Podcasts about body sculpt

Are you ready to transform your life in just six weeks?  Whether you're looking to shed those extra pounds, build muscle, or simply adopt a healthier lifestyle, our Six Weeks to Family Fitness program will help you! Imagine waking up every day feeling energized, confident, and ready to conquer the world. With our expert guidance, family friendly workout plans, and delicious nutrition tips, you'll be amazed at what you can achieve in such a short time. But that's not all! When you join our Six Weeks to Fitness program, you'll become part of a supportive community of like-minded individuals who are all on the same journey. Together, we'll motivate and inspire each other to reach our fitness goals. "But that's not even the best part. When you join our program, you'll also get: 12 high-energy workouts led by top-notch fitness pros. 3 nutrition workshops with a special hands-on cooking class taught by certified nutritionists. Recordings of every class so you can work out on your schedule and repeat them as much as you want. Daily motivational tips and emails from me to keep you inspired. A FREE subscription to the Body Sculpt of New York Six Weeks to Fitness newsletter. Personalized wellness coaching to help you reach your goals. Daily fitness and nutrition worksheets to track your progress. This isn't a scam-it's a game-changer. But you need to act fast to secure your spot. The program begins on October 8 and runs through November 14, so grab your spot now before registration is closed, and don't forget to share this with your friends and family. Go to www.bodysculpt.org to register or for more information. You can also email me at vince@sixweeks.com.

Connect with Batista Gremaud: Batista Gremaud is the CEO and president of Dr Fitness International, Strength Training Expert, No1 Best Selling author of Feminine Body Design, Empowering Fitness For A Pain-Free Life, co-creator of the Feminine Body Design online strength training mentoring system, co-host of the Esoteric Principles of Bodybuilding, and producer of the Dr Fitness USA's show; Recipient of the most outstanding fitness program 2019 by The Winners Circle, Mastermind at Sea. She writes for The Heart Of Hollywood Magazine, was featured in The Los Angeles Tribune Magazine and Voyage LA. She appeared as an expert authority speaker on the International Pain Foundation, and is a presenter on various health summits such as “Life Mastery”, “Girl You Are Enough”  and  “The Teen Suicide Prevention Show”. SCULPT YOUR BODY - SCULPT YOUR BRAIN Build Your Body With Neuroscience Business Name: Dr Fitness USA / Dr Fitness International Location/Address: 313 Grand Blvd #1031, Venice, CA 90291 Guest's Name & Position: Batista Gremaud: Co-Founder Cell Phone: 310.562.6047 Bus Phone: 424.245.6560 Fax: (310) 382-2459 Skype: DrFitnessUSA Email: batista@drfitnessusa.com Website: DrFitnessUSA.com – DrFitnessInt.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/batistagremaud/ https://twitter.com/batistagremaud https://www.facebook.com/drfitnessusa Connect with Host Terry Lohrbeer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2658545911065461/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrylohrbeer/ Instagram: kickassboomers Twitter: @kickassboomers   Connect to Premiere Podcast Pros for podcast editing: premierepodcastpros@gmail.com

Connect with Batista Gremaud: Batista Gremaud is the CEO and president of Dr Fitness International, Strength Training Expert, No1 Best Selling author of Feminine Body Design, Empowering Fitness For A Pain-Free Life, co-creator of the Feminine Body Design online strength training mentoring system, co-host of the Esoteric Principles of Bodybuilding, and producer of the Dr Fitness USA's show; Recipient of the most outstanding fitness program 2019 by The Winners Circle, Mastermind at Sea. She writes for The Heart Of Hollywood Magazine, was featured in The Los Angeles Tribune Magazine and Voyage LA. She appeared as an expert authority speaker on the International Pain Foundation, and is a presenter on various health summits such as “Life Mastery”, “Girl You Are Enough”  and  “The Teen Suicide Prevention Show”. SCULPT YOUR BODY - SCULPT YOUR BRAIN Build Your Body With Neuroscience Business Name: Dr Fitness USA / Dr Fitness International Location/Address: 313 Grand Blvd #1031, Venice, CA 90291 Guest's Name & Position: Batista Gremaud: Co-Founder Cell Phone: 310.562.6047 Bus Phone: 424.245.6560 Fax: (310) 382-2459 Skype: DrFitnessUSA Email: batista@drfitnessusa.com Website: DrFitnessUSA.com – DrFitnessInt.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/batistagremaud/ https://twitter.com/batistagremaud https://www.facebook.com/drfitnessusa Connect with Host Terry Lohrbeer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2658545911065461/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrylohrbeer/ Instagram: kickassboomers Twitter: @kickassboomers   Connect to Premiere Podcast Pros for podcast editing: premierepodcastpros@gmail.com

In this special presentation of my Six Weeks to Fitness podcast, I am joined by Fruitarian Orvel Douglas. Orvel attended Highbury & Islington College in London, England, where he received his Diploma with the International Therapy Examination Council. His journey into nutrition started about 25 years ago, when he weighed about 200 pounds and did not like the way his body looked or felt, which led him to study nutrition, and using his knowledge of nutrition along with exercise, he lost a total of 50 pounds in 8 weeks and totally transformed his body and his life. Subsequently, he teamed up with my organization, Body Sculpt of New York and became the lead nutritionist for our Six Weeks to Fitness programs and provided nutrition counseling and workshops for Medgar Evers College, United Federation of Teachers; DC 37, 1199 SEIU, and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. 10 years ago, Orvel moved on from the vegan lifestyle to a fruitarian lifestyle. He is the creator and founder of the Fruit Feast Challenge on Facebook, where he is literally transforming hundreds of lives all across the world educating the masses about the healing powers of fruits. During this interview, Orvel will share his journey into becoming a Fruitarian, and the many benefits you can expect to experience by adding fruits to your diet. He will also share some of the many successes participants in his Fruit Feast Challenges have experienced through the years, everything from the reversal of diabetes, heart disease, weight loss and kidney disease. I truly believe you will enjoy this interview and it may change your life, or at least it may change the way you look at fruits.

Vince Ferguson: Dr. Ashley Lucas is the Founder of PHD Weight Loss. She holds a PhD in sports nutrition and chronic disease, and she's also a registered dietician. She comes to the field of nutrition and weight management with a unique background as a professional ballet dancer. That's right, a professional ballet dancer, and joining me today on my podcast to discuss long-term weight loss success, which is so important and why she believes that weight gain isn't your fault. Let's welcome Dr. Ashley Lucas. Dr. Ashley, how are you? Ashley Lucas: I'm great. Thanks so much for having me. Vince Ferguson: Well, thank you for coming on this show, but before we get started, I want to know, I want you to share with my listeners and viewers where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Ashley Lucas: Sure. Yeah, I grew up in Washington State and it was a great childhood. I trained as a classical ballet dancer when I was young and worked real hard and just didn't have any natural talent to speak of. And so I was always pushing my body to do things that it naturally didn't want to do. I was injured all the time and I really just had a constant fight to fit the really lean body that we are or were at that time required to fit, you know, as being a ballet dancer. So I had struggles with that. I was told I was fat countless times despite restricting calories like crazy and not eating any fat because I thought that if we ate fat, we'd get fat. Vince Ferguson: Right. Ashley Lucas: And so I had that constant struggle, but throughout that childhood, I learned perseverance and persistence and wouldn't have changed any aspect of it, but it pushed me into what I'm doing now today. Vince Ferguson: Really? So how long were you a professional ballet dancer? Ashley Lucas: Yeah, I started training when I was 4 years old and I went to a boarding school for it during high school. I completed my undergraduate degree in ballet performance and then went on and danced with companies across the country. And so, yeah, I had a fairly successful career because I'm just a little bit obsessive and I was so passionate and just loved everything about it. And actually the end of my dancing career, it was when I landed in New York, I was actually chosen to perform at The Joyce Theater. Vince Ferguson: Nice. Ashley Lucas: And I was flown up there, but instead of finding myself in the spotlight there, participating in these once in a lifetime performances, I found myself in the ER. Vince Ferguson: Really? Ashley Lucas: Yeah, I had no idea what was going on with my health. I thought that maybe I was having a heart attack, a panic attack. Yeah and basically that's what it was. It was a panic attack and the doctors after a whole bunch of different tests said I was just underfed and overexercised and I just couldn't keep going. So I had to step away from my dancing career at that time in my mid 20s. Vince Ferguson: Really? And so what brought you to PHD Weight Loss? Ashley Lucas: Well, from that point, I knew my body couldn't continue doing what it was. And I was really frustrated that I was injured all the time and my body was never at the body composition it needed to be despite working really, really hard. So I decided, you know, I understood how significantly nutrition impacted my own sport performance. So that pushed me into just learning more about nutrition and I went on and earned my PhD in sports nutrition and chronic disease. And I studied exactly that. I wanted to understand what happens to our metabolism when we chronically under eat, you know, when we're always dieting, what happens there and how do we achieve optimal body composition? How do we drop weight? How do we reduce body fat without causing harm metabolically? So I studied that. And then I think most importantly what I looked at is mentally and emotionally from the habits and behaviors that we have, how do we create sustainable change? So we don't just drop weight quickly. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: And doing our metabolism and then have it all come back. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: So, that's really what I focused on, and after that, I taught at the Ohio State University, but there realized..... Vince Ferguson: The Ohio State? Ashley Lucas: Ohio State, that's right. I realized that I just am very impatient and I need to see dramatic change in people, probably like you, or probably pretty similar in that respect. And so I went back to school again to become a registered dietician. I wanted to be this true expert in the field of weight management and I felt that, that was what it needed to take. But there I was filled with all of this same information. I was told, well, people just need to eat less. They need to move more. It's all a calories in, calories out kind of equation and people just need to have more discipline and eat everything in moderation and avoid fat and eat 6 to 11 servings of grain a day. And it didn't make sense to me. And so I took what I learned there and flipped it all upside down, pretty much everything that I was taught I questioned. Ashley Lucas: And from the answers that I found from more research and the research in my doctoral work, I created PHD Weight Loss. So we have five brick and mortar locations, but we also have an amazing nationwide at-home program where we are serving thousands of people all across the country no matter where they live in a really unique approach that challenges the standard ways of thinking when it comes to nutrition and weight loss. So that is my story of kind of how I've come to this point in helping people just reverse obesity and obesity related health conditions and I'm more passionate about this than I was when I was dancing. So I'm so glad that I've found purpose and passion within myself. Vince Ferguson: Oh yeah. I'm sure. And I'm sure quite a few other people are happy that you found purpose. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. Maybe. I hope so. Vince Ferguson: Exactly. How long have you been doing this now? Ashley Lucas: Oh, probably about 12 years. Vince Ferguson: About 12 years. Ashley Lucas: Yes. Vince Ferguson: Wow. because I've been to your website and I've seen hundreds. I'm not sure if it's hundreds, but I've seen quite a few testimonials. Ashley Lucas: Yes. Ashley Lucas: We have hundreds of testimonials. Vince Ferguson: You do have hundreds? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: That is amazing. That's amazing. Okay. Because we are overwhelmed right now with information about diet and exercise, right, and so much thought, so much is given, so much information is out there, it's like information overload. So what makes your company different from other companies that's out there with this information? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. I mean, we just streamline it all. We don't listen to the conventional wisdom. We create mostly a metabolic shift in the body. So we teach the body how to burn fat for fuel. And it doesn't require you to be Keto or very low carb or Atkins or Paleo or vegan. But what we do is we really take this unique approach where we can guide you on what your unique body needs, on how much to eat, when, what, and just create a really clear customized meal plan to support that aspect and create a metabolic shift from within. So it feels good and you don't have hunger or cravings and we can break that sugar addiction without any withdrawal symptoms. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. So there's no cookie cutter approach here. Ashley Lucas: No, it's going to be customized to each person. Vince Ferguson: But you believe in a low carb diet basically. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. I mean, I believe that we all have a unique tolerance level of how many carbohydrates we can consume. Everybody's different. What I can tolerate is probably much different than what you can tolerate. My husband and I were on a different paradigm as well from what we can tolerate. He comes from a family of morbid obesity, and in order for him to maintain his optimal level of health, he's pretty low carb. For me, I can tolerate a little bit more, I've got to be aware, but I now exercise much less. Probably I need to do more. You could help me with that, but...I took in much less and I weigh, my body fat is leaner than it ever was when I was dancing because of the shift in how I eat now. Vince Ferguson: Really amazing. And you've seen, with what you've seen through your research, you've been able to reduce chronic obesity, chronic illnesses. Basically, you've seen a lot of that happen. Ashley Lucas: So much. And, it's not from the weight loss necessarily. It's from how we're eating and creating this shift in the body. I mean, we have a client who comes to mind, John, and he started with us, had about 50 pounds to drop, but was on 90 units of insulin a day type two diabetic, like that's pretty intense. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: Within a week, he had to drop his insulin needs in half. Within three weeks, he was on about six units of insulin a day and now he's dropped to the 50 pounds and he's no longer diabetic. So, you know, a lot of these conditions were told they're chronic, you know, you're just going to have to medicate to continue dealing with diabetes. And that's not true. It doesn't have to be progressive. You can put it into remission. And I like to use the word remission. Vince Ferguson: Okay. Ashley Lucas: If you go back to the old habits and behaviors that got you there in the first place, you know, it's going to come back. It's not that we've cured it, but we've put it into remission. And if we can maintain the weight loss and these habits and this lifestyle, then it never needs to come back. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Because I know you believe that weight gain is not all full necessarily. Ashley Lucas: Yes. Right. Vince Ferguson: So what do you base that on? Ashley Lucas: A few things. So the first thing is, so the belly fat, we know. Yeah that's right. We all like to let go of. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Ashley Lucas: These active, these fat cells in the belly. They're different than the fat throughout the rest of the body. They get in there, they pack in tight into your organs and around the organs, it squeezes the organs and in time, this belly fat mass becomes almost like a tumor. It grows its own blood vessels and it secretes its own hormones and I want you to think that this fat mass in your belly is hungry. It has demands and urges and cravings and addiction. Like it has a mind of its own. And all it wants to do is get fatter as fast as possible. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: So the more belly fat you have, the more hunger and more cravings and more addiction to food you have. The slower the metabolism you have. So you really don't have to eat that much, and you'll witness continued weight gain. I talk to women all the time who say, gosh, I just really don't eat that much or I eat really healthy, but no matter what, I'm still putting on the pounds. Maybe I exercise a lot, but I'm still, you know, 30, 50 pounds more than I want to be or need to be. And so that's not your fault. It's all driven by this fat mass that's in there that just wants to grow. It makes you hungry. It makes you lazy because the last thing it wants you to do is go expend a ton of energy. So, yeah, it has nothing to do with willpower or your personality. Ashley Lucas: It's all just driven by this thing that just wants to grow. In men, it secretes this hormone called aromatase, which takes your testosterone and converts it into estrogen. Vince Ferguson: Wow. Ashley Lucas: So if you're carrying belly fat and you're a guy you're going to have much lower T and higher estrogen and you're going to find that your fat deposits are primarily in the chest, the throat and the face area. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: And you're going to be at real high risk of high blood pressure and sleep apnea. So, it secretes this hormone called Interleukin 6, which is a really inflammatory hormone. Vince Ferguson: Okay. Ashley Lucas: And what's really interesting is that has come to light with all of this COVID-19 situation. And so we know that individuals who are overweight and specifically obese are at a real high risk of suffering from severe COVID-19. And the reason why is because of interleukin 6. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Ashley Lucas: What happens when we have COVID-19 and some of us have the cytokine storm that we've heard of on the news. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: And what's happening is these cytokines are releasing interleukin 6. So if you already have this belly fat mass in there that's producing interleukin 6, you're at a baseline high level. Now, you have the cytokines flowing through and it's just a load of interleukin 6 that your body cannot handle and it mounts this severe response. So that's why if we're overweight or obese, we have such a higher risk of having a severe condition. It doesn't have to do with the actual, necessarily the fat, but it's what the fat is doing in the body that creates the havoc we're experiencing. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Wow. That's very good. Why is belly fat so dangerous? Ashley Lucas: Because of that. Because it secretes these hormones, because you know in women it secretes also this hormone called aromatase that increases our risk of estrogen dependent breast cancer. So, yeah, it's just an active tumor that we do not want in the body. It acts like that. Vince Ferguson: Now, in addition, I know you said, so it's not our fault, not totally. Would you also blame the food industry because some of the food is addictive, the chemicals that's in the food. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. I know. I had said there are a few reasons and that is one of the reasons for sure. They create these foods that smell and taste and look just perfectly. So we really cannot eat just one. Vince Ferguson: Yeah exactly. Ashley Lucas: A huge component of it. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Yes. So how do we stop cravings? because you know, all of us have these cravings that we got to grab another donut, we got to eat more ice cream. How do we control those cravings? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. I mean, there are a few different ways. So one is to create a shift in the body metabolically. So if we can teach it how to burn fat for fuel, then the body is not going to have the cravings for the fast food and the sugar. We can dull the signals. So right now most of us are carbohydrate, sugar burners. And we need to eat every three to four hours. If not, we get hangry, we crave these certain foods and usually they're kind of carby or salty foods that we're just craving and our hunger cues, we can't trust our body when we're hungry, when we're tired, it's all out of whack. So when we can create this shift in the body and feed our body in a different way, then you will find that we can actually trust what it's telling us and we won't be hungry. Ashley Lucas: We won't have cravings. So that's one of the aspects. Also recognizing what are our trigger foods, they're different for each person. And that's why the eating in moderation, everything in moderation I think was coined by someone who's naturally lean. Because I think I've met three people in my lifetime and working with a lot, thousands of people, who can actually eat everything in moderation. Vince Ferguson: So you don't believe in that. Ashley Lucas: I don't. I think it's caused a lot of issues actually. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Now, but you do believe in eating three or four hours each day. Ashley Lucas: It's different for each person. Generally when we start with our clients, we have our clients eating every three to four hours a day just to make sure that we're managing blood glucose and we're moderating it. So there's no highs or lows, but once someone becomes fat adapted, they don't have to eat every three to four hours. Their body, when their metabolism is fat adapted, they can actually tap into the fat we have stored on our body and burn that for fuel when needed. So a lot of our clients maybe, you know, breakfast if they're hungry, but breakfast really isn't the most important meal of the day. Vince Ferguson: Really? Explain that. It is not? What really? Ashley Lucas: So, you know, Kellogg actually coined that phrase to sell more breakfast cereals. Vince Ferguson: Really? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. There's not research to support the fact that breakfast is actually the most important meal of the day. It is when you're trying to sell more frosted flakes though. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Yes. Most definitely, a lot of research, a lot of companies that sponsor research is using to push their product. Correct? Ashley Lucas: That's right. Vince Ferguson: That's funny. But that's quite interesting too though. Now tell my listeners about, my viewers, how important is supplements, supplementation. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. You know, I think that there is a time and a place for supplements. I mean, I take some of them to help me with different aspects. Like, let's see, vitamin D I think that the majority of us are deficient in vitamin D, especially during the winter. So that could be an important one to take. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: A lot of us these days because of our environment and stress levels, we have gut issues. And so taking support for the gut for some people can be helpful, but there's not going to be supplements that are just going to allow you to drop the weight. And if there are, it's usually a quick fix and you haven't changed any habit, behavior, or really learned what your body needs and it's not going to have the lasting impact that you're really looking for. So yeah, I think there's a time and a place, but just being aware of what your body needs is going to be important with that. Vince Ferguson: And you talked about behavior, and I know you focus on behavior and emotional support. How important is that in your client's weight loss journey and sustainability. Ashley Lucas: It's the most important part. Vince Ferguson: The most important part. Ashley Lucas: It is. Vince Ferguson: Really? Ashley Lucas: The nutrition aspect is actually one of the most simplest part. Once we can get it all dialed in, but 80% of any big change comes from the mind and dropping weight and maintaining it is definitely categorized as such. So yeah, the majority of this journey comes from the mind, the mental, emotional, habits, behaviors. So with our clients they're coming in or we are helping them over the phone or by video every week with one on one coaching, support, and accountability, where we talk about those things, what habits and behaviors do we need to shift? What are those sabotaging thoughts that keep coming up and how do we respond to them in a different way? How do we change our stories? Ashley Lucas: You know, oftentimes I'll sit with clients and they'll say, I'm never going to get to 160 or I'm stuck here at 160. Well, that's just a story. And if they talk to themselves with those words, then that's going to become their reality. So we're constantly shifting and moving that and creating new neural pathways in the brain. So we can actually sustain a new body and a new mind. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Wow. That's awesome. Sounds like a lot of psychology going on in here too. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. It is. Vince Ferguson: Wow. That's amazing. Now what about inflammation? Because you touched on that as well. What foods cause inflammation in the body? Ashley Lucas: So in general, when we eat above our carbohydrate tolerance level and it really doesn't matter where that comes from, it could be a sweet potato, it could be rice, it could be pasta, it could be gummy bears. It doesn't matter where the carbohydrate really comes from. If we're eating too much of it for our unique body, then we're going to secrete a hormone called insulin. And I'm sure you guys have heard about insulin, but insulin is a really inflammatory hormone. And I think we can all agree that we don't want to have high levels of insulin in the body. So we just need to eat to support keeping that insulin as low as possible. And with that, we'll see that our inflammation continues to reduce. Vince Ferguson: Huh. Now as a trainer, I often discuss the importance of exercise when it comes to losing weight and nutrition. But I understand you don't put as much emphasis on exercise when it comes to sustainable weight loss. Correct? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. You know, so I view exercise as not being a huge weight loss tool, but a really big wellness tool. So it's very important leading an active lifestyle, moving, oh, I read this interesting research study today actually and I hope I say this right, but basically they said that even if you move 180 minutes a week of cardio, which is about what, 30 minutes a day of zone two cardio, which means that like you're having a hard time talking to the next person, and if you sit over five hours a day, it erases the benefits of all that cardio. Vince Ferguson: Really? Ashley Lucas: Yes. Vince Ferguson: What? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. So movement for heart health is important, but if you think you're going to get on the elliptical or workout and drop 50 pounds, it's likely not going to happen. So, I look at exercise as huge important to maintain muscle and mood and stress and sleep and to maintain a weight loss. It's going to be important. I think resistance training, lifting weights is like the number one thing. Vince Ferguson: Build muscle. Ashley Lucas: Yeah, muscle. And it's hard to do. I'm trying to build muscle right now and man, it's a challenge. Vince Ferguson: Why is it hard though? Because I know you're on a great diet. Why is it hard for you? Ashley Lucas: I mean, I think genetics have a lot to do with it. You know, some people are going to build muscle easier. I think hormones also have a lot to do with it. And it just takes overload and someone knowing what their doing to help you. So same thing, you know, I think that weight loss, it just takes accountability and support and outside knowledge and same thing with building muscle. You know, it's helpful to have someone by your side to tell you what to do and how to time collapse. You're not wasting so much time in the gym or trying all these different diets on your own and it just not working and you could just get help and make it happen. And it happens quickly. Our men drop three to five pounds a week, our women two to three pounds. So it doesn't have to take forever. Vince Ferguson: Well, what about people who believe they need to drop 10, 15 pounds right away? And they think like the crash weight diet is the way to go. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: What's wrong with that? Ashley Lucas: We know that doesn't work. Lots of water weight there and also to create any kind of habit change, it takes at least six weeks. And that's quick. So yeah, if you drop it in three weeks through a juice cleanse, it's not going to work. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. So you are familiar with juice cleanses because a lot of people use them, do them. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. A lot of people do them. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. But I think in addition to a sustainable weight loss program, I mean, I think juicing is fine as part of your regular dietary program, but not something that you're looking to do just to lose weight and think you're going to keep it off that way, you know. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. I mean it depends. Juicing, you know, I actually prefer a smoothie if you're going to do that. Because if you think, let's say you juice apple and how much apple are you going to have to squeeze down in there? And all that's left is the sugar. It took out all the fiber, a lot of the nutrients with it. So you're left with a cup of sugar really. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Ashley Lucas: So you're much better off just eating the apple whole if you want it because that fiber is going to slow the insulin response or if you juice a whole bunch of green stuff, it's still just the sugar that's left with some vitamins and minerals in there, but you're much better off eating the salad so you can actually feel full. Vince Ferguson: Right. Ashley Lucas: And delay the response of insulin and glucose, so. Yeah, juicing is kind of tricky. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Yeah. Because I know some people believe that you juice, you get the vitamins, minerals right to the blood system right away, you know, so that's one school of thought. Ashley Lucas: Right. Vince Ferguson: But I agree with you as well. I believe in the best of both worlds. I juice and I do smoothies. Right. So that's my school of thought. Anyway, yeah, that's good. Now, how long are your sessions with your clients? Are they hourly sessions? Ashley Lucas: No. We have availability for our clients to connect with us as often as they need throughout the week. So it's really whatever they need, but most often, I don't find that long sessions talking about things and circling back and forth is really effective. We're very effective and efficient and to the point, so we give our clients, you know, three things that they can focus on each week to actually take and implement, come back and then we add three more on top of that. So, really all about us is baby steps, bite size pieces so that it's not overwhelming. We respect our clients' time so that, you know everyone is so busy that I wouldn't want them to have to hang out with us for an hour every time, but we're always available. We see our clients each week for as long as they need to get their questions answered, but since we have such good communication with them, people are usually in and out in about 15 minutes. Vince Ferguson: Is that right? Really? Ashley Lucas: Yep. Vince Ferguson: What about virtually, when they call you for consultations? Ashley Lucas: Same thing, about 15, maybe 20 minutes max, but you know, if they want to have three of those a week, they can, but we're so on top of it and they're just getting it and we make it easy. We provide about 85% of the food at the beginning as well. So no cost associated with the food and for our nationwide clients, we ship it for free. Everything's covered and it covers breakfast, most of lunch and snacks. Yeah. And dinner is always or at least one meal, usually it's dinner is going to be the client's responsibility so that they learn one meal at a time. Clients can do their own food if they want to, but I'd say 97% of our clients choose to use our foods because they're just a tool. So we help them with this dinner meal and what it looks like, recipes, dining out, takeout. Ashley Lucas: And then they have the foods to help support them earlier in the day and then they feel like they're this expert. They become very self-sufficient for dinner. And we work on, we practice lunch. So now they've got their dinner and they've got lunch. Then we move on and we practice breakfast. So by the time we get the body where it needs to be, which in our eyes is fully collapsing that belly fat mass, we've got to fully collapse the fat mass or else the weight is going to come back. Vince Ferguson: Right. Ashley Lucas: Right. It's like shaving the top of the weed. If you lose 30 pounds of the 60-pound fat mass. So for a lot of people who dropped weight only to regain it, they've not gotten their body where it needs to be. So, anyway, once we get the body where it needs to be, all of our clients understand their eating style for the future. Ashley Lucas: They're not dependent on any of our food items, but we've allowed habits and behaviors and new ways of thinking to start to be ingrained in the brain and then we practice that in maintenance, and maintenance with us is free, it's for life. We never leave our clients' side. So most of our clients like to meet at least once monthly and they do that forever. You know, we have clients from you know, six, seven years ago when I opened our first PHD brick and mortar space who come in and, Susie, I just got a note that she was back in, checking in and she started with me six years ago and she's up five pounds over that course of time. And she's about 70 years old. Vince Ferguson: Really? Ashley Lucas: So yeah, she just checks in and five pounds makes her feel uncomfortable. Her pants are a little tight. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Ashley Lucas: And so we just air correct early on and get her back down where she feels her best. And there's no cost associated, you know, as we can air correct that early on. Vince Ferguson: Maintenance. Amazing. Awesome. Awesome. I also went to your website. You seem to have a large team of professionals working with you. Ashley Lucas: Yeah, we are almost 40 of us now, which is so fun. Vince Ferguson: 40? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: How do you manage all those people? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. That's a whole another podcast. Vince Ferguson: That's a whole another podcast. Ashley Lucas: No, it's so fun. We love it. And we just have systems and accountability charts in place and it's clear responsibilities and roles. But as we expand, our nationwide program is amazing. We've actually doubled the number of clients who got started just in a month, last month. Yes. So our schedule is just filling up for nationwide clients, which I just love. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Amazing. But it's only one of you, so it's not easy, you know, what I'm saying? So you have to have systems in place. Ashley Lucas: Yes. Definitely. Vince Ferguson: Has the pandemic affected your business in a positive note, beyond the fact that it was rough on people, but business wise, has it been a blessing for you? Ashley Lucas: You know, I know that we are so busy now, but we have always been very busy. Vince Ferguson: Always been? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. So I do know and believe in my heart that we are, and what you do, we are on the forefront of all of this. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: The only thing that we can slightly control right now I feel like is our health. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: The only thing we can do to make sure that we are strong enough to overcome whatever comes our way is to get healthy. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: So I think that people are understanding that and maybe taking more responsibility for their own health because the only person who can change it is you. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Ashley Lucas: And I think people will have maybe a negative outcome to COVID and then be like, oh my gosh, my health does matter. Vince Ferguson: Most definitely. Ashley Lucas: You know, and then decide to make a change or the best way would be, if they realize that, if we can it before something happens. Vince Ferguson: Yes, yes. Ashley Lucas: Be proactive rather than reactive. That is definitely ideal. Vince Ferguson: Definitely. Wow. I just think that you guys are doing an amazing job, but before I let you go, I know you have a book and talk about that. And I know it's accessible to people. I really want to talk about the book. Ashley Lucas: Yes. It's called the Ultimate Weight Loss Secrets and I talk a lot about the visceral fat, the belly fat, what it does, how it works, you know, why weight gain isn't your fault. And then I provide a lot of simple evidence based strategies that folks can implement into their own life right away to see big change. So a lot of folks have said that it's really helpful. And then I share a lot of stories in there. So it's fun. And it's free right now to download at our website. Vince Ferguson: And, yeah. Okay. And speaking of your website, please tell my listeners and viewers where they can download it. Ashley Lucas: Sure. Yes. It's available at myphdweightloss.com. So that's myphdweightloss.com. And then sometimes I'll put it up on our social media and I try to provide a lot of tips there. And my handle for social media is Dr_AshleyLucas. So that's another place to be able to access it. Vince Ferguson: Perfect. Perfect. Any last words from my viewers and listeners before I let you go. Ashley Lucas: Gosh, I would just say that there is hope to making change. So even if you've dropped weight in the past only to regain it, it really isn't your fault. You don't have to live there. You can make a change for the rest of your life and simply because you want to. So just that there's hope and you can do it if you have this strong desire within you to do, to make a change. Vince Ferguson: So you've actually put the responsibility, the onus back on the person on the client, right? Ashley Lucas: Yeah. Yeah. If we have the right tools in the toolbox, then it's doable. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Oh. And you make it sound so doable and I know why you're doing so well because you have, and you have the research behind you, you have the testimonials and your clients who absolutely love you and your work. It's amazing. And the timing couldn't be better. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you for all the work you do, and keeping people fit and strong. Vince Ferguson: Oh, it's my pleasure. That's something I'm committed to doing. And hey, we're in this together and you know, I actually watched the video with you and Pedro. Ashley Lucas: Pedro. Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Actually, he is a great guy as a matter of fact. Ashley Lucas: Yes. Vince Ferguson: I have seen his videos and I had his current CEO, Bryce Henson on my show. Ashley Lucas: Yeah. Bryce is great. I chatted with him a few weeks ago. Vince Ferguson: Great dude. Great dude. Has on our podcast a few weeks ago. Great guy. A lot of good energy going on around here. Ashley Lucas: Right. Vince Ferguson: So with that being said, Dr. Ashley Lucas on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York, it's my nonprofit and Six Weeks To Fitness, I want to really thank you for coming on my show today. Ashley Lucas: Thanks for inviting me. Vince Ferguson: Ah, it was truly a pleasure and to my listeners and viewers, I hope this program was encouraging and inspiring that you will continue tuning in to my Six Weeks To Fitness Podcast. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them below or email me at vince@sixweeks.com and don't forget to subscribe. So you don't miss any future episodes. And remember, we don't stop exercising because we grow old. We grow old because we stop exercising.

