explosive movements. Managing Volume Not within one work out, but phase to phase or week to week. No big jumps, mainly via increasing volume. Sleep/Recovery Prioritize this Where you actually experience the anabolic effective working out Most systems in the body are working to bring you back to homeostasis. If you feel like shit, start your work out as is and see how you feel. If muscles are cramping, or your fatigue, in quicker than usual, back off. I think it goes without saying that using proper form is probably a good idea. It is not that proper form, automatically mitigate any chance of injury, or even the bad form inherently causes injury. As I mentioned in any position, if tension that we have not experienced exceeds our capacity within that position, we will likely experience injury of some kind . Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources

Most professionals that I work with in the online space for the face of their brand. They are a personal brand. Meaning that they have to cultivate a brand based around themselves, their ideal, client, and the problems that they solve or their area of focus.  Your brand started before it was a brand. Especially in that it is a personal brand, parts of your life are going to be integrated into it.  I touched on this with your brand story and Becoming an Authority in Your Niche in Episode 222. There is a reason that you work for yourself, and the reason that you have the philosophies that you do. Today's episode is about identifying the journey that got you to where you are, being able to articulate that, and then continuing to establish your brand. Let's be clear in that all of this is applies to all personal brand copy and content in free form - email, social, search based platforms. Compelling - aka CONNECTIVE  without the human piece, you have a weak personal brand Messaging people want to consume, is helpful and keeps them coming back. Your story is STICKY. What does your brand focus on from a problem perspective? what do you give people? What tips do you provide? What do you make easier or more doable for your consumers? What does your brand stand for? Aka what do you also stand for in the confines of your industry and area of focus? what's a go and what's a no? Identify both. We do this heavily inside the social media module of FitsPRO foundations your code of conduct CLARITY is compelling Think of brands you follow or buy from Documentaries you watch There's a clear story line. Clear messaging. And it lands with you. Your personal brand will grow and evolve over time. More than a non-personal brand. Be okay with that. you'll add experiences and clarity. The HUMAN piece is where the change will likely happen You'll rack up new stories and build upon old ones TELL YOUR STORY. See what happens. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

Cats out the bag! If you missed it, go watch my NOVEL of a video on Youtube announcing bebe 2. I walk you through the how, timeline, reaction, feels, navigating postpartum while being prenatal again, compare pregnancy one with round two and so much more! I don't believe I ever made a definitive podcast episode in my first pregnancy about how I planned maternity leave. So, I wanted to be sure and do that this time because it's very much so the same. Being self employed means no paid leave. And being a personal brand means that if you want to take time off from being LIVE as the face of your biz, then A LOT. And I mean A LOT of prep work has to happen before that season. Postpartum with bebe 1 I took 10-ish weeks 80% off of work. No calls, no creation unless I wanted to. But podcasts, emails and content was still being published because I prepped it all ahead of time. I think I had 6-8 weeks of IG fully made, and some rough notes/outline for the rest of maternity leave. Launches took place during that time as well. So I can straight up tell you from my 2023 year map that I launched both Pure PROgramming and Built By Annie in February and March, which was still during my maternity leave. That's kind of my point - it looked like business was running as usual because it was. It was simply all put into place MONTHS in advance. Emails were scheduled by my assistant, she kept Built By Annie going, I'd terminated all 1:1 fitness, and took 12 weeks off of calls with 1:1 business clients, pre-recorded all podcasts through March 2023, and my assistant formatted and scheduled those. All I had to do was look at my schedule for content and be sure that got published on the gram. Stories were my day to day, as usual, aside from launches. In which case I referenced my launch map for what to post on which days leading up to, and during launches. This is no different than a usual launch. Most content is created, and we leave some room for improv.  I will say that I used plain text on white space FAR more during maternity leave than face to camera video. Worked just as well as face to camera. Sometimes I actually think it's easier to consume that way. All of this is pretty much my same plan for bebe 2! But I want to take you behind the scenes of HOW I prep for all of this content to live while I settle in to being a mum of two, almost under one! The maternity timeline planning started in August. Bebe is due Dec 27 2023. Maternity leave will be after my scheduled C-Section through the end of March 2024. A BIG NOTE TO REMEMBER is that I work ahead in business. So really, in March, I will have to begin drafting and recording podcasts, writing Youtube scripts, creating IG content etc. Which is all in my year plan google sheet.  Working backwards is the name of the game. For example: On Dec 1-7 Paige and I are recording 16 youtube videos that will take me through maternity leave (if you missed my youtube BTS podcast, this also provides two reels per week for me for IG content - huge win). That means I need to draft 16 in depth, linked and formatted scripts. I can do four per week in November, or spread those out in October and Nov (this is more realistic). I make notes for, record and edit one podcast per week. And I'll need to have Jan - March or April ALL DONE in December. Last maternity leave I was literally recording and editing podcasts the week before I gave birth. I don't love this for me but it might be the same scenario this time. The current plan on my month to month map is to have October and November episodes done in September, and December and January episodes done in October.  Then November and December can be for Instagram content batching and finishing those February - March or April Podcasts. I will re-evaluate as that timeline gets closer. … Do we see why it was wise to discontinue 1:1 biz? It's high ticket, sure, but 13 hours of calls per month just is not conduciv...

When people say you don't need a niche, I ask how that's going? I'll wait. Anytime we talk niches, I feel like the question comes up: Is online health and fitness coaching “saturated?” Does that matter? Just an excuse to say you won't stand out Don't buy into that conversation I always push back with - even if the industry IS saturated...does that mean no more coaches should enter? No other professionals needed, we're good. No. How silly is that? Instead of focusing on the saturation level of the industry, focus on YOU and what sets you apart. “Standing out” and “rising above the noise” is not as hard as you might be making it out to be in your head Here's how you can become the go to person (in your audiences mind) for your area of focus (some people call this your “expertise” but few humans are TRUE experts if we're being honest). If you don't have my Know Your Niche Content Guide, get it here! 1 | BE YOU (take time to figure out what that means) how you speak what makes your brand human? What's your vibe? core values being clear 2 | Know your philosophy and WHY ( + your brand story) Coaching approach (your actual methods and beliefs in health and fitness and how those effect/apply to your audience). Where did you come from? What's the backstory? “My story” was not what I thought it had to be. That WAS my super power. That IS what set me apart. 3 | Who you want to work with / what problems you want to solve  Two approaches to your ideal client (client based and problem based) Being sure to speak to ONE PERSON Taking time to define this and commit to working on your messaging, rep by rep, post by post, email by email. THEN you need to repeat that shit ALL THE TIME with CLARITY and authority. Don't beat around the bush. Simplify simplify simplify. If someone can't apply or understand what you're saying, then you're unable to build authority, credibility and therefore trust - which we NEED as a business that needs to make money. It (all of the above - YOU, your philosophy and your niche) should permeate your content: content you create to provide bite size help for your audience content you create to entertain (the fun side) content you share in client case studies (your philosophy and approach - gain credibility) Get clear on the three main points we covered today and see what your confidence does from a brand voice standpoint. I hope for you, that it increases. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

In strength training, you're training skills. You're entering into a practice with asymmetries, past injuries, weak points and more. Whether you were an athlete or have never played a sport in your life, very people have perfectly balanced muscular and joint function. To be clear, that is not the end goal of training. And you're not failing if your body is not yet in perfect balance. BUT - a massive use and benefit of strength training can be to improve weaknesses. And that, as a byproduct, also improves our strengths.  Aka why strength training is the GOAT in my opinion for longevity in a physically functional life. So how do you go about improving movement patterns and gaining strength in areas we have weakness? Just keep going? Add more weight? More reps? That's what we answer today. I share my process below - what to focus on if you're a trainee or a trainer. Find the leaks Both of these are most easily identified through simply videoing lifts. And typically they'll become more prominent as load increases. We lose efficiency and it shows through the movement, in one way or another. Energy leaks where you break position This happens when you see an area of the body "give" during a movement. Think knees caving in (valgus) coming out of the hole in the squat. Or elbows flaring out during bench press. There is a weak part of the mechanics within the movement. The point here is to identify the weak point - where is it happening? And what is actually happening during the energy leak? Sticking points where your velocity slows You'll be able to see this in video. Velocity slowing as volume increases is normal. That should happen through the WHOLE concentric phase. A sticking point typically manifests when the load increases and velocity slows through a specific portion of the concentric phase - think half way up from the squat, or at the start of a pull up for many people. This differs from an energy leak as form doesn't break. The movement simply SLOWS and then picks back up. Break the skill down into parts & train the parts Once you've identified the actual weakness, you'll need to TRAIN in that specific position and portion of the movement where either the energy leak or the sticking point happens. We can gain strength in 15 degrees in either direction of an isometric contraction at a given joint angle. Ie: You have a sticking point half way up in the pull up. So, you add in isometric holds at or just before that 90 degree position. And then reap the gains in 15 degrees above and below that point. In general you're going to ADD capacity before load. That comes through adding time under tension holding the proper position (energy leak) and then "powering out" of said position if working past a sticking point. Train the actual skill under less load, with more control The goal here being to NOT break position or to keep speed consistent depending on what form of weakness you're training. Train weak points often  Like any other area of the body, if you want to make gains, we need to CHALLENGE the movement and the tension placed on said movement from a muscular standpoint. I say these drills or adaptions (adding 1 and 1/4 squats, or isometric holds in pull ups) take the place of your normal prescription. You can then add in extra work (say clamshells or abduction work for knee valgus) in the warm up or as burn out after the lift. But train these OFTEN and be consistent. It will take WORK to build up weaknesses. ;) Side to side discrepancies  If you're addressing side to side strength imbalances (ie your right shoulder is stronger in single arm vertical pressing or your left leg fatigues slower in step ups), then follow these progressions: Start on weak side Match strong to weak side load and reps Add extra set to weak side (AMRAP) Retest strength or capacity on each limb (choose weight to perform right and left. Rest between sides.