It is the perfect way to eliminate stubborn fat areas we struggle to get rid of through exercise and healthy eating. Tracey Lange speaks with Body Sculpt's Lindsay Fortuin about fat freezing, a non-invasive fat reduction treatment. For more info visit www.body-sculpt.co.za See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bryce Henson is a fitness expert, coach, author, and inspirational leader. He is also the CEO of Fit Body Bootcamp. The world's fastest growing fitness bootcamp franchise. Having over 10 years of experience in the fitness industry and owning two Fit Body Bootcamp locations. Bryce's passion is spreading fitness to the world. He is mentoring fitness professionals on how to grow their fitness business and change more lives in their local communities. Bryce also co-leads a Fitness Body Bootcamp Mastermind Group. Vince Ferguson: Bryce, thank you for coming on the show and giving us some of your time. But before we discuss Fit Body Bootcamp, tell my listeners and viewers, where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Bryce Henson: Yeah, so I'm a California guy now, but I grew up actually in the Midwest, in the state of Michigan and shoot, I feel blessed to be able to grow up in the first world, like probably most of your audience, but it was actually quite a turbulent young childhood. And actually I say that I'm from the Midwest. The first 10 years I spent in Atlanta, Georgia and living with my mom, my dad, and two other siblings so three kids. And my dad unfortunately, was a drug addict, an alcoholic and addicted to gambling. So not necessarily conducive to a good family upbringing Vince Ferguson: Yes. Bryce Henson: And the verbal abuse eventually became physical. So even though it was, or I guess at the time, I like to refer this as it was a blessing disguised as tragedy. As it turns out, the abuse became physical and my mom, by the grace of God, escaped with her life and her three kids. And we shot up to Michigan to live with her family, her mom, my grandmother for the better part of 10 years. Bryce Henson: And while that was a very challenging turbulent childhood, it taught me a lot of lessons on work ethic and on drive and family values. So that was kind of my base. And then eventually ended up graduating from college, moved to California and got into the fitness industry, which I'm sure we'll talk about. Vince Ferguson: Oh, most definitely. Well, was there a time in your life where you were not fit? You look great. Tell me. Bryce Henson: Well, thank you. Absolutely. And I guess that latter part of my childhood when we escaped, if you will, to Michigan in the Midwest. It's a great place to live incredible people, very compassionate, but not necessarily the fitness capital of the world. So I put myself through school. I'm a graduate of Michigan State and while I graduated, I took it seriously. I definitely was not a fitness guy. So my staple of my diet was Taco Bell, fast food, a lot of keg parties in youth. So as is common for college kids, but there I was about 21 years of age when I graduated and then ended up getting a job in Los Angeles which moved me to California. And at that point, we'll kind of talk about it, I'm sure, but I wasn't fit. While I was excited to be in California, the palm trees, the blue skies, the sunshine. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Bryce Henson: I was 21, had very little work experience, job experience. I had 20 pounds of body fat, very little muscle in my body. And if I'm being honest with you, Vince I had more dark days than good, just because of my lack of fitness. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Wow. But what was the aha moment for you that put you on the path to getting healthy? Bryce Henson: Yeah. Yeah. Great question. So after I landed in Southern California and Los Angeles, and like I said, I mean, it wasn't all drear and career. Certainly there were some benefits, but because I went through a very challenging point. I wasn't confident, didn't have the assertiveness or the vibrancy, the energy that I do now. And it all came to a lack of fitness. So, after living in LA like that for probably about a year and a half, a fortuitous situation happened. A close friend of mine that I went to college with moved to Southern California, and we ended up living together. And it took me about probably a few months before I mustered up enough courage to say, "Hey, Adam, can you show me how to lift weights?" Because he wasn't on the cover of Men's Health, but he could have been. He had the six pack abs, the physique, the energy, the vibrance. All the girls loved him. I really looked up to that. Vince Ferguson: Oh yeah. Bryce Henson: So after living with him for a few months, he ended up taking me under wing his wing and that's actually what started my fitness transformation. Vince Ferguson: Nice. Nice. But now you are the CEO of Fit Body Bootcamp. How did that transition happen? Bryce Henson: Whoo! Well, that's a little bit more of a long-winded story, but if you have a few minutes, I'd be happy to share. Vince Ferguson: I'm interested. Bryce Henson: Yeah. So basically after I lived with Adam, I mustered enough courage. He said that he would work with me and introduce me to fitness, but he said, "I need you to commit to at least 90 days, Bryce, because I get this question asked so many times that very few people stick with me." So ended up committing to him. And if I'm being honest, Vince, part of me was thinking to myself in the little voice in the back of my mind, "I'm going to do what he says I'm going to do or needs me to do. And then when it doesn't work for me, at least I tried." Bryce Henson: But as it turns out, he introduced me to lifting weights, to circuit training, to clean eating, nutrition. But most importantly, which I know your viewers are getting a lot of value from, is the coaching and accountability. Because without that coaching, that accountability, that personal kind of training and accountability, I would like to look you in the eye and tell you I would be a fit guy, but I don't know if I would've. I can't do that. Bryce Henson: So as it turns out over that 90 day turned into about a six- month clip that I drastically transformed my physique. I dropped 20 pounds of fat put on 20 pounds of muscle. But more than the physique, it changed my life. I had energy, the confidence. I became the top performing sales rep in my company. And that was really the base and what introduced me to the fitness industry. But it wasn't until about two years later when I was at the gym and a couple guys came up to me and said, "Hey, man. How do you lift weights? Or what do you eat?" And a light bulb went on to me and I thought to myself, "Shoot, holy smokes, they're asking me kind of like how I leaned on Adam." Bryce Henson: So I did the logical thing and I ended up looking into a certified personal training credential through National Academy of Sports Medicine, because at the time, I never thought I would actually be a CEO of a major international fitness franchise or even go full professionally. I just thought I could keep my sales gig, which I went from the least performing sales rep to the highest performing rep, just because of my fitness transformation, which is a side story. But when people tell me, "Bryce, I can't afford to be fit." My response is, "You can't afford not to be fit. It's going to benefit every aspect of your life." Vince Ferguson: Thank you. Bryce Henson: So with that all said, after I went through that transformation, I became a certified personal trainer and I started training some clients in the nights and weekends. And I think I updated my Facebook profile to a personal trainer. And I started receiving ads from this gentleman named Bedros Keuilian. Who's now one of my dear friends and best friends. Who's the founder of Fit Body Bootcamp. And he was talking about how to grow your personal training experience and how to get more clients and get the better results. And so I started following his email probably for about two years. And it wasn't until the Spring of 2012 when I was coming back from California, because I took a little hiatus abroad. I lived in South America for a couple years, even though I was following along with the content that he was talking about Fit Body. Bryce Henson: And I decided actually, I was coming back to California. "I'm actually going to look into this fitness franchise called Fit Body Bootcamp that he's talking about." So I ended up doing the diligence and I think there was probably only about 15, 20 owners in our brand at the time, but I ended up calling every one of them and researching having conversations. And as it turns out, in the summer of 2012, decided to take a leap of faith and open my own studio, my own Fit Body Bootcamp location in Southern California. Bryce Henson: So that one location I'm happy to kind of provide more details, but was really the catalyst to me, owning multiple locations, becoming the vice president and now mid-year of last year of 2021 is when Bedros anointed me as his CEO so I can kind of continue to run and take that torch that he's built and really continue it to the future. Vince Ferguson: Wow. That's amazing, though. Congratulations on that success. Bryce Henson: Thank you. Vince Ferguson: Yes. But to be that successful, to even get the trust that you've got from Pedros, what did it take for you to get that kind of trust from him? Bryce Henson: That's an awesome question, Vince. Well, it first starts, I think, with work ethic and I learned that work ethic probably in my youth, but really developed it day in and day out at the gym. So again, that's another just really shining reason that fitness has so many other benefits of your life. Not only physically, but mentally, spiritually, emotionally. So I think that work ethic was instilled, but also accentuated through my fitness journey. I'm a guy that takes action. So, I like being in the fitness industry. Same with you, Vince, your clients, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. You can show them the way, but they have to take action. They have to do their part too. Both of you do. And I'd like to think that I did my part. Bryce Henson: So Bedros welcomed me to the brand as an owner, I joined his Mastermind Coaching Group. He gave me some orders on how to grow business, how to sell, how to get clients better results and I took action. And I did that day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out. And, while I've had a lot of success, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows either. I mean, I definitely had a lot of false starts and missteps and poor leadership decisions that I've learned from and really grown from. But over the years, ended up making a name for myself within the brand, ended up, again, being plugged into the Mastermind Group and really from a networking perspective, and really this is the name of the game is relationships, built a very strong relationship with Bedros. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Bryce Henson: So that way, fast forward to 2018, when the brand was growing like a hockey stick, he knew he needed more support and infrastructure. He already knew me, liked me, trusted me. I was his coaching client. I took action. I'd grown one gym turned into many. So because of that foundational trust from a relationship perspective, it was really the last reason, I think, that he made the call to bring me in as his VP. Bryce Henson: And then I put my head down from 2018 to 2021, of course, still this to this day, but with the support of my team, the support of the franchisees and clients, made some good decisions and added more value. And when the time came with Bedros wanted to kind of step out and still be the visionary and help market the company, but also had some few other interests, it just made sense from his mind to anoint me the VIP. Being I started as an owner. I know every aspect of the business. I'm a client. I go to bootcamp three times a week. I've been the janitor of our studio. So I've seen the business inside and out. And I think that's really a big reason that I was able to fall into this role. Vince Ferguson: Most definitely. Now, who are your ideal clients for Fit Body Bootcamp? Bryce Henson: Yeah. Great question. Well, I think it's interesting because fitness has a lot of different scope to it, right? You can be a body builder, you can be into yoga, you can be into circuit training. So, for Fit Body Bootcamp, the clients that we serve are, our avatar, we call her Mrs. Jones and we do serve male clients as well. But about 80% of our clients are female. Vince Ferguson: Okay. Bryce Henson: And we don't train fitness athletes or people that are trying to shave a second off their 40 to make the NFL combine. And there's a space for that, but that's not our clientele. Our clientele is the everyday Mrs. Jones. She has a couple kids. She's overweight, probably doesn't love working out even though she needs to. Her husband doesn't look at her the same anymore. And she needs that coaching, that accountability, support, and really that's the secret sauce to our program. Bryce Henson: We're able to bring in our client avatar, Mrs. Jones, welcome her in, give her good results. Our secret sauce of our interval training program is 30 minutes. So, we like to say, even like this podcast, you can do anything for a half an hour, right? 30 minutes. Vince Ferguson: Exactly. Right. Bryce Henson: And, from there, it's not magic. Our clientele has to do the work and they have to show up at least three times a week, but also from a nutrition coaching perspective between the high-intensity interval training, between the strength and between the cardio, in addition to nutrition coaching, we can get our clients really great results. And the theme of your podcast and your line of work is six weeks. And that's really the baseline what it takes in order to kind of start seeing the transformation. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Awesome. So all this involves training, coaching, nutrition, the whole nine, everything. Bryce Henson: That's it. And our model is not, and there's a place for every type of model. But you think of a big box gym, which is just kind of you're really just renting access to weights, but you have to figure it out. That's not our model. Our model is definitely very much coaching. It's really personal training in a group setting. So you get all the value that you would when you're hiring a one-on-one personal trainer, which there's a ton, but you do it in a group setting. So you can provide more energy, more culture, more accountability, and then for a fraction of the price and really that's our model and that's how we're able to produce incredible weight loss results, and really transformations. Not only from a physique perspective, but as you know, Vince and your audience knows from a life perspective, is fitness just changes your life. Vince Ferguson: It does. Totally. Completely. Mentally, physically, like you said, even spiritually. Bryce Henson: Yep. Vince Ferguson: Now, any of your classes are virtual? Bryce Henson: So interestingly enough, I mean, and we're all kind of going through this, hopefully at the tail of the it, COVID, but previous to COVID they weren't, actually, but one of our core values at Fit Body Bootcamp is to embrace and drive change. And thankfully we had that mentality, so we were able to pivot the whole brand literally within 24 hours and we're shooting this in early 2022, but when everything went down in March of 2020, which I can't believe, and I know you probably can't either, Vince, it's almost two years ago, which is crazy. But when everything went down, we were able to pivot to online coaching. And while that's not our bread and butter, our bread and butter is still in the gym, physical, in-person relationship training. We have made that offering. We still have a good amount of clients that actually really enjoy our virtual sessions and that coaching. Vince Ferguson: Okay. But it's starting to open up where you're having more people in house now as well as that? Bryce Henson: Yeah, exactly. And in every state, unfortunately, well, fortunately or unfortunately, is a little bit different. Just obviously the lockdowns and the regulation are depending on state and the time of this videotaping, we have about 10% of our brand is in Canada and Canada just went on another wave of lockdown. So for our Canadian owners, they're streaming now virtually which we're thankful they're able to execute and really help support them in the back end. But here for the 90% of our brand here in the US, while we still offer virtual as a kind of an add-on and additional value, we're back in the studio. We're back to group training. And just depending on the state or local jurisdiction, there might be some intricacies in capacity, but for the most part we're back in and just cranking away. Vince Ferguson: Nice. And I just got back from Arizona. I was working out every day while I was there. Now I'm back in New York. You have mandates. If you're not vaccinated, you can't work out in the gym. I'm not sure how it is in California, but how is that impacting your franchisees? Bryce Henson: Yeah, unfortunately, I mean, it is. Certainly, it's interesting looking back at this, Vince, I know you're a New York guy and I'm here at California. There's about five states that I would not have wanted to been in, in this whole situation. One's New York. Second is California, Michigan, New Jersey, Washington, to name a few. So it really just depends on the local jurisdiction, but I know New York now with the additional mandates is even more stringent than California, but we're a close second. Bryce Henson: And unfortunately it is. I know this, unfortunately, it's became a political issue, which is just mind boggling and really sad to me. But at the end of the day, I genuinely think, Vince, I know you're going to be in the same wave length, we need to start changing the conversation about instead of fear and doom and gloom, the reality of the situation, statistically speaking, obesity is the biggest pandemic that we're going through. It's killed millions of people. The World Health Organization estimates it kills nearly 3 million people a year. It's done that for over a decade and it's continuing to rise. And, of course, we see COVID patients, the ones who are at the most risk have autoimmune or immune system compromised. And specifically speaking, they're obese. Because when you're obese, your whole body, your organs, your heart, have to work exponentially harder. So I would really love that our society starts talking about changing the conversation to health, to fitness, to activity because that, in my humble opinion, will drastically change our society way more than pushing vaccines left and right. And whatever your beliefs are, my whole message is let's focus on health and fitness and that should be the focus, not sickness. Vince Ferguson: Thank you. A hundred percent. I'm a believer. That's what I'm talking about. There's less talk on health and more talk on taking certain products. But I truly believe, man, that if people focus more on being healthy and strengthening their immune system, they will not be so susceptible to these certain type of issues. And what you're doing is great because you're speaking out about obesity and about health. What should people be doing? Can the Fit Body Bootcamp help people who are obese? Bryce Henson: Absolutely. And, shoot, we're here, you know, Vince, you and I are in the service business, right? We have a big heart. We want to help people. Fitness has impacted our lives. Granted, I'm sitting here looking at, you have a great physique. Health and fitness is a very big focal point of your life as it is mine. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Bryce Henson: And yeah, I mean, we definitely help all walks of life and all people. And we definitely have a vast majority, I shouldn't say a vast majority, but a significant amount of clients that are obese and we're the solution. We're the solution to that issue. And what my recommendations are is to get at least three times a week a full body workout where you're working both strength and cardiovascular. And cardio is really good, but especially for female clients, for whatever reason, there's this stigma that lifting weights and resistance training is going to turn our clientele into the Hulk, and that's just not the case. Guys have five times the amount of testosterone that women do on average and still have a hard time putting muscle on their body without continued focus. Bryce Henson: So, we want to welcome our clients in, get them on our program at least three times a week, a full body, if not, four. Increase their water, their hydration. Increase their sleep. Make some adjustments to nutrition. And, Vince, what I like to say is, is working out and getting in the studio is the cornerstone habit. I would like it actually, and you would think, if someone doesn't work out, interestingly enough, they should actually take more focus on their nutrition. But it's the opposite. Typically, human nature and you've probably encountered this all the time, a client's, "Oh, I don't work out. Well shoot. I can just eat a tub of ice cream then and it doesn't matter." But it's actually the opposite is true, but that's the reason it's so important to get your workouts as the cornerstone habit. Because when you work out, your physiology changes. You're more inclined to actually pick up that salad instead of that cheeseburger. You start drinking a little bit more water. You sleep better, you feel better the next day. And it's just rinse and repeat. So that's really, really important to get our society working out and shoot, Vince, if our society, if the North American continent worked out three times a week, cleaned up their nutrition, increased their hydration and got to sleep, a lot of these health issues that are in the mainstream media about doom and gloom, they would simply just go away. Vince Ferguson: Yes. I call it fear porn, they're putting out there, Bryce. Bryce Henson: Fear porn. I haven't heard that, but I'm going to use that. I'm going to take that, Vince, if you're okay with it, because that's exactly what it is. Vince Ferguson: It's fear porn and it's people like yourself, myself and others who are trying to spread faith over fear. You know what I mean? And also, fitness over fear. Basically. And I like what you're doing because you're spreading the word and your mission is to actually get out there and spread this word throughout the world. And you're doing it on podcasts. You have a speaking platform. You're really out there. Vince Ferguson: But let me ask you this, what is it going to take to get the world to listen to Bryce Henson about this? Bryce Henson: Holy smokes. So that's the million dollar question. I'm here, but don't have all the answers, Vince and I'm here you as a humble servant. But what I do know is this, fitness just drastically changed my life. It's drastically changed your life, your audience, and a network of people that have benefited from this. And I feel like I have a duty, obligation, responsibility to continue the charge and our mission at Fit Body Bootcamp. the purpose, the why we do what we do is to inspire fitness and it's to change lives every day. Bryce Henson: And how I can serve is by leading my team at headquarters, by training our franchisees better, by serving our clients, by getting on podcasts like yours and just really spreading the mission. And I love that, faith over fear. Fitness over fear. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Bryce Henson: I'm going to take that with me, if you'd be so kind and continue to evangelize that because we're on the same mission and we've come a long way, but we have a long way to go as a society and we're here taking action. Vince Ferguson: Definitely. And I think the more people like you and I who get together and collaborate, we will get that message out. Vince Ferguson: Now, how is Fitness Body Bootcamp growing? Are you seeing more franchisees coming to the table? Bryce Henson: We are. And holy smokes, 2020, as you would imagine, for our industry, for the rest of that industry, was not kind. So, there was definitely some contraction and it was definitely a challenging situation to go through, but we really pride ourselves in adding up, stepping value, creating an online coaching platform within 24 hours. We were able to pivot. Show our studio owners how to execute Zoom and virtual sessions in addition to prerecording a lot of sessions in the backend so we had a big virtual content library. So we're able to really continue afloat, even though many of our locations literally had to stop operations. And especially in New York, especially in California, for an extended period of time. So while 2020 was challenging, we're still feeling the effects of this even into early 2022. The light at the end of the tunnel is we awarded 10 times the amount of franchises we did in 2021 than the previous year. Bryce Henson: And, the interest is coming back. We're on the phone with perspective owners that are interested. We just hosted our January onsite university to a handful of new owners. And so we still have a long way to go and I'm hoping the dynamic of the country and the leadership of the country really changes in a positive way as we enter into 2022, which I have some question marks on that, but that's a topic for another day. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Bryce Henson: What I do know to be true is there is some faith being restored and we feel the tailwinds are back in our favor and after rebounding and having a strong 2021, we feel very optimistic on what 2022 is going to look like even from the last few weeks. Vince Ferguson: Nice. Do you have any locations, I know you mentioned something about having locations in New York, is that correct? Bryce Henson: We do. We do. Vince Ferguson: Okay. Great. And so I can find them online, correct? Bryce Henson: Yeah. You'd want to go to our website, which is fitbodybootcamp.com. That's fitbodybootcamp.com and for you or any of your listeners, whether you're in New York or whether you're listening to this in any part of North America, you can just put in your search where your address is and find the local fitness studio near you. We have hundreds of locations. About 90% are in the US. 10% are in Canada. So that's where you can find us. Vince Ferguson: Nice. Nice. I understand, Bryce that you hold citizenships in Portugal and the US. What's that about? Bryce Henson: Oh yeah. That's an interesting fact. So I'm American born and bred, as we discussed, but about in 2010 and I kind of talked about my fitness transformation journey and when I became a certified personal trainer. And I started coaching clients in the nights and weekends, as I mentioned, but there was a two-year gap from when I basically started that journey until I opened my first fitness studio. And as it turns out, I went on a two-year hiatus to South America. Ended up moving to a little island in Brazil called Florianopolis, Brazil, sight unseen. Growing up, I was a big sports fan and I loved Kobe Bryant. And interestingly enough, most people don't know, or many people, I should say, don't know this, but Kobe Bryant lived in Italy in his youth for six years. His dad played European ball. So he could speak fluent Italian. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Bryce Henson: And me living in Southern California, but also just being a big Kobe Bryant fan growing up, I would love it when I watched the games and watched the press conference and he'd give the interviews, but then the Italian press would stay after and they would interview him in Italian. And there Kobe Bryant is, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, speaking fluent Italian. And it really made a big impact on me. Bryce Henson: So I had that in the back of my mind that I wanted to learn a different language and I visited Brazil and I was, "You know what? This is it." So ended up moving there for two years. Through a crazy situation how the world is connected, was introduced to my wife who actually picked me up from the airport sight unseen. And that was kind of my entry to Brazil and lived there for two years, met a beautiful lady. Her name's Tatiana who became family with hers. And as it turns out, she's from Brazil, born and raised, but she has family lineage to Portugal because her family immigrated from Lisbon, Portugal to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil decades ago. Because of that, because of our union, I was able to pick up Portuguese citizenship and have been to Portugal a few times as a result. So it's just kind of an interesting fun fact through my life travels was able to acquire that. Vince Ferguson: Lovely, lovely. So you've been to Lisbon? Bryce Henson: I've been to Lisbon, on a couple different occasions and then there's a city in the north, which is a three-hour train ride which is called Porto and it's next to the Spanish border. So both are lovely, both Lisbon and Porto. If I had to pick, I'd recommend Porto, but for your audience there, if you're looking for a European vacation, especially some of the other countries like Greece and London, very beautiful, but can be very pricey. Lisbon is a very affordable alternative. It has the beach. It has the seas. It's on the Iberian Peninsula, but I highly recommend it. Vince Ferguson: I love it, man. I heard a lot of great things about Portugal and that's why I asked. I was in Brazil many years ago, so I'm familiar with Portuguese, but you're a world traveler, man, which is great. Bryce Henson: You know what? I try and through that story, but before I moved to LA, I put myself on a flight. I enrolled in a study abroad program in Asia. I put myself on a flight when I was 20 years old at Tokyo, Japan. And that just freaking rocked my world. And because of that, I was inspired and I just wanted to dedicate my life to broadening my horizons, learning languages, meeting people, connecting with people. And, of course, fitness has been a huge aspect of that as well. Vince Ferguson: Most definitely. What advice would you give to someone listening to this podcast now who may be on the fence about their health and not sure if they want to take that leap into Fit Body Bootcamp? Bryce Henson: That's it. You just got to get started. One foot in front of the other. And it feels like, it's interesting, human nature, it's when we're anticipating something very challenging, we sometimes go into analysis by paralysis and we just kind of sit in the sidelines. But what happens is when you take that first step, the other misconception is when you take that first step, which is hard, which is challenging, which is uncomfortable, human nature thinks, "Okay, if this step is hard, all the steps are going to be hard." And the fact of the matter is, that's not the case. When you take one step, it's hard. Then you take the next step, it's a little less hard. And then eventually what happens is after you put one step in front of the other, you wake up and you realize, "Holy smokes. Yeah, it's still hard, but I'm stronger. I'm better. And it's way more manageable." Bryce Henson: So my message is, it's not as hard, long term as you think it is, but you have to take that step. You have to take action and when you do, what's the famous Isaac Newton who created the laws of physics, a body in motion stays in motion. The opposite also true. A body at rest stays at rest. So if you're sitting on the sideline, staying at rest, you are not going to get moving. However, if you take that one leap of faith, you put that one foot in front of the other, a body in motion stays in motion. You're going to wake up three months or six weeks from now, three months from now, six months from now, a year from now, being "Holy smokes, Vince. I'm a different person." And that's really what you and I are trying to accomplish here. Vince Ferguson: Love it. Exactly. Exactly. Now, where can my audience find out more about Bryce Henson and Fit Body Bootcamp? I know you mentioned it earlier. Mention it again. Bryce Henson: Absolutely. I'm actually going to give you a different handle, because that was our website that I referred you to. But if you want to follow me on social, all the handles from Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and my personal website is realbrycehenson.com. Not to be confused with fakebrycehenson, so realbrycehenson.com. That's my site. And then all my social handles are the same. realbrycehenson. So that's where you can find me. And we'd love to connect with you, Vince and your audience as well. Vince Ferguson: Most definitely. Where do you see yourself, Bryce in the next five to 10 years? Bryce Henson: Oh, my friend, we are just getting started. After a really challenging 2020, 2021, the tail winds are behind us and we just have a lot of health and fitness to inspire. So what I'm looking to do is, while we have hundreds of locations throughout North America, I'm looking to make even a bigger impact, really pour into my team who can pour into our owners and pour into our clients and really inspire fitness and change in lives and change lives every day, which is our mission, which is our purpose. But really to continue to make Fit Body Bootcamp a household name so that way we can help spread health and wellness together, which is really my mission and where I see myself in the next five to 10 years. Vince Ferguson: Wonderfully said, man. I believe you're going to do it. You know what I'm saying? Bryce Henson: I appreciate that, my friend. Vince Ferguson: You're definitely going to do it. Now, I just want to say Bryce Henson on behalf of my organization, Body Sculpt of New York, that's my nonprofit that we have in New York and Six Weeks of Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today, Bryce Henson: Vince, it was a pleasure, man. I love your energy. I love your enthusiasm. And I love what you're doing. We're on the same path here. Maybe a few different channels, but we have our hearts in the right place and I really appreciate you having me on today. Vince Ferguson: Oh, it's my pleasure, man. And to my audience, I truly hope this program was encouraging and inspiring that you will continue tuning in to my Six Weeks of Fitness podcast. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them in the comments section below. And please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes and don't forget we don't stop exercising because we grow old. We grow old because we stop exercising.

Kita Richards is a former AAU, USA and high school track and field coach. Teaching basic and advanced movements to young adults was always her passion along with helping people to meet and exceed their physical and mental capabilities. It was this passion that prompted Kita to become a personal and group fitness trainer, transforming her two car garage into her first training space. She has now expanded her brand and has launched two fitness clubs, one in Greenwood, South Carolina, and the other in Greenville, South Carolina.  During the interview, Kita will discuss what life was like growing up in Greenwood, South Carolina, and how the last words of her mother, who lived a very active life until she succumbed to colon cancer, gave her the drive and motivation to live life to the fullest.  She will also share her fitness journey which included losing close to 80 pounds of body fat with the help and guidance of her husband and changing her diet.  Kita believes that each of us is connected in divine space and that we should share our gifts with the world, something Kita is doing on a daily basis with everyone she comes in contact with.  This was a most inspiring interview.  Vince Ferguson: Thank you so much for coming on the show. Kita Richards: Thank you for having me. Vince Ferguson: Before we discuss your career as CEO of these two fitness clubs, tell my listeners and viewers where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Kita Richards: I grew up right here in Greenwood, South Carolina in the south, which is so interesting now that I look back at it. I grew up running around in the dirt. Vince Ferguson: Running around in the dirt? Kita Richards: In the dirt. Vince Ferguson: Really? Really? So you must have been very active? Kita Richards: Yeah. It was because this is a small town, this is a small town. It's bigger now, but it was definitely a lot smaller when I was a lot younger. So it was small and it's basically a football city. So it's all about football here. Everything else is secondary. Vince Ferguson: Everything else is secondary to football. But family came first, but family came first. Right? Kita Richards: Especially back then. Everything else was secondary. Vince Ferguson: Wow. Nice. But were you always active, always healthy even to your adult life? Kita Richards: Well as a kid, the challenge as a kid was, especially growing up, because we were active as children. I was an active child. My inactivity didn't start until I got older. So I was, but my mom was active. So I have to tell you about her. She was very active. My mom played a lot of sports even as we grew up. So I grew up with a very active mom. She played softball for one, it was nothing for her to be on those teams. She was on teams, and she would travel. So I grew up watching her do that. Kita Richards: And of course she did what people in the south do, bowl. So she did a lot of bowling and different things like that. So that's how we grew up. I grew up with a mom that even as I had my kids, she rode bikes. She would ride bikes with them. And she was one of the first women around the area, because people still talk about it because like I said, I live in a small town, that rode a motorcycle. So she was extremely active too. Vince Ferguson: Is Myrtle Beach near you? Kita Richards: No it takes us about three hours to get to Myrtle Beach. Vince Ferguson: I hear so much about Myrtle Beach motorcycle. You know what I'm saying? But was there a aha moment for you when you decided, you know what, my health is going down the tubes and I need to get it together? Kita Richards: Well, I think the backstory is my mother was really active, but my mother died of pancreatic/colon cancer. And so with that being said, I knew she was active much more active than me. I was getting overweight. I took care of her. And then when she was passing away, she said to me something, some words that I never will forget. She said, "Do what you want to do, and have a good time on this side because when you're leaving, you never want to regret what you didn't have time to do and what you wanted." So that launched me into just taking a deeper look at who I had become. Vince Ferguson: So you feel that motivated you and drove you to be the person you are today? Kita Richards: I know it did. I know it did. It just became one of those things that watching, if you ever watch someone pass away and you never took care of anyone passing away of colon cancer and watching everything fail. Life begins to look a little different for you. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. And when you say it looks a little different, you start to see it out of a different prism, different window. Kita Richards: You start to cherish it and cherish the moments. You start to cherish life like never before. Even when my clients come in, I have this thing, because I cherish my moments with everybody now. I see life now as everybody being divinely connected to one another in that we are sharing space. And when we're sharing those spaces, we should be sharing, not only our passion, but our love for one another. And so that's what changed about me. I knew at that point that I needed to share whatever gifting, whatever divine gifting that I had with other people. I knew that then at that moment. I knew that that was going to bring me joy. And I know that sounds weird, but I knew I also needed to take care of me. And I knew that I could never go to the next level, or I never could get there without self-care. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Makes sense. Very, very profound. Kita Richards: Because you could never pour from an empty cup, and back then I was an empty cup. I was an empty cup, and I could never give what I didn't have. When people say I gave 100% to a person, you should never give 100% to anybody. Always give people the surplus of what you have. Because if you give 100% of your energy, then you have nothing for yourself. And if you have nothing for yourself, you never can grow anything that's worth giving anyone else. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Very profound. Very awesome. So this is interesting because you speak so much wisdom, and you look like a person of 22. Kita Richards: I thank you. I promise you need to add some to that though. Vince Ferguson: Well, we add a couple years, you know what I'm saying? But what motivated you to become a trainer? Kita Richards: So back to what my mom said, you're never going to... When I was in my twenties, I was taking it was step aerobics. It was step aerobics there. Vince Ferguson: Step aerobics. Kita Richards: I absolutely love step aerobics. But there was a problem. There was a problem. The problem was I had a degree in computer science. So I had a really nice job. Vince Ferguson: Yes, I bet. Kita Richards: Are you going to make this, or are you going to make this? Vince Ferguson: What happened? Kita Richards: There was a problem here. And so I got the opportunity to actually get licensed doing that, and I didn't even take it. Because by that time I had my first kid, I had the first child. And so I was like, no, no, no. I know better now. I know better now. But back then, and life is a growing process, but back then I was like, no, this is not a good financial decision to be making. Vince Ferguson: So you feel that knowing what you know now, you would've still taken the leap before? Kita Richards: If I had of known what I know now, yeah. I would've literally left what I was doing, and did this because I've learned that joys in life, that you should enjoy your life. And what I mean by that, I have this saying that I always say. People don't understand. And what you have to gravitate and learn that in your purpose, you will always have prosperity, and you will have mental prosperity, spiritual prosperity, and financial and emotional prosperity. And you need all of those. Back then, I was only looking for financial prosperity. Vince Ferguson: But now you don't only have one child, you have four? Kita Richards: Yes. Right. Vince Ferguson: And four adult children? Kita Richards: Four adult children. Vince Ferguson: And you don't look like an adult yourself. That's a beautiful thing. But again, you had the strength and fortitude to go out there and make this happen. But why the fitness space? What do you feel you can contribute to people in the fitness space? Kita Richards: Fitness is one of those great, wonderful things. And here's what, because it's more than the outward. Because before you ever make a decision, before you ever become physically fit, there is a mental that happens. You actually have, because it's so optional, that you have to gravitate there in your mind first. Vince Ferguson: So it's mind first, then body? Kita Richards: Always mind first. And the challenge, and then I love the challenge of it. I love the challenge of because even when I have my clients, and I'll talk to my clients. I always tell them you've made the first step to the best version of you. And here was the first step. You made up in your mind to make a change. So fitness, I think I chose it because not only was it challenging, it was mentally challenging too. Because if we back up, I didn't look like this. I can promise you. I lost 80 pounds like this. I hadn't been doing anything. And so I tell my clients, I know what they felt. I know exactly what they feel like. I remember not being able to touch my toes. Kita Richards: I remember what that felt like. And I remember even though I was taking care of kids, and I was getting bigger, I just remember what it felt like. I remember being exhausted. I remember, just to be honest with you, I remember just being tired. And then I remember suffering health, other health issues. Because as women, when you have more weight than you need to have on you, there's other things that come along with your health. There's hormonal imbalances that you end up with. For me, I had several different things happening. I actually ended up with a liver issue, and I found out later it was actually fatty liver. Vince Ferguson: Fatty liver? Kita Richards: It was fatty liver. And this was from my diet of, I love sugar. Now I'm not going to lie to you. I used to love some sugar. So I love eating sugar. And I wasn't a big fried food eater, and that's what most people are like, I don't eat much fried food. But I love some donuts and cakes and cookies and stuff like that. And I ate a lot of that back then. Vince Ferguson: So you were, you said, about 89 pounds heavier than you are now? Kita Richards: About 80. I was 80. Vince Ferguson: About 80. What did you do to take it off? What's that secret sauce? Kita Richards: Make up my mind first that it needed to come off. You know what? And the first thing I did is I decided I wasn't going to make an excuse. Vince Ferguson: No excuses? Kita Richards: Yeah. I was like, I'm not going to make an excuse. I'm not going to blame it on my age or anything. You know what I said to myself? I'm responsible. I just took full responsibility. I did. I said, I'm responsible. And my first trainer was my spouse. Vince Ferguson: Your husband? Kita Richards: My husband, who was army. So I learned to lift first, and I learned to lift, and he was patient with me to a certain extent because he drove it. He would just come in like, are you going to do it today or not? You can leave the gym if you want to, or you can stay in it. But it's going to be your choice. I'm not going to make you stay. And I remember just because at that point, now that two car garage that I started in, it was actually I made it into a home gym because I was serious about it. I was like, I'm going to be serious. So first I made up in my mind, second I said no more excuses. Kita Richards: Third, I changed that space into a home gym. And that was crazy because that meant no excuses. I went out there and he worked like 12 hours, and then it took him an hour to get to work and an hour to get home. So it was 13 hours. So I had to work out with him at night. At night. When people wanted to go to sleep, I had to be working out. No excuses. And I still had to get up to the next day. Because at that time I still had one in high school, one in middle school and then I had two grown. So because my fitness journey back to being fit, didn't start until I was 40, 41 1/2. Almost 42. Vince Ferguson: And were you still working at computer science? Kita Richards: I was actually not this is because I was at that point when I decided to be fit, I actually owned a photography, videography business. Vince Ferguson: Really? A photography, videography business? Kita Richards: I was doing some of that. And then all of a sudden I decided I wasn't going to do it in this. I was like, I ain't doing that no more. Vince Ferguson: Wow. So you start training ferociously, training with your spouse. Kita Richards: With my husband. With my husband at night. At night. Understand because he worked early in the morning, and it was at night. So what did I do? I didn't just train one time a day. I trained with him, and anything I couldn't do, anything I struggle with, during the day or in the morning I go practice it. Vince Ferguson: You go back practice it? Kita Richards: I would go practice it. Whatever I couldn't do. As long as I didn't need a spotter, I practiced it. Vince Ferguson: Now but what role besides the exercise, what role did nutrition play? Kita Richards: Oh, huge. Huge. That was another thing. The first thing I had to do was give up sugar. I had to give up the sugar because I was a sugar addict. I had made up in my mind, I'm going to give up sugar. And that was the hardest thing, because I didn't have, some people have a caffeine addiction. No, I had a sugar addiction. So sodas wasn't even a problem. It was sugar for me. So I gave up sugar first. I gave up sugar, and you're not going to believe this, I gave up cheese. Vince Ferguson: Cheese? Kita Richards: I love cheese. Cheese was my first two things that I said I was done with. Vince Ferguson: It had to be hard to do because you also have kids around the house. So how did you do that? Just cold turkey stopped or- Kita Richards: I stopped. And most people, most women asked me because I am the cook of the family. I am the cook of the family and I'll be launching some recipes soon. But I am a cook up the family. And so what I had to do was I cook their food, but I cooked my food. Because I said I wasn't going to make an excuse. I wasn't going to say I got to cook for them. No, I was standing in the kitchen anyway. And so I would cook their food the way they wanted it and would cook mine at the exact same moment. Vince Ferguson: And that was the temptation to eat some of theirs? Kita Richards: It was there, but here's what I would say to myself. I would say to myself, you know what? There's life and death in the power of the tongue, and there's going to be life or death in this food. So you better be choosing which one. And so that was my thing. And it got so bad, I was label things life or death so much. I'm choosing life. I'm choosing life. And that's the way I would eat. Because remember I was a sugar addict, and I still had to go to the grocery store. And when I go to the grocery store, what happens when you go get in the checkouts? Because you can avoid the cookie on the aisle of cookies, but the checkout has the candy, and all of the quick snacks. Vince Ferguson: For a reason. Yes. Kita Richards: So I would pull up my buggy inside of there and I would look, and my mind, I would label them in my head. I would be like, death. And that would be my two things, life or death. And I would leave there without the candy bars, which was so interesting because understand, I was the person that drove, that went through their buggy through the thing. And I would bring everybody back their favorite candy bar, including my own. .It was so bad that my husband, there's a particular store that has a particular type of candy that I like whenever he would go into that particular town, he would buy me four of those candy bars because I couldn't get them locally. So the moment I asked him to stop bringing me the candy bars, he knew something was real because I like don't bring me the candy bars. Don't bring me the candy bars. Kita Richards: But I was making choices. And what I was doing is I was making the choices at that moment. I wasn't trying to live outside of the window. I wasn't trying to say, tomorrow I'll do better. I was like, I'm going to do it the now. I'm going to experience the now moment. So that's what I was doing. Vince Ferguson: Do it now. Are you now a vegan? Kita Richards: I am. Vince Ferguson: Really? Plant based? Kita Richards: That was interesting. Vince Ferguson: Yes. How did that transition go? Kita Richards: That was about like the same. That was the same for me. The big problem wasn't for me the meat, it wasn't the meat. It really wasn't. Although I would tell people, they were like what would be the thing that would that draw you? Because I love what I would love. And I've always loved bison burgers. There's a particular place in Texas that I just absolutely love, and now I don't eat that. But that's not where it got me. That is probably the one thing, but the other was eggs. I absolutely love eggs. And I was eating a lot of eggs in one day. I said, oh, I told my husband, I'm going to become a vegan, and I'm not going to eat the eggs anymore. And he was like- Vince Ferguson: Did he ask for a divorce. Kita Richards: No. He was like, he's very supportive. He was like, so you're not going to eat the eggs? Do you not know within a couple days he cooks eggs? Because he's the breakfast person. So he cooked the eggs, and they look so light and fluffy. And I walked past the stove, and I looked at the eggs, and then I said, I want the eggs. And then I said, no, no, no. You chose, you made the choice to not eat the eggs. So just make the choice. And something in the back of my head said, but nobody's looking so nobody's going to know you ate the eggs. But then I said, I would know that I ate the eggs. And so I'm going to know that I ate the eggs, so I'm not going to eat. And it was enough of them. I could have just tasted them when I was like, I'm not going to eat these eggs. Kita Richards: And I didn't eat the eggs. And I sit at breakfast, and this was the thing, with my family because we are a family that eat together. We actually eat together. So it's not like I go take my plate and not see their food. And I saw them eat, and I did not touch them. And I felt victorious. Not that you have to give up eggs in your fitness journey or your whatever, but for me, I felt victorious. Everybody asked me do I feel like that I have such a restricted diet? No. I feel like I'm in charge of my life. Food can no longer control me. I'm in control of me. I take my power back. Food is not supposed to control me anyway. Vince Ferguson: But food seems to control most of us. And that's why you have the obesity, diabetes, all these chronic illnesses in the community because of how we eat. So your clients, who are your ideal clients? Kita Richards: Well my ideal clients are, most people think that most of my clients are vegan, and they're not. My ideal clients are people that just want more control. And I shouldn't say control, more clarity in their life. Because I told people my thing is always I want to help you find your strong point. I want to help you meet your goal. I always told people also this studio is when they come in, we greet each other. Just, I say, hey, how are you doing today? And they told me how they doing. They say, oh, I'm doing great. So my ideal, my avatar client is the people that just want the best out of their life. They want to find the joy in being them and whatever they do. Because really and truly, you are not your body. And I told people that you are not your body, but your body is a manifestation of what you've done. It's a journal. Vince Ferguson: It reveals. Kita Richards: Can be changed. Vince Ferguson: It can be changed. Interesting. Very, very, very good. So what programs do you offer at your, before you even tell me that, what are the names of your gyms? Kita Richards: So this one actually has hero on the wall, but this one is She Rocks Fit. Vince Ferguson: She Rocks Fit. Kita Richards: She Rocks Fit brand. And then the other one is hero. Vince Ferguson: Hero. Kita Richards: I'm going to tell you about the She Rocks Fit because it seems a little weird. If you look inside of She Rocks Fit, you see the name hero. Vince Ferguson: Yes. I like that very much. Very much. What programs do you offer at these two facilities? Kita Richards: Okay. So at the studio style one, it's group fitness. I do a lot of group fitness here. We do the weight lifting, the calisthenics, parts of yoga, functional training. I'm big on functional training because I think you just, you should be able to move your body. I do a lot of body weight. I do a lot of body weight, a lot of body weight. But we do some lifting here. At the other gym it is really and truly a full service gym. So it has all your machines, you have your ellipticals, you have your treadmills, you have the spin bikes, and then you have the studio side of it. And then that one, there is, I think there's about nine other trainers there. Vince Ferguson: Oh, wow. Really? Kita Richards: Yeah. There's nine, about nine. I think we're at nine other trainers there. And they train clients there as well. So they're training clients, and whether it's personal and there is actually, we have, there's a boxer there too. And he actually teaches boxing. So there's a variety of stuff going on at the other one. Vince Ferguson: So one is called She Rock Fit, which is where you are today. And the other one is called? Kita Richards: Hero. Vince Ferguson: Hero, just hero? And do you have group fitness programs? Kita Richards: I do. I do. I do my group fitness because that's what I trained. That's what I specialize in, in group fitness. My group fitness, like I said, will range from different things. So I have steps. We may do steps. Let me tell you what kind of trainer I am. If we had to classify, if we really had to put a label on my training style, I would say it's OCD. Vince Ferguson: OCD? Kita Richards: It's very OCD. So how my whole program works is you walk into my gym. There is not an ab day. There is not. There is not a we're going to do back day. You walk in, and you don't know what I'm going to do and here's why. Because people don't come because it's a certain day, and they don't like to work that particular. But I found out people don't like to work where they're weak. Most people don't like to work the weak side. So what I do is I vary the training where you don't know, it's a mystery. A mystery. And I'm going to be honest with you. You know what they do? They peek up under the door to see what is laying in the- Vince Ferguson: What's going on? Kita Richards: They're like, oh my God, what is she going to do? But you know, it works for them because they understand why I do it. I used to announce what I was going to do, but I did find that people would cheat and not come. The also the other part of the gym, a part of the studio side of it is accountability. So I was huge on accountability. I don't know if it's because my husband was military. I actually know where people are supposed to be, in which class they're supposed to be. If you miss a class and you have not contacted wonderful trainer and said, I won't be in, I have something going on, whatever, I text you. We have an app. I will message you in the app, and I will personally text you. You're lucky if you get away with 2 sessions back to back. I'm getting in contact with you. Vince Ferguson: Is that right? Interesting. So you have that personalized approach. That personalized approach, you hold people accountable, which is awesome. Now can someone join your class virtually? Kita Richards: Yes I do. I do virtual. So I have this app. Well we have this app and in the app everything comes through. But as soon as the virtual classes open up, it's usually a link that appears within your app within 30 minutes telling you the virtual schedule, but it reminds you that there's a virtual coming up. And here's the cool thing about it. If you are in for that day, you can join any class. So mine is set up like this. Basically, if you are in for the week, let's say you say, I want to do virtual or I think I want to join you and I'm going to pay for a week or I'm going to pay for a month. You're not only that one class, you can join in into any class that happens because you are getting links that's telling you. So if you are stuck in traffic, so you ain't making this one, you just click the next link that appears and you make the next one. Vince Ferguson: So you still make it. Awesome. Awesome. That's really good that you're doing that. That's actually amazing. Now that you told me who your ideal clients are, do you give them personalized nutrition guidance? Kita Richards: I do. I do. Vince Ferguson: You do? Kita Richards: So my meal plans being a vegan is interesting. So what I do is the way I build my meal plans are, I shouldn't say simple, but they are built on levels. So when I say levels are different styles. So the base of every one of my meal plans is always vegan. It's always vegan. So it starts out at vegan. And then you see this list of other things. You, I list the eggs that you can have in the amount. And then I list your meats here so you can add back this list. So that's how it lists outs. Not only is that is every, it all has the calorie counts beside it. So, and when I say that is, I actually put recipes in because I'm a cook. I like to cook. Kita Richards: I like to cook. And I don't like eating the same. So recipes come with all my meal plans. So basically if I'm telling you that I want you to eat this, I'm actually giving you the recipe to eat it. Vince Ferguson: To eat it. Kita Richards: So you can meal prep. You can be able to meal prep that. But then for those who say, well, I don't have time because you have all these options. There is also those quick items. You can go get your frozen vegetables and you just do some roasted vegetables. Or if you out, I even help you if you're eating out. We discuss how to eat out. What do I choose? What's a good choice. I found that if people understand their choices, they can make better choices. Vince Ferguson: Better choices. Kita Richards: My thing is, I like to be your guide, but I want you to walk away from me with knowledge to be empowered. So I do give you the meal plan, but there's so many instructions even in inside of the app. I think I would walk over and show you my board. My board tells you the different vegetables that can help you detox your liver, because I want you to learn it. I want you to walk away with knowledge because here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking to myself, if you walk away with that knowledge, not only will it impact your life, it impacts now your family life. And now it impacts the next generation. Because I have a family, and I want you, not only my client to be healthy, I want them to be impactful within their environment. Kita Richards: Because like you said before, there's so many. There's diabetes, there's blood pressure problems. How do you come at that? We can come out at it one person at a time, but I get that. I can touch you. But even if I'm touching you, then what you do is you touch your family. And then your family will touch other people, and it grows from there. I think that's the only way that we're ever going to be healthy as a community. Vince Ferguson: Hmm. Awesome. Yes. Most definitely. Educate the community and share that knowledge, share that love. And now obviously I can talk forever with you because you have so much knowledge and wisdom to share, but I want a couple more things that I just one to ask you. Because you're so busy, you have two facilities there and you're working with people, how do you manage your family life and your business? Because you have a spouse. So that's and four kids. Kita Richards: And four kids. Vince Ferguson: How do you do it? Kita Richards: So I'm going to let you in on how I manage. First of all, how I manage my personal relationship. My personal relationship with my spouse. We actually have one day one, well, we have dinner. We decide, he actually asks me, when do I have time to have dinner? So we try to have dinner once a week together. Vince Ferguson: Once a week? Kita Richards: Yeah. Once a week dinner without the kids, we try to go out without the, we go out. This is ours. Dinner and maybe a movie or something. We have a date. We have to have that. On the date, I disconnect unless it's the kids trying to contact me or grave emergency, then my focus is not outside of that. It wasn't, and I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. It wasn't like that before, because trying to be a business owner, sometimes you can get out of balance, and I've been out of balance. Kita Richards: So this helps balance the scale. It tells your spouse or it tells that significant other, that you are important. So this time it's dedicated to us. And so I try to make sure that I do that. For my kids, they're all grown. And it's amazing. We actually have what's called a group chat. And so everybody's in this group chat on their phones. It's message. We have it on Facebook, and then we have it on our phones. We have chat, we talk to each other. We have our own little group text every morning. And I don't know if somebody did it this morning, someone says good morning. And we are all over the place. So my daughter, like I said, is in Korea, and she's military. So she may be anywhere, but we have this chat and it says good morning. Kita Richards: And at least a couple times a week, because I write affirmations every morning. I send over affirmation to my family. And I send over my affirmation to my clients to just remind them to be the best version of them. But also to say, I love you. And everybody piggybacks inside of that for my family. So whatever is happening within the family, we actually can pick up the phone and just text and we are all in the same space at that time. Kita Richards: And so we do that, and about every week or so, we do FaceTime each other. And oh yeah I have grands by the way, I have grands. So we do FaceTime with everybody and that's how I manage having the kids. So we feel close even though we are in different cities. We feel close. We feel that close and we reach out to each other via that. So I have that with them. And then with each of them, I have my own little, like the girls in the family because I have three girls. We only have our own little group thing. Also we have that. And then we have the whole thing. And then they have the sibling chat where it's only the- Vince Ferguson: The kids. Kita Richards: So that's how we manage it. Vince Ferguson: That's how you manage. Kita Richards: So that's how I manage my personal. And so that makes sense to me with technology. It just makes sense to, but it makes them feel as though they are important as well. Vince Ferguson: Which they are. But what about self-care when it comes to you? Kita Richards: I'm big on self-care. I'm big on that one. Vince Ferguson: Make time for that? What do you do? Kita Richards: I make time for myself. So one of the things that I do, and all my clients know it here. One of the things I do is I rise. My clock goes off at 3:45 AM. Vince Ferguson: Really? What? Kita Richards: Yes. I know. It goes off at 3:45 AM. And one thing that happens at 3:45 is I wake up, and I always listen to some type of meditation. I always brighten up the day. That's how I wake up. That's my time. And when I'm sitting there or when I'm laying there, I don't focus on being awake because I have other alarms. My alarm rings again at 4:43. Now if I wake all the way up, that's fine. I wake up. But if I don't wake all the way up at that 4:43 AM, I go into my own meditation. That's my time. That's my time to pour into me. And then about 5:25, because at that time I get up, I do about 15 minutes of that. I get up and I'm getting dressed, I'm moving around. Kita Richards: And, but those are my moments. That's my morning moments. That's my time to be filled up because I want to feel joy, and peace and love so that when I get in the gym at 6:20, at about 6:15 because that's when our class start. I want to already be present, and that's what I do to get present. So that's my first thing. At night I disconnect. Everybody knows it. At a certain time at night, I literally pull the plug on everybody else. That is my time, and I take that time for myself. And it's usually a little later at night. I take the time for myself where I may read a book. I may be reading or listening to something. I may decide that I just want to watch something. I don't watch a lot of TV, but I may decide I want to watch something. Kita Richards: And I just spent that moment doing that. So that's how I run that. And then on Fridays, I never work a full day on Fridays. I told people that. I don't care. I've had people to tell me, can I get a session with you? Can you open up this? I'm like, no, no. On Fridays, I'm done. When I get done, I'm done, and I'm done until Monday. I'm done until Monday. I'll chat with them. I'll chat with people within texts and stuff like that. But I'm done. I'm done. Even if it's a business call, it's got to be an emergency. It's going to wait until Monday. So I do that. And then Wednesday, you catching me here on a Wednesday. Wednesday is very important too, because Wednesday is also my slow day because I'm back and forth to Greenville on most days. Kita Richards: But Wednesday is the day that I don't go to Greenville. I normally stop about 10:00, and I don't start back until about 4:20. And that time, if I want to have a hair appointment, my nails done, I want to have a massage, if I want to just lay in the floor and think about nothing. That's really, truly my time. And I spend it well. My husband will even tell you, everybody knows my schedule because they will tell you. And some people are so afraid of hurting other people's feelings, but I can be really, really blunt. My thing is hurting myself first is not what you want to do. So I tell people, create a space and an atmosphere that's conducive to your growth. Sometimes that requires me to set boundaries. This is my time. And then you have to say it is okay to have it because you are worthy of it. And that's the way I feel. I feel that I am worthy of time. The same value I give to everyone else, I give to myself. Vince Ferguson: Yourself. Beautiful. Very well put. I couldn't have said it better because that's not my reality. That's yours, but that is beautiful. Now how can my listeners and viewers find out more about you, Kita Richards. Kita Richards: I'm so easy to contact. You can always go to my website, which is www.sherocks.fit. and message me there. Or you can hit me up even on the other one, which is a www.bornherofitness. You can get that one, bornherofit.com. And if you message you'll get me again or you can just do what's easy. Hit me up on Facebook. It's Kita Richards. Instagram is Killa_Kita. They gave me that name. I didn't do it. My clients gave me that name. Vince Ferguson: Really? Killer. Kita Richards: You can do that as well. I'm so easy to contact that. It's really strange. And I try my best really to answer people's questions. I have a certain time of day that I just sit down, and I just start to text other people. So I'm very easy. I'm very easy to contact. And I always say too, if you ever, because I believe we're all interconnected. So I try to always give my best to those who are trying to contact me. Vince Ferguson: Very good. Very good. Kita Richards. So on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York, that's my nonprofit program and Six Weeks of Fitness. I truly want to thank you for coming on this show today. Kita Richards: Well thank you for having me. Thank you so much. And can I say one more thing to your listeners? Vince Ferguson: Please. Kita Richards: I just want to remind people that always strive to be the best version of you. That's going to mean you got to take time for yourself. You got to love yourself properly. You got to show every part of you, your bodies, you got to show your body up. Yeah, it's going to fade away. Here's the thing. Once you take care of your body, your mental, your spirit, and you feed it properly, then that produces not only fruit, but it also produces seed. And when that seed, and when you talk, and we become peaceful, when that seed in your voice begin to flow on other people's thoughts. And then they get to produce seed. So remember that you are impactful in your environment, and you're never out of the wrong season. You're always in the divine timing, and there are really no true mistakes. There are only purposes. So just remind yourself that you are being the best version of you. And today is a good day But guess what? Tomorrow, your tomorrow will be even better. And the day after would be better than that. So just keep going, being your very best self. Vince Ferguson: Wow. Awesome. Beautiful. Beautiful. To my listeners and viewers. I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging, and I know it was inspiring and that you will continue tuning in to my Six Weeks of Fitness podcast. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them in the comment section below, and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. And remember you don't stop exercising because we grow old. We grow old because we stop exercising.

In this episode, Marci and Courtenay discuss all things fitness, nutrition and its correlation with mental health. Too often people want a quick fix or a one-size-fits-all blueprint for their physical goals, but Marci challenges us to take a deeper look as to why.  What's the real reason you want a certain physical transformation? As she points out, the body is simply a home for your spirit. Therefore, she's passionate about helping her clients find joyful, sustainable, and intuitive habits that will allow them to show up in life embodying their fullest, most optimized expression. Marci is a health + fitness coach, founder of Fun & Sustainable Fitness, author of The Accountability Code, reality T.V. star for Ace In The Hole, and mother of four girls. Her own journey from getting married at 18, suffering from postpartum depression, and battling a long lineage of mental health in her family, Marci was determined to make a change. As a master of well-being working with numerous clients, she quickly realized that what she was teaching in health and fitness was a direct translation into other areas of life too. On the show, she shares how this realization sparked a more holistic approach in her practice and how she's now committed to guiding her clients as a result.   Connect with Marci Website: https://www.funandsustainable.com  Instagram: @marcibarker.fast Book: https://marci360.com  ————————————————— Use this link to join Marci's upcoming challenge: https://checkout.funandsustainable.com/?key=h0129kqgwpd&promo=6cda16e3d853&p=bsc-signup ————————————————— Follow & Connect with Courtenay: https://www.courtenayturner.com Twitter: Courtenay Turner (@CourtenayTurner) :https://twitter.com/CourtenayTurner?s=20 Instagram: https://instagram.com/kineticcourtz?utm_medium=copy_link   Read some of her articles: https://www.truthmatters.biz   & follow TruthMatters on socials: https://instagram.com/truthmatters.biz?utm_medium=copy_link https://twitter.com/truthmatters_tm?s=21 https://m.facebook.com/Truth-Matters-Always-109260064571710/?tsid=0.9090120437539597&source=result ————————————————— Video Edited By Griffo Productions www.griffoproductions.com ————————————————— #bodysculptingchallenge #fitness #health #weightloss #life coach #personal trainer #goals #healthy habits #nutrition #movement #workouts #exercise #movement is medicine #fit mom #womens coach  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Marvin Singh is the founder of Precision Clinic, and one of only a few integrative gastroenterologists in the United States. After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, he went on to do his internal medicine training at the University of Michigan Hospital. After which he completed a gastroenterology hepatology fellowship at Scripps Clinic, Torrey Pines. He then went on to fulfill a fellowship in integrative medicine and was trained by Dr. Andrew Weil at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrated Medicine in Tucson, Arizona.  In addition to being a sought-after speaker and consultant, Dr. Singh had been featured on ABC News, Readers Digest, Sirius XM, radio, and many other platforms. And here today to talk about the keys to a healthy lifestyle and his new book, Rescue Your Health, is Dr. Marvin Singh. Dr. Singh, how are you today? Dr. Marvin Singh: I'm all right, how are you? Good morning. Vincent Ferguson: Before we talk about the keys to a healthy lifestyle and your new book, Rescue Your Health, tell my listeners and viewers where did Doctor Singh grow up and when did you know you wanted to be a medical doctor? Dr. Marvin Singh: Well, I'm an east coaster actually. So that's why I actually know what fall feels like. I was born in Virginia and grew up in Northern Virginia and lived there most of my life, all the way through college and medical school even. And then I started moving around a bit after I finished medical school and went on to residency at the University of Michigan. So, that's where I grew and I guess I always knew I wanted to be a doctor from a very young age. Dr. Marvin Singh: I always tell the story that our sixth grade elementary graduation had a theme and the theme was hopes and dreams. And I remember we had to draw our own silhouette. I don't even know how I drew that because I'm a terrible drawer, but I guess I did it one way or the other, my parents still have it. And basically you have your shadow and you draw your silhouette and then on the bottom you had to write, "My hopes and dreams are" ... and everybody had to fill that in. And way back then I wrote, "To become a doctor." So I guess from a very early age, I've always known that I wanted to do something that was able to help people and help people feel better. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. So do you have role models though, who basically gave you the feeling that you want to be just like them? A lot of us have role models that we want to be like. Dr. Marvin Singh: Yeah. I mean, throughout my career, I guess I've had different kinds of role models. But from an early age, obviously my parents are role models for me and taught me about work ethic and doing good things for people. I have a few doctors in my family, an uncle and an aunt who were role models to me early on. I guess that helped get me excited about medicine. My aunt and uncle both, I remember, I don't remember how old I was, but I must've been really young. I remember, you have to do these little reports or book reports and things like that on different topics when you're in grade school. I remember they used to send me little medical pamphlets and look at my reports and help me write them and stuff like that. So, from a very young age, I guess I had some influence from medicine, I guess. Vincent Ferguson: Oh yeah. But you know, you're not just an average, regular, conventional doctor. You practice integrative medicine. What's the difference between the two? Dr. Marvin Singh: Well, as Dr Weil says, "Integrative medicine is just good medicine." And that's what I learned along the ways. When I started my career as a gastroenterologist, I realized that something was missing from how we practice medicine and in what we do for people. We were really good at saving lives and doing things like that when somebody is really sick, but what about the majority of people who have ongoing recurrent symptoms or issues? What about them? Why do they keep going from doctor to doctor, to doctor all the time? That was frustrating to me early in my career. I'm just realizing that you don't get that kind of exposure when you're learning or training or anything like that. But once you're out in the real world and you get a taste of what it's really like out there, I felt a little lost, actually. Dr. Marvin Singh: I found Dr. Weil and integrative medicine and started learning a little bit and then enrolled myself in the fellowship and learned a lot about a lot of different things that I hadn't known about before or really appreciated before. That really made a big difference on me personally, and on how I take care of patients, in general. Integrative medicine allows you to do whatever you're going to do normally as a regular conventional doctor, but then also have an understanding that the person in front of you, the person you're taking care of is a human. It's a real person with emotions in an environment, with a family, with stressors, with dietary issues. Dr. Marvin Singh: I don't think we really ... I mean, I think we know this as doctors, but I don't think we appreciated or paused to think about it. We just usually are more in the go, go, go mode. Patient X is in front of you with X,Y,Z symptoms, so you're going to respond with A,B,C solution and that's the end of the story. "Adios, see you later." But that's the reason why a lot of people continue to have problems is because the actual problem is not addressed. And so integrative medicine allows us to do that. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. I know that in conventional medicine, I was always told, 'There's a pill for every I'll." But with what you're doing, it seems like you're looking to address the person holistically and really get down to the root cause of the problem. Dr. Marvin Singh: Yeah. Even if you need a pill for your I'll, right now, let's find out where that ill is coming from so you don't need the pill anymore, maybe. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Very good. Very good. Now here at Six Weeks of Fitness, we normally talk about the importance of exercise and nutrition if you want to achieve optimal health. But is that really the definition of optimal health, exercise and nutrition, or is it more to it than that? Dr. Marvin Singh: There's more to it than that. I think that's also part of the place where we get lost. I mean, as a gastroenterologist, we see people who have issues with their weight or fatty liver. I remember in my notes in the early days, the default is diet, weight loss, exercise, diet, weight loss, exercise. You just write that down and you say, "Hey, you need to get on a better diet, lose some weight and exercise." And that's literally what you tell people. And they're like, "Okay, I already knew I was fat. So, that doesn't really get me anywhere." Vincent Ferguson: Very true. Dr. Marvin Singh: You know, I'm big on personalization. So personalizing that approach is one part of it. But diet, what kind of diet? How are you going to lose the weight? Diet is important, obviously, exercise and movement is important, but somewhere a lot of other things. Your sleep hygiene, how you're reducing stress, how you're mitigating toxins in your environment and even how much fun you're having in life and what the status of your social relationships are. These all, believe it or not, can influence our gut health, our microbiome and our overall wellbeing. And these are all risk factors for a lot of chronic inflammation that many of us have. Dr. Marvin Singh: And so addressing those is also important and if you don't, you're missing the piece. I mean, I tell people, if you say, "Okay, I'm going to change my diet. I'm going to go vegan. I'm going to lose weight and for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I'm just going to eat broccoli." Dr. Marvin Singh: And, "Okay you went vegan, you're eating vegetables, good job, good job." But first of all, your diets not diverse so, that's not really good. And there's more to it than that. Because if you talk to the person and you find out that they're only sleeping four hours a night and they have anger management issues and a lot of built up frustration and stress over the years, they're not going to lose weight. It doesn't matter if they're only eating broccoli all day long. This is only part of the puzzle. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. So that, to me, you're giving me a list of things that you need to do in order to achieve a healthy lifestyle. So it's more than just diet and exercise. You said, it's sleep, it's social interaction, it's stress relief, all kinds of things. Dr. Marvin Singh: Because remember, what are we trying to lose weight from? Our body. What is our body? Our body is not just a singular issue. There are so many things happening inside of our body. I tell people what's happening inside of your body, just imagine you get a snow globe, right? And the snow globe has many snowflakes in it. And you say, weight loss, just like, what do they have those magic eight balls, when you say something and you shake it? You say weight-loss, and you shake this snow globe. You see all the snowflakes flying around everywhere. If you want to know how to lose weight, the answers are in all those snowflakes and how those snowflakes are interchanging with each other. Dr. Marvin Singh: So how could it just be diet as the only thing. Diet may be one snowflake, but there are other things going on there too. There are mineral, vitamin issues. There may be stress issues. There may be medications that you're taking or not taking. There's a lot of things involved and the relationship and the interchange between all of those snowflakes, that's what creates that new balance you're looking for. If you're not looking at all those things, you're missing part of the puzzle. Vincent Ferguson: Right. So you look at a diverse amount of things to come up with a conclusion of what it is, the problem with the patient. Dr. Marvin Singh: Right. Vincent Ferguson: Is that what you do at Precision Clinic? Dr. Marvin Singh: That's exactly what we do at Precision Clinic. We look at as many different elements of health and life as we can to try to personalize a program for somebody for optimal health. Vincent Ferguson: What is the connection between your gut and chronic disease? Dr. Marvin Singh: That's a great question. There's a big connection because our immune system is obviously the big controller of inflammation and a lot of chronic disease comes from chronic, low grade inflammation. And where does a majority of our immune system sit? The majority of our immune system sits in the digestive tract. At least 70% of our immune system is in the digestive tract. When we say digestive tract, we're not necessarily just referring to the organ itself, but what lives inside the organ? That's what the microbiome is called. The gut microbiome is the forest or ecosystem of trillions of bacteria that live inside of our digestive tract. And these little guys are the ones that manage all of these things. And so we take care of them in the proper way, and they'll take care of us back in the proper way. Vincent Ferguson: So how do we take care of them, Dr? I want to know, man. Dr. Marvin Singh: That's the magic question, right? So understanding what's going on with them and who they are and what their balance is, is part of the process, because it's hard to build a house without a blueprint, unless you're some genius or something. But you still need to know what parts you need and you have to order those parts and put them together in the right way, assemble them the right way. So, investigating your body and some of the different elements is part of the process. And then sometimes it's not really that complicated of a process. The body is very complicated, yet simple at the same time. That's what makes it cool. The microbiome responds to stress reduction, to optimal diet, to sleeping properly, to exercising. All of these things are associated with microbiome balances. So if you do these things, nicely, in accordance with what your body needs, then your microbiome will find a way to more of what we call a homeostasis or an even balance. When that happens, then good things happen to your body. Vincent Ferguson: Hmm. What are your feelings about probiotics? Dr. Marvin Singh: So probiotics are bacteria that we can take as a pill or a supplement form that could help keep or create a balance or improve the balance in your microbiome. Different probiotics may be appropriate for different people and sometimes probiotics are not necessarily the right answer at the moment for somebody. It really depends on what their symptoms are and what's going on. But I often do use probiotics to help create a balance in patients, in their microbiome, if their microbiome suggests that. Dr. Marvin Singh: The other thing is, you don't always necessarily have to take a pill of a probiotic, you can eat probiotic foods. And I like that as an option often, because not only do you get to fill your belly and eat something healthy and get the nutritional value of that food, but then you also give yourself a dose of good bacteria at the same time. So, sometimes that's a really good option as well. Vincent Ferguson: I remember reading a quote from Hippocrates that said, "Let food be your medicine and medicine your food." So is that what he was alluding to? Dr. Marvin Singh: Exactly, he also said all disease begins in the gut and, and I always joke and say he probably didn't know what in the world he was talking about, but he was totally spot on. This guy was way, way ahead of his time. Vincent Ferguson: Way ahead of his time. That's amazing. Now, and speaking of health nutrition, all that good stuff, can you determine what nutrition needs a patient has by their genetic makeup? Dr. Marvin Singh: We can start to do that now, yeah. We can do a genetic test that can help us understand what potential deficiencies you might be prone to, compared to the average person or somebody who doesn't have a particular genetic mutation. And if we have an understanding of that, then we can try to eat accordingly so that we can avoid those nutritional deficiencies. That's really one of the main things to underscore with regards to precision medicine. That it's really designed to help you prevent getting a problem or developing an issue later on. If you know that, "Hey, I have a gene that that's going to give me a higher risk for vitamin D and calcium deficiency," and, you know you may be at higher risk for osteoporosis or osteopenia later in life, then you're going to want to eat accordingly. You may want to make sure you really stay on top of your vitamin levels. You want to make sure you do weight bearing exercises. You can do all those things and then you can try to prevent and avoid developing osteoporosis later on in life. Dr. Marvin Singh: But if you never knew about it, then you're just going to go about doing whatever you were going to do. And then it's rolling the dice in whether something happens or not. Vincent Ferguson: Exactly, and speaking of vitamin D, I understand that's very important to immune health. What other supplements do you recommend? Dr. Marvin Singh: Vitamin D is very important. A lot of us actually do have vitamin D deficiency. Doing a lot of genetics, a lot of people actually have a genetic mutation for vitamin D deficiency too. So perhaps there's a common thread in a lot of people there. Dr. Marvin Singh: What supplements somebody takes really depends on who they are, what their purposes are, what their goals are, what they need, what medicines they're on, what diagnosis they have. Because you have to take a lot of that into consideration because you want to make sure that you give proper treatment. I tell people, "Supplements, yes, they're natural therapies. Yes, they're available over the counter. Yes, you don't need a prescription for them, but you should treat them like medicines too." That's, I think, one of the things that sometimes, maybe people don't appreciate as much. Dr. Marvin Singh: You may just go to the aisle in Whole Foods where all the supplements are and be like, "Oh yeah, look, this says vitality. Let me grab one of those. Oh yeah. This says digestion. Let me grab one of that. Let me grab one of this." And then you walk out with five, six different things. And I see people all the time, it's not any wrongdoing on their side, it's just that maybe we don't appreciate it as well, and some of these things can actually cause problems to your body. Some of these things, when you combine them together, can actually cause problems. You may not have known that. Dr. Marvin Singh: For example, you may say, "Oh, I have anxiety, so I'm going to drink this kava tea. But I'm going to go out for some drinks later on this evening and I had my kava tea earlier this morning and I feel great." But you know what? Kava and alcohol don't mix together. You can really hurt your liver that way. So really, it's important to make sure you are taking something for the right reason. Just like you wouldn't go to the store and say, "Oh, let me grab some Lipitor while I'm there because I think my cholesterol is high." You want to make sure that you need it, right? Vincent Ferguson: Yeah, most definitely, most definitely. So how does one determine what supplements are good for them? Dr. Marvin Singh: Well, a lot of times it's good to do an evaluation with a doctor and see. Do you need particular kinds of vitamins? Do you have inflammation? Do you have joint aches or pains? It all depends on what's going on there. For general health, taking a multivitamin or a B complex vitamin, sometimes is helpful. A lot of people take vitamin C and vitamin D and things like that for their immune system. So those are some of the basics. A lot of times people may take turmeric supplements if they have arthritis or they're concerned about inflammation. So there are different kinds of things that people may use based on what their issues are, or priorities are. Vincent Ferguson: Excellent. Excellent. Now, if someone has, let's say cancer or heart disease in their family, does that mean that they are going to be predisposed to having heart disease and cancer themselves down the road? Dr. Marvin Singh: Well, it's a risk factor and life's all about risk and understanding the risks. Sometimes there's a genetic basis to things and sometimes there's not. Sometimes people can sporadically develop a malignancy and maybe there is no genetic basis. Or maybe they're the first person in the family who's going to have the problem, we don't know. But family history is important to look at because it helps us understand what your potential risks might be. If your dad had a heart attack at 40 and your dad's dad had a heart attack at 40, and his dad had a heart attack at 40, then it's probable that you have a family history or some genetic mutation in this family history that is contributing to this risk coming down the male line in your family for heart disease. And so if you understand that gene, if you do a test and you understand that gene, what the problem is with that gene, and then try to do some research or understanding, has anybody done any investigations into what things could be done in people who have that gene defect, then maybe you can try to mitigate that problem. Dr. Marvin Singh: And you can also understand what you can do to prevent that problem from happening. Because I tell people, "Just because your dad and your granddad had a heart attack at 40 does not mean that you have to have a heart attack at 40. It's not a life sentence." Our genes are basically our blueprint, but they're not our destiny. They don't dictate what must happen to us. There's more to it than that, interestingly enough. Dr. Marvin Singh: On top of our DNA is what we call the epigenome. And the epigenome is you can think of it as light switches on the genes. And just because the gene is there, just because you have the light switch on your wall, doesn't mean the lights on. Doesn't mean the light has to be off either. There are things that can turn these genes on and off and understanding the gene and understanding what you can do to switch the gene off or not, contributes to the development of a certain problem. That's the important part. Vincent Ferguson: Now let's talk about your book, Rescue Your Health, because even talking about now, I'm sure your book probably goes into more detail about it. What can my listeners and viewers learn from reading your book? Dr. Marvin Singh: Well, I wrote Rescue Your Health because I wanted everybody to know that precision medicine, number one, doesn't have to be a scary topic. I think people think, "Oh, DNA and imaging tests and microbiome. This is too much for me. It's hard enough for me to navigate regular doctor visits, but I can't do this one." Dr. Marvin Singh: So I really try to make it simple and help people understand that it doesn't have to be a scary topic. It can be very useful. It can be more useful than a lot of other types of things that we may do in medicine. And a lot of the tests that you can do to understand your body a little bit better, they're not necessarily these multi thousand dollar tests and some of these are quite affordable. Dr. Marvin Singh: One of the chapters in the book is My Top Five Tests and the reason why I have My Top Five Tests, I made a chapter on that, is because I wanted to show people that all these tests that are there are within a couple or $200-$300 range. And so you can do a lot of things for a pretty affordable price. We often go out and go to dinner and spend $200-300 on maybe a good meal, but may leave you bloated in with heartburn, but it might've been good when you ate it. But you could spend that $200 and learn about your genes and learn how to eat for your life and that could make a huge impact on how you live your life for the whole time moving forward. Dr. Marvin Singh: And so, you know, it's really about bringing realization to that process. I wanted to really simplify it and not make it scary. This book is for everybody. This is what I say in the opening chapters. If you're a human and you're able to hold this book, then this book is for you. There is something in it for everyone. I really help try to explain what are some of the different tests and then give some real life examples about different kinds of people who've come to see me over the years. What their issues were and how we're able to apply some of the principles that we're talking about here and earlier in the book and what happened with them as a result. So, that was really the main point in the book, is really to help people understand that there are ways that we can understand our bodies on a more meaningful level. The science is there, that we can now start understanding our health from a little bit of a different viewpoint and make some big impacts. I tell people that there's two kinds of doctors. There's the kind of doctor that if you're in a burning building, this doctor is a firefighter. He'll run into that building, he's the first responder. Doctors were first responders too, on the healthcare front. And he'll go into that burning building and he will save you, he or she, will go and save you, pull you out of that building. And we need those doctors. We will always need those doctors because life happens. I practice that kind of medicine too. But then there's the other kind of doctor that'll say, "Hey, look buddy, why in the world were you anywhere near that building in the first place, man? You shouldn't be there. And this is how I'm going to help you understand how not to be there. And this is how we're going to help you avoid being in this situation, in the future." Now, which way do you think is probably better for your longevity? I think it's better to understand how you can avoid those burning buildings because the more burning buildings you're in, eventually over time, it puts a little extra wear and tear on your body too, right? Vincent Ferguson: Exactly. Yes, yes, yes. So, that is the key. How does your family feel about you practicing integrative medicine as opposed to conventional medicine? Dr. Marvin Singh: Well, first of all, I do both actually. I still practice as a general gastroenterologist. Go to a hospital and take care of sick patients there. People need that kind of help too. But the part that I am most passionate about, obviously, is the preventive medicine and the integrative part. They're very supportive, actually. Without my wife, I probably wouldn't have ever made it to this part because she's the one who helped me realize that the something that I was missing in the way that we practiced medicine was this. She was a little bit more forward-thinking earlier than I was. Vincent Ferguson: Ah, nice. That's how you know you married right. How can we order the book? Dr. Marvin Singh: Yeah. So the book is out. It's called Rescue Your Health and it's on Amazon. It's also on Barnes and Noble and a couple other places as well. But Amazon is one of the main places that the book is available on and it's out now. You can get on Kindle also. Vincent Ferguson: Okay, excellent, excellent. It just seems like a book that the timing couldn't be better. It couldn't be better than right now. Dr. Marvin Singh: Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I think COVID-19 has been real terrible on everybody in the whole planet. I think moving forward in the years to come, it's very important for people to understand that there are certain things in our body, risk factors that can potentially make us sick or be more prone to be sick. Not just for COVID, but for other things. But I think if you try to look at, was there anything that maybe came out of COVID that we can learn from, this is one of those lessons. One of those lessons is that, what's going on inside our body is a risk factor for who gets sick or how sick they could get. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, yes. We've taken it for granted, it seems for many years. Dr. Marvin Singh: Yeah. In many of us, integrative and preventative medicine doctors have been talking about this for a long time, but I think that this was just a rough lesson that helped bring the understanding to the whole world, all at the same time. I think everybody knows now that vitamin D deficiency and antioxidants and these kinds of things, being overweight and diabetes and heart disease and your diet and exercise levels and all those things, I think we all know, universally essentially, that these things are risk factors for getting sick at the most basic level. Because we're seeing it in real life, in front of us. Vincent Ferguson: Yes and it's time to do something about it. Dr. Marvin Singh: Have to do something about it. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. I also understand, Doc, that you do some charity work for an organization in New York, my hometown. Talk about that. Dr. Marvin Singh: Yeah. So this is really fun. There's a wonderful organization called Bottomless Closet in the city. They help women who are coming out of tough, difficult situations. Women who are in need of assistance in getting a job and getting back on their feet. I became the health advisor for Bottomless Closet, and I do free webinars for groups of these wonderful women and teach them about health and wellness and what they can do to get back on their feet as far as being healthy. Because it's hard to get a job, be successful at a job and try to turn your life around if you're not feeling well and you're sick. So health is very important part of that process too. Dr. Marvin Singh: And then also, if there's somebody who needs help from a doctor, I also donate my time to help that person as their doctor, free of charge and I help them get these precision medicine testing done through various different companies. I give a shout out to Microbiome Labs and Nutrogenomix, helping donate free testing kits to these patients. Several different companies have also helped me get free supplements for these wonderful women, as well. Enzymedica I have to give a shout out to as well, because all I have to do is just type out a list. This person needs this, this, this, this, and this, and they mail it to them. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. So that's amazing. Now you do this virtually? Dr. Marvin Singh: Yeah. Vincent Ferguson: That's amazing, but that's also wonderful that you do that. That you give back like that, I know you're very busy with your schedule, with so many people in need. Just showing how much humanity matters. Dr. Marvin Singh: Yeah. Everybody deserves to have access to this level of care, to understanding their body this way. And if certain people really need it and they can't afford it because of their personal situation, I mean, if they can barely afford to eat, you know, we want them to not spend all their money on that. They need to focus on their life and getting back on track because all that other stuff will follow. But to help them be healthy, I can at least do that part. That's the part that I can play. If they get on track and start feeling better, then they will do better.  So you feel better, you're more motivated, you have more energy, you're less stressed, you're sleeping better, than you're going to perform better at your job. You'll be able to excel in your position and you can climb the ranks that way. So if I can help somebody do that, that makes me feel good because that's what being a doctor and a healer is all about. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, it is, amazing. How can my listeners, find out more about you and Precision Clinic? Dr. Marvin Singh: I'm pretty accessible online. So a website for Precision Clinic is precisionclinic.com. Our contact information, email, phone number is all on that website. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, my handle is @Dr. Marvin Singh, so I'm pretty accessible that way, as well. Vincent Ferguson: Well, we need to access you, that's for sure. Dr. Marvin Singh, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York, my nonprofit and Six Weeks of Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on this show today. Dr. Marvin Singh: No problem. Thank you for having me. Vincent Ferguson: And to my listeners and followers and viewers, I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging, and inspiring. And you will continue watching and listening in to our Six Weeks of Fitness program. And if you have any questions or suggestions for the show, please leave them in the comment section below. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. And remember “you don't stop exercising because you grow old, you grow old because you stop exercising.” You can reach Vince Ferguson at vince@sixweeks.com. You can also visit his website at www.6weekstofitness.com.