My business has generally increased revenue on a trend for the past five to six years. This year (2023) that won't be the case. And today, I want to share WHY. Because this is not simply happening to me, I am CHOOSING it. For some context I'll dive into: No monetary goal this year  Monetary goal in 2-5 years - decisions this year help set that up. Big life change NEEDED SPACE Just wanted to see life with baby  Investing in new strategies  YouTube Big web project for maximizing profit and client experience My current focus is alignment of life and biz which led to dropping all 1:1 services (fitness, power hours and biz). Yes, these are my most expensive offers and I let them all go. It's a trade of less money (for a season) in order to have MORE TIME to generate more PASSIVE income down the road. We also discuss profit vs revenue and how that $80k loss last year from FB ads plays a roll in comparing this year to last. And what would an episode on making less money be if we didn't talk about comparison. I am HELLA focused on not getting caught up on revenue comparisons or any comparison at all other than alignment. BIG THOUGHT / TAKEAWAY after chatting for months with fellow multi 6 and 7 figure colleagues: In entrepreneurship, security comes through continual growth. This is the feeling - the thought. Versus someone who finds security in the SAME income for YEARS via a 9-5. If you're generating the same revenue month after month in your biz, you've built a sustainable business and yet, it perpetuates the feeling that without constant growth, it's all going to fall apart, your clients are going leave and it will all come crumbling down. Tell me I am wrong. Entrepreneurship is weird like that. Please know that though this feeling is common, it's not rooted in truth. So, I'll ask... Even if you're doing less or the same, what other factors are at play?  I'm currently working less than I ever have, lifting the most consistently I have in literal YEARS, am full on raising a child, and making damn near the same amount as I was previously. Within $80k of that number annually. That's a win. And it took a lot of processing to see that. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

After working with gen pop, college athletes and online clients, I believe there are four main types of plateaus that take place within long term strength and hypertrophy training: Mental Seasonal Actual Physical performance Muscle growth  We're diving into all four of these plateaus and what you can possibly implement as a coach or trainee to work through them. Mental: I bring this up first because I think this can initiate other types of plateaus we experience in training AND can be a result of, or byproduct of other plateaus. This is when you're just out of it, not feeling it, in a “funk” - maybe motivation to train is lower, efficacy is lower, perhaps you even have a negative connotation with training when it's normally something you enjoy. Seasonal: Sometimes there are cycles we see once we're training for the long haul. It could be summer for you, or maybe the fall. Finals season - some time of the year that tends to bring upon inconsistency or a lull in your training. And it throws you for a loop every time. You plateau - physically, mentally, etc. The earlier you can get in front of this the better off you'll be. change up expectations (lower frequency or intensity) but keep modality the same take on something new that you enjoy Accept a maintenance phase but be intentional Actually choose a new goal to work towards so you have a joyful and purposeful focus during this time. Actual Physical performance Strength or power output comes to mind for me. This could be with one exercise or across the board. I am thinking more across the board. Overall plateau in your performance.  First off - this IS a sign of overtraining (not taking enough deload weeks and going from supercompensation and over-reaching to actual over-training) and/or under-recovering. consider a deload week or two (lower the intensity and volume by 30%. Meaning complete 70% of the work you normally do - weight and volume. Let your body TAKE A BREAK. You may even need a COMPLETE break from the gym. Yes, do less. Much less. Your body will not lose gains. In fact it might just THANK YOU. Point of these approaches is to come back REFRESHED & RE-ENERGIZED (your mind and your body). If it's not a reload we need, you can look back at programming. If you've been doing the SAME THING (variations, sets and reps, weight etc) it might be a good time to switch things up a bit more than you normally would.  Try new exercise variations or take a season to drive up work capacity (if you've been working near maximal loads for a hot minute). Get specific - you're plateaued. Work your weaknesses and sticking points with whatever lifts you're currently doing. Muscle growth  Along the same lines as physical performance. Nutrition is going to be a factor to evaluate here as well, though that's not my area of expertise. Take a deload (count on feeling deflated - you'll be carrying less water in your muscles. don't worry, it will come back upon lifting. You haven't loss muscle with taking a week or two off). Change up variation OR more specifically push range of motion. Range of motion is HIGHLY underrated when it comes to building muscle and the potential for muscle fiber recruitment. Lower the loads (I know - unexpected) and focus on creating as much TENSION as you can in the muscle groups you're working). Just some ideas outside of “I'm plateauing, I must need to do more” - NO Silly Susan, you probably need to DO LESS, God bless, or do different. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED:

I say that I wish I started YouTube 5-7 years ago. But fact remains, it would not have been the best use of my time in that season. Like many people, I started my business because I was DEPENDENT on it generating revenue for me. Youtube was no promise of that. And IG was a much quicker route to the income I wanted. Guess what…still is. Yes, I believe that with all the social apps that have come and gone, or even stuck around, IG is the place to be if you have an online service based biz and want to build brand awareness, relationship and make that money. Without further ado, 5 reasons why Instagram is still the best platform for starting your biz: Reason 1: High frequency posting  - reps for you, brand awareness, messaging, trial and error with little downside, exposure to trying different approaches and seeing what sticks or doesn't (youtube - you try one thing on one video and have to wait weeks or months to do it again for more data) Reason 2: Daily exposure to audience Builds trust, and likeabiliity. Possibly expedites trust. means you can do direct or DM sales much more frequently because it's sandwiched with normal day to day free BTS and goodies. Reason 3: Consumers are prepped to buy Swipe up, click the link, link in bio, sponsored posts. People are primed to purchase and find products and services they want to invest in on Instagram. Someone commented on a post the other day and said she's mentioned/launched 1:1 twice and no one has signed up. I have SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. What does “launching” look like? What is her offer? What are the details? What is the actual sell? What is the onboarding process? Do they have to apply? etc If you don't know these things and can't articulate them confidently, you won't have sales. And if that's you, join FitsPRO Foundations. Reason 4: Kind of a piggy back off number 1 but it exposes you, as the creator to different forms/mediums of content. You can find your groove and how YOU best convey your message. It's rare that on one social app you have text, graphics, photos, short and long form video, live video, real time video etc. Instead of viewing that as overwhelming, view it as an opportunity to try and see. I follow people who have built entire businesses on twitter or swipe graphics and have literally NEVER posted a video.  Now - they are VERY clear with their messaging and its highly shareable content. Which brings me to number 5. Reason 5: Ability to either go viral or be shared organically at high volumes AND frequency. Good luck going viral on Pinterest or YouTube. And even if you do on TikTok, let me know what it does for your actual sale numbers…nada. Once you have systems in place, you have a much better chance of getting those new followers onto a mailing list or even into an offer. Might not be RIGHT AWAY, but in 3-9 months time. It's the best way to organically grow the top of your funnel for most health and fitness pros in the online space. Period. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

I know it's August, but it might as well be fall. What I want you to get from this episode is the clarity you need an order to follow the program that makes the most sense for you come September, October November through the new year. Aka your fall fitness goals. The season is one of my personal favorites to train during. It's always a chaotic season. And training can give you something to focus on, and bring you into the new year feeling really great about your past decisions, and where you're at.  I always tend to get my strongest in the fall. It's just what happens in the type of training that I choose to do during that time. So the season just has a special place in my heart.  I like to encourage people to push through the fall. To really own this time of year and whatever it is that you want from your health and fitness.  If that's you, then this episode is going to serve you well. I want to go over some possible goals and types of training so you could explore from September through the new year. And how you can reach those goals and enjoy the focus that you have, the autonomy that you have through the next four or five months.  In this episode I dive deep into the possible goals listed below and what it ACTUALLY looks like to go after these in your training. Strength Skill(s) Something new Something you've enjoyed in the past  Adding in cardio to your normal strength training Hitting a given load on certain lifts Adding reps each month to certain exercises Lifting 4 days per week (choose a frequency and stick with it no matter the intensity). Just remember that the goal has to have a strong why, and you need to understand why you are going after the goal. We need a clear goal, and a clear why. And then a process we can enjoy. You know that I am all about the process. But the process only exists based on a clear goal. That is why I wanted to talk about this episode.  Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