Vince Ferguson: Welcome to Six Weeks To Fitness, episode 177. I'm your host Vince Ferguson and joining me today on my Six Weeks To Fitness program is actor, comedian, composer, singer, impressionist, voiceover artist, Stephen Sorrentino. He has appeared on the Las Vegas strip, and has toured well over 25 countries and 43 states. Stephen's long resume has included television, film, and Broadway shows. He has worked with numerous celebrities, such as Patti LaBelle, Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey, and the legendary Debbie Reynolds. And here today to discuss the keys to longevity in the entertainment business and his career is Stephen Sorrentino. Stephen, how are you, bro? Stephen Sorrentino: I'm doing well, Vince. How are you? Vince Ferguson: You look great, man. I'm doing well. Thank you for coming on the show. Stephen Sorrentino: Well, thank you, brother. Vince Ferguson: Yeah, baby. And look at that. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Vince Ferguson: Now, here at Six Weeks To Fitness, I usually interview fitness and nutrition experts, athletes, some doctors and celebrities, and we talk about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. That has got to be very important to you. Stephen Sorrentino: It absolutely is. I mean, if you want to... Your brain wants to do a lot of stuff, creativity-wise. So you want to do it as long as possible. And if you don't take care of yourself, you get a short run. I don't want to burn bright and short. I want to burn bright for a very long time. Vince Ferguson: Oh, very well said. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Now, I interviewed Denise Boutte, Jasper Cole, Kim Coles, and they all talk about the importance of health, because they've been in the business a long time like you. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: So how long have you been in the entertainment business? Stephen Sorrentino: I started when I was five years old, when I was a little boy. But I've been making a living at it, like full-time for 46 years now. So I'm lucky. Vince Ferguson: That's a blessing. That's huge. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: But now, you've also celebrated a birthday this week. Stephen Sorrentino: All right, let's not get crazy now. Vince Ferguson: Did my research, baby. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah, I turned 61. Yeah. Vince Ferguson: What?! What?! That's beautiful. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: But isn't that wonderful? When you don't have to feel that way, but you feel great. You look great. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Because age, they tell me, is just a number. Stephen Sorrentino: It's just a number. And especially if you're creative and you want to keep well, you have to always think young. My brain always thinks nine years old, so I could be free, and create, and be funny, and be interesting, at least on stage. So if you think old, you're done, man. So you have to continue to just stay vibrant, eat the right foods, exercise as much as you can, and stay engaged with people. You know? Don't just know what you know, learn every day. That's the most important thing. Vince Ferguson: Learn every day. There's something to learn every day. Stephen Sorrentino: I hope so. And you know what? The people that stop learning, I usually find that they kind of just go down the pike and you don't see them anymore. And the older I get, I don't know if you're the same way, the more I don't know. Because I used to know everything when I was 18, and now at 61, I don't know nothing. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Exactly. The more you know, the more you don't know. Stephen Sorrentino: Uh-huh (affirmative). Vince Ferguson: It's amazing. But now where did it all begin for you, Stephen? Where did you grow up, and what was your childhood like? Stephen Sorrentino: I had a weird childhood, because I was in a third generation show biz family. My grandfather was kind of like a Ricky Ricardo type. He had his own club, and then he would perform after dinner with my mother and my father playing saxophone, my mother was a singer. So I kind of grew up in a box backstage type of a thing. It was a good family life in Long Island, New York. And the weekends, my parents were performing all the time. Sometimes, they'd take me. And then by the time I was like five or six years old, my grandfather would give me the big finger, which meant I needed to come up, and I'd sit on his knee and I'd sing a song with him. Which was frightening for me, but who knew I would make a living at it? Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: And then at 15, the bug hit me, man. You know? I had the PA system set up, and I played guitar, sax, flute, piano, and I just wanted a band. And you know? I got a record deal by the time I was 26, and I was hitting it and I love it. Every day, every part of it, I love it. So that's me. And then I toured around the world. I got to meet all these beautiful people, eat all these great foods, learn about nutrition…. learn about exercise from Chinese people, meditation. You know? It's a beautiful life if you go out there and you look for it, you know? Vince Ferguson: Yes. The more I speak to people like yourself who've been in the business a long time, they talk about meditation. You know? Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: And believing yourself, and that's so important. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. You have to listen to yourself. You have to listen to your heart, and what your body's telling you, listen to what your creativity is telling you. That's the only way to channel yourself. You know? So mind and body and spirit is all we have, and we put it all together when we make a living at it, and we touch other people. Stephen Sorrentino: And we educate them sometimes, and they say, "Gee, you're 61, and you're running around like you're 20." I'm like, "I know." Because I keep at it. You know? I'm a vegetarian. Vince Ferguson: Yeah, there you go, nutrition. Stephen Sorrentino: I don't drink booze anymore. I did for a long time. I don't touch any drugs or anything like that. So I'm a natural guy, you know? Vince Ferguson: Wow, that's amazing. Vince Ferguson: Now, you wear so many hats, you know? And again, you're vibrant, you're a comedian, you're a singer-composer, actor, everything. But if you could only choose one hat to wear, what would it be? Stephen Sorrentino: You're going to give me that question? Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: I think the spice of life is all the different things.  I don't think I have been asked that question before. Vince Ferguson: Good! Stephen Sorrentino: I was going to say, I'm going to say actor. Vince Ferguson: Really? Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah, because I think you get to be in as many people as you want to be, and you get to channel all the other personalities that are in you and then bring them out. It's almost like Halloween every day. So you get to wear any mask you want. You pull it out, you play the character, and you put it away. Stephen Sorrentino: But I'm like that with all my stuff, with my comedy, with my composition. Even when I put it to show, the way I design lights and stuff, I just I'll take different ideas, the way I do with nutrition and the way I eat, take everybody else's ideas, and bring them, and make my own. You know? Vince Ferguson: Yes, yes. Stephen Sorrentino: Is that a long answer or what? Vince Ferguson: No, but it makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of sense. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Now, to be the person you are today, obviously you had to go through, you learned a lot, you met a lot of people. Who were the most impactful in your life? Who made you who you are today, Stephen? Stephen Sorrentino: Oh, gee, you know what? I'm going to bring it all the way down to my sixth grade teacher. I know it sounds unexceptional. I could say Debbie Reynolds or something like that, or Patti LaBelle. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: But there was a person when I was in sixth grade that was a hippie back in the day. He had long hair and a beard, and that was very unlike the school district. And this guy just said, the first day, he goes, "You guys want to do a class, or you want to go outside because it's beautiful and just talk?" And he cared, and he listened to us. And from that moment, it was like a class of... It was like a camp. It almost like a hippie thing. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: It felt so good that somebody cared, and we all got to know each other. It wasn't a lesson. It was a lesson in life. It wasn't a book lesson. And I'll never forget him, so he touched my life. Stephen Sorrentino: And I'm going to say Patti. Not to be stupid, but Debbie Reynolds also. I learned so much from being positive about everything. Even when negative stuff was happening, say it in a positive way. "I don't want to do that." You know? With a smile. So you know? So I think being positive, and gleaning something from the people that you meet, especially on stage. Like George Carlin, hanging out with George Carlin and talking to him. Vince Ferguson: George Carlin? Stephen Sorrentino: Jerry Lewis. I mean, these are people that affected me as a kid, and then seeing what they're like in real life. So another person, Leslie Jordan. I don't know if you know the actor, he was on Will and Grace, he's little gay dude. Vince Ferguson: Oh. Stephen Sorrentino: I read his book, and I stopped drinking. Because I read his book, and it touched me somehow. And I called him, we had a mutual friend. I said, "How's that non-drinking thing?" Because I used to like my wine and it was affecting me at one point. And I said, "How's the non-drinking thing happen?" He goes, "Well, I won an Emmy." I said, "Well, I want an Emmy." He goes, "Then quit." And he made it so simple. And I went, "Yeah." And so I called him every day for 30 days just to say how I was doing, and I never had another drink. That was like 13 years ago. I never touched the booze again. Vince Ferguson: Really? Stephen Sorrentino: So that those are the people that touch you. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Stephen Sorrentino: And you never forget them. Vince Ferguson: Most definitely. Oh, that's amazing. And you mentioned Patti LaBelle. What was that experience like? Stephen Sorrentino: Oh, my God. I mean, that's the queen. I got called because she was having some problems. As a comedian, she was having some vocal problems. So they said, "Would you come in and do an audition for Patti LaBelle" I'm like, "For who?" And they said, "Patti LaBelle. And I'm like, "Wait, I'm going to sing in front of Patti LaBelle?" You know? Stephen Sorrentino: So I went there. And I got the job, because my comedy is a lot of singing impressions. I do like Sammy Davis and all that stuff, so I sing a lot. Vince Ferguson: Nice! Stephen Sorrentino: And so I'm looking. She walks in, and there's Miss Patti with the entourage. And I'm like, "Oh, my..." And I started getting weird. You know? Because it's Patti LaBelle. And I'm looking at the microphone and I said, "Okay, I can't do this. Because that's Patti LaBelle, I'm going to flip out. I'm going to pass out. I'm going to throw up. Whatever's going to happen." And then I just went through this little process that we all do when we try to take care of ourself. I said, I looked at the stage, and I looked at Patti, Miss Patti. And I took the microphone. I know a microphone. There's a stage. There's a monitor. That's an audience. I'm familiar with all of that. I'm just going to do it. And I went out and I killed. Stephen Sorrentino: And on the way out, I introduced her. She grabbed my shoulder with her beautiful nails, and she goes, "You're with me forever." Vince Ferguson: Really? Stephen Sorrentino: And she said that. Yeah. And that, just got the chills talking about it because I just believed in myself at that moment. I put all the crap aside, and all the negativity that what could happen, and just said, "Yeah, I'm doing this." And I did 69 dates over the years with Miss Patti, so it was just wonderful. Vince Ferguson: How many dates? 69? Stephen Sorrentino: 69 dates, I think. Yeah, probably all together in Las Vegas for many, many times, and then a couple of road dates. I was there for her 60th birthday. Yeah. Yeah, I've been around, man. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. No, yeah, you've been around. But also, you really mixed it up with these people, too, which is great, you know? Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Vince Ferguson: And I'm sure they speak highly of you, as well, so that's amazing. Stephen Sorrentino: You know what? If you're smart, you get a lot from people. You don't just try to tell them who you are, but you listen. That's the biggest thing I ever could tell young people, because I mentor young people in the arts and I teach in China, as well. I mean, I'm a little nuts with that. I just tell them to listen. Because if you listen, you're going to hear everybody's story. You put it into your own little mix master, you make it, and then it becomes your story. You know? But listen, if we listen, we hear a lot. You know? Vince Ferguson: I think the problem to a lot of us today is that we don't listen. Right? We want to talk about what we know, who we are instead of listening- Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: ... to what someone else knows- Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: ... that might help us to become better than what we are today. Stephen Sorrentino: You know what? I don't know you very long, but I bet you I got months of stuff to learn from you. You know what I mean? And people don't take the time to listen. Especially when it comes to age, too. People, "Oh, he's old." When people, some young people say, "What song is that? Oh, I wasn't even born when that was written." Well, the world didn't start when you were born. I don't know if you got the memo. Vince Ferguson: Thank you. Thank you. It's so true, man. Vince Ferguson: I want to talk to you briefly about a movie. I just saw this movie, and you're in it, and it's called A Tale of Redemption and Regret. It was hilarious, but tell my viewers about it. Stephen Sorrentino: Well, it's you know? I got this script. I was in Las Vegas, and then COVID happened, so I moved back. I have a farm in the east coast of Virginia, and I just went to the farm just to be safe, and there's not going to be any work. And this young guy sent me script and said, "Look, I saw you perform a long time ago. I want you to do this character." So I'm like, "All right." Stephen Sorrentino: I read the script, and I loved it. It was a mafia guy that was down on his luck. It was like he wasn't going to win it at the end. He's actually kind of a loser. And I had a lot of empathy for him, because he's past his prime. Yeah, the '80s are over, and he's still trying to do the same thing, which is the mistake we all make. You have to roll, and change and evolve. Well, he can't, and I loved it. Stephen Sorrentino: So I called him up and I said, "If I give this guy a real personality ... I'll play the thing." And he did. So I produced the movie, I starred in it, and I also wrote the music for it. And it's just a really great romp of this... It's comedy, but it's dark comedy. Because he's kind of a murderer, but he's funny. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Yeah. You mix it all. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. You can see it on YouTube. It's also just won today... Or last night, I should say we won the London Short Film festival, the London Film Festival, and we won three other ones last week. So this movie is touching on something. I think all of us, as we get older, want to stay relevant. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: And some of us that can't, we fall through the cracks ... and this is touching on it. It's called A Tale of Redemption and Regret with Sunny the Heat. Vince Ferguson: Sunny the Heat? Stephen Sorrentino: It's a fun movie. Vince Ferguson: It really is. Stephen Sorrentino: I'm Sunny the Heat. Vince Ferguson: Yes. It really, it really, truly is, man. Stephen Sorrentino: Thanks. Vince Ferguson: And you say co-produced it. Now, also in the theme was about, as you said, getting older. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: And does Stephen Sorrentino worry about getting older? Stephen Sorrentino: Of course. You know? You want to stay relevant. And like last night, I'm on stage, and I'm playing the piano, and the recorder's rocking. You know? We're doing shows here in Las Vegas. And I said to myself, "Do I want to stand on the piano bench and jump off?" Well, at 30, that was easy. But at 61, I'll blow a hip. You know? Vince Ferguson: Yeah Stephen Sorrentino: I did it, because I did my running yesterday and I feel good. But what happens if? So you stuck getting that self-doubt thing, and you try to talk yourself out of it if you stay in shape. Vince Ferguson: Wow, exactly. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Exactly. That's why being healthy is so important, right? So- Stephen Sorrentino: It's all you got, man. Vince Ferguson: I know. But do you think acting today is more of a young man's game, or does it make a difference? Stephen Sorrentino: No, I think acting, I think it... Well, the thing is, here's the way I look at it. At 22, there's 9,000 other guys that want the job and that could do it, because they're good looking and they want it badly. At 45 there's 500 guys because they want it pretty much. But at 60, there's only four guys. I'm going to get the part. You know? Vince Ferguson: Great way of looking at it. Less competition, you're saying, huh? Stephen Sorrentino: That's right. Yeah. Well, the thing is I'm a character actor, so I'm not going to be the leading man anymore. That ship sailed in the '70s, so... Or the '80s. So for me, I love to play older. I mean, to get into an old character, to play someone maybe from Ireland, then you really can get yourself all crazy. You know? It's great. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: You know? As long as I can pop out of it and run around the room a little bit, you know? Vince Ferguson: Yeah, yeah. Exactly, exactly. Very, very funny, man. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: But now, what advice would you give a young actor? Because you said you mentor actors, right? Young actors. Stephen Sorrentino: I do, yeah. Vince Ferguson: What advice do you give them if they want to get into the business? Stephen Sorrentino: Well, this movie is playing at all the film festivals worldwide, so I'm getting a multitude of people reaching out to me saying, "Help me." So I can't help everybody. But the first thing I said is, "Do you want to be an actor, or do you want to famous?" And if the answer is, "I want to be a star, I want to be famous," then I can't help you. But if you want to learn the craft and get famous because you're awesome, I can help you with that. You know what I mean? Stephen Sorrentino: So learn the craft. Don't just want to be... Anybody can be famous taking a picture of their hinny on Instagram and putting it out, and everybody looks at it. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: But to have a career like me for 46 years of getting paid, having homes around America, touring the world, that's really seeing the world on other people's dime because of the business, that's a real gift, man. So you have to put your work in. You know? As a musician, as an artist, as a comedian, as whatever it is that you do, put it all in. And this may sound weird to you. I don't have it B plan, I never did. I don't have a backup plan. Because if I have a backup plan, then I'm telling the universe or whatever I believe in that it may not work out. So my thing has always been A plan, and it always worked out. Vince Ferguson: And do you recommend that for most people? Stephen Sorrentino: I do. I have to. when you say I have a B, I'm going to have something to fall back on, you already fell back. Because you just said that you don't believe that it's going to work out for you. So I don't have a plumber thing, or a... You know? I did jobs when I was a kid. But I'm going to be an actor, comedian, composer until the minute I die. Vince Ferguson: Wow. Stephen Sorrentino: And that's the way it's going to be. Because I said so. You know what I mean? It sounds arrogant, but it's like the world, the universe is a restaurant. You got to tell the waiter what you want. Tell them exactly what you want. But you also have, you have the patience to wait for it and do the work. You know? Tell them what you want, like working on your body, working on your nutrition, be prepared, and then it will come to you. It's guaranteed. But if you say, "Eh, it's not coming. I'm going somewhere else," then you're not there for the food. And they show up with the hamburger for you, and you're not there to eat it. So stick with it, know your stuff, take care of yourself, and it'll come to you. That's what I tell my young people. Vince Ferguson: That sounds great, man. That's great advice. But now, what are the keys, in your opinion, to longevity in the entertainment business. I say entertainment business, because you're more than just an actor. Okay? Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: So what's the keys to longevity? Stephen Sorrentino: Evolve. Learn that- Vince Ferguson: Evolve. Stephen Sorrentino: You know? Your body, when you're 21, you could do certain weights. You could do certain fitness. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: But when you're 55, you're not going to do the same exercises. It's the same with the arts. You have to evolve. At 21, I looked young and handsome ... I had tight jeans on, long hair. You can't play that guy when you're 40. So you have to change, and evolve, and roll with the punches, and roll with what life brings you. I embrace the fact that I'm not 21. I'm glad, because now I'm playing this guy, the older mafia died. I'll be doing a play this summer in New York City. I forget the name of it right now because it's early here. It Could Be Worse, it's called. And I'm playing an Italian guy, and his daughter comes, and she's got a girlfriend and this whole... But it's two hours of non-stop, like manic energy. And I'll be able to do it because that guy, I took care of myself. So maybe he didn't take care of himself for the story. But for me to play him, I have to have taken care of myself. No drinking, no meat for me, no booze. You know? No anything. Just rest, exercise. Vince Ferguson: So those are the keys. Evolving, not drinking, not abusing your body, proper nutrition. Okay. When did you become a vegetarian? Stephen Sorrentino: Oh, my God, about 10 years ago. I'm an animal rights activist, and I didn't like meat as it was, the concept of it. And when I stopped eating red meat and pork, I felt better. And then I just said, "You know what? One day a week, I'm going to eat no meat at all." And eventually, it just went away. I just felt better and better. So I take protein shakes sometimes, and I have a lot of nuts. And I know that nutrition-wise, a lot of fruits. Yeah, you know? I try to eat right, man. Vince Ferguson: Yeah, man. Stephen Sorrentino: You're the vehicle? You know? You have to... Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: We want our car to go somewhere. So our brain is the map, and our body is the car, and if you don't put new tires on and take care of the oil and gas, it won't go anywhere. Vince Ferguson: It just doesn't work right. Exactly. Exactly. Stephen Sorrentino: You know? Vince Ferguson: That's good wisdom. What about exercise now? What exercises do you do on a regular basis that keep you going? Stephen Sorrentino: Well, jumping around on stage every night helps because you're sweating it out all the time. Vince Ferguson: Sure. Stephen Sorrentino: But I run three miles a day, three to six miles a day. A slow run, because I'm older, so my hips are not what it used to be. I do pushups every day, and if I can get to the gym twice a week and just do a whole, like a universal circuit, I'm good. Vince Ferguson: Nice. Stephen Sorrentino: I sweat it out. Got to sweat every day. Vince Ferguson: Nice. That's good to hear that. Stephen Sorrentino: Definitely Vince Ferguson: And also, good advice for other people to know that you have to move your body, right? Stephen Sorrentino: Have to. Yeah, as you get older, too- Vince Ferguson: Yes. Stephen Sorrentino: ... if you stop using it, you will lose it. Vince Ferguson: Exactly. I agree. Vince Ferguson: I don't lift as much now. I just want to be healthy. To me, it's about being fit. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah, but you look... Exactly. And you look good, so hello. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: That's the game. Vince Ferguson: And you want to be around long time, right? Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. I want to play an 80-year old in a play someday, and I'll be 80. That's cool. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. But you won't look 80. Stephen Sorrentino: No, I will look 70. Vince Ferguson: It's all good, it's all good. Vince Ferguson: I read a personal quote of yours, and it said- Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: It said, "I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of living with no purpose." That was awesome. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Explain that to my listeners and viewers. Stephen Sorrentino: You know? I said that as a mentor thing to a Chinese medical student, that he posted that somewhere. It became like this thing. I'm not afraid of dying. I mean, for me, living is the whole thing. Dying, I don't believe anything negative about it ... I think it's a positive thing. You just move into the next thing. I just don't want to be on this planet and not touch another person, not change another person's life, or leave a legacy. Even if it's just a song, or a performance that somebody said, "Gee, you really touched my heart." Or a song that somebody used for their wedding because it meant something. So we have a short time here relatively in this world, and I think our job is not to make money, and to buy stuff, and boast. But it's to touch as many people positively as possible and change their lives. That's it. I don't want to live without purpose. That's my purpose. Vince Ferguson: That is so well put, you know? Stephen Sorrentino: I didn't mean to be so profound. But it came out good, and when he posted it everywhere, I'm like, "Oh." Vince Ferguson: Yeah, man, it's like, "This guy's got a lot of wisdom to share. You know? He's really deep." Stephen Sorrentino: I'm the Dalai Lama. Vince Ferguson: Right. Exactly, exactly. Which is cool. Because someone needs to hear that, man. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah, that's cool. That's my life. I mean, when people reach out to me, I do the best I can. There a lot of people that... I was in a film festival in India recently, and all these Indian actors, young dude actors wanted to talk to me, and I'm getting like 13, 14 requests every day, "Hey, can I speak to you?" And I do the best I can. But at one point, I'm like, "I can't." You know? "Take a number," so to speak. So I want to give positive energy to anybody I can. You know? Someday, on a world platform, if I can. You know? Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: But we'll see. Vince Ferguson: That's awesome. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah, man. I mean, isn't that our job? Vince Ferguson: I think so. To give back and to help those who are around us. I believe that. Stephen Sorrentino: Isn't that what you're doing? Yeah, but look what you're doing. You are. Vince Ferguson: I believe, yes. And it feels good to do it, to share information. You bring on people like yourself who can also share uplifting and positive information, man. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: You know? It's a beautiful thing. Vince Ferguson: But now, I also know that you are in a film that's coming out the end of the year. It was directed by Victoria Rowell? Stephen Sorrentino: Yes! Vince Ferguson: ... of Young and Restless? Stephen Sorrentino: Yes! Young and Restless. Victoria's a like rockstar, you know? Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: First of all, I was excited because I'm the only white dude in the movie, which is freaking awesome. Vince Ferguson: Really? Oh, wow. A token. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah, I'm the token white dude, which is fine with me. Equal time, finally. And she's a great director. Actually, Denise Bute is in it, also as well. Vince Ferguson: Denise is in it? Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Blair Underwood, Bill Bellamy, and it's called- Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: ... A Rich Christmas. And I play a small part, but I play an English butler. Very, very different, you know? I've got my glasses like this. You know? One of those guys. And I had played Annie, I played Drake in Annie, which is a butler, with Sally Struthers- Vince Ferguson: Yes! Stephen Sorrentino: ... the year before. And Victoria saw a video of mine, and she goes, "You're hired." And it was so cool. So it's called A Rich Christmas. You know? It's a Christmastime movie on BET- Vince Ferguson: Yes. Stephen Sorrentino: ... and look for me. Yeah. And Victoria's again, you walk in the room, her positive energy fills the room- Stephen Sorrentino: ... and you just get taken over by her. Yes, strong, strong woman director, so unique. And great that we're starting to see more women, more people of color directing. It's wonderful. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Wonderful. Stephen Sorrentino: I'm inspired. Vince Ferguson: Where do you see yourself, Stephen Sorrentino? You've done so much, but where do you see yourself in next five years? Stephen Sorrentino: I'd like to have a regular show, like on a Netflix type of platform. Maybe the Sunny the Heat thing. I don't know. On whatever platform. Vince Ferguson: That's awesome! Stephen Sorrentino: And just have a steady job on television. And then on my off months, I'd love to tour a little bit to do my comedy, and then have enough time to mentor and teach young people. That's it. Vince Ferguson: That's it? Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: That's a lot, man. That's a lot. Stephen Sorrentino: That's okay. I got a lot. You know? Like I said, I got a lot of energy, so... Vince Ferguson: So how do you rest though? How do you take it down? Stephen Sorrentino: I shut off. So it's no people. Because anytime I'm around people, I kind of somewhat perform. I don't know. I can't really shut down. So what I do is I close everybody off, I go away, and I just rest. I just I do nothing. I try that. A little meditation. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Stephen Sorrentino: And can I be honest with you? When I'm back in Virginia on my ranch, I mow the lawn. Vince Ferguson: You mow the lawn? Stephen Sorrentino: For eight hours. It's 13 acres of mowing- Vince Ferguson: Oh! Stephen Sorrentino: Because it's a 50 acre estate. Vince Ferguson: Whoa! Stephen Sorrentino: So I mow Vince Ferguson: Whoa, really? Really? Stephen Sorrentino: It's I can't. It sounds stupid, but it's very zen, man. Vince Ferguson: Very zen, unbelievable. Stephen Sorrentino: Zen mowing. I don't know what to tell you, but that helps to slow me down. Vince Ferguson: Because you're such an outgoing person, and I would imagine that you're always around people. But for you, get away from people. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah, I have to shut completely off. And I think, and somebody pointed this out, a psychologist friend of mine said, "You're not an extrovert. You're an extrovert for a living, but you're actually an introvert." And I think he's right. So I do this Mr. Personality thing. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Stephen Sorrentino: But my real person is a very quiet, inside thing. So it's kind of strange. Vince Ferguson: It is kind of strange, man. But how can my listeners and viewers find out more about Stephen Sorrentino? Stephen Sorrentino: You can go to Stephensorrentino.com. It's Stephen with a P-H. You can go to my Instagram, follow. There's a lot of awards being posted on that, which is New York actor or Stephen.Sorrentino. Or on Twitter, I'm Sorrentino. Easy. Vince Ferguson: Amazing. Definitely easy. Vince Ferguson: But one more thing about Tales of Redemption, right? Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: It was only 14 minutes. It was a very short movie. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Yeah, it's a short movie. We wanted to make an impact and show everybody what we could do. And now we're developing it as a series. Like I said, I want that series. So we've got 13 episodes written, and then we're going to start pitching it all over the world to whoever will look at it, and whoever will give us the most platforms that we can see it. And you people can watch Sunny, because he's a very interesting character. Vince Ferguson: Most definitely. I wanted more, man. I wanted more. How it ended, I wanted more Sunny the Heat. Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. A lot of people say, at the festivals that I went to in New York, they came up to me and said, "We want more of Sunny." And I'm like, "That's great." Vince Ferguson: Thank you. Thank you, man. Stephen Sorrentino: You know? No, thank you. Vince Ferguson: You can identify with Sunny, man. You know? Stephen Sorrentino: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: You really could. Vince Ferguson: Well, look, Stephen Sorrentino, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York, that's my non-profit fitness program for kids, and Six Weeks to Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Stephen Sorrentino: It's my pleasure. This has been a blessing. Thank you so much. Vince Ferguson: And to my listeners and viewers, I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging, and inspiring, and that you will continue listening in and watching our Six Weeks to Fitness program. If you have any questions or comments for the show, please leave them below. And don't forget to subscribe, so you don't miss any future episodes. And remember, you don't stop exercising because you are getting old. You're getting old because you stopped exercising.  www.6weekstofitness.com  

In Episode 176 of my Six Weeks To Fitness podcast, I sit down with celebrity fitness trainer Paul Bamba, a successful boxer, community activist, entrepreneur and former Marine. He's also the founder of Trifecta Fitness, a New York-based boxing and fitness training company. The company trains everyone, from celebrities to everyday fitness enthusiasts. Throughout his career, Paul has taken boxing and self-defense seriously by teaching self-defense classes to women and men of all ages. Vince Ferguson Well, before we talk about Trifecta Fitness, tell my listeners, where did you grow up and what was your childhood like before joining the Marine Corps. Paul Bamba: I grew up everywhere. I was born in Puerto Rico, I moved to LA, I lived in Massachusetts for a little bit. I was a ward of the state, the country rather because I was all over the place. So I was just bounced around a lot. So there's not one real spot I was really in growing up. Vince Ferguson: So there was no stability in your home. Paul Bamba: No, not at all. I think that, not even a little bit. Not until I joined the Marine Corps. Vince Ferguson: Really, so the Marine Corps gave you stability. Amazing. Paul Bamba: Yeah. Stability and structure. Vince Ferguson: And structure. Now, I know that Marines can do a lot to a young man, but why did you join the Marine Corps as opposed to any of the other branches? You laugh. Paul Bamba: The uniforms and that, I don't know, dress blues, dress blues are just beautiful, they're the best uniform out there. Also, I think because it was the hardest one and I've always loved challenging myself. With Marine Corps boot camp, it's 13 weeks, it's the longest of any other branch of service and you don't need to go to any other boot camp if you decide to go into another branch of service. However, if you're in the army and you want to become a Marine, you got to start all over again because you got to earn it and that's what I really liked about it. It was a hard thing to get into and then they're very selective and you have to have certain fitness requirements and stuff like that. So I liked it, it gave me something to look forward to, just to get better, a goal, I'm very goal-oriented. Vince Ferguson: Nice. Excellent. Excellent. So in addition to the combat fighting skills, because again, I know from being a Navy veteran that the Marines have the toughest, have structure that it's hard to basically be a Marine if you're not fit. In the Navy, you can go in there looking like a donut, but Marine Corps, you got to look good, you got to feel good, you got to know what you're doing and each one qualification come to being a Marine, but besides learning combat skills, because when it comes to fighting, the Marines go first pretty much, but in addition to combat fighting skills, what other skills did you take that you use today in your business? Paul Bamba: I would definitely say the structure part. Structure, just planning everything out, not just going off a whim I would say, having a plan, executing to that plan, and when things don't fall according to plan, sticking to that plan, because you made it for a reason. I think that has helped me the most. Also, just, the thing I love most about the Marines is comradery. So I would say when you are team building, being a team leader, I was a fire team leader and a squad leader in some parts. So things like that, they permeated into other portions of my life, it just made me more confident, I was able to pick the people that I wanted to build with and have it as a part of my team and it lets you see past the BS, I guess you could say. Paul Bamba: So when you know what you have, you know what you're attacking, or not attacking rather, but when you know what you're going after, and then you just stick to it. That's the main thing I learned with the Marines, no matter what, even if you fall short, you stick to the plan and you make sure you accomplish the mission. And that's how I operate on a day-to-day. Vince Ferguson: So you must have a plan. Paul Bamba: Oh yeah. I'm living part of my plan right now. I would tell you all of it. I have a 10 year since I was about ... I worked at GNC when I was 25 and I'm a bit ahead of schedule, I would say and I think that's because I stuck to my plan, even when stuff goes wrong, sometimes people they kind of give up or they're like, "Oh, I fell short." They call an audible, but that audible takes them away from the ultimate goal and it might actually take a little longer. I just stick to the plan. Vince Ferguson: How many years did you do in the corps? Paul Bamba: Four. Vince Ferguson: That's a lot. You know what I'm saying? Paul Bamba: Yeah, it's a little bit. Vince Ferguson: But of all the places that you could've moved to, I know you were discharged a few years ago, you came to New York, but why? Of all the places you could have gone, you could have gone to LA, Atlanta, wherever, you came here. Why? Paul Bamba: So this might sound a little weird. I knew I was going to be homeless and I tried to pick the easiest place to be homeless in my opinion, and the easiest place to work and also to go with, I love hard things, there's the saying, if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Paul Bamba: If you would've told me that before I moved to New York, I would've said, "Well, that just sounds dumb." But I think that there's a lot of truth behind that because New York will bring the grind out of you if you don't it in you. And if you have it in you, it's going to make that much better because you can't come here and be lazy, you'll get swallowed up, chewed up, spit out very easily. You constantly have to be moving forward. Vince Ferguson: True, true that. But let me go back for a second. You said you knew that you would be homeless when you came to New York and you still came? Paul Bamba: Yeah. I had a plan. It started off as a joke. I sold office supplies for this company called Quill, I think, something like that- Paul Bamba: ... in Rhode Island and then it wasn't working out or I think they were moving the company or something and I'm like, "Oh, I'm going to go to New York and I'm going to fight." And I never boxed before and I was kind of like, "Eh, whatever." So I went to New York and I found a gym and I just made it all work. I was homeless for a bit and I was able to rent a mattress behind someone's couch in City Island for a bit and then ended up getting on my feet, getting a job. I got fired from that job, I got homeless again, lived on the train, but ultimately, all my goals were fitness-related and boxing-related, so no matter how bad stuff got, I literally, I just stuck to it, it's like, "Hey, I messed up. Cool. How do we fix it?" Rather than sulking or beating myself up about it, I'm like, "All right, cool, I messed that up, this is a solution to it, this is what we're doing or what I'm doing." And I just got to it. That's it. Vince Ferguson: Wow. That to me is truly amazing. Most people would've given up, coming here, and you're young, even much younger than you are now, coming to New York and basically, things can happen to a young guy, a young person in New York city if they're not careful. So how did you fall into boxing? Paul Bamba: Well, Morris Park, I was in the Bronx, so there was some guy, I got into a little altercation if you will in City Island and there's this guy that told me that I should box, I don't remember his name anymore and I wish I did, I think it's Eddie, he has like a karate studio in City Island and he brought me to the Bronx and he's like, "I'll pay for your training, you just got to come help." I had to come help clean up his dojo or whatever, do floors in morning, he'd pay for my training and I would walk from City Island to Morris Park every day just so I could learn, because I didn't have nothing else to do, school wasn't really my thing, I'm self-educated but I'm not curriculum, sit-down at a desk type educated. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Paul Bamba: So that's all I had. So I was just like, "I like this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to make it work. I might not become a version of Floyd Mayweather, but maybe I'll become like a Freddie Roach." You can make your mark either through fighting or through training and if you're training, you could help out a bunch of people in the process and build their confidence. So I was like, "It's a win-win." And you get to put people on the face if I get in trouble. That's fun. Vince Ferguson: That's fun. I heard Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Paul Bamba: True. Vince Ferguson: But you have a plan and you like punching people in the face. Paul Bamba: Yeah. I don't mind getting hit too much so it's a win-win, it's a good outlet, it's a positive one. A lot of people think that boxing is just an animalistic thing, it's just like, kind of like, this is just machismo, I guess you can say, but it's not, it's a thinking man's game, you got to think and you got to be smart, and if you go in and fight all the time or you can box and be smart and not get hit too much, stay in great shape, sharpen your mind, help other people. That's why I love it. Vince Ferguson: So you are pretty successful now, but would you say that boxing is what brought to where you are today or was it other skills that you had? Paul Bamba: I think I'm charismatic, so that helps. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Paul Bamba: Obviously you got to be able to talk to people, but I ultimately know boxing saved my life. I truly believe I would not be ... I had a rough upbringing and I was kind of hardheaded, so I don't really think I'd be anywhere close to where I'm at had I not found boxing or had I not found the few people that they're still in my life, like Aaron Davis, he runs Morris Park Boxing Club, he's a former world champion, I still talk to this man all the time, even to this day, it's been about seven years now and he instilled in me just working hard and not giving up and being cool, stuff could be messed up, but if you're not giving up, you got to move forward. And so boxing did that for me because you're never going to perfect boxing. Mayweather's amazing but even he gets hit sometimes, you can learn something from anybody and the fact that it keeps me mentally sharp, I love that and it just gives me something to look forward to whether I'm winning or whether I'm helping somebody win, either way it's a win. Vince Ferguson: Wow. Are you boxing professionally now? Paul Bamba: Yeah. I've had three professional fights so far, I fight again, October 8th and then the 29th. So I'm staying a little bit busy. I like it a lot, it's fun. It's an experience. COVID made the dream happen, with not much else to do, it was easy to train and kind of like take that leap of faith and I did, so now I get to train people, which I love, and teach, because I'm more of a coach than a trainer I would say, a teacher, and I get to box. So it's a win-win, I'm living what I dreamed about when I was 25 because I put in the hard work and I stuck to it and I was consistent and I got up and ran on the days that I really didn't want to, I still do. Vince Ferguson: Just like a Marine. Paul Bamba: Yeah. And that's the thing, the hunger that's instilled in you as a Marine or maybe they brainwash you, I don't know, but it works and as long as you stick to it, that's it, consistency is key in life to anything that anybody does. Vince Ferguson: And yet you had role models too to help you, you said Aaron, what's his last name? Paul Bamba: Aaron Davis. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. How important are role models to you? Paul Bamba: I would say very important. I have three key people in my life that have molded the way I think and the way I approach things and they are all very, very different. [Guardia 00:13:19], he's pretty much my older brother to me. He was a captain in the Marine Corps too. He has helped me out, mentored me a lot. He works with me as well. And then this guy, Jason Harris, he's this marketing genius that he basically pushed me to move further, because at some point in life, I got complacent a few years ago and I was like, "My rent's paid now. I'm good. I can go to movies every once in a while. I'm comfortable. I'm cool where I'm at." And him and Guardia got me to dig deeper and got me to want more and actually showcase my talents, my skills and stuff like that. Paul Bamba: And I'm really glad they did because the way I live now is very much different, I can help a lot of people. I definitely enjoy myself and I wouldn't be here without any of those three people. If I didn't have all three of them, I wouldn't be where I'm at, they make the perfect Trifecta, if you will. They're all very much different. Vince Ferguson: Okay. And we're coming to that too. I'm glad you said that because you are the founder and the CEO of Trifecta Fitness, and you also, I was on your website, it mentions, join the Trifecta Movement. What does that mean to my audience? What does Trifecta Movement mean? Paul Bamba: So the Trifecta Movement, it's kind of how I explained how I am. So we go by sport, body and mind. So fitness, a lot of people think fitness is just their body or is just like playing sports, like just get in shape, look good and cool. That's not really it, you have to take care of your mental, you have to take care of your body, meaning recovery. So sport, body and mind, I try to embody all those three things at all times, meaning I'm working out, I'm making sure my mental health is good and I'm making sure I'm taking the time to recover, because everybody in life gets busy, but you want to make sure you're taking the time to keep yourself healthy, you're recovering fully and your mental is straight. Paul Bamba: You have time to meditate, yoga, stuff like that. So the Trifecta Movement to me personally, will just be being well-rounded, being well-rounded and not settling just for a six pack when you can have a six pack and a great mindset. You can have a six pack, a great mindset and we can fix any ailments you might have in your knee, your hips or something like that. It's all about taking care of self and trying to, I know you can't really be perfect, but if you aim for it, you can get pretty close and that's what it is for me. Vince Ferguson: Awesome, man. Awesome. So what type of fitness programs do you offer at Trifecta Fitness? Paul Bamba: So me personally, I do hit training and boxing, but like I said, I created a team, so I have a team of experts for everything. So what Trifecta offers, through sport, body and mind is, boxing, yoga, meditation, kickboxing, acupuncture and massage, there was one more, CrossFit, which is kind of like hit, weightlifting, anything fitness related we do, because a lot of fitness companies out there, they focus on just the aesthetic of how you look and just fitness, but you have to go somewhere else to take care of your body, to recover, to get your peace of mind back. And with us, you can do that all in one stop. And we have a special way, we [inaudible 00:16:47] classes to where you ... you're all hyped up obviously from running around but we have like a Trifecta cool down and includes breathing, a little bit of stretching, stuff like that. Paul Bamba: And then, you have to be open-minded to it and I wasn't at first, my brother got me into it a bit more, but it's really relaxing and it gives you clarity on what you're doing for the day, I would think if that's how you're approaching it, it all depends on your mindset and I think it makes for a better day. You're working out, you're doing what you need to, and then you're focused, small, small meditation because I don't know if everybody can meditate for 10 minutes, I know I would struggle with that. Vince Ferguson: Yes. I hear you. It's not easy. But once you do it, it makes a difference. Prior to the pandemic, most trainers were training their clients in-person but when the pandemic hit, you guys had to pivot and start doing a lot of online trainings. Do you guys offer online training at Trifecta Fitness? Paul Bamba: We do. One of the things that helped us out the most actually was, Peloton had an ungodly amount of classes that they were already doing because they were already digital, Trifecta for like the first six, seven months, which just helped us out so much, we're the only company that had 100 plus classes a month or a week I think it was, wasn't it? It was close to like, I think it was 40, 50 classes a week, so you had flavors, you could literally pick anything you wanted, a whole bunch of different instructors, and it was because we were already gearing towards pivoting to that way so we had kind of an idea what we wanted to do and it helped. Right now, within the next 45 to 60 days, we will be releasing our app and then you can just train from your phone, you either come in-person, come downtown or right on your phone. You'll have everything on your phone, whether it's Android, just get in the App Store. Vince Ferguson: Nice. Nice. This is something ... you created this app? Paul Bamba: Yeah. Well, I didn't do the tech stuff because I'm definitely not that smart, that's not for me, but we created the app, right now there's, I think we have almost over 500 documents and videos and stuff like that, pre-recorded, so you come in, you can pick somebody that you want to work out with. We have UFC fighters, we have professional boxers, we have CrossFit competitors, we have yoga, we have like literally everything. And it's all on one app and it's all for one little price rather than having to buy to a bunch of different things. Vince Ferguson: Wow. Guys, you guys are killing it. It's amazing. Paul Bamba: I'm trying to, that's the thing, I don't ... so our mission is more so to help people, we do a lot of charity and a lot of philanthropy. So a lot of what we do is women empowerment, so everything is geared towards trying to give back to that community, because, and especially in New York, not a lot of women feel safe walking to the train at night or anything like that and that's actually how I believe the year before the pandemic happened, how we started, we started with one of, her name is [Mia Keg 00:20:09] and we did this woman empowerment thing, to teach women self-defense and it just took off and we realized it was much more rewarding to have these women coming back to us and say, "Hey, I felt much more comfortable walking by myself last night." Than just to be charging people for a bunch of classes where people are just getting in shape, which is still cool, but like I said, as I'm growing, I'm more gear towards helping people and empowering those around me. Vince Ferguson: Yes. And I like how you mentioned women empowerment, that's so important. And do you train these women online or do you train them in-person? Paul Bamba: Both. So we have online, in-person, whatever people are comfortable with. Some people are more open-minded about meeting up in-person because of COVID. Some people are a bit more cautious about it. So it's all about comfortability because remember, we're trying to empower these people so we'll get the most out of them if they feel completely comfortable in the setting that they're in. Vince Ferguson: Can you train a woman to really feel empowered to be able to handle herself, especially here in New York City, after training with you, they feel that they can walk these streets at night if they have to or if they're confronted, they will be able to protect themselves, is that what you're saying? Paul Bamba: 100%. So what we don't do, is we don't ... so defend yourself, yes, not fight. So I'm not going to tell you I'm going to train you to try to beat up a 200 pound guy coming after you, no. What we do is, we train to make sure we got good stamina, make sure you can deflect anything coming at you, strike if you need to and then get away. So it's not to stand there and be combative with somebody coming after you, it's to protect yourself, defend and then just leave and be safe. And that's mainly what we stress. We don't want anybody sticking around trying to get out with somebody, that's not the move. Vince Ferguson: That's not the move. That's not recommended. Paul Bamba: We don't want that. Vince Ferguson: What are some of your prices for online, for training in-person? What are some of your prices. Paul Bamba: Prices for online training, we have Trifecta at Home right now, it's about to switch because we're about to launch the app but it's 20 bucks a month. You get a few classes, a bunch of different instructors. If you're in New York and you're signed up for Trifecta at Home, we have a free class every Sunday at, I believe it's called Columbus Park and that's pretty much it. It's going to roll out into the app too where you get everything that you're currently paying for plus much, much more. Vince Ferguson: Wow. That's amazing. A free class every Sunday if you're in New York. Paul Bamba: A free class every Sunday if you're in New York and on top you can pretty much get over 100 classes a month online if you're just signed up for that home one. So if you just want to do Zooms, you don't want to interact with people, you're worried about COVID which is understandable, you just hit the Zoom button and turn it on and you could be frowning with everybody else on the screen and then we get busy. Vince Ferguson: Man, awesome. Awesome. So you do the group fitness training as well. Paul Bamba: Yes. Vince Ferguson: That's awesome, man. That's amazing. I love it. Now, this show is called Six Weeks To Fitness, if you had a client, if I gave you a client who was basically a couch potato, haven't worked out in years yet they want to get in shape but they want to get in shape six weeks, can you give me an idea of what type of fitness program would you put them on that would help them to reach that goal where they're in basically good shape within the six week time period. Paul Bamba: Yeah. So it would depend on the person's mentality, but I would start slow, finish hard because you don't want to start too fast and finish slow, the body breaks down after a while, but I'm big on consistency and regimen. One of the people actually did this last year around this time with Michaels, he's a comedian from Wild 'n Out, he lost 52 pounds in 30 days. Vince Ferguson: Oh nice. Paul Bamba: Yeah. And I think the only supplements we took were multivitamin and some fish oil because he has some rough needs and that was about it. And it was all about consistency, doing the right thing and then just making sure that you got up on the days you did not, because if you're a couch potato and you're starting off, you don't want to go to gym the second, third, fourth day in a row, you're kind of like, "I don't want to do this." So it's building that regimen, that routine, that's going to get you up because after that first week, second week's going to flow, third's going to be easier, fourth, fifth, finish on the sixth, you're back in shape, you're back to good health. Vince Ferguson: So this client that you work with, celebrity from Wild 'n Out, 52 pounds in 30 days? Paul Bamba: Yeah. He had a competition with a photographer, I think it's one of the videographers, his name's Cliff Prescott, he's very good videographer from the show as well, they had a competition. He had an NFL trainer and had a bunch of fancy stuff, he lost 26 pounds. Vince Ferguson: Really? Paul Bamba: Yeah. Rip had me, we just had some hard work and some grit, 52 pounds. Vince Ferguson: 52 pounds. Paul Bamba: 52 pounds. I'm big on hard work. I'm not big on starving people, you might eat as much as you want, whatever your input is, make sure your output is that much more and rest, that's all we did. Like I said, routine, routine to me since the Marine Corps has been everything, you stick to it and you have a plan, if it makes sense, when you're sitting down and you write it out, it'll still makes sense when you're going through it and it doesn't feel great. You just got to trust it. You got to trust yourself when you wrote it down. Vince Ferguson: Most definitely. And briefly, you just mentioned about calories and calories out. Do you talk about nutrition with your clients? Paul Bamba: Oh yeah. All the time. I don't press anything on them as far as strict diets or anything because I don't believe strict diets work, I think that you should cheat every once in a while on a meal, a meal, not a day, I don't agree with cheat days because you can lose a lot of progress in a day if you go crazy and you've been starving yourself, but if you want a milkshake, go drink the milkshake, but go jump rope for a half hour or something after that, that's where you make up for it. It shouldn't be a punishment or you shouldn't feel like you're punishing yourself as you're doing something. But we do nutrition plans, it's broken down to macros, to the ounces, to everything that you need. It really just depends on how deep people want to get into it because not everybody, including myself, I don't want to track everything they eat or weigh it all out, but yeah, we get into all of that, we make it a science. Vince Ferguson: Amazing. Awesome. Really awesome, man. Now, what do you tell a young guy who wants to be a CEO, an entrepreneur like yourself? What do you tell him to do? What do you tell him to think about when it comes to achieving those goals? Paul Bamba: I would say go with all your crazy ideas. I say that because, my brother Guardia thinks a lot of the stuff that I ... he had a full-time job, he was doing loss prevention and I forget what the proper term for it is, but he was the head of it for a bunch of Bloomingdale Stores, he's making six figures and I was saying, "You should quit and work with me and take less money. I promise we'll get you back to where you need to be." He didn't do it right away, he waited until he saw I was consistent with it and we just went with all my crazy ideas, whether it was, "Hey, we're going to rent out this gym." Or, "Hey, we're going to do this or we're going to go train this client, we're going to push this narrative or we're doing this." Paul Bamba: Just go with it. If it makes sense to you at one point and it makes you feel good, it's probably a really good idea. A lot of good ideas die because people think too much about them and they start to get watered down because they're like, "Maybe I should do this or maybe I should do that." No, just stick to your plan. You may get better on the go, you don't need to wait six, seven months for something that you could start up in two weeks, get out of the door running with it. Being mindful, don't get too crazy, my crazy ideas, they were a bit calculated, and don't take no for an answer and don't let anybody tell you that you can't do something. That's a driving factor for me. If I don't know something, I go out of my way to learn. Paul Bamba: So I will just say that. Be big on knowledge and be big on not taking no for an answer, and your crazy ideas are definitely your best ones so believe them and believe in yourself and don't backtrack even if your friends don't believe in it, because there's so much stuff that I've done that people thought was crazy or wouldn't work and I'm petty sometimes, so I constantly laugh about, "Hey, remember when you said this, I told you so." Like I pointed out, because if you really believe something's going to work, it's going to work, I live my life like that every day. If I know I could do something, obviously I don't think I can fly, so I'm not jumping off buildings and stuff like that, but if I think I could ... like we just raised, I think we raised over $300,000 to send 100 kids to summer camp this past summer and we did it in less than a month. Paul Bamba: And everybody was going crazy and I didn't have the most experience in comparison to them at the time but I was like, "No, this could work." I was like, "This will work. We got to go. Everybody's going to attack different stuff. This is going to work. We're sending these kids to camp, let's do it." And then we did it and it was great and it was a very short timeframe, so we had to work. But if you're willing to work hard, your crazy ideas aren't that crazy. They only sound crazy if you don't have the little things in between of what you need to do to get to the next step of that crazy idea in my mind. Vince Ferguson: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Powerful, man. You inspire me just hearing you talk like that my brother. Paul Bamba: Oh, I appreciate it. Vince Ferguson: Thank you, bro. Now, how can people find out more about Paul Bamba and Trifecta Fitness? Paul Bamba: If you want to find out about me, I guess just ask or Google works, my Instagram is @bambajuice, B-A-M-B-J-U-I-C-E. Kind of like Jamba Juice, [inaudible 00:30:43], they stole it from me. Vince Ferguson: They stole it from you- Paul Bamba: And then our website, for those who want to check out the classes or anything like that, trifectastrong.com and then there's a blog there every Friday if you want fitness tips and tricks and stuff like that, it's called Ask Bamba and I'm constantly giving out free game and trying to help as many people as I can. That's it. Vince Ferguson: Beautiful, man. Beautiful, Paul Bamba, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York, my nonprofit and Six Weeks To Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on this show today. Paul Bamba: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. This was good. Vince Ferguson: Oh man, you're the best. And to my listening audience and viewing audience, I truly hope this program was informative, inspiring, encouraging and you will continue tuning in to our Six Weeks To Fitness program. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and don't forget to subscribe Six Weeks to Fitness or email me at vince@sixweeks.com, so you don't miss any other future episodes and don't forget, let's get ready, get set and let's get fit with Paul Bamba from Trifecta Fitness.  

Welcome to Six Weeks to Fitness, I'm your host Vince Ferguson. Thank you so much for joining me today. Now, for those of you who are used to listening to my audio podcast, you can now watch my show on our Six Weeks to Fitness, YouTube channel and joining me today on as my very first video guest is Carmen Carriker. She's a graduate of Fordham University's Alvin Ailey Bachelor of Fine Arts program, She is a professional dancer, a fitness instructor, she's an actress, she's an educator and creator of Crown Soul Yoga. And I am very pleased to have Carmen Carriker on my Six Weeks to Fitness program. Carmen, how are you today? Carmen Carriker: I'm great. Thank you so much for introducing me. I'm happy to be here. Vincent Ferguson: It's such a pleasure having you. You're so full of energy and vivaciousness it's just a joy to have you here today. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Carmen Carriker: Thank you. Vincent Ferguson: But before we get started talking about your illustrious career, let's talk a little bit about your early days. Where did you grow up, Carmen? And what was your childhood like? Carmen Carriker: Well, I'm originally from Detroit, Michigan, so I'm from the Midwest. And I come from a family, I was raised by my mother, single parent, and she was a musician, a singer and a songwriter. So she had her own band. So I grew up in an environment surrounded by music. So it was a very fun experience having a band, rehearsing in my house as a toddler. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Carmen Carriker: It was introduction to jazz music, and to instruments. And that was where my love and passion for music began. It was a great experience. Nice growing up somewhere where you have trees and I grew, planted plants and vegetables and fruits with my grandfather who had a garden. Vincent Ferguson: Nice. Carmen Carriker: Because I come from the Motor City, there are lots of engineers in my family, so everyone worked or retired from Ford, GM, Chrysler. So I grew up working on cars. I helped out [in my youth. Vincent Ferguson: Really? Carmen Carriker: I was a girly-girl, but I was also a youth who dibbled and dabbled in working with machines, engineering and designing things. So I like to work with my hands and put things together and that began my interest in textile design because I'm also a fashion designer. So my love of music came from my mother and my love of engineering and design came from the men in my family. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. A good combination, I would say, huh? Carmen Carriker: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. So although you came from a single parent home, you did have family around you to help you, male figures, female figures which makes for a well rounded environment? And it made you the person you are today, which is absolutely amazing. Carmen Carriker: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. You've been teaching dance for about 25 years, I understand, am I correct? Right. Now that would make you about 30 years old because I've met you and you look like you're in 20s actually, but you know what I'm saying? So- Carmen Carriker: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: ... you healthy lifestyle is really paying off, right? Carmen Carriker: Starting dance from the age three and continuing on into my 30s, I've been dancing and I've been an athlete nonstop. I started teaching when I was 14 years old assisting ballet classes and helping the studio owner run the studio after she had a baby. So I started early. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, and I believe if you introduce children to activities like the dance and fitness at an early age, they continue as they get older. You are exposed to it, you know? Carmen Carriker: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: And look what you're doing now, you made a business, a career out of it. Amazing. Yes. Carmen Carriker: I tell my student that [crosstalk 00:04:45] what you do in studio, what you're doing in school, when you're assisting teachers and helping out it pays off because you end up being the one that's hire for the job. Having the skills and the information and the knowledge to start your own business based on all of the experience that you've had growing up. Vincent Ferguson: Beautiful. Now you studied at the Fordham University's Alvin Ailey Bachelor Fine Arts Program. How was that experience? Carmen Carriker: Wow. And it's been a good 17 years since I graduated. I graduated in '04, I think. Something like that so when I was a part of the Alvin Ailey and Alvin Ailey is one of the most or the largest African American modern dance company. We were the Guinea pigs of the program, so I was a part of the first graduating class as far as them having a joint program with Fordham University. So we were the first classes. So it was new to have professional dancers at Fordham taking liberal arts classes and then walking over to Ailey and having a full dance conservatory experience. So I had a very long day. I had like four academic classes and then I'd have four dance classes and then I'd have rehearsal in the evening and then I'd have a job working at the university. So 22 credit hours, a semester, lot of hard work. If we started off with 20 students in our class, by the end of four years, there were 10 of us. Vincent Ferguson: Really, really why? Carmen Carriker: Because it's very demanding on the body. It's costly to live in New York. So coming from Michigan, moving here not everyone could deal with the transition as well and a lot of dancers found that, oh, this is just too much on my body. Only the strong survive. So if you think, oh, okay. You know, let me go do this BFA program. Yes. Do the BFA program, but research it, make sure that it's something that works with you because it's a very demanding program. Carmen Carriker: So I'm glad that I went through it. So many connections, so many performance opportunities. Working with all of the major choreographers and having the opportunity to apprentice, to be a guest performer. I'm so blessed and thankful and to work with some of the company members had been taking class with Alvin Ailey dancers every day. Ballet class, modern class, African dance class, the conditioning classes, yoga, Pilates. They were the first and second company members were living with us. And then you had the PPPS, the afterschool kids were in the building as well. And this was when Alvin Ailey was on 66 and Amsterdam. Now it's the larger building. So the larger building was not there in 2004. In the year 2000 when I joined it wasn't until four years later that that building was finished. So when I graduated the institution that everyone knows of now that huge building, which is called the Joan Weill Building, which is named out to the person that funded it, wasn't there. It wasn't there yet. So all the hard work that all of the students and teachers and everyone, the Ailey family, all the hard work that we did contributed to continuing the legacy of Alvin Ailey having that large institution where people from all over the world are coming to learn. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, amazing. Carmen Carriker: [inaudible 00:09:25] experience, but it definitely made me who I am. I'm a stronger dancer, a stronger, a more experienced teacher have a lot of knowledge and information to share. And I have a lot of connections, always have all of those dancers and teachers as support. Vincent Ferguson: You can't put a price on that support, you know, those connections. Can't put a price on that. And speaking of dance, what type of dance do you now teach? I know you teach children and adults. What type of dances do you teach? Carmen Carriker: Well, I teach everything. Well, mainly right now I'm teaching yoga, teaching kids yoga classes from the ages 18 months to like five and six. That's the group that - Vincent Ferguson: 18 months. Carmen Carriker: Yes. The mommy-baby classes, the baby. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. And what else? Okay. Carmen Carriker: And then I also teach adult classes. Vincent Ferguson: Adults. Carmen Carriker: Yeah. All the way up 80. Vincent Ferguson: Up to 80. Yeah. There's ton of time for me. Oh, good. But again, so you're teaching yoga, you're teaching ballet. You're teaching... What else? Carmen Carriker: Teaching jazz. I'm teaching [inaudible 00:10:45]. I teach swing, wing dance, the Lindy hop. Vincent Ferguson: Lindy hop. Carmen Carriker: Yes, I teach SoCo fitness, I teach African dance in afterschool programs. And I love to share African history history, so that people know about the culture. That's very important especially when I'm teaching kids that they know where the movement comes from, that they know what instruments are and they know what places that these dances come from, especially in this time when TikTok videos and social media, there's so much information, visuals so everyone sees movement but they may not know where these dances come from. So good that they have the history and they know the knowledge and the culture behind. Vincent Ferguson: Now let's talk about yoga because that's where I first met you, when you did a yoga class from my organization, Body Sculpt of New York and with the children. Now, where did you learn yoga? Carmen Carriker: Well, I started yoga, yoga was a part of my curriculum at Alvin Ailey. Vincent Ferguson: Okay. But didn't you also learn yoga in Jamaica? Carmen Carriker: Yes. By the time I graduated I was condition my body by doing Pilates and bar and gyrokinesis anything like that, that would help keep my body fit. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Carmen Carriker: It wasn't really a spiritual journey for me until I went to Jamaica and I wanted to learn specifically a style of yoga that was more ancient, more meditative that connected to me as an African American. And that's where I found Kemetic yoga. So I was like, I'm going to go straight to the source. I'm going to go to Jamaica because I had the time and I was available to do the 10 day retreat and training. And I've been doing it ever since and it's my favorite. It's something that I really connect to spiritually. I'm a Kemetic yogini if you want to say that. I practice a Kemetic diet. So Kemetic, all of it, living, according to the laws and principles that the Ancient Egyptians practiced. Learning the history, learning the language and incorporating that in the modern day lifestyle has been easy for me and it has kept me grounded. Vincent Ferguson: Really? And you say Kemetic, which is Kemet, in Egypt, right? And so when you're training, you're teaching yoga, you're teaching Kemetic yoga are you also teaching the language to your students? Carmen Carriker: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. Carmen Carriker: There are learning poses in the Metu Neter language. Vincent Ferguson: Give me- Carmen Carriker: So if we are combining for example, the Sphinx pose or the lion pose is Heru Akhet. So I'll say it in English and I'll also say it in the Metu Neter language as well. Vincent Ferguson: Do you have any space to go to do a pose or two that we can see? Carmen Carriker: Sure. So we all know of the monument in DC that's shaped like an obelisk? Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Carmen Carriker: Okay. So in Egypt of it is called Teken which is spelled T-E-K-E-N. Vincent Ferguson: Teken. Carmen Carriker: So this is Teken pose so you're standing with your feet together. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Carmen Carriker: You're connected to earth, and earth, the Egyptian word for earth Geb and then [inaudible 00:14:57] up and you're connecting to the sky, which is Nut Vincent Ferguson: Huh. Nice. Carmen Carriker: So this pose is called the Teken pose so you're feeling connection to the earth and the sky. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. Wow. That's powerful. That is really, really powerful to see that, you know. And you said the Kemetic lifestyle. Okay. Now, does that involve also nutrition as far as eating healthy? Because you're a vegan. Carmen Carriker: Absolutely. I'm vegan. Kemetic diet is a plant-based diet. So if you're choosing a lifestyle and you're choosing to practice Kemetic yoga, you're also choosing a plant-based diet. Vincent Ferguson: And why is that important? Carmen Carriker: Well, if you look at the hieroglyphic, even the ancient Egyptians, you see lettuce, you'll see greenery around them so those are examples that that was the way that people were living. And that was their source. Vincent Ferguson: Okay, so they didn't eat the chickens and the cows? They weren't meat eater? No? Carmen Carriker: Well, I mean, as far as I know, there're of course are going to be people who do different things depending on where they are. But the tradition and the Kemetic practice that I'm practicing and that I've learned from teachers before me we're practicing plant-based. Vincent Ferguson: Excellent. I think that is an excellent way to eat, to live. I do believe that. I believe that it also helps you to connect more with spirituality, because you're not weighed down by meat eating, you know? Carmen Carriker: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: So I applaud you for that and I think it gives you a lot of energy and that's why you're all over the place doing so much. I am so impressed with you. Now you call your company, Crown Soul Yoga. Where'd you get that name from? Carmen Carriker: Well, you know, Crown Soul Yoga it came to me in a dream. So a lot of times things that I do artistically, I may have visions. So it came to me and the Crown is your crown and you know, I think of ancestry and the kings and queens before me. So when you take care of your crown you're protecting yourself, protecting your connection to spirit, connection to the higher powers. And then Soul is your heart. So anything that I do, I'm giving from my heart, my soul and I'm giving. So by helping others, I'm feeding my soul. And so [inaudible 00:18:09] and in creations, which was my first, is also my business, Crown Soul Creations. Everything that I make is that connection mind, body, spirit. So whether it's Crown Soul Yoga, which is the business of yoga, Crown Soul Creations, which is the business of jewelry and the knit wear, and the soaps and the products that I make, the t-shirts and the hoodies and all that stuff that I make, those are my creations. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. Carmen Carriker: So the branding. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Branding. Carmen Carriker: [inaudible 00:18:44] queen, so I want people to feel royal and to embrace who they all are and to have a lot of soul in whatever they do. Vincent Ferguson: Most definitely. So you're more than just a professional dancer, a professional fitness instructor or educator. I mean, you are business woman, you're an entrepreneur and how has that journey been for you? Carmen Carriker: It's rewarding. It's rewarding to look at the things that I've done. Look at my resume, look at the timeline that Facebook shows me like this happened 10 years ago. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Carmen Carriker: It's mind blowing to know that so much time has passed and so much I've been able to do and share as far as fashion shows, as far as vendoring and doing different events. And now focusing more on online yoga business and sharing medication and sound healing, Reiki, which is energy work. Even the energy I do holistic health and wellness is based in Kemetic tradition as well. So shout outs to Ra Sekhi Arts Temple, which is where I studied, which is based in Atlanta and the Kemetic Yoga School in Chicago under Yirser Ra Hotep. So YogaSkills Method. And I'm so thankful. I'm thankful to [inaudible 00:20:18], and I'm thankful to Queen Afua and all the Sacred Women who have led the way to healthy living and [crosstalk 00:20:28] Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Most definitely. Definitely. Now I know you live in Brooklyn, New York, right? And that's where my podcast is hosted in Brooklyn, New York. Shout out to Brooklyn. But now prior to the pandemic, most instructors like yourself and dancers, they would train their students in-person but as you know, New York was hit very hard and during the pandemic they shut all that down, so most of you guys had to pivot and start doing online instruction. How has that worked out for you? And are you still doing online? Carmen Carriker: I'm still doing online. It's been two years of online teaching. It's hills and valleys. It's been hills and valleys. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Carmen Carriker: At the beginning I think that there was definitely influx, numbers going up everyone was at home and just needing to have connections so they were Zooming in, however, WhatsApp, whatever people could use to connect with me through private sessions, through small group sessions and group conferences. But as things have opened up in New York, it is slowed down. I also feel like teachers, as well as students, clients have experienced a little bit of Zoom burnout. I'm spending so much time online. I think that people need to take a break from it and do in-person things. So I'm glad that this summer I was able to go into schools so we were able to dance outside the playground areas, or I was able to teach in Central Park or Prospect Park. Do some outdoor or public space events. But it hasn't been easy because now there are a lot of restrictions. Carmen Carriker: There are a lot of restrictions in New York and based on your status of vaccination, non-vaxxed, you know, it limits who you're able to access and then who feels comfortable going back into spaces. So even depending on whatever your status is there are people who are just would rather do online. And then there was others who are very happy to be back in all the public spaces. It's a... I guess I'm a person that goes with the flow and I follow my intuition. So if I feel that something is telling me, no, wait a little while longer, and then open up more opportunities then I do that. If I feel like, okay, let me hold back. Maybe we'll do hybrid for a while, maybe we'll come in, do some online, you know? Vincent Ferguson: Yes, yes. Carmen Carriker: And to see how things go until before winter season. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. So I would imagine, well, online will be around for a while. Carmen Carriker: I think that it is now a way of life for instructors and it is now a way of life for, I think it's convenient in a lot of ways save a lot of money as far as transportation. I'm someone that boots around a lot and I found that by being a online for two years and not having to ride the Metro and taking public transportation I saved tons of money. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Carmen Carriker: And the stress of traveling and commuting and coming in contact with so many people because it's a busy city, there's so much going on that can be drained alone. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Carmen Carriker: So I found that I was more at peace, just kind of being in my own space and that I still feel that, but I'm definitely love being connected with nature. So you will find me at the beach teaching or just experiencing yoga meditation for myself out in the open and sharing it online. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Most definitely. And we will also be sharing you online because we are going to be doing some Six Week Fitness programs again. And you'll definitely be one of our preferred instructors, as long as you have the availability we want you. Carmen Carriker: I can help with that. Vincent Ferguson: Now, this is my podcast, my program is called Six Weeks to Fitness. Okay. It's a subsidiary of my Body Sculpt of New York nonprofit organization. But if you had six weeks to get fit, what exercise activities would you do or recommend people do to get in shape in six weeks? Carmen Carriker: Well, I would say at first, look at your diet and come up with a food plan. You might want to consider fasting diet. Start with a fast, it could be a seven day fast juice just to clean your body out, just to help. We a colon cleanse out everything now, before you start your six week journey, you want to start off fresh and clean. So your body is rejuvenated. So I would suggest do a juice fast. And if that's new to you, you can start easy. Maybe you just cut out your carbs, cut out the heavy foods, the process foods. Only eat lean meats if you're eating lean meats and just gradually increase that. But I think that you should have definitely include healthy eating in your program and which you start the six weeks, have a calendar and then set up, have a meal prep for each week. Carmen Carriker: And then analyze, maybe do measurements to see where you are at the beginning of your fitness journey, see where you are and be kind to yourself, but do those measurements. Get a measuring tape measure your arms, measure your weights, measure your thighs and record that and then set up work workouts for each parts of the body. I know that's what I do. So I have a leg day. I have a arm day. I have ab day. I have, you know? Total body workout day, and then I'll have a day of rest. A Carmen Carriker: nd then that continues on for the full workout. I'd say it's easy to also have a buddy, have a fitness buddy. Somebody that can hold you accountable. Somebody call and say, "Hey girl, are you still doing your workout? Did you do your 25 minutes today? Or did you do an hour? Did you work out today or I'm about to do these workouts?" All right. Let's do a challenge today. Let's do 10 pushup." You know, whatever. 40 today. Whatever the challenge is, but I think it does help to have someone or have a group. It could be an online group or a group of friends or co-workers that will support you, say, "Hey, this is what I'm doing. I'm going to be working out for six weeks. My goal is to lose five pounds." And maybe even have like a money pot. So for every person in your group that loses the five pounds, they get $10 or something like that, or you do a gift exchange or something in a sense for people to really not only yourself, I know I've done it with my family members like my brother. Carmen Carriker: We did it with a group of friends and I found that it helped me and it helped them because we sometimes we were so busy and it's easy to forget, oh, I was supposed to do this today. Oh. Or I forgot like, or, you know, you might have a cheat day. Okay. I really want to eat, I want to have cupcakes today or whatever it is that you love, I'm a sweet lover. So for me vegan treats or something that you might see me eating vegan ice cream. So we all have a day that we might cheat, but just know that if you have a group or you have goals that you set for yourself, you look back at that, look at the calendar, the agenda that you set out for the workout plan that helps you kind of stay on track. Vincent Ferguson: Most definitely. Awesome advice. I appreciate that. I'm sure my listeners and viewers will take some of that into consideration. I want to touch on very briefly, the fact that in addition to all this, you are also an actress. Have you been in any shows and what's the plan for acting going forward? Carmen Carriker: Well, this was the first year that I was invited to the Tribeca Film Festival. And because of the pandemic, the festival was online. I would've loved to been invited to be on the red carpet for my first film festival as a principal dancer. But it was online. It was a Zoom call and wow, it was an amazing experience. Tessa Thompson was the lead actress in the film that I was a part of trying to remember the name of it, that's crazy. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, so that happens. Carmen Carriker: But it was a great experience just to work, to shoot. We were still filming, of course during the pandemic there's COVID testing and all that they had to be done. It was shot in Bushwick in a church so it was nearby as far as filming and I was a swing dancer in the film and it was a club scene. So the movie took place... It kind of went from, it was based off of a book and it was about the relationship that these two women had, they were black women, but they could pass for white. So it was about the challenges they faced in Harlem, these two women who grew up together, but they separated had two separate lives. They met up again, one chose to marry a black man had kids, the other chose to marry a European and there were race issues. And what ultimately happened at the end is that the truth came out and it was [crosstalk 00:32:41] Vincent Ferguson: I can imagine. Carmen Carriker: I just thought of the name of the movie. The movie is called Passing. So if you go on, I think Tribeka Film Festivals site information about those movies, I'm not sure because of the pandemic a lot of those movies have not... I don't know if they are going to be released. But during the festival you pay for a ticket, then you can watch all the movies online from your home, which is convenient. But dancing, it was a 14-hour shoot for three days. A lot of dancing, a lot of swing dancing. It was me and the 10 dancers that were featured in the club scene. We're all friends, we all work together here in New York. So it really is about who you know, because the lead choreographer avid dancer someone that I know assists in choreographer, someone that I know is from Ailey as well. Many of the dancers in the cast are former Ailey dancers, or professional actors, black performers in New York. Carmen Carriker: It was such a great opportunity. It was a well-paid gig at a time when we didn't have much work at all. Shows and events have been canceled so to have a big job like that happened before things went haywire like they are now I give thanks for that. Yeah had an opportunity to work on the movie Passing before that I was working right before the pandemic, which I guess now it's been two years, I was working on the Mandela musical. So choreographer from South Africa, musicians from South Africa they chose six dancers for the project to just set choreography for the future opening of the musical. Of course, with all of this happening, there have been so many setbacks, but at least I was a part of the creative process. So we were learning Afro beats, a fusion of Afro beat dance, modern dance, house. So it was a fusion, very rhythmic movement. So I worked on that project for, I think it was like three weeks. Vincent Ferguson: Three weeks. Nice. Carmen Carriker: Yeah. And that was the in-person. That was an in-person project we rehearsed in the studio full band. Everyone was there. It was before all this happened. That was the last project I did that was in-person. Since then I worked on another project this year with a cast, Swing Out, and Swing Out is now at The Joyce. So there was an audition process, they were seeking about 20 or maybe 18 musicians, singers, tap and swing dancers to partner up with a cast member for a residency program. And the residency program was for four weeks and at the end of the residency you'll have learned music or you've learned choreography, and then you're able to present it. And this is something that I normally would be so busy that I wouldn't be able to be a part of the residency because it would mean I would have to take off for my job, but with everything that was going on, my schedule was open and I was able to work and work with really great musicians. Really great choreographers and dancers. So shout out to the cast of Swing Out for those who are going back into theaters and on Broadway. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, Broadway. Carmen Carriker: Be [inaudible 00:37:08] so I'm honored that I was able to work with them in an online performance setting. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, yes, yes, yes. But that's okay. You've done so much though, Carmen in your young life and I'm so impressed, but what advice, or what words of encouragement would you give to other aspiring dancers and fitness professionals who's trying to get to where you are? What advice would you give them today? Carmen Carriker: Well, I'd say discipline. Discipline, know your craft. There are a lot I would say people who look good on camera and they create all types of online content, but the conditioning it takes to perform and go on tour is a very different beast. So if you're choosing to be a performer, a professional who gets paid for doing what we do, longevity, if you want to still be performing, and have a career and say, "Hey, I've been on stage and I've performed everywhere and it's been 25 years and I'm, knock on wood, injury-free. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Yes. Carmen Carriker: That's very important to say that I've danced and had a career this long and I haven't had any injuries. It's conditioned and training and listening to your body. Because we live in an environment where we're being pushed. You'll be pushed to the edge. People are going to push you to use your talents to the last little drop. But what has saved me is knowing my body and knowing my limits, knowing when I need to rest, knowing when I need to take a break and having good rapport communicating properly. Because in this world, in this industry, the connections that you make stay with you. So if you have a good reputation and you're nice to the people that you work with and people know that about you you'll get referred for jobs. If you have a bad rapport, meaning that you don't show up on time you don't have good habits. Maybe you smoke and drink on the job, or you do other types of things and I don't recommend that everyone has their choice of what they do, but when you are in a professional setting, always be professional and be yourself. Don't try to compare yourself to anyone else because there'll be people that have 10 times better than you. Then there'll be people who are still learning. So I say it's easy to look at celebrities and to look at people that you see and like, oh my God, I don't have the best social media content. I need to keep going. I need to look at what's necessary in order for you to reach the goals that you want. Carmen Carriker: Look at someone that you admire. I admire Camille Brown she is one of my peers, we're the same age and to see her growth and her development from Ailey dancer to this choreographer who is setting major work on all of the Broadway shows right now, her consistency and her beliefs and her vision and her branding, or her work, having her own and company and not allowing anyone to manipulate or change her work is why she is where she is. Her commitment to sharing the black experience through dance, her commitment to sharing and making sure our voices are heard as people of the diaspora is why she's doing Corey and Best, why she's doing all these different or that she's being called for the job. Carmen Carriker: And when you get into a position of power in the industry, keep the people in your life who support you the most with you, because you're going to need that support because if you go into an industry and you become famous and you don't have anyone around you to support you, you are vulnerable to all kinds of stuff, and you don't have people fighting for you. So I would use the people that I admire, who are very successful in the industry. You look at their assistant directors, you look at who their assistant dancers are they are people that they've been working with. Carmen Carriker: The same 10 people or five people that they known 10 years ago, or 20 years ago are on their team, on their board of advisors. So keep the people close to you. That's my advice because I know that I don't have a big company like that, but when I do have that kind of business and flow and opportunity, I'm going to definitely reach out to folks like you, of course, who have provided a platform for me to be on and many others that I've worked with so that we can grow and build together. Because that's what it really is about. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, Yes. 100%. Love that. Love it. Carmen Carriker: Just live your life. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Live your life. I'm trying. Carmen Carriker: Don't be stressed out and if you are stressed out, tell people about it, meditate, pray, have a spiritual, whatever your spiritual beliefs are, stay grounded in that because that also helps you keep a clear mind, a clear focus and knowing what your purpose is in life is also important. If you don't know what it is figure that out. And that could be a lifelong journey. We're all trying to stay on the right track. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, most definitely. This has been so uplifting and rewarding for me. And I'm sure it will be for my listeners and viewers as well, but where can my listeners and viewers find out more about Carmen Carriker? Carmen Carriker: Well, you can find out about me, you can go to my website which is crownsoulyoga.com. You can find me I have a YouTube channel at Carmen Kemetic Yoga and I'm on Facebook as Carmen Carriker. I'm on Instagram as crown soul fashionista or Cecil Kemetic Arts. But you can just look up my name, Carmen Carriker and Google Search me. I'm available, you'll see my businesses and you'll see my classes. And I'm open to working with everyone and helping us to live a more healthy, happy life. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, most definitely. Carmen Carriker on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York and Six Weeks to Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Carmen Carriker: Thank you so much for having me. Vincent Ferguson: And to my listening and viewing audience, I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging, and, inspiring and that you will continue listening in and watching our Six Weeks to Fitness program. And if you have any questions or suggestions for the show, please leave them in the comment section below and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. And remember, let's Get Ready, Get Set, and let's Get Fit!

This class is perfect if you are very limited time and want to move your body. It works the entire body focusing on the legs, glutes, shoulders, and core. It requires no equipment but you are invited to add ankle weights for an added challenge. xx, Corrie imstagram: https://www.instagram.com/corriexlifestyle/