Have you thought about outsourcing for your biz? If so, today's post is for you. I've mentioned this another podcast before, but your first hire does not have to be full-time. And hiring can seem so overwhelming to so many entrepreneurs who are going at it alone. I remember being at the cheer gym and training one of the cheer moms. She was an entrepreneur, and a very successful one at that. She would always talk about the beauty that comes with hiring people. And I always told her that I just wanted to go it alone. I never wanted to hire or manage people. Which is still the case. I have one right hand woman. But I also have several contractors that I pay to do certain tasks in my business. We called this outsourcing. Outsourcing is not having an assistant or other coaches underneath you. By definition from Oxford Languages, outsourcing is  • contract (work) out or abroad."you may choose to outsource this function to another company or do it yourself" This is different than hiring an employee. I like to think about this as one off tasks, or specific duties within your business that someone else can do, that you are not required for. Your goal in business should always be to move closer and closer to the spot where you are only doing the tasks within your business that demand you to do them, or task that you personally enjoy doing, and are fulfilling to you. So, even if someone else could do the task, you enjoy it, and there's no current downside of you doing it.  I think about things like formatting emails for you, or doing design work, or editing a piece of media for you. Someone on boarding your clients if it doesn't need to be you. There's lots of different tasks that we can outsource in business depending on the business model that you have  How do you know when it's time to outsource? Some people begin outsourcing very early on in business. Others wait 5 to 7 years to outsource. There is no one-size-fits-all equation for this. But I hope that I can give you some questions to ask yourself in order to determine if it might be a good time for you to pay for someone to do something in your business for you. This, either frees up time for you to do more in your business or just frees off time PERIOD. Oh, my first answer is just before or when you hit your ceiling. I waited to the point of being at my ceiling to hire. And I should've hired just before that. So I was busting at my seams before I brought someone on to help me. I had reached the point where I literally did not have a single extra second in the day to grow my business. I was just trying to take care of all of the tasks in my business that keep it going. I do not suggest waiting to this point to hire help. Because when you do hire, you may need to have time to create systems for a person to follow, or loom videos, and trainings for that person. And that requires time from you as well. Again, that depends on what task your outsourcing. But it's something to keep in mind. Do you feel like you are starting to reach your maximum with your client load, or just the task that you have to complete within your business?  If you feel like you are approaching that, then I want you to determine what tasks you might be able to outsource. Ideally, these are tasks that are either very time demanding for you, or task that you don't enjoy doing, and or you are bad at. These are the categories we want to outsource first.  You might also go down the route of outsourcing for whatever new thing you are wanting to create. So if your business is for one on one capacity and you still want to take care of all of those one-on-one clients, but you want to build out some kind of other offer in order to scale, Then, perhaps you bring someone on or outsource different tasks involved in creating and bringing that new offer to life. For instance, I brought on a funnel specialist to help me build out my FitsPRO Foundations funnel.

As a woman over 30 myself, I've fallen victim to or given into some common myths, but also found truth in them. Today I want to discuss possible shared experiences for those of us nearing 30 or in your 30's. I say nearing because I personally started to notice some of these “differences” in my late 20's vs in my 30's. Let's dive in. A slowing metabolism: There is new research that suggests that metabolism does not slow due to age alone until later in life - around 50's and 60's. And that the result of a slowing metabolism is more to do with lifestyle than age.  Diet needs to be more restrictive: It “felt” like I could eat anything and get/keep results. Many twenty somethings do. But we must go back to the metabolism data. Were you more active overall “back then”? You know what, maybe it DOES need to be more restrictive now than when you were 22. But is that because you're 33 now? or because you have a lower TDEE? You workout less frequently and less intensely? Because I'd bet buko bucks it's the latter. I could eat whatever I wanted (which is not true but I had a much larger buffer) when I was 22 because I was training twice per day for short bouts, or once a day but six days per week at very high work intensities, coaching competitive cheer where I was on my feet, spotting tumbling and coaching, and/working an internship in college strength - another very active job. Let's compare that to my 30's… Self employed, sitting at a desk, barely leave my house, and train for 35-50 minutes four days per week… Which lifestyle allots for more leeway in the diet? Not age specific, lifestyle dependent. higher TDEE, higher intensity in workouts overall - intensity being heavier loads and likely higher work capacity, more consistency at a higher training frequency. This is just MY example and comparison from 20 something single college student to working for myself to build my business, traveling the world full time starting at 28, and training taking a huge back seat. That does bring me to another point. Muscle mass. Muscle mass: Having muscle mass is so so so important for many functions. If you've never listened to Dr Gabriel Lyon, I suggest you do if the conversation of obesity or having fat mass vs the importance of having muscle tissue. She knows far more than I do about the metabolic function and health of muscle. So, I'll lead you there. But what I can infer and speculate, is that having muscle is an important game changer. And it's importance may increase with our age. Because if one thing DOES change, it is the rate of tissue decay and regeneration. We know that around age 30 this increases decade by decade. Meaning higher rates of tissue decay vs generation.  Please do not use that as an excuse to say you can't build muscle past 30 years old or that you atrophy much quicker than you used to. Because that's stretching this claim big time. The same muscle building and retaining principles apply at 20 as they do at 30 as they do at 40.  We need to provide a stimulus strong enough that requires new tissue to be built and we have to provide proper recovery for this to take place - sleep, hydration and protein intake being at the top. Stress management being secondary to those. I said what I said. Obviously muscle mass comes from the training we take part in. Adaptation to training: Personally, I find that building muscle requires MORE recovery for the same effort. I can't directly back this by science but it's been my anecdotal experience.  Take that with the largest grain of salt. I just know I was training more, and sleeping less, and was more jacked at 18. Though I probably have possessed more total muscle mass since those years. The upside of training for years is that as consistent training age increases, you can likely get away with doing less and still maintain muscle mass AND strength. But there is data that suggests that to GAIN muscle and strength,...

In case you missed it, I took eight weeks off Instagram in May and June. Check out that podcast on Youtube behind the scenes. I took 50% rev cut for the eight weeks I was off Instagram - This decision was still very much so needed. Came from lack of exposure Lack of plugging offers in stories No active launching at that time. Thus, I made more than May and June combined in July (back on + launching PP). My new approach: Youtube reels for education and driving to YT, sparking curiosity Swipe graphics - either stream of consciousness or statements Off the cuff FTC reels if I make them OR Video from phone or professional B roll with Text over the top - statement, question, prompt, philosophy, tips. Whatever makes sense Posting twice a day for 4 days per week: High frequency and volume = more potential for growth. In the 30 days I've been back on Instagram: Gained 1,433 followers Lost 459 Net gain 974 So almost up net 1,000 followers. That data was not a full month so I assume I'll hit 1,000 new news by a full 30 days. That image will be in the show notes as well. To be clear that came from posting twice per day for a month since being back - but ONLY four days per week. Some posts flop, far fewer took off, but they DID take off. And that brought in the new humans. This is what high frequency and volume posting does. Period. More chances to be seen. More opportunity for growth. It is that simple. Now, we can't post trash and grow. But we also can't FULLY predict what will and won't catch traction. I know what posts have viral potential for my own brand. Sometimes I am right, sometimes it doesn't work out. But the more you post, the less connected you are to how each individual post does. For instance one of my biz clients (which I just ended with this month went from 5-6k to 14k in our time together). Not from some strategy of mine. But because she posted daily, every day and sometimes twice a day. AND she got CLEAR AF on what content she would create. Let me make so clear that she RARELY if ever makes reels. Her post popular posts are swipe graphics so that's what she optimized. I am spending less time than ever on the app. That's the other plus: More creation = more time in my brand messaging and philosophy and less time consuming. I just don't get much from the consumption in this season. I check stories of friends and that's about it. Having the reels cut from YouTube = HELLLLLAAAAAA less work for me (which again, I am PAYING FOR). There is always a trade off. Using the captions app or IG captions. I caved. I made the decision to just use captions app if I have a FTC video and need captions. I do not have time and it's not WORTH my time to type out on brand captions in Final Cut Pro for a piece of content that dies in 24 hours. It just doesn't make sense. Future plans Same same. At least two weeks before any launch I will post twice per week for 4 days per week. Still take my 48 hours off Use YT for two reels per week Lean into carousel posts Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

Let's talk about your website audit. It's no secret that I don't do and have never done sales calls. I filled my online 1:1 roster via IG stories and taking people behind the scenes of my coaching. (AKA social proof and selling online). Followed by solid sales pages and applications. That's what we're diving into today regardless of if you do or don't do sales calls. We want those calls to be a CONFIRMATION. Not you actually selling anything. Less work for you, better qualified inquiries. More Hell Yesses. That's the goal. Overall, we need straight forward messaging - on free platforms and sales pages. As well as clear expectations - for offers, freebies and your brand. Your website needs: Pages - home, offers, application page/link, payment, about (non-negotiable for me), a way to contact you. That's it. CLEAR > CLEVER or CREATIVE across the board. Yes, we want humanness especially if you have a personal brand. But FIRST, be clear. My current home page breaks it down into categories - into fitness click here. into business click here. Takes them to my offers for fitness and offers for business. Period.  Home page is NOT: Your about me page. Your sales page. IT IS YOUR DIRECTORY. YOU ARE HERE. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO NOW? Preventing confusion and providing direction is your first step in increasing conversion from your site. Not pulling people in 13 different directions. Or talking about yourself. (Which is why doing a website audit is a great idea). Sales pages should include all of the following: Who it's for What it does Understanding your client and where they're at and where they'd like to be (demonstrates compassion and clarity) Social proof if you have it What it includes Expected timeline Overall philosophy (being sure this aligns with their expectations) Application or payment method Make buttons CLEAR for the love of all things holy. Use white space and photo banners to break up text - this may not directly lead to conversion but I know I have straight up left sales pages before because it's so unpleasant to experience as a prospect.  In ALL of this - think of yourself as a consumer and WHY you purchase from some sites and not others. What factors and language keep you around? What deters you? Be conversational and personal. Not robotic. Don't confuse professionalism for being cold and losing all human touch in your copy. YOUR COPY IS YOUR SALES CALL HERE. Your words lead people around your site and to eventually buy from you. Look at copy, then formatting if conversion is low. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