Are you feeling tired and stressed with all that's going on in the world around you? Well, you're in luck. Joining me today on my Six Weeks to Fitness podcast is Brooke Rozzie, a certified health and wellness coach, nutritionist and personal trainer with over 12 years of experience in the wellness industry. She is also the creator of the Balanced Body program, a program dedicated to supporting women in not only achieving their goals, but to truly transform their relationship with their body. So they could not only have the energy they need to keep up with their busy mom life, but to also feel good in their skin while doing it. Today, Brooke will provide some expert fitness and nutrition tips for you busy moms out there and, show you how to balance your body and your life. Vince Ferguson: Brooke, But before we discuss your Balanced Body program, tell my listeners more about Brooke Rozzie. Where did you grow up and what was Brooke's childhood like? Brooke Rozzie: Oh gosh. How much time do we have? So I grew up in Michigan. I grew up in a pretty great home. My parents were awesome. We all have our family stuff, right? I grew up with a brother with addictions. I was overweight as a kid, and I think that presented challenges in itself growing up. And I really learned fitness from a younger age. Around sixth grade I lost most of the weight by myself and I didn't know how to do it healthily. And I grew up watching my mom diet a lot of my life, talking poorly about her body. I'm what I call like the SnackWell generation, where everything was fat free. Brooke Rozzie: And that's the environment I grew up in. And so I developed some eating disorder tendencies in high school due to a lot of those things. Poor body image, the way I talk to myself and I really started to realize what I was doing as I entered my young twenties. But in your young twenties, like most females, a lot of my approach to nutrition was still like, "Is this making me fat or skinny? How is this making me look in a bathing suit?" It was never, "How is this making me feel when I choose this," and prioritizing my health until I lost my dad about seven years ago and through the trauma of losing him and the stress, I really started to see the wellness side of the industry and see how much other environmental factors in our life were influencing how we feel in our body. Brooke Rozzie: My body went a little haywire from it. My hormones went out of control. I developed Hypothyroid, and I was really forced into understanding how much my endocrine system and a lot of those things were playing a role in how I was feeling day to day. So, from personal experience, that truly transformed how I coach people and why I coach people the way I do, because I started to see how much other women were feeling similar ways that I had been feeling in my body. And after becoming a mom, I struggled with postpartum anxiety and I didn't feel like I really had any resources or understanding as to why it was happening. I've always been in the nature to ask why? Why is this happening? Not just accept "Oh, you just have it." But my question was always like, "Well, why do I have this?" Brooke Rozzie: It just came out of nowhere. So I really started to ask why and explore a lot of those things and when I started to see that there were so many different moms feeling the same way in their body and not understanding or getting the support, it really led me to truly developing the Balanced Body program that I coach and how I coach to it now because I really, obviously, I want women to feel good in their skin and achieve their goals and feel their best, but I really want you to just feel good when you're there. I tell a lot of my clients I don't care if you lose 20 pounds, if you don't feel good, I want you to feel good when you're there too. Vince Ferguson: And you mentioned, explain what that is to my listeners and how you dealt with that. Brooke Rozzie: So, Hypothyroid is essentially like, think of your master metabolism controller. Well, essentially if your thyroid is not functioning ideally, then we can pretty much assume that a lot of other parts of your endocrine system, meaning your sex hormone function and your stress responses and your gut health are not functioning the way that they should be either. So it really impacted a lot of areas in my life, my energy during the day, my anxiety, how I was able to sleep at night, foods that I was craving, my digestion. It impacted so many areas. I did go on a medication. I still take one now. I partnered with physicians to truly understanding the nutrition that I needed to be consuming to feel my best. Brooke Rozzie: And it really did gear me towards taking more of an individual approach with everything I do because the basic things that I was doing just wasn't working for me and I really had to learn that nutrition and workout were more than just the food that I was eating. It was how I was balancing the stress in my body and how I was moving my body to support the stressors and things that I was experiencing. Vince Ferguson: So do you feel that nutrition plays a major part in how you feel? Brooke Rozzie: A hundred percent. I try to explain it to people it's, the number one way available for your body to get nutrients is through your food. Our body is designed to receive nutrients through our food. Supplementation and things like that are amazing that we have options like that but we shouldn't have to rely on things like that. So you're your food truly, I always say, your food literally dictates your mood. Brooke Rozzie: If we're lacking nutrients, for example, like magnesium, we have 200 enzymatic processes in our body that need efficient magnesium to function. And when we're low, we have 200 enzymatic processes in our body that aren't functioning ideally because of it. So think of one little thing that all of those different nutrients we get through our food contribute to how our body functions day to day. Vince Ferguson: Very good. Good point. So when you speak to your clients, you go over, you go over what they're eating every day. I mean, do you provide a meal plan for them? Brooke Rozzie: I think of it less as meal plan and more of like foundational habits to build on. I truly start with, I think a few different things. We have our foundations and then we have our details and the details would be meal plans, macros, things like that, which can absolutely be beneficial but I always tell my clients, especially the moms, life is going to happen. And when life happen and your meal plan is not available to follow, what are you going to do? Brooke Rozzie: You need to have the foundations instilled so that you always have that place to go back to so that it's not like, I'm on the bathroom off. I'm being detailed or I'm in maintenance. And I think of it that way versus I want you to know what to do. But I always tell my clients, my role when you're done with me is to not need me. I ultimately want to work myself out of a job because I want you to know what you need to do because I cannot be with you for the rest of your life. You need to know why you're choosing the foods you're choosing and those things, and a meal plan is not teaching you that. Vince Ferguson: That's very, very true. So do you have free consultations with your clients before you take them on? Brooke Rozzie: Yeah, absolutely. Everybody I meet with, we start with a decision support call. We walk through, essentially I look at it as where are you at right now, where do you want to be and what are the holes in between that we need to focus on to get you there. And that's really what our decision support call is for. And from there it's, "Okay, here are the options and the things that I see from my experience and education that we need to prioritize with you and then these are the avenues we should go to do it." Vince Ferguson: So what does it mean to have a Balanced Body? Brooke Rozzie: It really means being in alignment with yourself. Balance is the marketing term. Balance is kind of BS. We're not really going to achieve balance, this ever, ever ending thing that we're always looking for, but we can find alignment. And especially as a mom or a woman, it's the alignment in how you're feeling mentally, the alignment in your mindset and how you're approaching things, your relationships, your relationships with other people and yourself. It's the alignment in what your workouts look like during the week when life happens or when you have an easy week, what does that look like and how do you do it? And it's the alignment with your nutrition choices for your individual body and what you need. And that's truly what gives you that balanced feeling. Brooke Rozzie: We have this expectation, that balanced means that we're never going to have struggles, we're never going to take a setback, we're never going to have life step in where we have to pivot. And that's just not the reality, but the alignment means that we're aligned in ourselves and we know how to pivot with it so that we can still feel the way that we need to feel. Vince Ferguson: So there's no cookie cutter approach here. Everyone is treated as an individual. Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. Even in my group coaching program, I'm giving you the foundations and the general guidelines, but I'm truly guiding you through how to take that and individually implement it too. Vince Ferguson: And again, you said that you don't want someone to be dependent upon you, you want to basically have them be free of you after a while once they able to go out on their own and do what they need to do. And once you give them the information that they need, do you want them to be able to be independent of you? Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. I tell my clients, I'm like, "I love you. It's not that I want to not work with you but I haven't done my job if you need me forever, you haven't learned anything." Vince Ferguson: What are some of the causes, Brooke, for an unbalanced Body? What can contribute to that? Brooke Rozzie: Well it depends on where we're feeling out of alignment, but it could be, a lot of times, especially a mom, when we've had a kid, we try to put this expectation on ourselves that we need to be able to keep up with and do what we used to do before we had kids. And we don't take a step back to see, we all have this capacity in our day. And one, as a mom, like the whole "It takes a village," type of a thing, the village has disappeared in modern motherhood. It's just not there anymore. So we need to remember that we only have a certain capacity and we try to give so much of ourselves to other people. And self-sacrifice is like badge of good motherhood, and it's not. It's not true. Brooke Rozzie: But alignment really, truly mean that we recognize our capacity and we know what that is and we prioritize ourselves in that capacity. And let's say before kids you have a cup of water, you have more capacity in that cup of water to add more on your plate, because you don't have a human relying on you for something. But now that you're a mom, it doesn't mean you still can't be effective and good with the things that doing or prioritize yourself. It means that we need to set healthy boundaries on what our capacity is and what we're able to take on because a lot of that capacity has been taken up by the amazing thing that we have in our life, but it is taken up. So we need to, a lot of times, set those healthy boundaries that are taking away from us, being able to show up feeling our best so that when we feel our best, we can show up our best for our kids, for our spouse, for ourselves, because that's really what it feels. Vince Ferguson: Do you believe that moms put too much stress on themselves trying to be perfect, trying to be all things, all people? Brooke Rozzie: All the time. We have this guilt, this mom guilt of, if "I don't do this and I'm failing," or, "That person needs me, I should be able to give more of myself to them." Like, "Oh, my kids needed this, it's just easier. If I do it." We're putting way too much on ourselves. One of the best things that I learned was don't do for your kid what they're capable of doing for themselves. And we try to instill that with our kids. And a lot of it is not because I'm not going to be here for you to do things but I want you to learn to be self-sufficient. And as a mom, we try to take that over a lot, not just with our kids, but with a lot of people. We want to be needed, we want to help people. It feels good to help people. And there's nothing wrong with that, but we can't help people when we're not able to help ourselves first. Brooke Rozzie: And we overextend because we feel this guilt, but truly, I always ask my moms "Who's story is that? Why are you feeling that guilt?" You need to check back in with yourself of like, "Hey, where is this guilt coming from? If I don't help this person, why am I feeling guilty around that," type of thing. And sometimes it can be other people's expectations of us and our feeling the need to need it. It can be our expectations on ourselves and it can be, like what I said, what we used to be able to do and thinking we should be able to do that and not recognizing, you know what, what my life has shifted. And people sometimes can expect that we're going to be the same person as we were before we had kids and it's okay to acknowledge that you might be the same person, but your priorities have changed. And that's okay. Vince Ferguson: What kind of stress does it put on a relationship though, between a husband and a wife, when she realizes that she can't do everything that she used to do, or she has to change her way of doing things? Brooke Rozzie: That's so true. It's the boundaries and it can bring resentfulness. It's very common. It can feel like you're the one doing everything. I've gone through this in my own relationship with my husband. Sometimes you feel like you need to be the rescuer, you need to be the one to fix it instead of having the, "What? This was your responsibility, you need to handle this." I think after our first, my husband and I really struggled with that one, and it was more so we really needed to set boundaries and priorities of who was handling what. Brooke Rozzie: A lot of times, women, we try to handle everything. We think that certain things in the home should be our responsibility but my husband and I really approach it as, we're a partnership. We both are working inside and outside the home. We're a partnership and how we handle this. We're equally parents in this. One of us has our strengths over the others with certain things and we try to capitalize on that where I am very type A organized. So I handle the bills and the appointments and those kinds of things. I say I handle the mental load of our home, my husband handles the physical load of our home and he handles the laundry and the dishes and those kinds of things. Brooke Rozzie: But it really took a learning process to work through that. And it took me setting the boundaries of, "Okay, you know what? The laundry is not done. It's overflowing." Instead of getting resentful and take it on myself. I had to start saying to my husband, "Hey, the laundry is not done, we're not doing this until that's done," type of a thing. And you're not parenting But you're partnering in it. Vince Ferguson: Good point. But I wonder how hard is it, when you're speaking to your clients, knowing that they have a partner here, how hard is it to get through to them that now it really is a partnership because I think women have a tendency of taking it all on themselves and the partner is more than willing to let them do that. Brooke Rozzie: Well, of course, right. If somebody is going to take on your stuff, we would all be like, sure, take it away. I would not- Vince Ferguson: Exactly, take it. Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. Who wouldn't take advantage of that. But it's really the communication and it comes down to a lot of times we expect, especially as a woman, we think of things totally different than a man. And we have to be okay with that. A lot of times we think like, "Well, he should think of this the way that I do or he should do this." our brains are just not wired that way at all and we need to like recognize that sometimes guys literally communicate differently in many different ways and we need to acknowledge that our communication to them shouldn't be the expectation that they know what we need but it's the sitting down and having the conversation of, "Hey, I need you to understand when you're not keeping up with this, it's impacting me in this way," and not coming from a place of anger or feeling triggered or anything like that, it's coming from a place of like, "I know you're not intentionally doing this, but this is how it's impacting me." Brooke Rozzie: And I think when we understand how our actions are affecting somebody else, we can come from a place of support more than when, it's very common nature and I'm not always my best self either but we all can sometimes show up as like attacking or upset versus the, take the step back and have that true communication. So I always say, whether it's your goal or food in the house or roles around the home or those kinds of things, it's so much better when you can come from, I call it your green, yellow, and red zone, that's one of my coach calls it. When you can come from that green zone to say, "Hey, I need you to understand that eating this way is really important to me because it makes me feel good. And when I feel good, I show up better as a spouse to you as a person to myself, as a mom to our kid," and having those real conversations where we have to be a little vulnerable, because then they can understand where you're truly coming from. Vince Ferguson: Wow. That's a very intense topic too. I mean, I think we go even further into this. Brooke Rozzie: Yeah, and we want it to be easy, right? We want those transitions to just be easy. And sometimes when we fight it, we create this resistance around it and that's where we get stuck and we stop. But we have to understand that we're changing habit, we're changing narrative, we're changing pathways of how we do stuff. It's not going to be easy for that stuff to happen, but it's going to be so worth it if you can work through those things because ultimately you can either feel uncomfortable where you are or you can feel uncomfortable going through those transitions to get to where you're truly wanting to be. Vince Ferguson: Good. Excellent. But now I have an even tougher question for you, but I'm sure you have the answer because you've worked with clients. What if you dealing with a client who does not have a partner, just a single mom who has to do so much and whose mother and father to her kids. What do you tell them? Brooke Rozzie: Oh my gosh, I have so much for single moms because you have so much on your plate. And gosh, the days that my husband's gone, I'm like, "Oh, thank God you're back here." But it's really prioritizing. I do have girlfriends that are single moms and they balance a lot and they have partners that are not in the picture at all. And we sit down and it's just, "Okay, what are your non-negotiables?" And be flexible within what that non-negotiable is. So your non-negotiable could be movement, but be flexible about what that movement is. Maybe you can't get a 45 minute strength training workout in that day, but could you put the kids in a stroller and go on a walk? You couldn't do that. But maybe be flexible on what that is, but non-negotiable on the fact that you're getting movement in. Brooke Rozzie: It could be a non-negotiable that we eat healthy food in our home, but you know what, I don't have any food prepared so I'm going to be flexible on where the source of that food is coming from. Maybe we're ordering it out or I'm picking a couple of things up from the store instead, instead of grabbing fast food or something, I'm, non-negotiable that I'm eating healthy food, but I'm flexible in the approach that we're taking to do that. Vince Ferguson: Now with your clients, I know you talk about nutrition, but you also talk about exercise, correct? Brooke Rozzie: I do. All my programs include tailored workout, for you at home or gym, whatever is best. I work with people across the country, so it's more virtual action. So it's all done through an app and it's all tailored to what you individually need and you have access to me through it, coach you through, make pivot all those kinds of things through it. Vince Ferguson: Okay. So your business is pretty much via what, Zoom? Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. I'll make coaching appointment with private clients via Zoom. And my group coaching programs, we do Zoom coaching calls. I have a community group with everyone where, in an app, we're all interacting with each other. I made the pivot, one, because of the pandemic, but two, it really gives mom the flexibility that they need to not have another appointment on your plate that you have to get to. It really gives you more flexibility to make it work. Vince Ferguson: Oh, definitely. But also you have a wider audience. Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Because I mean, not only in this country, you can meet up with people in other, not only time zones, but other countries as well, like Ireland and Sweden or Poland, whatever, which is amazing. The sky's the limit. Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. Some of my clients are in Canada. Some are here. That's where I'm at right now, but it's cool for me to, to like learn how other countries do things too, and have to be flexible with that. It's pretty awesome. Vince Ferguson: Definitely. Now, what type of packages does your Balanced Body program offer? Like, six weeks, 10 weeks? Brooke Rozzie: It's 24 weeks. It used to be 12 weeks for the Balanced Body program, but I really found that 12 weeks was not enough time for you to leave me truly feeling good and ultimately, I said that's my goal. So 24 weeks is really enough time where we really can prioritize and make sure that these things are instilled as a habit for you. You've gone through life with it, you've gone through a couple of seasons with it so we can make sure that you've had the true support that you need to leave it not needing another program again. Know what you need to do. Brooke Rozzie: I do offer a graduate program to my clients when they're done, where like they can keep me at an arms with distance and still have programming done for them if they choose but they don't need to. It's really up to them at that point. The program is 24 weeks. We emphasize hormonal health and how it's impacting how you're feeling, nutrition, you have tailored workouts done for you. I have guest expert coaches that come in from like hormonal health to mindset coaches to maternal mental health that speak through the program as well. And then everybody gets access to me via Voxer or like voice texting throughout the program too, as well as bi-weekly coaching calls with me. Vince Ferguson: And you've been doing this now, this program now for how long? Brooke Rozzie: A year. Vince Ferguson: A year? And it's been doing quite well. Brooke Rozzie: It's been doing awesome. I used to only do private coaching and I still do private coaching for select clients, but it's truly my favorite thing to deliver because it's all encompassing. It's the program I really wish was there after I had our first, because I didn't know what I didn't know about being a mom and it's the program made for moms because there wasn't a lot of things out there for that. Vince Ferguson: Isn't that something, if you only had this program that you put together for you, yourself, when you had your first kid, it would make all the difference, but obviously there's a need for it, there's a market for it and you, and you're filling it and that's a great thing. How many kids do you have? Brooke Rozzie: I have two. We have a three-and-a-half-year old and a one-year-old. Vince Ferguson: Wow. So you're busy. Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. It's a little chaotic in our house. Vince Ferguson: Yes, exactly. Now your sessions though, your packages, is it once a week that the client sees you? Brooke Rozzie: It depends. If they're in the Balanced Body program, the group coaching program, then they get bi-weekly calls with me and then if they're doing private coaching with me, private coaching is if somebody wants a little bit more accountability, support, a little more hand holding, or they just don't like a group setting, I do have a private coaching option and the private coaching clients do meet with me weekly. Vince Ferguson: Okay, great. Now my podcast is Six Weeks To Fitness. So let's say, what would you recommend a busy mom to do if, if she wanted to see results, at least getting to where she wants to be. Let's say if it's a weight loss, she just wants to feel overall better about her body, about her life, what nutrition advice would you give this busy mom for six weeks to see and feel some improvement. Brooke Rozzie: Yeah, that's a really good question. So in six weeks I generally say, "Don't put pressure on yourself but think of the simple things that you can shift that will make a massive difference." The foundation's always not at the most because those are truly what keep us sustained and where we need to be. So I always say like, let's look at the areas that you're like missing the boat right now. And let's prioritize that and each week focus on one to two new things. So one week it could be aiming for half of your body weight in water each day and then the next week it could be prioritizing protein with each of your meals and then the next week it could be moving your body for 30 minutes a day and then we're just building. And then at six weeks you have six different habits that you've implemented and you're in a totally different place in six weeks just from implementing one new thing each week through that time. Vince Ferguson: But when it comes to nutrition, are there any types of foods that you recommend that they start eating as opposed to other types of food? Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. I always say one, whole real foods, they're going to keep you the most satiated and deliver you those nutrients that we talked about that you need. So start with assessing, looking at how much of your food is coming from whole food or packaged food and try to aim the first week for 80% of your food to come from whole food sources. And then look in the detail of what that food is. So on your plate, you should have a protein, an adequate protein source palm to maybe a hand size. If you're eating three meals a day, you should have about a fish size serving of good fiber carbs on your plate. Some veggies I generally say should take up like half of our plate and then some fat. We need to have an adequate fat in there, especially as women to support our hormonal functions. Brooke Rozzie: So what you can do is week one, look at the whole food. Week two, prioritize that protein with each of your meals. Week three, make sure you have a fibrous carb with each meal. Week four, make sure you have the veggie and fat with each meal. Week five, start to tune in to what sources. Are we eating more organic sources? Where are we getting those from? And then in week six, start to look at, "Okay, how much water am I taking in?" Start to up your water intake a little bit more. They seem so simple, but they can make a massive difference in how you're feeling. Vince Ferguson: Most definitely. Brooke, how can my listeners find out more about you about a Balanced Body? And do you have a website? Do you have the social media that they can follow? Brooke Rozzie: So Instagram is probably where you're going to see me the most. So it's @Brooke Rozzie, R-O-Z-Z-I-E. And my program is open right now. So the Balanced Body start September 13th. So they can come join. If they have questions, they can come ask me there. Just shoot me a DM and we'll share. Vince Ferguson: That's awesome. Now, Brooke, do you also have a podcast? Brooke Rozzie: I don't. I had started one. I thought about it and I'm back to the drawing board on what I want it to be. So pretty soon, I might. Vince Ferguson: Yeah, I would imagine you will because you articulate your program so well and I think that it would be another benefit, another asset of yours to have that. You'll reach even more people and that's what you want to do. That's what you're doing. Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. I love podcasts. I think they're an amazing way to get information. I need to, well, one I'm looking at my capacities, just like I coach my clients of like what I have capacity for, but it will be there. It's just a matter of when. Vince Ferguson: That's impressive. You're right. You don't want to put more on you than you can handle right now, right? Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Vince Ferguson: There you go. I'm sure you tell your clients that we become overwhelmed trying to do everything, be all things, all people and you don't have the capacity for it. Brooke Rozzie: I practice what I teach. Vince Ferguson: What advice would you give to moms now who are busy, struggling, trying to make it happen and need some encouragement. Brooke Rozzie: One, give yourself grace. You have so much that you take in a mental load and a physical load day-to-day. So you have to give yourself grace on what you're actually doing. We always feel like it's not enough. If you sat down and made a list of the things that you were doing day to day, you would be shocked. And then I always say, talk to yourself the way you would talk to your daughter. And if your daughter says that she needs a break or she's feeling exhausted or run down, what would you say? You would tell her to chill but somehow we tell ourselves, we have to push harder, we have to do more. Give yourself a break. It's okay to take a step back and assess and you don't have to be everything to everybody. Vince Ferguson: Awesome. Give yourself a break. You don't have to be everything to everybody. Chill. Brooke Rozzie: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Love it Brooke. Brooke Rozzie on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York, that's my nonprofit organization and Six Weeks To Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Brooke Rozzie: Thank you. I love being on here with you. So thank you for having me. Vince Ferguson: You a wonderful, and to my list of those, I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging, and inspiring, and that you will continue tuning in to our six weeks of fitness podcast. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them on my Six Weeks To Fitness blog at www.6weekstofitness.com or email me at vince@sixweeks.com. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes.

Moses Sistrunk Jr., also known as Coach Moses is a Harlem born enthusiast of the sport of fencing, since 1991.  His dedication to the sport began at Our Children's Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization that serves the Harlem community with afterschool and summer programs. It was here where he met Coach Witold Rak who was the fencing instructor at the time. Since 2012, Coach Moses has been running his own program called Inner City Fencing, which is a program that uses the sport of fencing to develop lifelong skills in young people from underrepresented and underserved communities, throughout the New York metropolitan area. At present, he is developing a nonprofit organization called Inner City Fencing Initiative, Inc., that aims to increase the physical and financial accessibility of fencing across the New York City area.  He works with local organizations, such as my nonprofit organization, Body Sculpt of New York and others to help expose more young athletes to the sport of fencing. Coach Moses goal is to raise the funds, to make programs such as these, consistent and reliable for students in all areas of underserved communities. This is his way of continuing his passion and giving back to the community through the sport of fencing. And I'm thrilled to have Coach Moses on my Six Weeks of Fitness podcast. Coach, how are you today? Coach Moses Sistrunk: I'm doing great. How about yourself? Vince Ferguson: I'm Good. I'm good. Thank you so much for coming on the show. But before we talk about your program, Inner City fencing, tell my listeners, where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Well, I actually grew up, since January of 1980, in what you call Grant Housing, right on 125th Street. So, I've been there for over... I would say 30 years right now, that I've been in that area.  I have a younger brother. I had a pretty good childhood. My father was always active. He always had us going out there doing different activities and stuff. He'd always make sure Saturdays and Sundays, we were out there doing some type of activity. He did not want us sitting around the house. So, I was always active. And my mother basically, around the age of 11, 12 years old, actually 11 years old... I actually remember it. November 5th, 1989, on a Tuesday. Yes, I remember this. I came to Our Children's Foundation and that became a blessing to me because it was right across the street from my house and I did all types activities. Fencing was just one of the activities I did. I used to do ballet, tap, martial arts, African drum class, sign language. So, I got exposed to all those activities at a very young age and it just exposed me to different things. So, I was very fortunate that my mother brought me here and I've been here ever since. So, we're talking about nearly 32 years of me being exposed and working for Our Children's Foundation. Vince Ferguson: Wow. And that's all basically in the community of Harlem, correct? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes. Vince Ferguson: Wow. So, where did you receive your training to become a fencer? Was it there? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Well, I learned to do fencing here, but what ended up happening was, back in 2000, I pretty much... Unfortunately, around this time I suffered a tragedy. My girlfriend had just passed away from cancer and I was there when she passed away. And so, what ended up happening was my coach used to come and visit. And he recognized me. He was like, "Oh, hey, I remember you. You used to be that skinny runt that used to be all around fencing." So, I was like, "Yeah." So, he remembered me and he literally brought me to his place that he had just remodeled, because he has a fencing club in Queens and he used to let me come by and just practice around. So, I would come by, do a little fencing. And they actually had fencing here at The Foundation at the time. I was a junior counselor here at The Foundation. So, the guy that originally was here... I don't remember his name at all... He left. And then, my boss at the time, knew my fencing so he said, "Hey, how would you like to teach fencing?" And I looked at him like, "But I don't know how to." Before I could finish the sentence, he said, "You can make 25 an hour." I will find a way how to teach fencing because I never made 25 an hour in my life. So, and that's how I got exposed to it. And then my coach, what he would do is he would have to go to coaches conferences. Like this was all like a whole other world of fencing to me, as being an instructor. So, and this is under the United States Fencing Coaches Association. And so, I was under them since 2006. I had no idea what I was looking at. No idea what they were talking about. He'd just kind of plop me there and he said, "Get to know your.. Get to know..." He promoted me literally. And I'm like, "Why are you promoting me? I have no idea what I'm doing." But he saw me as a fencing instructor and that's how I got exposed to fencing on that level and teaching it and exposing it and learning more stuff about it. Vince Ferguson: Now, you mentioned something about your fencing training. Tell my listeners more about training and certification. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Well, my certification... I got what they call an Assistant Moniteur in 2010. And this is under the United States Fencing Coach Association. It's a non-profit organization. And basically, what they do is they realized in the past, most fence instructors, we grew up under an instructor. And so, we were grandfathered in, as far as instruction. Now, what they're doing is they're making sure that you're getting continuing education. You get actual lessons so that you can become a better instructor. So, they teach us how to do warm up, stretches, just things so that you make sure that you're teaching fencing in a safe environment. And they want to make sure that if you run a club that you know what the ins and outs of running the club are and how to deal with that. So, you have different training on that. And they also have training on the different disciplines, the different weapons. So, that's what they do. And they do it every year. Now, since COVID, they've been doing it virtually, but every year we have a training and I'm also a member of the association as well. So, I got my certification as a foil instructor back in 2012 and passed. So, we do all practical and I would say, multiple choice. So, you do a written multiple choice and you have a practical exam. And they touch on both. Vince Ferguson: Which is hands-on? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes. Yes. Vince Ferguson: You said foil. Exactly what is that? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Foil is just a flexible weapon. The one that I use has a rubber chip. It's a practice one, and it's 110 centimeters long and very flexible. And the target, is what we call a vest target. So, no arms, no legs, just the stomach, chest and back. And the new rule is, part of your neck. Vince Ferguson: Oh, really? Wow. Wow. Now it sounds like you're always being upgraded. You're always training. You're getting educated more and more on fencing each year, which is great. And it also sounds like they teach you the business of fencing too. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes. Yes. When I last went to the conference in 2018, we was at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, and for seven days, seven straight days, we were training in our discipline. So... Vince Ferguson: Wow. Coach Moses Sistrunk: And yes, that's how they do it. And also for us, you would think, for a person like, you do this from nine in the morning to five in the evening, you would think that's a boring job, but for us, part of it is verbal. And part of it is us getting a group lesson from the instructors, teaching us better ways of teaching fencing to the kids or to our students, whether it be to a younger child or older adult. Vince Ferguson: Oh, okay. Excellent. So, you teach kids and adults. And I do know that. Let me just be perfectly honest with the listeners. I know that, because for approximately 12 to 15 years, I've known you and you participated as one of my only fencing instructors for our annual Children's Sports and Fitness expo here in New York. And I will say, out of the 30 activities that we present at this event, fencing was by far the most popular. But what is it about fencing that makes it so popular, especially with the young people? Coach Moses Sistrunk: I'm going to be honest with you. First of all, I didn't really know I was the most popular because I know that every time I did your program, I always had to get more equipment. But I think what it is is, we always like, even as little kids, we like swinging swords. It's the imagination of swinging a sword at somebody. I know I did. My influencers were Star Wars and the television show Highlander. And I loved those shows. So, you're swinging the swords. So, that's how I got into it. And the kids want to do the same thing. So, and over the years I've gotten better. So, now I've got foam swords because I know when I used to start off, I used to carry like four, five bags of equipment. So now I'm a little lighter. Now I have the foam swords. I'm trying to invest more in those, so they can get a little taste of it and have the kids wear a mask now instead of just wearing the jackets and everything else. It does get hot when you wear those pants and jackets. Vince Ferguson: Yes it does.  Wow. Now, my organization focuses on young people and basically, young people in underserved populations in New York, similar to your focus, but now why have you made it your focus though, when it comes to the children and underserved population? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Because, I was one of those kids, when I learned fencing. And I didn't know. To me, I was just taking an activity. Never did I realize this would become my passion. Like I said, my tragedy led me to my passion. So, it was a way of coping at the time. Or coping and trying to impress a girl at the same time. That didn't work out, so the fencing part turned out. Because for me to be different, because I know a lot of people that teach fencing, they've had experience competing on a higher level. I've done sporadic competitions. But I guess, because I could relate to the kids more of, "Hey, this is what fencing is. I definitely know how you feel, because I was there too." I can share my story with them. I'm from Grant Housing. If I say, Grant Housing, people go, "Yeah, I know what that is." But for people who don't know what Grant is, he was the 18th President of the United States and a civil war general, but that's just me because I'm a presidential fanatic. But yes. So, I get it. And a lot of parents they cannot afford to do fencing classes. Fencing classes are very expensive. So, that's why I'm doing what I'm doing because I want them to get the opportunity I never had. I never did fencing in high school. I never knew it went to high school and I never really knew it went to college. So, I thought this out as I was learning how to teach. How to say, "Wait a minute. Maybe I could have had this opportunity." So, I didn't know. I didn't know. So, now, I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to make sure that they get the opportunity that I didn't have. Vince Ferguson: Nice. A very good role model you are. I will say that, man, for sure. For sure. Now, I also understand that when it comes to scholarships, it's easier in a sense, to get a scholarship, if you're doing something like fencing, because so many people don't. Most parents, they enroll their kids in basketball, football, soccer, but it's harder to get scholarships there, because there's so many people. But with fencing is not as many, especially of us, doing it. So, would you say that it's easier to get a scholarship for that reason? Coach Moses Sistrunk: It is. Because a lot of the other sports are saturated. Think about it. How many basketball players are you going to get? How many football players are you going to get? You know what I mean? So, with fencing, first of all, I feel like it's a little... I don't want to use the term being in a little mob, because no one knows about it. So, it's like you have your own little secret society. So, very few people know about it. Because even when I carry my bag, people are like, "Oh, you play guitar?" I'm like, "No. Fence instructor." "What? Fencing?" People hear fencing, they look at me weird because they associate fencing with Caucasian people and Asian. Which they would not be wrong because in certain fencing clubs, that's what I see. But a lot of us are coming up in the sport. So, but the opportunities are there because every time I go to the coaches conferences, guess who I bump into? Collegiate coaches. And what do they ask for? Matter of fact, I would think about almost, I would say eight years ago, we went to our last convention. One of the ladies, she was from San Diego and she grabbed me. She's like, "Do you have any fencers? Do you have any fencers? Do you have any fencers?" I was like, "Personal space?" Like "I don't have any kids here. So, don't hit on me." But yeah, no they're looking and even in 2018... No, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. 2019, when I went to Notre Dame and I spoke to the coach, Coach Geo, and matter of fact, they just won their NCAAs, Notre Dame. So, him, he was like, he's trying to find fencers in house and not international. He's trying to get homegrown fencers. So, yeah because what tends to happen is people think when you do fencing you have to go to Harvard, Princeton, Yale. Yes, those are the top. But let's say you fall short for going there. You've got Notre Dame. I would say Columbia, but Columbia is right up there too. Vince Ferguson: Princeton? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Well, I'm talking about the ones that are not those. Like I would say, that's the argument. I know Notre Dame is one of them. Like if you can't go to one of those, go to Notre Dame. Go to Columbia. I believe... Now, I don't want to assume right now, because I'm trying to think of colleges off the top of my head. Ohio State. We went there because I saw one of the coaches there. So yeah, they're there. And mainly I would say, "Women, okay, this is the time period for women to get the opportunity if they're looking." Like they are looking. Like this is why I'm trying to push, as girls change and like I said, they were coming at me like, "Do you have any fencers?" And I know some collegiate coaches. It's not hard for me to say, "Hey, I have a potential student." Now, I have to be careful with that because of the rules of the NCAA. But yeah, they're looking. Oh, I forgot about Temple University. That's another one. Vince Ferguson: Oh, Temple, out of Philadelphia. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Wow. Interesting. Interesting. Now, this sounds to me like a perfect opportunity for young people to get involved with fencing right now. And you're giving them that opportunity. But as you said, fencing is not a cheap sport. It costs money. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes. Vince Ferguson: So, how are you offsetting the costs of fencing for the inner city children? Coach Moses Sistrunk: What I'm doing is because I also have a co-founder, Tico Flores-Kyle. He's been my... I call him the mouthpiece of the business because literally, usually I'll have him do what I'm doing right now. I usually don't do this. I do the inner workings of the business. So, only because it's you, I said, I'll do it. Vince Ferguson: Thank you, Coach. I appreciate it. Coach Moses Sistrunk: But he's the one that goes around to different neighborhoods and talks to parents and talks to organizations and let them know about what we're doing. Because we've been in Queens at one time. Now we're back in Harlem. We do want to kind of spread out and just let people know that we're here and there are other fencing programs. But we try to make it affordable. So, we made it $75 a month. So, that at least, you're not spending all this money for kids to do fencing. Because I've seen parents spend three, $400 for maybe a month or two. And I'm being very conservative, because this is fencing. This is expensive. Like technically, I charge 75 a month. I really should be charging $75, for every 30 minutes. Vince Ferguson: Every class? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Every 30 minutes. Vince Ferguson: Every 30 minutes? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Like me. Like me, personally giving you a lesson. $75. 30 minutes. That's what I should be charging, but I don't do that because I'm like "No, that's going to take away from the students." You know what I mean? So, I want them to come in and see if this is something that they like. And then if they like it, then I can go ahead and tap into my resources and find ways of them doing fencing in a very affordable level. Because it's not easy. The equipment alone could cost you 500 to a thousand dollars. Easy. Vince Ferguson: I've seen your equipment. I've carried some of your equipment. I've carried it. I know. I know. I see. I've seen it firsthand. Professional. Coach Moses Sistrunk: And me personally, at least for the last couple of years, I haven't really paid myself. So, I literally put it right back into the business. So, I'm constantly getting the equipment and making sure that kids have what they have. And if I have assistant coaches, I make sure they get paid first, before I do. Because you see the work I have to do and I'm not getting any younger. So, this is the month of my birthday too. So, when the Olympics start is my birthday. July 23rd. I'll be 43. Vince Ferguson: Wow, isn't that something, man, but you're still a young man. Let's make this happen. So, listen, where is your company located in Harlem? Exactly where is it located? Coach Moses Sistrunk: In the building of Our Children's Foundation, which is at 527 West 125th Street. We're located on the second floor. So yeah, we're on the second floor. So, people just buzz in or just give me a call and I just come down and let you in. Vince Ferguson: Okay. And you're looking for more kids right now. Am I correct? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes. Yes. Because a lot of people don't know, like the parents, I have 10 clients right now and a lot of them say, "You've been teaching fencing here all this time?" I'm like, "Yes." No one knows I'm in here. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Best kept secret. Isn't that something? What are some of the many benefits that young people can expect to experience while learning fencing at your school? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Well, I only say this because I could draw from my experience. You really learn about yourself. You learn about your offensive or defensive. I realize now as I'm a little bit older, it depends on the situation. So, when I was younger, I was defensive. So, I would wait for the person to come at me, see what they do and then I would respond. So, that's one. Two, you will definitely learn different languages. Vince Ferguson: Languages? Languages? Really? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Because fencing is only two languages, English and French. So, you have to know a little bit of French. Vince Ferguson: Nice. I didn't know that. Coach Moses Sistrunk: So, when I teach the kids, I'll tell them how to say things in English. And then I'll tell them how to say things in French. So, if you don't know what they're talking about, how would you know? And the other thing is you will learn are different measurements. We do the Avoirdupois system, which is pounds and ounces. And of course, with metric system, you have to learn meters, kilometers, kilograms. So, you're going to learn how to do that. Coach Moses Sistrunk: And you're going to learn some geometry too, because in my class you will learn how to make a fencing strip and use measurements. Vince Ferguson: Really? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yep. That's what I teach in my class. They have to learn that. So, that's part of the class. So, what I do is... Because I know other classes teach differently. A lot of them are geared more towards competition. Great. That's what you should do. I'm more about, "Hey, let's see if you like this first, okay? And if you're serious, then I'll gear you towards competition." Because what happens is they'll go to a club that's in the competition. Kids want to do it. It's expensive. Then they're like, "I don't like this no more." Then they leave. Vince Ferguson: Right. Wow. Coach Moses Sistrunk: So my thing is, "No, I'm going to do the fun part. Come to me. We'll do the fun part. I'm going to break everything up. And then if you feel that you want to do this seriously, then that's a whole nother thing on the side where we can do, and we'll focus on that." Vince Ferguson: Sure. Wow. Nice. Nice. Now, there's so much I could ask, but we don't have a lot of time, but let me ask you this. Is fencing a great way to keep fit? Obesity is a major issue today among children. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes, it is. Literally, if it wasn't for fencing, I would have been 300 pounds a long time ago. I would have gotten here quicker, but it is a great way. I also like this. You're not thinking about the workout when you're fencing. You're thinking about, "How can I get my point?" You don't think about it. Coach Moses Sistrunk: It's a great leg workout, great core workout. Great upper body workout. I would say more of a leg workout because you're doing a lot of lunges. Vince Ferguson: A lot of lunges? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes. A whole lot of lunges. So, yeah, but it's not just about swinging a sword either, because a lot of kids, when they come in, they think, "Oh, I'll just swing a sword." Nope. That's how you get scored on real quick. So. Vince Ferguson: There's a lot to it, yes. Look, I've seen you in action. I've seen how the kids' faces light up and the parents too. And they always want to know where can they go to take their kids to continue fencing? And that's so important that you have a place where they can go. That's so important, but what about nutrition? Do you touch on that? Is that important to a fencer? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes, it is. Even Tim Morehouse, he's one of the premier fencers. And what ended up happening with him was, even as a fencer, he's still eating McDonald's. He's eating junk food and it wasn't until... I think it wasn't until 2012, when I think when he was doing fencing he changed his diet, slendered down and he became better. And I think he became a silver medalist at that time, as a team in Sabre. And I know me personally, because I know what happened with me and I'll definitely get into this. A lot of people assume because I teach fencing that I always keep in shape. But for years, I really wasn't doing that. I wasn't participating with the kids, but then I had really let myself go. I went from when I first started from 170 to as heavy as 270. Vince Ferguson: That's a hundred pounds heavier. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yeah, I was a hundred pounds heavier. This was a matter of, I would definitely say 15 years. No, actually 17 years and what ended up happening was this was during the pandemic where I ended up going to the hospital and found out that I was a Type II diabetic. I'm walking around being a Type II diabetic and didn't know for three years. They just now told me after I went to the hospital and I didn't take that very well. I really didn't. That just blew my mind. So I said, "Nope." But they did tell me my condition was because of weight. Vince Ferguson: Weight? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yeah, weight. Purely weight. My neurologist told me. He said, "I'm not checking your foot." He said "Lose the weight, then I'll check your foot." He literally really told me that. My dietician said, "It's the weight." And my primary care doctor said, "It's your weight." So, from November to now, I've lost, I would say 44 pounds, because I'm 226 now. Vince Ferguson: Congratulations on that. You took action. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yeah. I was not playing. That scared me. That scared me and I will never be the same now. So, I drink more water now. I definitely incorporate a lot of fruits and vegetables because I didn't do that before. I do eat meat, but I cut down on a lot of the meat consumption. Vince Ferguson: So, you changed your eating habits. You changed your nutrition. And would you say that... Do you eat late at night or did you stop doing that, as well? Coach Moses Sistrunk: If I eat late at night, it would be a smoothie or something very healthy. Like it has to be something very light if I eat at night. But that has been put to a halt because I realize that's why my sugar levels is going up. I was eating late at night. Vince Ferguson: I see, just making those subtle changes, makes all the difference. And now, you're doing your fencing, but you're slimmer now and you feel better as a result. And that's what children can look forward to, as well, which is great. And you are now, you're more of a role model because now you're looking more the part, not just giving instruction, but you're looking more like you're athletic. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes, yes. Like I said, my goal is... And this is what I like about fencing also. It doesn't stop when you're young. I can compete at 40, 50, 60, 70, 80. Vince Ferguson: Compete? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes. You can compete at those ages. Vince Ferguson: Now that, I didn't know. Wow. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes. So, yes sir, you can compete in fencing too. So, you're not too old to do it. Vince Ferguson: Sign me up. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yeah. That's what I like about it. I could go out there... Right now, I have an Olympian named Ivan Lee. He's a former Olympian and he's out there competing now. I think he got first place just recently. So, he just hit 40. Just hit 40. Yeah. Vince Ferguson: Just hit 40? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yeah. Vince Ferguson: And that's a African-American, right? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yeah, yeah. Vince Ferguson: That's so impressive, man. You can do this. Man, this is beautiful. Now, where can parents find out more about Inner City Fencing and how can they contact you? Coach Moses Sistrunk: Well, right now, they can contact me on my website, Inner City Fencing.org, or www.innercityfencing.org. And they can check out the website. Mostly my schedules are there and the pricing and everything. Or they can come to me directly at Our Children's Foundation. I'm usually there Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Right now, we're doing the summer schedule. So, I'm here from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. So, and that will last until September 10th. So, then the schedule is going to change, but I'm usually here Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Vince Ferguson: Perfect. Is there anything else that we didn't touch on, that you want to share before I let you go? Coach Moses Sistrunk: I would say that I do a little bit of this and it's still ongoing, but I am what they call a cosplayer. And I don't know people know what cosplaying is, but you're costume playing. So, I also go to comic book conventions, upstate New York, and I promote fencing and that, and I do a little bit of amateur stage combat, basically. So, I used to do that with two groups, with dealing with Star Wars for about six years. So, I'm developing that class right now. It's not something I'm pushing at the moment, but I'm just putting it out there that I do do it, because I tend to meet when I go to these conventions and I tell them I'm a fencer, they're like, "Oh, I want to do fencing." And then when I go to fencing and I tell them, I do cosplaying, "Oh, I want to be a cosplayer." And I'm just like, "Oh, I've got two different goals that would have come together, but they can't do it because fencers have to compete on the same day that cost players do their stuff at the conventions." Vince Ferguson: Wow. Wouldn't you know? Coach Moses Sistrunk: So basically, you have to give up one to do it. Vince Ferguson: One for the other. Coach Moses Sistrunk: Yes. So, I kind of gave up, not gave up. I didn't give it up. I'm just not competing right now. So, I'm doing a little bit more cosplaying, but at the same time, I am still instructing. But when I compete, I'm going to have to put it into my schedule. So, yeah. Vince Ferguson: Yes. I hear you. You got to do what you got to do. Do this is great. This is great, Coach. Listen, Coach Moses Sistrunk, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York and Six Weeks of Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Coach Moses Sistrunk: No, thank you. It was a pleasure. Vince Ferguson: And to my listeners, I truly hope this program was informative and encouraging and inspiring, and that you will continue tuning in to our Six Weeks of Fitness podcast. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them on my Six Weeks to Fitness blog@www.sixweekstofitness.com or email me at vinceatsixweeks.com. And don't forget to subscribe, so you don't miss any future episodes.

This class is a relaxing yet effective workout that incorporates deep stretches throughout the pilates workout. You will work every aspect of your body in this class in a slow, low intensity fashion. No equipment is needed for this class except your body and mat. xx, Corrie instagram: @corriexlifestyle

Todays workout is a full body sculpt class that is focused on working every muscle group. You can do this workout without any equipment but are welcome to add ankle weights for an added challenge. This class will continue to introduce you to foundational pilates movements while integrating Corries own personal style. xx, Corrie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corriexlifestyle/

Coach O’Neil Brown was born on the beautiful Island of Jamaica 48 years ago. He migrated to the States in 1981. Coach O’Neil grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York, and played multiple sports while in high school. Coach O’Neil developed a love for health and wellness by learning from his mother, the late Icilyn Brown. He has been a fitness and lifestyle trainer for over 15 years. He is the founder and CEO of OB-FIT. His greatest desire is to see everyone live in peace and happiness from within. O’Neil encourages everyone he trains to take their health seriously. Two of his many mantras are your health is your wealth and excuses don't get results. And joining me today on my 6 Weeks to Fitness Podcast to discuss his personal journey into health and his fitness philosophy is coach O’Neil Brown. Coach O’Neil, how are you doing today? Vincent Ferguson: Thank you for coming on the show. Coach O’Neil Brown: Hey, thank you for having me. Vincent Ferguson: Now in your bio, coach, you credit your mom, Icilyn Brown for getting you started in health and wellness. Tell my listeners about your mom and how she helped shape your views on health and wellness. Coach O’Neil Brown: Well, my mother, was a hardworking woman and first and foremost, she always put God first in everything that she do, she always put God first. She made sure that everything that she does is lined up with the word of God. And the thing about it, the love that she had for us was amazing. I mean, words cannot explain. But one thing my mother took her health very seriously. And the foods that she ate, she made sure she ate foods that were healthy and nutritious. Now, would I tell you that, Hey, she wasn't the most expensive eater no, but she knew what to eat. She made sure she'd take time, cooking her own food and learning from her also set my life up to where, you know what, I use that same lifestyle that my mother taught myself and also my brothers and sisters. And it has helped me tremendously. Vincent Ferguson: Well, you mentioned your brothers and sisters. How many siblings do you have? Coach O’Neil Brown: Well, I had four brothers, one passed away and I have 4 Sisters. So it's a total of nine of us. It would've been nine of us total. Vincent Ferguson: Man, that's a big family man. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yeah and the greatest thing about it, one father. Vincent Ferguson: You don't hear that too often today, man. So I credit good upbringing for that. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes Sir. Vincent Ferguson: Now, what was it your mother's influence that inspired you to become a trainer? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. I love to play sports. I always loved sports. Sports is something that I really loved and I realized that working a nine to five and there's nothing wrong working the nine to five, I love to move. So I realized that you know what, this nine to five thing is not cutting it for me because I don't like to just stay in one place. I like to move around and I had to do something. I had to make a change. Vincent Ferguson: Speaking of moving, now I know you were raised in New York, but I understand you currently live in Tallahassee, what attracted you to Tallahassee? Was it the weather? Coach O’Neil Brown: Well, one thing the weather is something for me, the beautiful scenery, Tallahassee is a tremendous place. Lots of history. You have the University of Florida, A&M you have Florida State, you have Tallahassee Community College. It's a great, small city that has a lot of history and moving here at the present time I was married and my wife had took an assignment. Unfortunately, we are not together anymore, but you know what, life is life. And then a person has to move on and just learn from his or her mistakes and better themselves and hoping that hey, they'll never make that mistake again. So here I am today. Vincent Ferguson: Most definitely. Life is about learning, right? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: It's about learning, man. And we are all in this life together and we're here to learn and there's nothing wrong with that. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: Now you and your wife, your ex-wife, you guys still communicate, I would imagine, right? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, we do communicate. We have great communication. We still talk to each other and everything. So at the end of the day, I learned from my mistakes. I learned from my mistakes, that's the most important thing. And the funny part about it, it was never infidelity. It was never alcohol. It was never drugs, gambling or money. It was just my ego. Coach O’Neil Brown: My ego and lack of communication. Vincent Ferguson: That's amazing, man. But to be able to speak to that, that's a beautiful thing. How has your health helped, being in the fitness world, how has that helped you to deal with your relationship with your ex-wife? Coach O’Neil Brown: If I wasn't taking care of myself from within, I also would've pointed the finger. I would not own up to my mistakes or own up to my responsibility. So I had to make sure my mental health was right because, in order for me to understand that I made a mistake, I had to own up to it. The only way you can ever, ever move on in life, you have to own up to your responsibility. And when you do own up to your responsibility, you must accept truth and once you accept the truth, change will come. And that's what I did. And it made me a better person today. Vincent Ferguson: Amazing. A better, man. Huh? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, yes. Vincent Ferguson: Amazing. That's awesome. That's awesome. Now you and I have a mutual friend, Patrice Rush from Rush Productions. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yeah. Vincent Ferguson: Now Patrice told me about you. And she said, coach O’Neil, he's called THE FITNESS PREACHER. I was like, what? THE FITNESS PREACHER? So how'd you get that name? Coach O’Neil Brown: I was in Miami. I was going to a wedding and it's a young lady, she knows me and she said, you know what, you just not a person who just talk about health and wellness. You look it and you live it, I have a name for you. You should call yourself THE FITNESS PREACHER. And from that day on, that's what I go by. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, from that day on, it stuck as they say. Coach O’Neil Brown: It stuck. It stuck, yes. Vincent Ferguson: Now that's awesome. Cause when I heard that, right away, I'm thinking about, okay, this is obviously a brother who's talking about the Bible and God, but it can also take on the other connotation where basically you practice what you preach, right? Coach O’Neil Brown: Exactly. Life, life. It's so important when you put God in your entire life, whatever you're doing, he should always come first. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Coach O’Neil Brown: Whatever you're doing, he should come first. If God is not the head of it, then guess what, you're going to lose in battle. Then it's absolutely for the enemy. Vincent Ferguson: Now out of all the scriptures in the Bible, which one would you say motivates you the most? Coach O’Neil Brown: I love Matthew 6, verse 33. It says, but “seek ye first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added onto you.” So once you seek God first, and once you are following God’s words and once you apply his words, then if you want good health, you are going to get it because now as you seek it, it requires action. So now you're not just talking it, you're also living it. Vincent Ferguson: Do you share your beliefs with your clients? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. Yes. When the opportunity comes to share my beliefs, I find ways of plugging them in. I just don't put it on them because, at end of the day, it's not about force. Everyone has a choice. And at the end of the day, it's your choice. Whatever you're doing, life is all about choices. Vincent Ferguson: Exactly. I also believe that. You can make good choices or you can make some bad choices, right? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, Yes. Absolutely. Vincent Ferguson: Excellent. Now, how important is faith and fitness to you? Coach O’Neil Brown: It's everything because you got to understand, this body that we're living in, it does not belong to us. It belongs to God. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Coach O’Neil Brown: It belongs to our creator. We don't own anything. We came into this world with nothing, right? Vincent Ferguson: Right. Coach O’Neil Brown: So we shall leave with nothing. So naked I am as I came and naked I will leave. So at the end of the day, if I'm not returning back this body to God, then Hey, as I said earlier, I am losing this battle while I'm living on earth. And you got to remember with God, all things are possible. Vincent Ferguson: That's Powerful my brother. All things, not some things, all things. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: So if I want to be healthy, I can actually use that as part of my faith. My faith can help me to be healthy, right? Coach O’Neil Brown: That's right. Because when you look at it, you go back into third, John verse 2, it says “beloved, I wish above all things, that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers.” So it's just not your finance or just your marriage or in school. God wants us all to prosper in every aspect and area of our lives. Vincent Ferguson: And speaking of that, one of your mantras is your health is your wealth.  That's what you're talking about, correct? Coach O’Neil Brown: Right because good health, you got to understand, health is a treasure. And think about this. Everything that God has given to us is for a purpose and God gave us a perfect word. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Coach O’Neil Brown: But, he also gave us the choice of how we should live in it. Vincent Ferguson: My question is, and I understand, I agree 100% with you, why is it so many of us abuse this body? Why is that? Coach O’Neil Brown: Because one thing they aren't disciplined. You have to be disciplined and when you're disciplined, it's not saying that you're better than anyone. You're just setting up yourself to be in a better place. Vincent Ferguson: Most definitely. Now how do you get that discipline? Coach O’Neil Brown: The discipline is now you got to acknowledge that, hey, at the end of the day, am I doing right or wrong? You will know when you're doing right or wrong. You know, when you're eating healthy because guess what, the human machinery, this body, it's going to tell you, it's going to always give you signs. Before there's any disruption of the human body, you're always getting a warning. So if we're not taking heed to the things that we're putting in, later on, we're going to just, boom, collapse and there it is, that's the end of it. Vincent Ferguson: What you put in is what you get out! Coach O’Neil Brown: That's right. If you put junk in, absolutely, you're going to feel like junk. You're going to talk like junk. You're going to walk like junk, you're going to look like junk and you're going to act like junk. It doesn't matter how much money you have, because what's the sense of having a nice, big, luxurious home, nice, beautiful cars having money, which is all good. But you still eating like a pauper. Vincent Ferguson: Definitely. And how long are you going to be able to enjoy those fancy, those fine things, if you're not taking care of your health, correct? Coach O’Neil Brown: Right and it all starts with what you put inside of your body because at the end of the day, food is something that, what controls the mind, it helps rejuvenate the mind, it stimulates the mind and also the body. Vincent Ferguson: And do you talk about, I mean, you talking about it right now, but do you talk about nutrition and prepare healthy meals for your clients? Coach O’Neil Brown: Absolutely. Because that wouldn't be the fitness preacher, just by preaching it. You have to live it. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Coach O’Neil Brown: I am one who loves to show it. I'm not one who will recommend my client, hey, eat kale and then you go on my social media page, you don't see not one salad. You don't see not one healthy meal on there. All you hear, I'm talking. You ever hear of the "Show-Me" State? Hey, I'm from the "Show-Me" State. Vincent Ferguson: Exactly. Coach O’Neil Brown: I'm not just going to also tell you, but I'm going to show you how it's was done because I'm going to live it. You got to see it. Not just in words, but in also action. Vincent Ferguson: In action. So what would you say on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the most important, where would you put nutrition? Coach O’Neil Brown: At the top. Vincent Ferguson: At the very top. Coach O’Neil Brown: Because at the end of the day, God is number one. It's two things food can do for us. Food can be our medicine, or it can be poison. Vincent Ferguson: So true. And so many of us have poisoned our bodies because of the foods that we eat. Right? Coach O’Neil Brown: Right. Vincent Ferguson: And would you say that the biggest contributor now to obesity and heart disease is basically the food that we eat? Coach O’Neil Brown: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Because it's not the air. It's not the sunlight because those things are free. Those are the things that God gave us. Coach O’Neil Brown: Why would God give us things like those and harm us with it? So when we're not putting anything inside of the body, that's clogging up the human machinery, then it won't happen now. But later on at a certain age. When we get older, we start to find out that you know what our digestive system is not working properly. And it's not, even when you get older, even the young ones are having issues with their digestive system. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. That's true. Coach O’Neil Brown: So if you notice its poor lifestyle, I've always said this. We don't have, we don't have a hereditary problem, we have poor eating habits problem Vincent Ferguson: Yes. So many people want to blame their family history. That it runs in my family. So that's why I'm like this. Coach O’Neil Brown: It's funny because even a few days ago, I was showing someone that called me and I explained it plain and straight to them. I said the opportunity that my generation and your generation have to better ourselves with health, is 10 times better than what the generation before us had. My great-grandmother, their great-grandmother their great, their great grandmother. Because at the end of the day, you have to look at it like this. Some people never had got opportunity to even read a book because if they did, they would have been killed. And now we have the opportunity to read all the books. We have social media, we have smartphones, but we’re not taking advantage of it. Vincent Ferguson: That's so true. How do we get people to think the way you think and take charge of their health like that? How do you get them to realize that their true wealth is their health? Coach O’Neil Brown: Continue to be an example. Continue to allow God to use you. Continue to live the life of Christ. The only way I could live it is by him. I allow him to abide in me. Vincent Ferguson: Most definitely. You have, and another one of your mantras, another one that I really like, excuses don't get results. Now explain what that means to my listeners. Coach O’Neil Brown: Now we all have 24 hours in a day, right? Vincent Ferguson: That's right. Coach O’Neil Brown: Every human being has 24 hours in a day. So what I do with my 24 hours, if I'm wasting it then, and I'm not seeing any results out of it. And I'm spending my time on social media and I'm spending my time lollygagging, then you know what, at the end of the day, I won't be progressing. Now, if I take my time and I struck out my morning, my afternoon, and my evening, and I find time for myself, I wake up, I prepare myself in the morning to make sure I'm going to get my workout in. I'm going to eat properly. Then, you know what, I won't have any room for excuses because excuse is of the enemy. Vincent Ferguson: Definitely. Definitely. What excuses do you hear from people when it comes to exercise? Coach O’Neil Brown: Oh, I don't have enough time. Oh, it's too expensive. Oh, you know what, it's too expensive to eat healthy, but it's more expensive when you don't move your body. It's more expensive when you go out to eat, it's more expensive even spending one night in the hospital bed. Vincent Ferguson: Oh man. Oh, most definitely. If you don't pay now, you're going to pay later. Right? Coach O’Neil Brown: Exactly. Vincent Ferguson: I Hear excuses all The time. But meanwhile, that same person making excuses is at home, watching Netflix for four or five hours. Coach O’Neil Brown: Right. And the funny thing about it, as I said, everything that we need is right in front of us. If we want to know how to eat healthy, guess what? Google it. Even for those who aren't able to read, you could at least, press that Google button and say, how do you eat healthy? Healthy meals, it's right there. Vincent Ferguson: That is so true. Now what about goal setting? Do you talk to your clients about setting goals? Coach O’Neil Brown: Absolutely. Small, realistic and reasonable goals. Vincent Ferguson: Have any clients come to you with unrealistic goals? Like I want to lose 50 pounds in two weeks. Coach O’Neil Brown: And I'm like, hey, I'm unable to do that. I can't do that for you. And I've always let my clients know that, you know what, here's the thing about me. I don't do weight loss because the reason why I let them know that I don't do weight loss, it's more than weight loss. It's more than about losing weight. I want you to understand this is a lifestyle. I want you to feel good from within. How are you going to feel good from within, by making simple changes one day at a time, let's just focus on today. Let's not look at next week, next month. Let's focus on today. Vincent Ferguson: You're the first trainer I've had on that said they don't focus on weight loss. That's amazing. Coach O’Neil Brown: Because when you talk about weight loss, it's a lot of times, it's all about people who want to make money, and don't get me wrong, this is a ministry, but it's never about money for me. I want to see young men, young women, adults, I want them to live and be happy and understand at the end of the day, that someone out there cares about them. And they're not in it for the money because I always said, I always say this, people, before profit. Vincent Ferguson: Nice. People before profit. Awesome. How many people were saying that? That's awesome, man. That's a blessing right there. You put people first before you put making money first. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yeah, people first. If we put the people first, I'll tell you, the money will come. That's why I never say, hey, I want to make $100 000 this year. No, that's the last thing on my list. If I could touch 100 000 lives and hopefully that 100 000 lives that I touched, they could also plant seeds to touch another 100 000 lives. That's even better than me making $10, $20 million. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. That's awesome. Yes, I like that. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, yes. Vincent Ferguson: It's all about helping people, man, helping people. Can you share a success story from one of your clients? Coach O’Neil Brown: I have so many, so many and even when people call me that aren't my clients, I give them information. Like, I'm going to give you one, not even a client. Individual call me and they was like having an issue with glaucoma and I've never healed anyone. I don't claim that I heal anyone. Now I can point you to the one that can heal and restore you and I recommended what that individual is supposed to do. And I also made a few drinks and everything and also bought it to them and I said, if you do this, I promise you this, watch how your body reacts. And I can tell you that, hey, in a couple of days you're going to be here. But if you practice this on a daily basis, watch what's going to happen. A week ago, when that individual came back to me, they were like, I have good news. When I went to the doctor, my last visit, my doctor said, I have glaucoma and they went back and all of a sudden the glaucoma is gone. Vincent Ferguson: Gone, really? Coach O’Neil Brown: Gone. Vincent Ferguson: Now how long did that take? Coach O’Neil Brown: About a few months. Vincent Ferguson: Was she following your plan that whole time? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Vincent Ferguson: Really? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, sir. Coach O’Neil Brown: And it was just simple, simple, simple, simple foods. Foods that come from the earth. Vincent Ferguson: There you go. Did you tell her how to prepare juices? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes. How to eat? I said, if you really want to get rid of this, I'm not here to soothe whatever symptom you have. Let's get to the head of this. Let's cut the head. The only way you could get rid of the snake, right, is what, cutting the head off? Vincent Ferguson: And she stopped feeding that snake. Coach O’Neil Brown: That's right, she stopped feeding that snake. So now she doesn't have to worry about that snake biting her. Vincent Ferguson: And she wasn't even one of your clients. Coach O’Neil Brown: No she wasn't. Vincent Ferguson: So she never paid you. She's never paid you for this service at all? Coach O’Neil Brown: No. The only thing, I may have requested, charge her for a few of the things that I made, but it wasn't anything weird. Like, Oh my goodness, I have to pay 200, 300, no, nothing like that. Not even, nowhere close to that. Vincent Ferguson: So you actually made the juice for her? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, sir. Vincent Ferguson: That's awesome, man. Was she in Tallahassee? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, sir. Yes. And then there are more stories, especially one of my clients, in August, it's about to be two years and she came to me, she had high blood pressure. She was suffering from so many illnesses and I was like, listen, you have to change. You have to change how you eat. I said, the problem is, what you're putting inside of your body. Coach O’Neil Brown: And I let her know, I'm not here to turn you into a vegan, that's not what it is. That's between you and God. But for us to start, I want you to make simple changes with one specific thing in the morning when you wake up, you have to avoid all of that heavy food that you're eating. Vincent Ferguson: Did you give her something to eat? Coach O’Neil Brown: I said nothing is wrong with having some fresh fruit in the morning. Nothing wrong with having a salad. Nothing is wrong with drinking herbal tea. Nothing is wrong with drinking your spring water with some lime in it. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Coach O’Neil Brown: Drink those, take those things. Start your morning off properly. Vincent Ferguson: That's the key to jumpstart your metabolism. You are feeding your body properly and I understand, and I believe that your body was meant to heal itself. Coach O’Neil Brown: Oh yes, absolutely. It can absolutely heal itself. Vincent Ferguson: But you have to give it what it needs in order for that to happen. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: Awesome. Now, do you train most of your clients in the gym or at home or virtually? Coach O’Neil Brown: I do it all. I do it all. Vincent Ferguson: Excellent. So someone can actually reach out to you from another State and you can actually train them and give them fitness advice as well. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Vincent Ferguson: Perfect. That's very good to know. What advice would you give people who are sitting on the fence right now and haven't decided to make fitness a part of their lives? Coach O’Neil Brown: Well, if they don't move it, they're going to lose it. Vincent Ferguson: There you go. If you don't move it, you're going to lose it. I like that. Coach O’Neil Brown: And your body was designed to move. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Coach O’Neil Brown: It's not a sedentary lifestyle. We weren't made to be couch potatoes. Yes, we were made to move our bodies and we get a good night's sleep and come back again the next day. But we're not supposed to be sitting down 18 to 20 hours out of the 24 hours all day. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Now from your experience, are people starting to take their health more seriously now because of this pandemic? Coach O’Neil Brown: Oh, absolutely. I'm going to tell you something. My brother and I, right? My brother and I Vaughn Wilson and I, we started last year when the pandemic hit. He and I decided that, hey, we're going to do this walking group. And it's called the OB-FIT/Mega Ace 45 challenge group and we said, the month of March, we just want people to walk 45 miles. We have over 6,000, participants- Vincent Ferguson: Really? Coach O’Neil Brown: In this group. Yes. Vincent Ferguson: All in Tallahassee? Coach O’Neil Brown: From different areas, from around the world. Vincent Ferguson: Around the world. Oh, my goodness, 6,000. Coach O’Neil Brown: 6,000. Started it last year, March. In the pandemic, yes. When they shut down everything, and I'm telling you, we decided that, hey, this is not about us, this is about the people. Because you know people were getting, they were panicking. They didn't know what to do. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Coach O’Neil Brown: So we came up with that and we removed ourselves. We said this is not about us. This is for people because you got to understand. People are getting COVID. People are losing their jobs. People don't know what to do. So we had to find a way of helping these people to make sure that these people are doing something for themselves. Okay. Don't worry. We got a group for you. We're not asking for any money. We're not asking for you to donate anything. You don't have to send any information to us. All you have to do is focus on putting 45 miles in it for a month by just walking and the amount of testimony that we had. People who were on medication are now off medication. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. That's amazing. Really? Just from walking more? Coach O’Neil Brown: Just by walking, because one of the greatest exercises is what, walking. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, Yes. I often say that, man. It doesn't cost any money. Coach O’Neil Brown: No. Vincent Ferguson: And it's no stress on the joints. Just walk. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yeah. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yeah. Vincent Ferguson: That's amazing. 6,000 people. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: You're making the difference internationally. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, sir. And I take, he and I, we both take no credit and I am just fortunate and blessed that when you can connect with people who have the same positive energy and you can put it together and allow God to take the lead, it's amazing.  On the 30th, he and I will be, we'll be meeting up with the mayor to receive a proclamation. Vincent Ferguson: Really? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. Coach O’Neil Brown: And we never did it for any rewards or any awards. We did it because we care about the people. Vincent Ferguson: Because you care about people. You don't find that today. Unfortunately, not enough. Coach where can my listeners find out more about coach O’Neil Brown, THE FITNESS PREACHER? Coach O’Neil Brown: My Facebook page, O’Neil Brown. I don't really have a private page. I keep it right where it is, I'm just one who straight forward, O’Neil Brown. O N E I L B R O W N. And if they type in the word on their Facebook page, #excusesdontgetresults, they'll see me. If they type in boom with three Os and an M, B O O O M they'll find me and on my Instagram, it's O B F I T_THE FITNESS PREACHER. Vincent Ferguson: O B F I T_THE FITNESS PREACHER. Coach O’Neil Brown: THE FITNESS, that's my Instagram and a beautiful thing that my brother and I, we are doing also, Kelvin Frazier owner of Kingz and Queenz Fitness. We are doing a 30-day fitness challenge. 30 Day Transformation Fitness Challenge. We're starting it up in April and it's only $25 to join. And last month we finished up one that was in February. We gave away $500. Vincent Ferguson: Really? Coach O’Neil Brown: To the winner. Vincent Ferguson: So tell me this fitness challenge starts in April. Do you have a flyer? Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. I have a flyer. Yes, sir. Vincent Ferguson: Where can you send that to me? Coach O’Neil Brown: I could send it to your messenger. I could email it to you. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Coach O’Neil Brown: With all the Information. Vincent Ferguson: Yeah. Send that to me. I like to promote that, maybe even with the interview, that'll come out next week and even separately, because this way people can know about the challenge. Coach O’Neil Brown: And here's the thing about it. The exercises are only for 10 to 12 minutes. They could do it in the confines of their home. Vincent Ferguson: Nice, nice. Which is easier for most people. Coach O’Neil Brown: Everyone can participate in it and we have modifications, we have advanced. Vincent Ferguson: I think people like challenges like that. Something that they can do at home. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yeah. Vincent Ferguson: Because so many of us have gained weight, during the pandemic, during the shut-down. And you got to get moving to get rid of that extra weight. Coach O’Neil Brown: That's right. Vincent Ferguson: And having you guys, being accountable to someone or sharing it with one group is sometimes the best way to do it, you know. Coach O’Neil Brown: That's right. Vincent Ferguson: I'm excited about that. Coach O’Neil Brown: It's about helping people and when helping people you don't have to be charging an arm and a leg. You could do it to where everyone is benefiting from it, everyone. So, the beautiful thing about what I do is this. At the end of the day, you know what, if 10 people who were struggling with health and wellness, and a few months later, as they get into your program, and they realize that, you know what, this person, what he or she is bringing to me is absolutely true. And once they start applying it, that's the key they got to believe. And once they believe they just got to apply, and once they apply, they take action. Hey, it's beyond the sky, it's beyond the sky. Vincent Ferguson: No limit to what you can do, once you take action. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: Well, this has been great, man. I tell you, this is one of the best 30 minutes I spent in a long time. Coach O’Neil Brown: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Vincent Ferguson: I appreciate it. So coach O’Neil Brown on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York and 6 Weeks to Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Coach O’Neil Brown: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I appreciate it. And I would like to leave the people with this, one of my favorite motivational speakers says this, Mr. Les Brown, he says, “you must be willing to do the things today that others won't do in order to have the things tomorrow that others won't have.” And “life is a fight for territory. And once you stop fighting for what you want, what you don't want will automatically take over.” And I always say this, my mother always said this to me. She said, “son an ounce prevention is better than a pound of cure when you think right thoughts, you will perform right action.” And I say this to all the listeners out there. I say, embrace the mindset that excuses don't get results. “Boom!” Vincent Ferguson: Boom! Awesome. To my listeners, I truly hope this program was informative and encouraging and inspiring, and that you will continue tuning in to my 6 Weeks to Fitness Podcast and if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them on my 6 Weeks to Fitness blog at www.6weektofitness.com or email me at Vince@6weeks.com and don't forget to subscribe. So you don't miss any future episodes like this one.

Coach Meghan Hayes returns with a fantastic workout for our Club Members. Coach Meg delivered a 45 minute workout that sculpts the upper and lower body. If you wish to workout with Meg, you can contact her at LiVEiTFWD@gmail.com, 402-305-0236 or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MegSfit77. Anyone can view the trailer for the episode here: https://youtu.be/WHpfOZmrpdg Club Members can watch the episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/48015011 Only Club Members can watch the videos as part of their membership but anyone can watch the trailer and listen to the entire interview for free, follow the links below. If you wish to become a Club Member, email info@cassandratorm.comto join our wait list for when our membership reopens later this year. My Feminine Heart is a Sisterhood of all women and those with a feminine spirit (including but not limited to cis gendered, trans women, gender non-conformists and all those who love sisterhood and may be a part of the LGBTQ+ rainbow) who come together to share their love, community and expertise in helping trans women live their best, most authentic lives. This community features a weekly, interactive online talk show with interviews of inspiring trans women, and experts sharing their advice in all areas of life and lifestyle from beauty, health, wellness, finance, personal safety and more. Our Club Members enjoy the perks of our Private Facebook Group Community, exclusive access to commercial-free videos, private workshops and classes and even help guide our content and appear in our episodes, live on Facebook. http://www.myfeminineheart.com/ If you are not ready to watch the entire video as a member, you can listen to it for free on Apple, Google, Spotify, Anchor and a number of other podcast platforms: https://anchor.fm/myfeminineheart Thank you for your support of My Feminine Heart! https://www.patreon.com/myfeminineheart

Yvette Frith-Raymond is a strong woman of faith who has dedicated her life to service, with an intention to change the life trajectory of those within her sphere who are vulnerable and living beneath their potential in Christ. Yvette possesses more than a set faith. Her willingness to step out into unchartered territory without readily available resources or known end is a prime example of Yvette's audacious spirit and her total dependence on God. Best known for her commitment to excellence and ministry, coupled with a servant's heart, Yvette has worked tirelessly in several capacities at the Rise Church International, formerly known as the Brooklyn Christian Center. She is always willing to share her gifts and talents with those who serve alongside her, mentoring, training and loving the people of God. Equipped with a bachelor of arts in modern languages and literature and a masters of social work from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Yvette has traversed the four walls of the church for over 19 years to advocate for underserved children and families throughout New York City. She is a social worker by profession and is employed by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. And I am pleased to have Yvette Frith-Raymond on my Six Weeks to Fitness podcast. Yvette, how are you today? Yvette Frith-Raymond: I am doing well, Vince, thank you very much for having me. How are you? Vincent Ferguson: I'm great, thank you. Thank you for coming on the show today. Yvette Frith-Raymond: My pleasure, my pleasure. Thank you. Vincent Ferguson: Now, before we discuss your story and the reason why I asked you to come on the show today, tell my listeners, where did you grow up, Yvette, and what was your childhood like? Yvette Frith-Raymond: So I was born and raised in the beautiful Island of Jamaica. I was born in Spanish Town, but raised in Maidstone, Manchester. And Maidstone is one of the very first freed villages and it's in the rural part of Jamaica. I was raised by my grandparents, as my mother worked as a caretaker, she worked and lived outside of our home. My grandparents raised my brother and I, along with some of my cousins. We were raised in a large family, my grandparents had 14 children. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. Yvette Frith-Raymond: So yes, yes. And I was raised in a village, not just in the family village of my aunts, uncles and cousins, but in a village where people outside of the home took care of each other. My village is a farming community, so we had land to roam and run around and I just remember having a childhood where there were rough days, but as a child, you didn't even know what that meant, because my family gave love. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Every time I think about my childhood, I just think of family and love, even the days when it didn't seem as if you had enough, you had more than enough. Because, again, I was raised in a village, so the village took care of us and my grandparents took care of the village, just because it was just how the community was. So every time I think about home, I think about love and I think about family. My grandmother has since passed, but my grandfather is still alive and he's 102 years old. Vincent Ferguson: Whoa, God bless him, 102? Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: Goodness. Healthy living. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yes. Healthy living, yes. Vincent Ferguson: Oh my goodness. Yvette Frith-Raymond: And that is the longevity I desire to have. Vincent Ferguson: Sounds like you're on the right track. Yvette Frith-Raymond: I pray I am, I pray I am. Vincent Ferguson: And so when they say it takes a village, it really does take a village doesn't it? Yvette Frith-Raymond: I really do believe it does. And I can say that the foundation of my life started in that village and that's what actually drives me today. My foundational beliefs and values came out of that village. Vincent Ferguson: Wow, and speaking of which, you are a person of faith and very active in your church, correct? Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yes, I am. Yes, I am. Vincent Ferguson: So how important is faith to you and why? Yvette Frith-Raymond: Faith, the truth is, Vince, I don't know of a life outside of one of faith. I was raised in the church. And even though I did not always go to church, but again, the foundational values, it's just a part of who I am. It doesn't mean that I didn't have to learn what that was for myself as an individual. I had to grow. You learn about faith growing up, but you had to grow to experience certain things for yourself. Yvette Frith-Raymond: So as I became an adult and matured I think life experiences kind of forced you to go a little bit deeper to find for yourself. And that is when I know I can say I definitely know that faith helps to get me through life. There's just an inner... Faith is just as important as the air I breathe, right? So I need air to breathe and I need my faith to live, because my faith in God is what guides me daily. I'm not sure if I know how to express it any other way. It nourishes my heart, it really drives my soul to be here, it's just fundamental to my existence. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, most definitely. And like you said, it's like you need air to breathe, you need faith for today. And I think it's more important today than any other time that we have our faith. Yvette Frith-Raymond: It sure is. You have to have something to stand on, something to believe in, something that's going to propel you to go beyond where you are and help to guide you to that place. Otherwise, you're at a place where you're like, "I'm not sure I can do it. Can I do it? I'm not sure." And that's me relying on my own inadequacies. And when I do that, I'm not sure how successful I could be if I do live and believe that way. Vincent Ferguson: I see. I see. And in addition to your faith, you also live a very healthy lifestyle, right? But were you always into health? Yvette Frith-Raymond: You know what? If I am honest with myself, I can go back to maybe even my childhood with how we were raised. We were raised on things from the farm. It's very rare that my grandparents prepared meals that were not from the farm. It was very rare that there were things from the supermarket, when you go to the supermarket, certain aisles, it was very rare that those things were at the dining table. And so, I guess I would say I was always fed that way. Did it mean that I knew what it was like until I became an adult and kind of matured into expecting a certain lifestyle? But I would have to say that there was a foundational piece to it. Vincent Ferguson: When you came to the States, did you notice that most of the people here were not eating as healthy? Yvette Frith-Raymond: So I migrated to the States at 15 years old and I have migrated to live with my dad, my stepmom and my other siblings, and my parents also prepared healthy meals, so I just think it's the way my family was and I think culture has a lot to do with that. But I think my changes actually started in college. Yvette Frith-Raymond: I went away to school in Buffalo, University of Buffalo, and it was in my second year in college. No, it's maybe transitioning into the third year that I actually went vegan. I started to eliminate meat within my freshman into sophomore year. And then in my junior year, I actually just started doing total no meat. Vincent Ferguson: No meat? Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yeah, no meat. I started out doing more vegetarian and then I transitioned into vegan. There was a transitional period, but I would say in college is when I made the total shift to how I actually eat. Vincent Ferguson: But something happened, okay, because again, you're living a healthy lifestyle, you're eating vegan, so you're relatively healthy, but something happened that caused you to change the way you eat. Please share that story with my listeners. Yvette Frith-Raymond: So I went vegetarian, vegan in college and I did that for most of my adult life. And when I became pregnant with my children in 2008 and my second child in 2010, I maintained more of a vegetarian lifestyle, not a vegan lifestyle, because during my pregnancy, I found that I needed more than I was able to really do being a vegan. Fast forward later in life and I realized that that time that there were things that I was eating that really was not in agreement with my body. Not that it wasn't healthy eating, it just wasn't what my body needed. And so, you grow to learn that as healthy as one can be, is not always the best option for that person. So today, we're in 2020, transitioning into 2021. Yvette Frith-Raymond: So I could say in 2017, I had a drastic shift in life. And what that did, I had to be open to understanding that as healthy as I was Vince, I was really also very unhealthy. So the vegan food that I was consuming was not the best option for my body. So what I will say is I am hyperthyroid and my thyroidism is an autoimmune disease. And I had to learn over time that when you have an autoimmune disease, that there are certain foods that's not the best choice for your body. So I became sick in 2017 and I was on a journey that was rather painful, but it was a life altering, painful experience. And so, I had ended up seeing the specialist for my stomach. It was just one point when it really got to the point where I had to stop, I had to pause and I really had to figure out what was going on. Yvette Frith-Raymond: I saw my doctor, because I was not able to eat and digest. There was nothing that was really digesting as I ate. I got sick and I just was not able to eat. And I called my doctor and I said, "You know what? I have an issue and I don't know what it is and I think it's a GI issue." I went in to see her and I explained what was going on, she gave me a referral to a GI doctor, but everything takes time. And during that time that I was waiting to see the doctor, my symptoms and my issues just kept on getting worse. By the time I was able to see the GI doctor and schedule the necessary tests that I needed to get done, the endoscopy, the colonoscopy, et cetera, I learned that I had gastritis and my stomach was so inflamed that I was not able to eat, to digest the food, that was necessary for my body. Yvette Frith-Raymond: After getting that diagnosis, I was told I could go back to my normal lifestyle, but the truth is, I had not been able to go back to my normal lifestyle and it's been over three years. Yes, and it didn't stop. And so, it took me, I think, a good nine months between going to the GI doctor and having to see another GI doctor and then allergist then, a bunch of just different doctors, because then I realized I had all these food intolerances, food sensitivities, just a lot of stuff. I lost a lot of weight, because I was not able to eat. I was not able to digest the food. And so, when you're not able to digest, you are afraid to eat, because you don't know what is going on. Yvette Frith-Raymond: In the process, I was very stressed. It was very overwhelming, because there's a lot going on and you don't know what is going on in your body. I can fast forward and say, I'm grateful now, looking back, for the medical team that I worked with, my primary care doctor who gave me the necessary referrals. She never, one day, asked, "What is wrong with you?" Doctors may sometimes think that you're overreacting. She never, one day, said that. She gave me the necessary referrals. And I have to tell you those referrals were always the right referrals. And what I can encourage people to do is to get your diagnosis, know what your diagnosis is, so that you know what you're working with. If you're not armed with the information you need, you're not going to know what your right course of treatment is. Yvette Frith-Raymond: So when I saw the GI doctors, and I'm not one to take medication, I don't like medication and medication somewhat contributed to some of the pain I ended up experiencing, because I have some disc issues in my neck and I have rotator cuff issues. So there was pain there that I was taking some ibuprofen, Advil, and I did not know I was one of those people who cannot take NSAID, because that was horrible for my stomach. So in addition to what was going on with foods that I was eating, then that stuff also contributed to that as well. So the right referrals helped, because the doctors did the tests that they needed to do. And it was in that process I found out that, yes, my stomach was inflamed. I was not able to eat right. Some of the foods that I was eating, I was not able to tolerate. So I had learned that while I don't have celiac, I do have sensitivity to gluten and soy, and as a vegan the alternatives were all gluten or soy. Vincent Ferguson: Yeah, I see. Yeah. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yeah, so for years as a vegan, I was consuming those meat alternatives, because they're very high in protein and to be honest with you, they're very tasty. And I love to cook, so I really enjoyed fixing meals, preparing meals and the flexibility that I had to be able to do that. I ate a lot of browns, I hardly ever do anything white. So I did the wheat, I did the different grains, but what I was not understanding is that the browns, which were the gluten grain, was just not the best option for my body. Vincent Ferguson: For your body. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Right, and so, as I was consuming those for years and years and years, it was taking a toll on my body. And that's something that I didn't know. And then for some people who have autoimmune diseases, they do have some type of motility issue and I learnt that in the process. So my stomach processes my food a little slower than most people, so yes, so that contributed to some of the challenges that I experienced. And having said all of that, what was important to me was to be armed with the information that was necessary. It was important for me to know my diagnosis so that I could develop a treatment plan for myself. And the beauty about it is, the doctors that I saw, they all knew I was not one for medication. So the options- Vincent Ferguson: Oh, they knew? Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yes, we had that discussion upfront. So the option was always on the table to find out what are the natural alternatives for whatever that medication is or was that was going to be prescribed, or what are some of the other lifestyle options that I could have actually engaged in to support my health? Yvette Frith-Raymond: And I started doing yoga, something I heard about over the years, but never tried. And that thing about you will do anything to get better. I remember the very first time that I did yoga, I didn't know what I was going into and I ended up doing hot yoga. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, Bikram, yes. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Bikram, oh my goodness, what an experience. And I have not gone back to Bikram, I have done Vinyasa, I've done a bunch of different forms of yoga, but I did not go back to hot yoga. Vincent Ferguson: You didn't go back to hot yoga? It's too hot for you. Yvette Frith-Raymond: No, I did not go back to hot yoga. No, I just couldn't do it. But it was a very great experience, that I will say, because it helped me to start to think differently about my body and bringing my body back into alignment. And I mentioned growing up in Jamaica in a farming village, as a little child, we ran around outside with no shoes. So we were always connected to the earth. And so, we were practicing natural grounding without even knowing it. Vincent Ferguson: Interesting, yeah. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yes, yes. So yoga brought me into a different awareness, managing stress, because I became very stressed, not knowing what was going on in my body, so I was really not in a good place when it came to being stressed. And I had to learn what we call mindful living. So I had to learn to manage my stress. I had to learn to find my breath. I had to learn to become more grounded. I had to learn to give up what I could not control and still managing what the diagnosis was. And the managing the diagnosis was for me, eliminating a lot of the foods that I used to eat that was causing pain in the body, because one thing that people need to know is gluten causes inflammation in the body. Vincent Ferguson: Gluten? Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yes, inflammation causes pain. When you feel pain, there's inflammation somewhere. So I had to learn to eliminate the food that I loved, because it didn't love my body or my body didn't love it. So I went back to my foundation. I grew up on a farm where my grandparents planted their own and we ate what was raised on the farm and I had to go back to the root food. I've always shopped at farmer's markets, just, that became what I go to more now, the farmer's markets every weekend. And I go and I get root foods. I get foods that are grown in the soil that is really good for the body. A part of that process included probiotics so that you could get your gut flora in check so that you're developing a healthier GI system, so there were just a lot of different things that helped me to be where I am today. Yvette Frith-Raymond: But one thing I can share with your listeners, is you have to know your body. You have to work with your professionals to get your right diagnosis. And once you get your right diagnosis, you can develop a treatment plan that's best for you. I did a lot of free webinars Vince to learn about natural alternatives. And again, back to the farm, we grew up using a lot of herbs and I always have herbs, I now just have a better understanding of what those herbs actually do for the body. So I do use a lot of herbs and I use spices for healing. I use a lot of essential oils, so my medicine cabinet really is more my essential oils than my herbs. But again, that might not necessarily work for everyone, that works for me, making the necessary adjustments that I needed for my body. Vincent Ferguson: Very nice. So now, are you back to basically a vegetarian lifestyle? Yvette Frith-Raymond: I am back to a vegetarian lifestyle, because I cannot consume the vegan options that I really loved. There are days when I wish I could, but it's just not the best thing for my body. So I have come to terms with it and we have closure on that area of my life, so I do mostly vegetarian now and I'm satisfied with it. For the most part, I don't do dairy, I don't do soy and as best as I can, I don't do gluten, because I need to remain balanced in what I consume and how that affects my body. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. And like you said, the gluten caused a lot of inflammation. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yes. Yes it does. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Yes. And again, what's important too, you said you recommend that my listeners know their body, get to know their bodies. Yvette Frith-Raymond: I think it's so important to get to know your body. As much as we think we know our bodies and as much as we accept... There are a lot of fads and there are a lot of things that people tend to gravitate to, because, "This looks good, I think this might work. This sounds great." But the truth is, it might not be what's ideal for you as an individual. And, I mean, I didn't get into vegan and vegetarianism because if it was a fad or…….. I got into it, because that's something that I'm naturally propensed towards, so it's something that I enjoyed. It's just that my body was really not able to manage it. And for years, if I might, for years, as much as I ate that way, I was gaining weight over time and I always liked to work out. Yvette Frith-Raymond: I mean, there were a couple of years in between that I wasn't as active in the gym as I would've liked to, but I was never one of those people who over ate or over consumed certain things and I really started to gain weight that I was really not able to move. And in hindsight, if I was to really look back at when those things started to happen, I would have recognized that something was going on in my body that I needed to pause and really take a look at, but I didn't. In hindsight, I would have, but you learn later. Vincent Ferguson: Most definitely. They say hindsight is 2020. You look back, you can see clearly. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yes, you learn later. Vincent Ferguson: So do you do any other types of exercise besides yoga now? Yvette Frith-Raymond: So I don't do as much yoga as I used to in 2018 and part of 2019. In 2020, believe it or not, I started running again and I used to do track and field in high school. I used to do volleyball. I was actually an active sports lover and I participated in sports. So in a 2020, this pause has really given me an opportunity for reset as well. I live close enough to Prospect Park and my husband and I would take our children for walks in the park and they actually wanted to start doing trails and just kind of exploring the park a little differently. And we started to do that. But what I realized is when I was taking them out, I really wasn't doing much for me. And so, I decided that I would start going out in the morning when the weather, it was still fairly cool, started changing, and I started to go for walks. Yvette Frith-Raymond: And my brother, he's in the military, one night I was speaking to him and I mentioned, "No, I haven't been running. I really wish I could go back to running." And a part of the reason why I wasn't able to do that, Vince, is because on my journey, I lost so much weight and my muscles became so weak and I was not as strong as I used to be. And I wanted to be healthier, I wanted to feel better, but I was always so weak. If I lifted something that I thought I would have been able to manage in terms of lifting, I would feel pain. That's because my muscles were so weak and I needed to do something to strengthen them. In 2019, I started to go back to the gym, but even then, lifting the weights, it hurts. So I had to start out at bare minimum and I would just go and I would just do the walk on the treadmill, because I couldn't do the running on the treadmill. I just did the basics. Yvette Frith-Raymond: And then in 2020, I remember just speaking to my brother and I said, "Oh, I really wish I could go running." And that morning after I spoke to my brother, I was walking and then I decided to, "Maybe let me just see what I could do." And I think I did half a mile of a jog. And the next morning I did like a mile. And I think by the fourth morning, I just took off when I went in the park and I just started running and I have not stopped. Vincent Ferguson: And you haven't stopped? Yvette Frith-Raymond: I have not stopped, except for now that it's winter, I'm not out running. If the weather is not too bad, I will go out and I'll do a half walk, half jog. But I love it. I truly, truly love it and it has rejuvenated my body and I love it. Vincent Ferguson: Excellent. Excellent. Well, I'll tell you, Yvette, this half hour has gone so quickly and I just thank you so much, because I think you're adding a lot of value to my listeners about what you went through and how you were able to get your health back. What advice would you give my listeners when it comes to taking care of their own bodies? Yvette Frith-Raymond: Number one, know your body. And if you don't know how to know your body, work with someone who can help you to get to know your body. And a part of getting to know your body is really listening to what your body is saying to you. When I didn't know what my body was saying, I went to my doctor. When I started to become overwhelmed with anxiety and stress and I thought I was having heart palpitations, my doctor referred me to the cardiologist. Turned out I did not need a cardiologist, but that was the way stress was manifested in my body. So learning your body, working with someone to help you understand what is going on with your body and knowing your diagnosis, if there is one, and developing a treatment plan for that diagnosis for a very favorable outcome. Yvette Frith-Raymond: And it is okay to know the diagnosis. I think one of the things that we have to understand is, we cannot start to treat something we don't know what we're treating. We could try to develop a treatment plan and it's totally off. So you have to know your diagnosis, know what you're working with, develop a treatment plan that works for you, works for your body, develop a network of support who is going to be a great source of encouragement. You need cheerleaders in your life. You need people who understand. When I went to the cardiologist and he sat and he listened to me, he recommended that I read the book Dropping Acid. Never heard of it, did not know what that meant. And you know what was so funny, Vince? When I went to the allergist because of some of the food sensitivity issues I was having, he also recommended reading portions of that book that I was already reading. So there was a network of doctors who could give recommendations and it was like confirmation and it was consistent. Yvette Frith-Raymond: So developing a way of living in a mindful way decreases stress. It reduces anxiety in your life. And once you create a balance in your life, there is harmony. And I can tell you, once you're at that place in your life, there are things that's happening around you, that you will recognize. The things that you used to major in has now become your minor. They're not as bothersome anymore. You're able to become more carefree. You're able to just release a lot of things that you have no control over. And that helps to really bring your body into alignment, because your body can heal itself, but you need to give your body what it needs and your body needs to be at peace. Your body needs to be whole. You need to be well. And that is some of what I would recommend to your listeners. Vincent Ferguson: That's a lot, let me tell you. That is awesome recommendations, Yvette. And the name of that book was Dropping Acid? Yvette Frith-Raymond: Dropping Acid, yeah. Vincent Ferguson: Man, that sounds like a powerful book to get, okay? Because your body builds up a lot of acidity. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: I get it. I get it. And tell me, Yvette, about your family and your church. Tell me how important they are to you? Yvette Frith-Raymond: So I am an active leader in my church, Rise Church International, where my pastor, Dennis Dillon, is our leader. He is a community activist. He is such a leader who encourages us to really just be the best we can be. And he's really one of the reasons why I even feel as confident as I am speaking to you today, because he recognized something in me when I did not know I had it in me and he pulled that out of me. So I'm as confident speaking with you today, because of what he saw in me. So I want to be able to say thank you to him and the work that he continues to do in Rise Church here in New York, as well as international with our communities in Africa and across the globe. Yvette Frith-Raymond: And the next question you wanted was to know about my family. Well, I am married. I dated my husband for five years before we got married, so we've been married now for 14 years. September 2020, we've been married for 14 years and we have two beautiful children Malachi and Elaysha Raymond. We serve in ministry together and he's a great source of support to me and the children, they're just growing well and I just thank God for the work they're doing. So, they've been doing school all virtual for this whole time and they actually both made the honor roll for their schools and I'm really proud of them both. Vincent Ferguson: Congratulations. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Thank you. Vincent Ferguson: Beautiful, yeah. Yvette Firth-Raymond, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York and Six Weeks to Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Yvette Frith-Raymond: Thank you, Vince, this was truly a pleasure. Vincent Ferguson: You are a blessing. And to my listeners, I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging and inspiring, and that you will continue tuning in to our Six Weeks to Fitness podcast. Vincent Ferguson: And if you have any questions, comments or suggestions for the show, please leave them on my Six Weeks to Fitness blog at www.6weekstofitness.com or email me at vince@sixweeks.com. And please don't forget to subscribe, so you don't miss any future episodes.