Today we are talking about the subject of hypertrophy, and how training to failure, trash, volume, and high loads can possibly play a role in that. And I want to be clear that trash volume does not play a role in hypertrophy. So we will define what trash volume is as well as what higher volume in general can do for hypertrophy potentially. As I've explained on multiple platforms, but for any of you who might need a refresher, hypertrophy just refers to an increase in muscle cell size. When that happens collectively in multiple muscle cells, the overall size of the muscle increases. And we have hypertrophy. So muscle growth, and hypertrophy are and can be used interchangeably. Hypertrophy is a goal for most people who lift weights in someway shape or form. People either want to put on muscle size because having muscle mass is great for metabolic health, because muscle mass is the potential for strength output if performance goals are what you were into, and, of course, from an aesthetic standpoint, if you want to have a toned appearance, then building muscle would be a goal you have. Probably the primary one. Training to failure  There was a point in my own training career that I followed a specific program that took the last set to failure on every exercise. I would be lying if I didn't say that I put on a large amount of muscle mass during that time. I was also like 19 years old and very much so in a muscle building prime. I was also working out six days a week, and eating like a linebacker. So there were a lot of factors at play there. But I do think that training to failure was one of those significant factors in my muscle growth. There's plenty of research that supports, turning to failure and the stimulus of muscle protein synthesis, which we need in order to build muscle. But then we have a question of how often you need to be training to failure, or if you even need to be, or can we get the same effect from trading close to failure. For instance, within 1 to 2 reps of failure. that is my personal philosophy based on experience and the research that I have read. It's the same as volume which we will get into. There is a point of diminishing returns. It's clear that you do need to train close to failure in order to build muscle. If that is the approach you were taking. The reason behind this is that by training close to failure, you are recruiting as many muscle fibers within that muscle as possible. Range of motion does play a role here as well. But as a general rule of thumb for hypertrophy, one effective approach will be to train many of your working sets, until 1 to 2 reps are left in the tank. That would be an RPE of eight or nine, and an RIR of one or two. Not every set needs to be like this on every single lift. But for a good portion of your working sets, I would argue this does need to be the case. Specifically for accessory work. Where there is less risk involved training to near failure. On the contrary, I would not suggest this approach for many of your main compound lifts, depending on your training age. Your training age refers to how many years you've been consistently lifting weights for. If you have a lot of experience under a heavy, barbell, or moving a heavy barbell, I would be less concerned with you trading close to failure on every set. But even then I might not advise it. I'm just not positive that it's needed in order to build muscle if that is your goal. There's definitely research that supports high-volume training as well as high load training for building muscle. And there may be less risk involved with training at the higher volumes with lighter weights. That's just one perspective. Personal preference also comes into play. And like I said, in trained athletes, there was one study that showed with back squat, that the high volume low load group, as well as the high load low volume group both significantly increased muscle size.

Last week I dropped my first six YouTube videos. Actually, they were posted for me and I just got to watch them go live. Along with their partner blog posts. If you listened to my episode about taking a break from Instagram for 6 to 8 weeks, that was in large part due to drafting 17 YouTube videos, scripts, and actually taking seven days to film all of that continent with my friend, old boss, and videographer Paige Major from Paige Major Creative.  Today I want to take you through the production, and behind the scenes of what all went into, my YouTube approach, and why I am taking the approach that I am. As well as tools that we used, and cost of production.  I don't feel like people talk about these things transparently. Especially on YouTube. So allow me to be that person for you. Note that this is just my own approach and experience. I will make clear that though I'm entering YouTube as an amateur on that particular platform, I am not an amateur in my field, nor am I an amateur at creating content. Let's talk YouTube Debut Back in the beginning of 2021 I was continuing my Facebook ads journey that ended in a loss of $80,000. A loss I was willing to endure, but that certainly left a bad taste in my mouth when it came to investments and the direction that I wanted to take my business from a growth standpoint.  But I knew that something had to be done. And I was clear on the fact that whatever money I invested next was going to be in order to get me in front of an organic audience. So I would pay for that service, but not actually do paid advertising if that makes sense. I was still going to have to pay probably the same amount to get me in front of more of the right people, but again not through paid advertising. I learned through my own Facebook and experience that I really do think my style is best received over a long period of time. Building trust, and having a buying cycle of about 3 to 12 months, regardless of my program or course.  So I committed to playing the long game. And either hiring a PR agency to get me on podcasts and things of that sort. Or to venture into YouTube to tap into a new market.  After interviewing and meeting with a very specific PR agency, it was a hard no for me and the appeal of YouTube and having control over my organic contact just seemed more and more appealing. I enjoy teaching long form anyway. It's actually something I struggle to cut down for Instagram. And Instagram is actually one of the reasons that I also went with YouTube. I want to start off with some background education. Instagram is a social platform. YouTube is a search based platform. Meaning that the lifespan of content can be years or even decades now. You type in some thing in the search bar and the most popular videos pop up. That video can be seven years old, and often is seven years old, depending on the topic of the content. If that video is properly formatted, ideally that lead someone back to their channel to binge more information, or helpful links are in the description that take them back to the website, or affiliate links that they're making money off of so on and so forth. On the flipside of that, Instagram content dies after 24 hours for the most part. There are absolutely pros to this, and that if something doesn't do well, you can totally reformat it and repost it to see if it does better. It's not a total loss. That obviously doesn't work the same on YouTube. And there is much more effort that goes into creating YouTube content, and formatting that YouTube content from the description to the tags to the keywords, etc. So there is absolutely more effort required and more risk involved with youtube. Which is why I still would not suggested for someone who is just starting out I do not think that it is the best use of your time when running a business. I know that sounds kind of contradictory, because I do think that YouTube is king when it comes to content,

Something that has become a thing for me in this season of training is time. I've got 40 minutes or less to get my lift in. One hour if I am lucky. Not doing a full body warm up. Cardio straight into movement prep. 3 to 4 lifts. 3 to 4 days per week. That's what I have to work with. You may be wondering how I'm still able to make gains. I am in a building and recovery phase. Atrophied from pregnancy and postpartum, so I am able to reap those newbie gains due to the season. If I was training, normally, not atrophied, three days a week could be enough to maintain, but likely not gain. My current training is using a majority upper lower split. Not necessarily doing the classic back squat, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press split. But, definitely working with and squatting patterns, one day, hinging patterns, or glutes, and posterior chain, focused, and then a horizontal, pressing, and for pulling day, and vertical, pressing and pulling day. These basics allow me to hit lower body muscle groups twice per week and upper body muscle groups twice per week.  I am not specifically tracking any cardio, but trying to get steps in mostly via walking. Because upper body days are shorter for me, if I have time, I will add in cardio that last 12 minutes or less. So for me, that's either tempo work, 12 to 15 seconds as hard as I can resting for the remainder of the minute period for 8 to 12 rounds. Or three sets of threshold‘s. Which would be three minutes of work above 75%, resting for two minutes or when the heart rate drops 50 beats below the height of the working set.  The cardio is literally just thrown in for overall conditioning, and to get more movement in. It is not specifically to add more of a caloric deficit or train for something specific. Just working on that cardiovascular fitness when I can. Because something is better than nothing. But weight training and building muscle is my priority. So that comes before cardio. As far as an actual program that I am following. It's a hodgepodge. I'm still following Marcus Filly's Persist as a base. But I'm missing that with my own preferences, and some of the things that I learned through MamaSteFit. Because, though I am just over seven months postpartum, I am very much so still rebuilding my core and deep core connections. I do find that, especially in seasons where your time and energy is limited, personal preference does play a big role. It's important for you to enjoy your lift in the exercises that you are doing. If I don't like some thing or feel something else in this training season, I swap it out for some thing that gets the same job done, but that I enjoy more from a personal preference.  The takeaways: know your season, it's OK to cut things out and not follow the perfect program. If it allows you to get the most bang for your buck done. Upper lower split will always be the goat. You can make gains on three days per week depending on your training, age, and overall training volume. But higher frequencies will likely be helpful. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

Today I take you nosey Nancy's behind the scenes a bit of my six to eight week break from Instagram. I know that some people think it's silly when you announce that you are leaving Instagram. Because it can give off the vibe that you think you're fucking special. Or that anyone cares. But I think of it from the sense of being a business. I show up consistently on social media, and thousands of people take in my content on a daily basis. And they have chosen to do that. So I just think it's considerate to let them know as well as anyone knew who comes to my profile, that I will be back in X amount of time. So it just sets the expectation, it doesn't leave people wondering. I shared briefly on Instagram why I was taking a break. But today I want to give a bit more of the way, as well as my plans, moving forward, and how I am using the time. Because we are in the thick of it. My time is limited. More than ever. Essentialism is demanded at the highest level. Actual projects behind the scenes: YouTube - Paige just left after staying at my house for a week and shooting 16 weeks of content for YouTube. The way I want to position myself on the tube requires a lot of work and research on my end. Which takes time. As I said, something I don't have. Website - I can't reveal much about this now. But it's in line with my goals on YouTube - aka the positioning and overall brand that is my business. Once this project is finished, I'll do a whole breakdown. So, stay tuned. Let us discuss "being lukewarm" and how it's the literal worst place to be on the gram. I do not want this to be misunderstood. Because I do think that success specifically on Instagram requires continuing to show up, and learning to post, regardless of how you feel. It's a skill, and it needs to be built. We do not build businesses on feelings. And the people that you look up to most have showed up day after day for literally years without stopping. So let's make that clear before we dive into this next point. I was just having a conversation the other day with a 1:1 business client about how having content prepared allows her to waste less time on the app and to remove feelings all together from the app. The content is made, she posted. She respond to comments if there are any, and she posts and her stories on a daily basis, because that part is easy. But when content is not prepped, get the pressure is still there to get a post out, that is where the mindfck begins. For me, this very situation coincided with two large decisions that I needed to make in my business. And the idea of having to create content for Instagram in comparison, to making these two decisions, investments, and moving forward with them just seemed so ridiculous. If I had content prepared, it would've been a different story. But I had run out of prepped content. Back to Essentialism. Was it more important to take however many hours, and days to create content, and write captions, and muster, that creative energy, or two pursue what I believe to be the foundation for my next level of business? It was quite a no-brainer for me. So if you are in that lukewarm feeling, or you find yourself in the cycle of not having content prepared while also, feeling the pressure to post, I encourage you to do one of two things, or both. Batch content, and get it on the calendar so that you know when you have only a week left of content, you need to create more. Be committed to throwing up a post no matter what it is. Re-post something old, or throw up a photo and asking. Engaging question. Keep it as simple as possible and organic to the app. Some people call this a trash post. I call it continuing to show up when other people don't. Take your pick. This is not to say that you can't take six to eight week break whenever you need it, but that my perspective is that you earn certain things with time in your business. If you set yourself up to where you can be off of Instagram,

Let us talk about bounce back culture, and how, even with realistic, logical expectations, somehow I was still surprised by my body at four and five months postpartum. I have plenty of family, members and friends, who are active and have had multiple pregnancies and postpartum recover periods. I know in my mind that a realistic expectation for not getting your body back, but feeling more familiar in your body and yes, to an extent looking more like a past version of your body, would take 12 to 18 months. And that it would be a very slow and gradual process. Even with that logic, I found myself confused and a bit disappointed in my four and five months postpartum body. Strength, wise, and performance wise, I felt good or better than I thought I would, but my physique did not reflect that. Essentially, I was used to my genetics working for me. I would describe myself as a super responder to training. Not the best, but, if I train and eat, well, without tracking, macros, or anything, typically I can build muscle fairly easily, and remain lean. I don't lie about having genetics on my side, and that is the reason that I never used my body to sell my programs. Because I didn't want people to expect my physique out of my training programs. There are so many factors in postpartum that are not typical factors in my physical response to training, however. We have sleep, deprivation, likely, high, cortisol, hormone imbalances, and milk supply to maintain, among other things. And let me just pause to make the point that this episode is simply sharing my experience, and some of the mindset journey that I've gone through this far in postpartum, as a fitness, professional, and someone who logically had what I would consider realistic expectations. I expected that by six months I wouldn't look like I never had a baby, but that I would not be 15 to 20 pounds still overweight. And that obviously does not look the same in a swimsuit as it did pre-baby. I entered a small deficit around the four month mark in my milk supply dropped. I can't say why, or if I would've been eating different foods maybe it would've stayed up. But I was drinking 160 ounces of water per day, and the deficit that should have had me losing like a quarter of a pound a week. It was very mild. For whatever reason, my supply dropped, and that was a no go for me.  In soft lighting, I actually feel like I look pretty damn good. It's clear that my training is building muscle under an extra layer or to a fat. So I started treating postpartum like a bulking phase essentially. That is, once I felt strong enough, and coordinated enough after what I would consider my rehab phase. Though I consider postpartum rehab to somewhat be forever. There's nuance there I won't go into in this episode. My point on the lighting topic is that in certain lighting at four or five months I looked great in my opinion. My muscle was providing shapes that I prefer on my body. But in harsh sunlight, it was like a 180. I just have a thin layer, or a thick layer in some places of cellulite and literally all over my body. That was not something that I personally expected. And don't take this as me hating it. This is just me observing my postpartum experience. The body that I have now is not the body that I will always have. My goal is always performance over aesthetics. And I also want to have more children, so this is just a piece of a much longer journey. Another expectation versus reality was that I don't think I will ever fit into 60% of my clothing again. I expected that my body would change in someways for the long term. But holy shit, my rib cage, my feet, in my hips. I just don't see how they could go back to the way they were. I wouldn't personally get rid of anything until I'm through all of my pregnancies and can see what body I end up with due to age, changes in pregnancy and postpartum, the physique that I build via weights and nutrition.

There are always endless things to focus on has an entrepreneur. I should say that there are always distractions for entrepreneurs. Tasks pulling our attention away from where it should be. Today's episode will hopefully give you some ideas of where to put your time and energy in the back half of 2023 or whatever year you're listening this. 5 Focuses for Entrepreneurs Number one is to define your season This is imperative. It's very rare that we are able to constantly be in a season of growth, and a season of refinement, or building, or pushing revenue. It doesn't mean that these things can't happen within the same season. But you will likely be more successful if you choose one and focus all of your efforts there. Those are the four seasons that I suggest looking at. Are you in a backend system refinement season?Are you needing to focus on growth across-the-board? Pushing on social media as well as email list or whatever platforms you are on? Think of this as the top of your funnel. Where do you have a free audience? That's typically where you will focus. Hope there is that within 3 to 12 months those people become paying clients. Sooner if you have a faster buying cycle funnel. So, like I said, number one is to define your season, because that will lead into choosing some of these other focuses where it makes sense. Number two is to focus on you This might sound silly, but it's necessary. So often and entrepreneurship, even seven years in, you can find yourself so caught up in seeing what everyone else is doing and it will make you question your own approach. When you didn't have second thoughts prior to seeing what everybody else was doing. This was may be 15% of my own decision to get off of Instagram for 6 to 8 weeks. I've built a business that allows me to do that. And I genuinely enjoy a Instagram, but I needed to either Unfollow, everyone, and bring that number down to zero, or just remove myself from the noise, while I works on projects of my own. I always say put your blinders on. Muting or unfollowing wherever you take in information from colleagues in your field allows you to put those blinders on. Perhaps you've been consuming a lot of content, and whatever season you are in requires action. When we are in seasons of creation, we're planning, removing distractions can be wildly helpful. So that's number two, it's just a focus on you, and these last six months of the year whatever that looks like. Number three is your numbers! You're not gonna like this one. Your numbers. Even if you have utterly failed in the first half of this year tracking your numbers were looking at them, I want you to open yourself to your numbers in the back half of this year. Profit and loss Key performance indicators Don't let the how stop you. I don't give a shit if you just create a note in your notes app for now, or use a Google dock or a blank sheet.  When I started it by Annie in 2017 I literally tracked my monthly numbers in my actual paper planner. Like I said, I don't care how. Just look at your Numbers, and write them down. See what they bring to you. Number four Number four - we're going internal with this one because I think it's some thing that people sleep on. And you would have more success, more joy, more satisfaction, and likely more profit if you focus on this in your business. Number four is your offer, or client experience So often in business we focus on the contact creation, the funnels, all of the details outside of what actually makes us money. Outside of the actual task at hand within our business. And that is serving our clients. If you've never audited your client lifespan (which is something that we go over in detail inside my FitsPRO Foundations course) I encourage you to do this. You don't need my course to focus on this in the back half of the year. But if you'd like that guidance, obviously I would love to have you inside.

Gone are the days of thinking strength makes you slow and endurance training kills your strength gains. YOU CAN HAVE BOTH. And there are three ways in my opinion. Keep in mind this is with strength training as the focus. That's important to note for context purposes. How to Best Incorporate Cardio into Your Strength Training: If butted up to training, after training This will NOT kill your gains. Worry not. You'll actually like get the plus side of the accumulation affect. Try doing your scheduled cardio before your lift, and then after your lift. You may find that you don't have to work at the same intensity to get the same cardiac and respiratory response when the cardio is done post-lift. That's the accumulation effect at work. If this is unappealing to you and you really want to give your cardio 110% then see option two. Completely separate from your training. This is my personal preference and this truly does come down to preference and time availability. Not everyone an do this, but if you can, it allows you to focus ONLY on your conditioning and ONLY on your lifting. If training four days per week, do your cardio on two non-lifting days for example. If you want more of an "athletic" or "crossfit" feel and are seeking TRUE integration, see option three. In a fatigue based post-workout metcon/circuit style conditioning. This would look like a timed, distance or calorie based cardio machine - ie, bike, treadmill or run, rowing etc, paired with exercises that make sense for that day of training. So if doing at the end of bench day, maybe you're doing rowing, followed by plank shoulder taps and reverse flies or banded tricep extensions.  These exercises are not ones that require high focus, CNS demand and can be performed quickly, or for time without high risk of injury. You can certainly integrate cardio into your training in more ways than these. But in order to get the most out of both, these are what I suggest. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

Launching is so daunting for so many online coaches. And truly it doesn't need to be. When you understand the phases of launching and what to do in each of them, it becomes a simple road map to follow (as long as you have clarity in your offer and messaging). Let us begin by actually defining a "launch." A launch is a hard open hard close. So if you're launching a new offer that counts. If you're re-opening enrollment for an existing offer, that counts too. There are 5-6 phases of launch and I teach them in my Launching 101 training inside the bonuses of FitsPRO Foundations - today we are mentioning two of those. The two that I think are most relevant on social media. Social should only be ONE PART of your launch. Email will likely be the main driver (or can be, if it's not yet). I go over WHY this is A GAME CHANGER in your marketing approach if you're not yet optimizing the use of email. Tune in to today's episode as I take you deep into the following: Warm up phase Use curiosity early Build momentum - of information and frequency Drive to waitlist (gives us a MUCH better idea of % conversion) Education (stories) Posts related to program but beneficial for the ENTIRE audience Utilize OLD viral posts - repost or repurpose to increase exposure and profile traffic BEFORE the launch, not during. The launch is won HERE Public launch The foundation is laid Repeating yourself Encourage and answer questions Share enrollments Drive results and emotional reason for buying/joining No questions left on the table When we look at launches in sections or phases and assign certain tasks and focuses to each of those phases it becomes much simpler to follow and execute. Rather than attempting to come up with something to say everyday - feeling very out of touch, and "salesy." No one wants that. You're excited about your offer. THAT is what should permeate your selling tactics. Go get 'em. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

Strength and hypertrophy are often lumped together in conversations around training. That's because there is heavy carryover between methods used to attain both of these results. BUT there are fine differences and that's what today's episode will cover. If hypertrophy - aka muscle growth - is your main goal in comparison to strength, or strength is your priority, today's monologue should be helpful. And I'm stoked to cover this one with you. My programming is a mix of strength and hypertrophy but I am personally in a hypertrophy specific training phase and will be for the foreseeable future. Strength training - true strength training requires a high mental load in my opinion. There is no going through the motions. It can be a lot - a lot of time, a lot of brain space, and a lot on the joints. It's simply not what makes the most sense for my current postpartum season. While I am pushing strength in some of the movements in the program I am following, most of my focus is hypertrophy. So, you should be able to identify through this episode what I am personally practicing in my training. We're going over six aspects of training and the differences in their application to training based on hypertrophy vs strength Let us begin. RPE Higher RPE with strength training generally speaking. Hypertrophy can happen on a much wider spectrum of RPE than strength. These differences come down to load in relationship to volume. While hypertrophy can certainly be a byproduct of absolute strength training, strength will likely be lower volume (sets and reps) and with higher loads, therefore higher RPE. Warm up sets vs Pre-fatigue Warm up sets are a must for strength training. Pre-fatigue is more applicable to hypertrophy training.  Warm up sets for strength training or select exercises in hypertrophy training ensure that you prime the body for the proper load for ALL working sets. Meaning we don't leave anything on the table - wasting working sets with loads that are not challenging enough.  Pre-fatigue is used to pre-fatigue the muscle groups you're focusing on that day in a more hypertrophy based program. If doing lower body with a knee and quad dominant bias, then maybe some light hero squats or quad extensions might be used before the main lift begins. Warm up sets may or may not be needed. But are definitely suggested and needed for strength training. Rest periods Training absolute strength requires longer rest periods in order to demonstrate repeat strength and get the most force out of your muscle fibers. As mentioned earlier, hypertrophy can be trained across a large spectrum of volume and load - therefore rest periods. You could see NO REST all the way up to 120 seconds depending on the set and program prescription. I can see reason for both. Either way, actually scheduling and following rest is a great way to be sure you're working hard enough during working sets. You should NEED the rest in order to complete programmed sets and loads. Tempo I do not have research to back this but should truly find some because tempo is all the rage right now and it's funny because I have been talking about it as serious missing piece in programming for years. It will not magically fix programming or get you gains but it's important nonetheless. For strength, following a controlled tempo is going to be beneficial for training the SKILL you're pushing the adaptation of strength in. For hypertrophy tempo is plays the role of increasing time under tension and possibly better muscle fiber recruitment. We can create a constant muscle contraction with tempo, which is highly effective for hypertrophy training. And not so effective for strength training. Range of motion We love the topic of range of motion. In general it's beneficial for longevity to train in some capacity through your end ranges. ALWAYS training under ALL loads is not going to be your best bet.

In just closing out tax season, I felt the need to touch on business finance within my scope. Which isn't much. But I can speak from personal experience, and general base knowledge. There are many misconceptions around online health and fitness business management and finances and I simply want to make few things clear. Which will in turn, I hope, make your life easier as a solepreneur. Please do consult an accountant before setting up or making changes to your financial decisions in your business.  I get some kind of fired up when I see business coaches online gloating about revenue generated without any context. Specifically without differentiating between REVENUE and PROFIT. They are NOT the same my friends. And that is an extremely important truth to grasp if you plan to navigate this world of online business. Revenue is how much you general in sales of services, goods, or through affiliate marketing. Period. How much mula came in? Mind you there are processing fees no matter what third party you're using - likely something like Stripe, if not Stripe. Talk to your accountant about writing off those fees. Because they are an expense. Your revenue is what happened before those fees. Then we have PROFIT. Profit in my personal opinion is what we give a shit about. More shits than revenue.  A coach might generate $100,000 in revenue but what did they KEEP? What was still in the bank after expenses? That's your PROFIT. I highly suggest you read the book Profit First. It provides a different way to set up business finance and I do think it works particularly well for those who have variable income - meaning month to month is not consistent income. That tends to be the case for many health and fitness professionals. So, when you're making your revenue goals, don't forget about profit. That's my point. When someone says they can get you to $10k months, is that revenue or profit? It's a fair question to ask in my opinion. Now let's talk about ways to increase both revenue and profit. Revenue: More money coming in - We need more clients, higher price points, or more streams of income. A massive mistake I see when coaches are trying to increase revenue is that they add one off purchases with no plan to sell or scale that offer. Please please please make sure that if you're going to create a new offer in your offer suite, that it is 1. Needed in the market. 2. People KNOW it's needed. 3. And that it's WANTED. The offer needs to be something that is knowingly desired by the prospective customer. Do not create an offer for the sake of creating it. We create offers for PROFITABILITY. That profitability comes from people needing, wanting and BUYING said service or offer. Don't make this mistake. If you're depending on the offer to make you money, how much? How often will you need to sell it? If it's available all the time how are you collecting leads and getting them to convert? Again, I ask these questions because adding a new offer is actually the hardest way to increase revenue but it's often the first route entrepreneurs go down. I'd suggest:  Seeing if you can either increase price of current offers if it makes sense, so you're increasing the total value of each client and bringing up your bottom line. Add value to the existing offer if needed. Becoming more proficient and optimizing sales of what you currently sell (rather than creating something new). If there is a legit gap that you can fill with a new offer and your current + new clients would purchase, great. But if you haven't yet optimized sales system for your current offer, do that first. Squeeze all the revenue you can out of that. As far as profit goes, that will depend on your expenses. I want to make very clear that I am not saying you HAVE to prioritize high profit. Some people prefer to put all revenue back into the business (creating high expenses and low profit). Neither is right tor wrong.

Make no mistake this is not a shred for summer episode. But after training clients for a decade, I know that summer comes with resistance to the gym, more time outside, perhaps more adult beverages, and social gatherings. And fitness can take a backseat. But it 100% does not need to. It can actually become one of your favorite seasons to exercise during! So, today's podcast will cover some of the barriers that we commonly see when it comes to completing lifts and adhering to programs through the summer months. How to make workouts shorter As with most situations in fitness, it depends. You can cut off sets and reps every exercise prescribed, OR cut off the last super set or one exercise. Typically exercises are programmed in order of largest, bang for your buck, highest demand - metabolically, and from a neuromuscular standpoint. So, you can either get the most out of those first few sets or supersets OR you can opt to shave off one set of everything in the workout, as mentioned first. Neither option will make or break your results. How to modify based on equipment It's easy to call it quits if you're not at your normal gym or home gym. But YOU HAVE OPTIONS. Remember to think of movement patterns rather than SPECIFIC EXERCISES. If you don't have access to a barbell - let's say you're at a hotel and only have a smith machine or dumbbells - that works! Let's say you're supposed to do back squats - you can change the pattern slightly to work in a smith machine for the same sets and reps, or choose to add volume (maybe 1.5 to 2 times the reps with a goblet squat). These are things we cover inside Annie's Secret Lab of Brain Gains for Built By Annie members. There are so many options for modifying and still getting close to the programmed stimulus! In general you want to mimic the same movement pattern - So think of movement families like squat, hinge, vertical push and pull and horizontal push and pull. Then you have bilateral (both limbs working at the same time) or unilateral (single limb). You want to match pattern and ideally bilateral or unilateral. Those tricks should allow you to modify nearly any exercise. This does come with some experience and a slightly higher training age. But truly something is typically better than nothing! Best practices for skipping a workout If you find you are skipping a workout per week or more than two per month, then be sure to alternate which lift you have to miss. Ie if you find you can never quite get that 4th or 5th lift in and it's always overhead press, we want to be sure you choose to skip your strongest lift one day, and maybe bench press another week, etc. So that we're not constantly missing a certain set of movement patterns and muscle groups. Do you actually need to skip it completely? Or can you get in just the warm up and main sets? or just the accessory work? Better to get SOME stimulus than to completely miss that stimulus for a whole other week. Can you tack on combine it with another lift, like discussed earlier. There are so many ways to get the most out of your program this summer without skipping. Though it's totally fine to miss a workout here and there! Mindset shifts to consider Busy times ARE the best time to follow a plan and structure because they free up brain space and decision fatigue while allowing you to still work toward your main goal Is the goal weight loss? maintenance? feeling good? Your expectation will drive your reaction to results that happen. Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online He...

With over 200,000 downloads and two years under our belts, we celebrate episode 200 by answering 10 of the most popular fitness questions of all time. Below is the cliff notes version but it is VERY important you tune in for the whys, nuance and context behind these answers. And now, the 10 fitness questions: 1. Is working with body weight or dumbbells comparable to a full gym when looking build muscle or strength? At some point you'll reach limits with body weight and dumbbells. The options that a full gym brings to the table are simply above that which can be done with dumbbells and body weight. Or the ease with which gains can be made. They do not compare. 2. Should I increase volume or load first? Does it matter? I am biased towards increasing volume/capacity, then adding load. But it depends. 3. Is being sore a solid indicator of hypertrophy? Soreness is a sign of POTENTIAL for the adaptation of hypertrophy to take place. NOT a needed indicator. 4. What to do if you're sick - skip the workout? Or push through? The question is moreso to skip and rest, or go through the motions at 50-70% like a deload week in order to move the body but not tax it further. 5. How do you deal with working out postpartum and being sleep deprived? Isn't that counterintuitive? The pros outweigh the cons. And I adjust intensity as needed. It's important that we provide context when discussing workouts postpartum. 6. Is a movement like bird dogs better for core stability than an ab roller? No. These are simply two different exercises and an ab roller is far more challenging than a bird dog. 7. Is a heart rate monitor needed for improving cardio vascular health? Not NECESSARY but certainly nice to have and can make training easier and more intentional. 8. Cardio before or after lifting? Whichever is more important to your training goals, prioritize that first. 9. Best cardio for cardiovascular health? In short, do what you enjoy. There is no single form of cardio that will yeild the best cardiovascular adaption. 10. Thoughts on cycle synching? Research does not support the need for this IF a period is healthy No significant differences in strength and force output or capacity in different phases of cycle You may FEEL subjectively different. But trust that your body more likely than not can hit normal performance measures Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans. Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives. P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest! ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED: Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business Free Resources Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!

First off, the lack of education you're sent home with after this massive abdominal surgery should be malpractice. It's truly incredible.  I did not plan for a C-section at all. I mean, I planned for the possibility of a C-section as far as my birth plan went, but I was not at all prepared for C-section recovery on the backend of delivery. I had a 72 hour stay in the hospital. So we were there from November 22 to November 25. We went home the day after Thanksgiving. In the hospital, I purchased MammaSteFit 16 week C-section lifting program, as well as their C-section scar mobilization program. I know that scar tissue can wreak havoc on your insides and tissue mobility. So it was important to me to learn how to mobilize that area and not be afraid of it essentially.  I know that some people don't experience a lot of pain after having a C-section. But that was not my personal experience. I was on oxy for I think 7 to 10 days from the C-section. My pain was very high for seven days and then on the eighth day, it just dropped significantly. It was like I turned the corner.  The pain for me was in standing up, and I think I also had pain just from also pushing at a 10 vaginally. Because the pain I was experiencing was around the incision, but also just extreme heaviness in my pelvic floor. And near my rectum.  At times, I felt like I had to walk bent over. So the nurses let me know that standing up really tall and straight was actually beneficial for me, so I tried to do that as much as possible, but that was also very uncomfortable.  The lack of mobility was a big mental hurdle for me in postpartum. You already lose so much autonomy. Feeling unable and just not being able to move with intention was one of my least favorite parts of early postpartum. I found that as far as returning to exercise. I really wanted to move my body a lot sooner than my body was going to allow for. At around three weeks I really really really wanted to move with intention. More than walking. But at that point, I was still finding that, even in moving around my house more , I would get more bleeding, or have more pain the next day. For instance, at the three week mark, I just did some very gentle mobility, unweighted, lunging, thoracic, spine mobility, and breath work, and I literally had more bleeding the next day, because that was too much. This is just my experience, so take it with a grain of salt . It's not meant to scare anyone. It's just literally meant to pull back the curtain on a fit person recovering from a C-section. Around week four I was feeling a lot better and able to generally walk more and move more without an increase in bleeding. My bleeding was actually almost completely gone at week four. And so I had Mamma stay fit schedule my program start on January 2 which was my six week mark.  I had a five week postpartum appointment, and I was completely cleared for everything, meaning sex, movement, exercise. All the things. She did an internal exam, and my uterus was healing really well, and I only had a two finger separation in my core. So that gave me the external affirmation I needed to move forward. Because let me tell you, I felt like I was in a brand new body postpartum. I could not tell where anything was in my midsection from muscles to organs. It felt very strange. And sometimes even four months postpartum. It still feels weird. Right at six weeks I began moving and following the program. It was four days a week. And when I say working out or lifting, I mean unweighted kneeling hip hinges. It's far stretch to call these workouts. And it's in my opinion exactly what was needed for me. From a mental standpoint, as well as a physical standpoint. It allowed me to get in intentional movement and feel successful. And it also just reacquainted me to my body. I would honestly call the first four weeks a reacquainting phase. My outlook on returning to fitness was like it always is,

All of these are centered around and chosen through the lens of what I consider to be the two most important pieces to starting a business in the online health and fitness space. Building an engaged audience that trusts you - you will not have an online business without this. Developing a clear AF offer that works So, as we dive into each of these, remember those two things - in the simplest sense, we need a lead pool or audience, and we need to make money. Which happens via our offer. If we lack clarity on said offer or it does not deliver on what we said it would, then it doesn't work, you'll lose confidence, and people will not trust you. Let us begin. You might be disappointed to find that these are not much different than they were seven years ago. And that's because the same principles still apply. It's just how they fit into what is currently available in the online space. Seven years ago, it was blogging and the start of Instagram. Now, a blog may be far less important, but Instagram is like a full-time job. And, I would argue more important than ever. Strap in for the long haul Even more than seven years ago, new entrepreneurs need to grasp the fact that overnight successes don't exist and to build a sustainable and profitable business simply takes TIME. There is no getting around that fact. And the sooner you can embrace the daily grind, the more you will enjoy the process. Just like you'd tell a health and fitness client. I know that scarcity can be a real thing when starting a business. I am not talking about scarcity mindset rooted in lies and false narratives. But ACTUAL scarcity and the very real need to generate revenue. Just know that this is not going to happen if you don't have people who trust you, and if you don't have an offer to sell that works. So, take a few mantras from my first years of business - “make it happen” and “Be tenaciously patient” - which is not what it sounds like. When I say that, I mean that you need to be tenacious and patient. Lots of work. Lots of intent. Gratification down the road. Patience is needed in addition to all the work you're going to put in. Commit to failing fast and adapting When starting out with your business you have the least to lose and least amount of eyes on you. Try all the things. Throw spaghetti at the wall, find your footing, your philosophy and your creative process. In the beginning, you are the least confident. Which brings about this paradox, where you have not yet gained the confidence and clarity to show up how you know you should, but also, like I said, you have the least to lose. It's the time where you need to bust out reps like never before. Frequency is your friend in the beginning. Create as much content as you possibly can. If that makes you feel overwhelmed, I want to be specific with the fact that I am referring to small bite-size pieces of content. Apply that to an email list, a podcast, or Instagram. Wherever it is that you are creating content. Figure out a way to do it daily and at a high frequency. Will get into that a bit later. But the sooner that you can move forward with the fears that you have, when starting out, the quicker you are going to find success. That does not mean that the fear or level of being uncomfortable goes away, it just means that you are able to adapt to existing with those feelings and continuing to move forward. That is the goal, and that would be a main focus of mine, if I was starting out again. Before I share the next one, I want to preface it with ignoring all of the gurus. You are going to be bombarded with coaches who coach coaches. Facebook and Instagram ads galore. Ignore all of it. What all of these are going to miss is the basics and the fact that you need to just get reps in. Most of the funnels that these coaches are trying to teach put the cart way before the horse for someone who is just starting out in their business.

So I lied, and there are only seven program mistakes and how to fix them. But I digress. Let's begin Program Mistake Number One Switching things up way too often. As I do programs by other coaches, I am reminded that even some of the most educated people in the space make changes well before they need to. I don't know if this comes from a worry that people are going to get bored, or just the desire to implement different variations, and have fun with the actual program design. While I understand both of these, the results that people want are probably on the other side of fairly boring programming. In the postpartum program that I followed, which I do suggest if people, I got to a point where I was modifying over 50% of the programming simply because it was changing week to week and it just wasn't needed. I wanted to continue the same movements that I had done the week before in order to progress. How are we gauging progress if we are switching up variations and sets and reps every week? Mind you this is in regards to general strength and hypertrophy training and programming. Not something like CrossFit. Which honestly should still have progressive phases. There's just a lot more ground to cover in CrossFit.  Put simply, number one is to stick to, at least the same movements per week for an entire month. The sets and reps my vary, depending on the goal of the program, but keep the movements the same. The reason for doing this is two things. We can gauge progress, not only in adding more weight or mechanical load to each movement, but also building those neurological pathways for each pattern. We don't only build muscle. Part of that process is neurological adaptation, which can't happen if we are switching it up willy-nilly every week. Numbers two and three 2 = not working at a high enough intensity. 3 = trash volume just to add volume. The only program I have followed that had high volume that I could understand was German volume training, and a program by Hattie Boil (who has been training for over 13 years and gave very large ranges of volume based on your training history). She can handle high volume at high intensities, because of the capacity that she has worked up over a decade. That is not the case for most people doing high-volume work. Note that I said that she is working at high intensities, as in using high, challenging RPE, and at a high volume. This is what I would consider advanced training. Most programming involving high volume, mostly in the form of a lot of exercises, is not also working at a high enough intensity to get the results that people desire. Which are in this case, muscle games, or strength gains. More is not always more. Mechanical load or tension is the main driver of both strength and hypertrophy. So this should be the focus regardless of volume. It's not that high volume is bad. It's just that we want to make sure that the trainee is working at a high enough intensity to stimulate muscle growth. think about working at an RPE of eight, or only leaving one to two reps in the tank on most exercises if this is the goal. Which would be an RIR of 1-2. Number four is not using warm up sets in order to find the load you are going to use for your actual working sets. Often times we leave gains on the table because your first or maybe even first two sets were not at high enough intensities for the goal of the actual sit and rep scheme. This goes back to RPE, or RIR. Making sure that every set is actually at a proper working load and is challenging. Integrating warm-up sets can be helpful and will ensure that no gains are left on the table. Yes, I am talking about accessory work. In addition to your main exercises. You won't always need warm-up sets. But certainly at the beginning of a new phase you might want to use them. Until you know what your proper working load is. Number five mostly applies to people who program for themselves.

The art of story telling for content and sales. Something I say often is that content is everywhere and everything can be content. I also think marketing is everywhere and it behooves us as entrepreneurs to always be observing it. Most of us spend a lot of time consuming - be it via direct marketing or social media. Take a step back and observe, don't just consume. Be aware and take note. When you actually stick around to watch a full video, WHY? What sucked you in? What kept you paying attention? Why didn't you lose interest? I guarantee a big part of content that keeps you engaged has to do with story telling. Whether it's 10 seconds or 90 seconds. Whether it's text in a swipe graphic, Twitter or Instagram story. Maybe words aren't even involved. Maybe it's dance or a moving landscape. Story telling evokes feelings and feelings keep us around. I REPEAT - STORY TELLING EVOKES FEELINGS, AND FEELINGS KEEP US AROUND. Now is when you commit to approaching content and sales through the lens of story telling this quarter - this year. You'll see and feel it after this episode I hope, wherever you take in media. I have my business clients often write out and identify 2-3 brand stories. Events that led to why they coach the way they do. The stories that ultimately shaped their philosophy. The why behind their brand. If you've never done that, it might be a fun and helpful activity. These stories can and should be very grounding for your messaging and therefore your content and sales. They're a huge part of communicating and connecting with your audience.  The most important piece of story telling from a business standpoint is that people can either see themselves in the story, or that you draw it back to a collective human experience - relatability OR, inspiration. Remember the lens we're seeing this through - business sales and content. Watching Free Solo is mesmerizing AF and it might inspire you, but it's not selling you. Though I suppose it massively helped build his brand and bring awareness to him and all he's accomplished. Point is, stay focused - we want to dance with story telling on the day to day. In bite size pieces of content and then in sales. A good story - whether protested through video or text or photo evokes emotion, like we said but it also paints a picture for us. We can see the story playing out - directly or indirectly. Think about how you can do that with your content. Not every piece, but where it fits.  Story telling doesn't have to be any specific feeling. It just has to evoke a feeling. Or a series of feelings. I just don't want you to put yourself in a box. The best thing you can do with storytelling as be authentic as possible. As with anything in business and building a personal brand.  In your content: I encourage you to number one be playful and keep an open mind. Remember that storytelling is just a more specific piece of connecting with your audience. It should not be forced. That's why I say I want you to see your contact through the lens of potential for storytelling, or how you can improve your ability to tell stories. Think of how this can show up in any piece of content that you produce. Whether that is podcasts, Instagram swipe graphics, the caption of a post, or short and long form video. Always draw the story back to either a shared experience with the audience, or inspiration with action steps that they can take to better themselves. Especially if we are talking about health and fitness. And bettering themselves is not necessarily doing more, it can be having grace for themselves, or looking for joy. What does storytelling look like with different pieces of content, you might be wondering. Note that I said the caption. If storytelling is throwing you off, think about painting pictures for your audience. How can you make them feel like they are somewhere, or how can you help them see a certain situation play o...

Pricing is one of the biggest roadblocks that new and old coaches run into. Not knowing what to charge, and having mindset blocks around different price ranges. Along with not knowing whether to grandfather people, and when they want to increase their prices, or even how to increase their prices.  That's what we are going to dive into in today's episode. These are just opinions and my thoughts, so take them for what they're worth, but I hope that they provide some questions or perspective on the topic. Maybe some affirmation of what you already knew in your gut.  Premium pricing & Discounts How to use discounts but not devalue your offer - price higher, then cut I am talking about this topic from the perspective of someone in the health and fitness industry in the online space. Most coaches start off with some kind of one on one offer whether you are in the nutrition space, fitness, PT or something else. One on one is likely going to fall into premium pricing. It's a high touch offer, the demands time from you. In other words, it's active income, not passive. Which is more of a premium. I want you to be able to look at that objectively when deciding on your pricing. We don't want to just say that we are $500 a month because you pulled that number out of your asshole. I want you to lay out the deliverables of what it is that you offer, what value they are receiving and also what time it takes from you. I've said this 1 million times but you want to feel compensated for the work that you are doing otherwise you will end up resenting our clients. And that's just some thing that is silly and doesn't need to happen. So let's say that your offer is above $250 a month, or above $300 a month. You are in my opinion now into premium pricing. Again that is going to be very individual. Maybe you do one call per week, or no calls, but use Voxer to communicate with your clients. If you have taken my fitspro foundations course, you have all of this laid out in your final offer breakdown. There is messaging out there on both ends of the spectrum - be a gucci brand and never give discounts, and then the need to be accessible. Frankly you need to decide where your brand is going to sit in the market place. But I don't think you need to go fine yourself a box either. So let's talk about ways you can be premium and offer incentives and discounts. The slippery slope that can come with discounting your offer is the expectation for people to then just wait for the next discount. In turn, devaluing your offer. So, when launching, one approach we can take is to price your offer at the higher range of the value you've assigned it, and then discount it to a price still with your value buffer. So maybe you could charge $329 to $379. You list the price high and then discount it to a price you still feel good about. Another option is to ADD value for free vs cutting the price of your offer. Can you create something or add a call or service to make your offer even more desirable? Ideally this is a 1:many add on or something that DOES NOT require you in real time. For example, if they enroll in your coaching by x date, they get access to an excluding on demand training, or a group webinar for planning out their fitness goals this year. Discounts and promos can be inline with premium offering. That's my point. You can do both and feel compensated. I do not suggest heavily discounting your premium pricing. Or if you do, make it limited to the first month for instance. The last thing we want is a 6 month client paying $100 less per month than they should be. For those who are passionate about accessibility - I see you. Hear me out. Accessibility AND profitability require large client pools. So focus on creating profit and revenue FIRST, so that you can then scale and create something with a lower price point. Being accessible but not profitable is not a successful or rewarding BUSINESS plan.