Jacqueline Selesky is a professional dancer and choreographer. She graduated from Montclair State University with a BA in dance education. She was the lead soloist in Martha Graham's Daughters of the Night, performed at the Joyce Theater in New York City. Jacqueline appeared on Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have it Netflix series, as well as a dancer on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, and Live with Kelly and Ryan. And she also appeared in various television commercials. Jacqueline has recently started her own YouTube channel called “Fit for Faith with Jacqueline,” where she streams praise and worship dance cardio classes, and all things fitness, dance and faith. Jacqueline's experiences have allowed her to not only advance her skills as a dancer, but also as a well-rounded performing artist and educator. Vincent Ferguson: Well before we talk about your Fit for Faith with Jacqueline YouTube channel, tell my listeners more about you. Where did you grow up, and what was your childhood like? Jacqueline Selesky: I grew up in Long Island in a little town called Central Islip. And I actually grew up doing a lot. My mom had me in so many different things. She had me in basketball, Girl Scouts, and I was always doing something after school. And I'm so grateful to my mom for giving me all of these opportunities. Baton twirling too. I'm forgetting things, there's just so much. And then eventually my best friend was doing dance, so my mom allowed me to go with her to dance class. And then from there, dance took over everything. So I stopped basketball, I stopped everything else. And I just fell in love with dancing and performing. And as I grew up in that studio, I was actually afforded the opportunity to perform in Puerto Rico, perform all over the city and in Long Island. So that's my bringing up, is basically dance took over, and it was a blessing. Vincent Ferguson: Amazing. So it was the exposure to different activities that led you to dance. Jacqueline Selesky: Yeah, it definitely was. I know that everything that I was exposed to was definitely physical and social. And putting all the physical and social together, dance has made the most sense to me. Vincent Ferguson: Did you have any role models in the dance world? Jacqueline Selesky: Yes. So my dance teacher Jerilyn Diaz, actually. She basically became my sister. She was my role model all throughout my childhood. She basically wanted to be a professional dancer, but she actually ended up being a speech pathologist. So she kind of lived vicariously through me and poured everything into me. And not only did she teach me how to dance, but she taught me how to be confident, how to speak my mind. And yeah, I give a lot to her. Also my mother, she was a single mother. And as I said before, she gave me all the opportunities possible, and just seeing these powerful women in my life just do it, and go for whatever they wanted, and be confident, independent woman, really, really molded me. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. Excellent. Excellent. Now has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your work as a dancer in regards to employment opportunities? Jacqueline Selesky: Yeah! Vincent Ferguson: Really? Jacqueline Selesky: Any dancers listening will be like, "Oh yes, please. Open back up." But I mean, I'm grateful that everybody is staying safe. But it's definitely been harder. I have an agent and usually I'm sent on auditions, so I'll be running all over the city auditioning for auditions, being virtual now. Which I don't mind, because living in Long Island, I really don't want to travel to the city. But the energy is different. I'm not able to ... you're not able to connect with a casting director via a video, but it is what it is. And it's actually allowed me to pour more into what I want to do for myself with my YouTube channel. So it's been a blessing in disguise kind of thing. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, most definitely. And having a YouTube channel really doesn't hurt, because if anything, it increases your exposure, doesn't it? Jacqueline Selesky: Oh, yes, by a lot. Reaching people from all over the world, which is amazing, which you can't normally do just from a dance studio. I love the fact that YouTube has been giving me more exposure, especially during COVID, because everybody's on the computer and on their phone right now. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, exactly. Most definitely. And now you call your YouTube channel Fit for Faith with Jacqueline. Now tell my listeners where the name came from and what can they expect to experience participating in your program? Jacqueline Selesky: So Fit for Faith came about, it's funny, I wanted to start a YouTube channel six years ago. It's crazy. It's crazy how long we can put something off for, and just dream it up so much. And then the pandemic hit and it was like, well, this is the perfect time to do this. You know? So let me go ahead and just do this channel. And I knew that I wanted to do something about dance. So taking it back six years ago, hold tight. I want to do a YouTube channel about dance. And then over time I was like, well, what would that look like? That's really general. And then I started going to church. I was born again about three years ago. Vincent Ferguson: Nice. Jacqueline Selesky: And then every time I would go to church service on Sundays, I was actually in a Spanish church. I was the only English speaking person, but hey, the Word is the Word, right? Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Jacqueline Selesky: So I go to church and they would always throw me in the center during worship, and everybody would just follow me. And I felt like it was a Zumba class, like a dance cardio class but worship music. And everybody was following me and it felt amazing. And I'm like, wow, what if I did a YouTube channel that had dance cardio classes catered toward praise and worship music? And it's a little dose of church on YouTube. And then I can also speak about the word, Bible verses, little devotional videos. And help grow my faith while maybe other people need to do the same thing. And this went on, so that's where Fit for Faith came in. Vincent Ferguson: I love it. I love that. Now how important is faith to you, especially in times like these? Jacqueline Selesky: Wow. I didn't realize how much I needed to grow in my faith until this pandemic hit. It's like, I mean, we could probably all agree that it feels like it smacked us in the face. And shook us to the core. And it's still doing that. We're trying to navigate and figure out how to live in all of this. And what I realized is that faith is the only constant throughout a pandemic, throughout a breakup, throughout a divorce. Whatever somebody may be going through, that's the only thing that we can really focus on and won't change for us. And what could only happen is it can grow and become even more beautiful. So faith is important. Vincent Ferguson: Yeah. I see. I see. And you're able to express it with your YouTube channel. Now, what type of music do you have on the channel? Jacqueline Selesky: I try to have a diverse set of music each time I do a dance cardio video, and I call it praise and worship cardio classes. And we'll have gospel, we'll have Kirk Franklin, and we'll put the Bachata and even Merengue and Salsa. It's crazy how many Latin praise and worship songs there are. I'm like, wow, I didn't even know. So many of them. And also what I've been falling in love with is Soca. Soca music for praise and worship songs, I'm like, whoa. They are serious. They're like stomp up in on me. Go to my channel and you'll see what I'm talking about. They are so much fun. Vincent Ferguson: Really? Now how long has the channel been around? Jacqueline Selesky: I literally only started in August. So it's very new. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Jacqueline Selesky: Yeah, I started it on my birthday, I turned... Oh, I'm about to tell my age. I turned 29 on August 27th. And I'm like, you know what? This last year of my 20s I want to hit with a bang, and I want to start this channel and bring more people to the light, to God, to just goodness. You know? Vincent Ferguson: Yes, and how long are the classes? Jacqueline Selesky: I literally do 20 to 25 minute classes. Because I know a lot of people don't have time to get a big workout in. And you know what? It sometimes only takes 20 minutes to get a nice workout. We don't have to do so much to get what we need and what we want. It's really how much you put into it. And I'm crazy. So on the channel, so as soon as the warmup starts I'm like, it's not really a warm up, let's go crazy. So 20 minutes, that's all we need. And honestly, every day I've been having a 90 day faith and fitness challenge. And in those videos, they're five to 10 minutes long. And I start with the Bible verse and then I give people an action step for your day. Like, open the door for somebody, something just nice to keep you in a good spirit and spread the spirit. And then we always end in a plank while praying. Vincent Ferguson: Really? Very cool, very cool. Are these live fitness classes? Jacqueline Selesky: So I've done a couple of lives, but most of them are prerecorded and then I post them up throughout the week. But I've been thinking about doing more live videos. So I'm glad that you said that, because I think the connecting with people is what I miss about teaching live classes. So look out for the live classes coming soon. Vincent Ferguson: Well once you go live, do you have a certain day and time you'll do that? Jacqueline Selesky: I want to do them on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Those are days that might be tough for people. Monday's are always like, ah, Monday, I got to wake up. Vincent Ferguson: Right. Right, exactly. Exactly. Jacqueline Selesky: You’re dragging your feet Wednesdays, and then Friday is like a celebratory, we may it. So Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Vincent Ferguson: Exactly. Would they be in the morning, afternoon, or evenings? Jacqueline Selesky: I would love to do it in the morning to start people's days off. And then hey, if they can't make the live version, it'll stay on there so they can catch it later. Vincent Ferguson: Right. Okay, so that's something that we're going to look forward to with your live classes. But now if I wanted to find your program, can I go to YouTube and just type in Fit for Faith with Jacqueline? That's how I find it? Jacqueline Selesky: Yes. That's all you got to do, is Fit for Faith with Jacqueline and you will see me. Vincent Ferguson: Perfect. Perfect. Now who would you say your target audience is? Jacqueline Selesky: That's an interesting question, because when you start a YouTube channel, all the videos, prep you say, make sure you are targeting your target audience. And to me, everyone is my audience. That's how I feel. I feel that anyone can get something positive from this channel, whether you just tune in for the videos and we do the little planks and we pray, or we do wall sits and we pray. Or you come in for the dance cardio classes. It's for everyone because the bible is for everyone, and that's what I'm talking about on my channel. And in general, just talking about living positively, spreading light and spreading love. Vincent Ferguson: Most definitely. Most definitely. Especially today. Do you see this as like a health ministry and a way to honor God with exercise? Jacqueline Selesky: Yes, definitely. Definitely a health ministry. And honestly, I'm just grateful to God that he gave me this because it's allowed me to be creative in how I produce content with dance too. You know? So it's definitely a health ministry, but you can go on there for a party too. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. Yes. Now there is a scripture in the Bible about our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit, but yet so many people defile the temple don't they? Jacqueline Selesky: Yes, so many. And you know what? I was one of them.   Vincent Ferguson: Okay, yeah. There you go. Jacqueline Selesky: And I've always been an emotional eater. And I know I'm not only one, but I hid that for so long. I'm like, oh, oh, it's fine. Because nobody can tell because I have a fast metabolism. Let me tell you, when quarantine hits, fast metabolism went out the door. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. Jacqueline Selesky: So it changed. And God giving me this vision to do this channel has helped me be able to stay healthy. Sometimes even though I want to eat crazy and what not, having to show up for him and be on it and do these videos. And it's not just about looking good, but feeling good while I do it, because that shows. People can see, you know? It's definitely helped me to stop defiling my body because you can put in so many ways. Vincent Ferguson: How are you promoting your channel? Jacqueline Selesky: I've been on Facebook and Instagram a lot. And I also just started a TikTok. I feel very old on TikTok, I'm not going to lie. Like, how do you do this stuff? But I'm learning. So basically on those  social media platforms, and I'm thinking about going on Twitter because I've heard that's a good spot to be. I sound old I know. Vincent Ferguson: Yeah. Yes. I mean the key is promoting on every platform that you possibly can to give yourself a nice little boost. And I think Instagram is hands down one of the best, obviously Instagram. The Facebook, the Twitter, the TikTok. Because again, you may feel like that's a younger audience, but trust me, a lot of the people on there and you want to grab as many people as possible. You know? That's great. That's great, and what we'll do, I'll tag you once this comes out and I'll also promote it in Facebook, on Twitter and Instagram. And I'll put it out there as well, because I like what you're doing- Jacqueline Selesky: Thank you. Vincent Ferguson: ... for the people, for everyone. And that's important. Any age can join in with you. Correct? Jacqueline Selesky: Any age can join in with me. What's great is that a couple weeks ago my friend wasn't feeling great. Like her back, she's going through something with her back. And she came just to watch the video, because I have a bunch of girls who come and do the dance cardio video with me. And she's like, "Oh, I just came to watch today, my back really hurts." And I was like, hmm, because I'm crazy. "You can sit in the chair and you can do the warmup. And you just do arms." And I said, "I bet there's people out there who can't get up out of their chair and they want to participate, but I'm going all over the place that they feel they can't follow. Now they can follow you in the chair." And what's great is that someone definitely commented and said, "Thank you. This was a blessing that you had the woman in the chair. I followed her along the whole time." So everybody can join in no matter what age. Vincent Ferguson: You're right. Just being mindful that everyone, people who are watching you, they may not be as healthy, they may have certain conditions. And like you said, your friend who needed to be in the chair, there are so many other people watching who also are limited in their mobility and needed to see someone like them. That's so important. Awesome. Jacqueline Selesky: Exactly. Vincent Ferguson: I love it. And you don't have a lot of time on the channel, do you talk about nutrition at all? Jacqueline Selesky: I haven't spoken about it so much, I guess because I've been doing 90 days of faith and fitness challenge. So I've been into these little videos that I do every day. But that's something that I'm going to start doing in January, because I'm going to do a 21 day water fast. And I just want to be on the channel with everybody whoever wants to join me in doing that. But also I want to talk about regular nutrition, because that's not a normal thing to keep up every day, right? So just talking about nutrition and how important that is to couple alongside with fitness and then also faith. Vincent Ferguson: Oh definitely, because nutrition, believe it or not. And I tell a lot of people this, and as a trainer, that 80% of your health depends on nutrition. Jacqueline Selesky: So true. Vincent Ferguson: So much. Okay? More than some people realize. Exercise is extremely important, but if you don't have that nutrition component, you're wasting your time. Jacqueline Selesky: Exactly. That's exactly how I feel. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. And that's good. And you're leading the way, which is awesome. Now, what would you say if I said to you, try to convince someone who's on the fence who needs to do something, needs a fitness program. They're in the church and they're concerned about their health. What would you say to this person if you wanted to convince them to give it a shot? To join your class, come in and see what you're doing and be a part of the program. What would you say to them? Jacqueline Selesky: I would say, because I get not wanting to work out. I get being skeptical if it's something you're new to. Because honestly, though I grew up as a dancer, I didn't workout. You know what I mean? I didn't do anything besides dance. So when quarantine hit I was like, I need to workout. My body is starting to slow down and whatnot. This was a great introduction for me, because it allowed me to have fun and forget that I was working out. Especially for people who already go to church, who already hear the praise and worship songs. It's basically like we are in church at a party. Vincent Ferguson: Nice. Jacqueline Selesky: And we're able to work out and forget that we're working out, until after when you're drenched in sweat. And it's amazing. And my friend said this really good thing one time. She said, "When we dance, we are praising him twice." Vincent Ferguson: Wow. Jacqueline Selesky: And that just explains it all, because that's what makes you forget about it too. You're in these songs, shouting out, "Amen. Hallelujah." And have fun. Even if you're alone and you forget you're working out. Vincent Ferguson: It's like making joyful noise unto the Lord, huh? Jacqueline Selesky: Exactly. And honestly, it's one step at a time. Hey, 20 minutes is too much for you, do the first two songs and call it a day. One step at a time. Vincent Ferguson: Nice, one step at a time. Now I know you focus on the cardio, do you do any strength training? I know you mentioned planks, which is great. Jacqueline Selesky: So we've been doing the planks and we've been doing the wall sit while we pray, which is such a challenge. That's why we call it plank challenge, and wall sit challenge. To pray while we do those things because we literally do need to pray. I’m praying oh my God, please help me through these planks. But as of right now we're just doing the dance cardio and those planks and the wall sits. But as the channel develops more, I would love to do more strength training. I would love to even incorporate stretching and cool downs, and things of that nature. Vincent Ferguson: Excellent. Excellent. As you develop your channel you can offer so much more. Amazing. Tell my listeners how we can find out more about Jacqueline Selesky. Do you have a website? Can we follow you on social media? Jacqueline Selesky: I'm @Jay2reality, and then my full name for Facebook Jacquelyn Selesky. And I'm new on TikTok, so be kind to me there. But I am at Fit for Faith on TikTok. So everything is basically my name and Fit for Faith. And I'm going to be having a website soon. And I'm also going to be offering private lessons and classes, group classes for anybody who wants to personally meet me and have class one-on-one with me. Vincent Ferguson: Love it. Absolutely love it because you are an entrepreneur. Jacqueline Selesky: Thank you. Vincent Ferguson: Thank you. Jacqueline Selesky: I'm trying out here. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, you got to. You're doing that. And you're taking the right steps, you're doing the right thing. You're going to build a following, and people are going to be so into what you have to offer them and they will want to work with you. You'll lead the way Jacqueline. This is great. Any final words for my listeners? Jacqueline Selesky: I know it's hard right now out there, whatever you may be personally, in your career and your family, but just know God got you. You're going to be okay. And this is the verse I use every day, and you could use this for a man to just switch it to a he. I say, "She is clothed in strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future." Proverbs 31:25. We are going to make it. Let's dance our way through this pandemic, and we'll make it to the other side. Vincent Ferguson: Awesome. Love it. I'll take those words to heart myself. Thank you so much. Jacqueline Selesky, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York and Six Weeks to Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Jacqueline Selesky: Thank you so, so, so much for having me. Vincent Ferguson: And to my readers and listeners, I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging, and inspiring, and that you will continue tuning in to our Six Weeks to Fitness podcast. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them on my Six Weeks to Fitness blog at www.sixweekstofitness.com, or email me at Vince@sixweeks.com. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. 

Caitlin Jones is a certified personal trainer, fitness coach, health and mindset coach and entrepreneur. She helps busy professionals create lean, toned physiques without cardio or crunches. With nearly a decade in the fitness industry, she has helped hundreds of clients achieve their specific goals. Her online course, Ditch Crunches Forever, helps people to lose weight, tone up and reveal the sexy abs they have always wanted.  Caitlin is also a professional dancer who has expanded her teaching specialties to function and strength, boxing and cycling classes. Whatever the methodology, Caitlin delivers to each class, her highest energy, excellent musicality, and a true love for helping others feel their best. Vincent Ferguson: But before we talk about your online course, Ditch Crunches Forever and how you help clients to build lean physiques without doing cardio and crunches... I really want to hear about that... But let's talk about your journey into health and fitness. Where did it all begin for you, Caitlin? Caitlin Jones: Almost on accident. I was in college. A bunch of girlfriends of mine, loved Zumba, and there was a group of instructors in the Pittsburgh area who did a class at a bar. But during the day, it was this party atmosphere, this party vibe. It was four different instructors throwing a 90 minute dance party up on stage. Huge dance floor, the lights, the music was so loud, it was awesome. Caitlin Jones: And some folks would go on to happy hour or dinner afterward. And it just made the most fun Wednesday night. So I started going to that with some friends. It was contagious. It was seriously a movement. Like the group of us that started loyally going to this class every single week grew to about 10 or 20 women from my sorority, going every week. Like no lie, we'd bring 20 people. It was crazy. Caitlin Jones: So it was just a lot of fun and I had grown up dancing. So it wasn't that much longer until the instructors sort of noticed I was doing a good job picking up the choreography. We built a relationship before and after class just chatting. They knew I was a big fan and they were like, "You're not too bad at this yourself. Have you ever thought about getting Zumba certified? Caitlin Jones: So I did. I was pretty quickly and easily able to get a job teaching a few classes each week on my college campus. So, it was very organic. I have this dance background. And then my first foray into the fitness world was teaching dance cardio, happened very naturally. From there, I went to New York City and I did start working as a professional dancer. And that's when the teaching dance cardio thing started to become more of a problem. Caitlin Jones: It was actually way too much on my feet and way too much on my joints. To be performing all night, Taking dance classes and going to auditions all day and then be jumping around and shaking my hips some more in between, at these dance cardio classes. It was just way too much on my body. Caitlin Jones: So, I started to get more interested in weightlifting, being that's lower impact on the joints. Started teaching in a few different studios, more along those lines. And that's when I really felt some incredible changes in my body. Was from lifting weights. So that's really where we focus a lot nowadays. Vincent Ferguson: Very interesting. Did you have any weight issues growing up? Caitlin Jones: I did not. I know I didn't have any issues managing my weight. Coming from the dance world, it's a little bit the opposite problem. It's more like struggling with body image and feeling like you need to lose weight or be thinner. I definitely had my hardship there when I was 14, 15. I had an eating disorder for pretty much the full year. For reference, I'm about five foot seven now and 145 pounds. And at my lightest, I was 99 pounds, at my sickest. Caitlin Jones: So with the help of a therapist and just a more positive outlook on food and exercise, I was luckily able to get out of that really dark place and in a way I'm so grateful that I had that experience when I did, because eight years later in the professional dance world, that's really, when I was getting a lot of feedback about my body. Caitlin Jones: I had a lot of other people telling me how I should look. And I had already sort of done a lot of this work of like, I had already gone to that really dark place. I was like, "You know what? No one's ever going to make me feel like that again. Like I am enough! I am worthy! I'm not going to starve myself to reach any insane aesthetic outcome." And so in a way I'm really glad I had that resilience with me in the professional dance world already. Vincent Ferguson: And I understand you actually moved to New York in 2014, correct? Caitlin Jones: Correct. Vincent Ferguson: So where are you originally from? Caitlin Jones: I'm from the Pittsburgh area. Born and raised. Went to high school here. Went to college here. Really the only places I've ever lived is Pittsburgh and New York. Even as we speak, this is December, 2020. We're about nine months into this coronavirus journey. And even for the last nine months, it's been bouncing back and forth between my New York apartment and different places in Pittsburgh, to spend more time with family. Caitlin Jones: So now that I'm building an online business, it's sort of the first... The light bulb is going off in my head where I'm like, "Oh, I can actually live somewhere other than Pittsburgh and New York City if I would like to." And so I'm starting to look at those options. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. Really? Awesome. And before we talk about the online business, I want to step back for a second because I run a nonprofit organization for kids called Body Sculpt of New York. And one of my community partners are the Brooklyn Nets organization. Caitlin Jones: Phenomenal. Vincent Ferguson: And I understand that you worked with the Brooklyn Nets. Caitlin Jones: Yes. Yes, I did. Vincent Ferguson: Tell me about that experience. Caitlin Jones: It was phenomenal. I really enjoyed dancing there. I danced as a Brooklyn Net dancer for one year. After my time there, I transitioned to coaching for the Nets kids dance team. They have a very, very talented kids dance team. So for three years I was part of the assistant coaching staff. Caitlin Jones: I think the best part of being associated with the Net franchise is dancing for them in particular. Really any New York or L.A. team, when it comes to the NBA or the NFL, obviously these teams are all over the country. But when you're in either New York or L.A. the dance scene there really converges with the professional sports scene. Caitlin Jones: So, we are working with famous choreographers to put our routines together for these 90 second halftime routines, t-shirt tosses, whatever it may be. That was really the value in being with a team like the Nets. Caitlin Jones: And I mean, the Brooklyn Nets have such a unique style. When I was on the team, it was their second year being in Brooklyn versus New Jersey. So, with their new rebrand and everything, we were on the forefront of some really cool trends in the space. Doing different styles, doing Latin dancing and Caribbean dancing. Caitlin Jones: And we would do like a traditional Chinese dance and bring in a traditional Chinese choreographer to do that. Every dance has a theme, a prop, a costume. The production value was just so high in a way that only New York City can do it. In a way that only Brooklyn can do it. Caitlin Jones: And it was phenomenal to really be seen as these trendsetters in the space. And to this day, I'm the biggest fan of the Brooklyn Nets. They still put on a show every single time, and it's amazing to watch. Vincent Ferguson: I'm glad to hear that. I too am a fan. How did you go from cheerleader to personal trainer? Caitlin Jones: Yeah. It really came with the... Going back to dancing, dancing, dancing all the time my first two years in New York. It's just a lot on the joints and I have a history of stress fracturing the ball of my right foot, which has been an ongoing struggle. And also, I'm grateful for it, because it taught me that you can get an incredible full body workout without your feet ever leaving the floor. Caitlin Jones: And that, you mentioned in the introduction Vince, about how I sort of promise my clients, "You can get lean and toned without cardio and without crunches." So I really come from this place of when I was in the professional dance world and I'm getting all this feedback, whether it was from my coaches on the Brooklyn Nets or from various casting directors or agents, everyone's kind of saying the same thing, which is like lean is in right now. Abs are a trend right now. We sort of need more abs. Caitlin Jones: And it's kind of funny because trends change with time, but it has nothing to do with true health and wellness, right? This is purely an aesthetic. Nowadays, it's sort of like for women, it's all about like the booty and everyone wants to grow the glutes. Right? And we've sort of seen that shift from more of a small waist and defined abs to really your butt being like the thing that everyone wants. Caitlin Jones: And yes, strong glutes are important for a healthy, strong body. A strong core is important for a healthy, strong body. But these aesthetic focuses, it's totally based on people's opinion, then it changes with the time. So I really want abs, right. Because everyone's telling me I need them. And I'm thinking, "Okay, well, I'm going to do crunches and sit ups and twists." That's going to help tone the midsection. Caitlin Jones: And I'm going to do a ton of cardio to burn a ton of calories, to hopefully shed fat so that you can see all of the definition that I'm creating in my abs. What that did was it caused undue amounts of stress in my body. It was way too much cardio. I think when you count up all of the dance practices, I was going to, all of the dance classes I was taking. The auditions I was going to plus the classes I was teaching. Plus, walking around New York City is a cardio workout in and of itself. I was doing moderate or higher intensity cardio for like 20 hours a week and I wanted to die. Caitlin Jones: Something had to give. So sort of, because I was just exhausted and burnt out and I couldn't keep running and I couldn't keep dancing and biking and all the things I was doing. And my foot was acting up. I was starting to have some concerns raised about having another stress fracture in my foot. Caitlin Jones: I was like, "Okay, feet need to stay on the ground. What can I do?" And I started getting more into weights and it was just radical, the change I saw in my body after three to six months of three times a week, strength training, full body, functional fitness. Caitlin Jones: I wanted to just shout from the rooftops like, "Hello! This is probably the thing a lot of you are neglecting because the cardio and crunches approach seems logical." It would make sense, but now I understand more why the weights work. I got my personal training certification so that I can teach others this methodology. Vincent Ferguson: Very interesting. So you created an online program called Ditch Crunches Forever. All right. So now this is what you're talking about. So you don't do as much cardio now. You don't even do crunches. Caitlin Jones: Correct. I never do crunches. I never do sit-ups. I never do Russian twists. And my abs are easily the most defined and visible they've ever been in my life. Cardio is an interesting definition. So I teach my clients that cardio is anything which elevates your heart rate above resting, super intensity. So we can focus on doing full body strength training exercises. Think squats, pushups, dead lifts, bent over rows, or pull ups. Something pulling, right? Caitlin Jones: We might throw in a few burpees for a few sets of 30 seconds. And by actually just minimizing rest in between these exercises, the client or the person in question performing the exercises is going to experience an elevated heart rate. So it's not that I'm saying there is nothing worthwhile about elevating your heart rate. It's more that I think someone who wants to lose weight is likely, potentially overvaluing cardio, in their entire approach. Caitlin Jones: If they're spending a lot of time doing cardio and then not really enough time doing strength training, which I would argue for minimum, minimum, two sessions per week, full body. Then it's going to be really hard to gain any momentum. We need muscle on the body. It looks nice. Caitlin Jones: When people say they want to look lean and they want to look toned, they want to build muscle. They want visible muscles. And also, it helps us move through life pain free. It makes everyday activities much easier, such as just simple things. Walking up and down hills, moving your groceries around, picking up your kids or your nieces, or your nephews or whatever it may be. Caitlin Jones: And having muscle increases your metabolism. So it's actually going to help you burn more calories at rest. And I think that's what really hits home for most of my clients is, you can research different types of workouts. What's the most effective, what burns the most calories until you're blue in the face. But we're at rest most of the time. We are a sitting society, unfortunately. We're a mostly sedentary society. Caitlin Jones: So I'm not really trying... I don't want a client to come to me... I'm not going to tell them, "Hey, you're going to burn more calories with me than you are with the other guy or the other girl or the other trainer. What I'm going to do is I'm going to help you put some really healthy, nice looking, good to have for all sorts of health reasons, muscle on your body. And what that's going to do is it's going to help you burn calories when you're not in the gym. So that you don't get stuck in this endless cycle, this endless loop of more and more and more cardio to lose weight and then even more cardio to sustain it." Because the second I stop running seven days a week, the weight just comes back on. We really want to break that cycle. And I know that strength training is the way to do it. Vincent Ferguson: Would you say your training is also partially high-intensity interval training, as well? Caitlin Jones: So high intensity interval training has been... How do I put this? There's several different types of workouts out there, that claim to be high intensity interval training. Some of which are Tabata approach. Some of which are just the bootcamp. That's very difficult, very challenging. What is an interval? It's some amount of work interspersed with some amount of rest. So, don't get me wrong. The programs that I write for my clients absolutely do incorporate intervals of various types. Caitlin Jones: I would say with regards to intensity, I take a holistic approach at my client's entire life, right? There are all sorts of stressors that goes on in a person's life, of which fitness is one. And also, sleep, and how well someone is sleeping is another. Their work, their relationships, their financial situation. COVID was a huge stressor for a lot of people. Caitlin Jones: All of these things affect our cortisol levels. Now, if someone is sleeping eight hours a night, pretty set in their career, in very happy, fulfilling relationships, eating enough and their cortisol is generally low or low to moderate, then they're someone who can handle high intensity movement. Whether we're dubbing it high intensity interval training or not. They can handle a higher intensity, longer bouts of training. And that will work just fine for them. And that will accelerate their results. Caitlin Jones: Some folks come into the gym and they hear that high intensity interval training is the best workout, burns the most calories. And it's how they should be spending their time. But if this person is sleeping, six hours a night, on their computer answering emails late into the night. Maybe they're under eating, right? Because they really want to lose weight. And they're really committed. But the lack of sleep is increasing their cortisol. Their boss is increasing their cortisol. Under eating is actually potentially increasing their cortisol. Caitlin Jones: And now I haven't even gotten into daily hormonal fluctuations of cortisol. Monthly hormonal fluctuations if this is a woman or a woman identifying person, whose hormones follow 28 day cycle, which also affects cortisol. High intensity is not for everyone. That's another myth I'd really like to bust, because it could be counterproductive if we're not taking a holistic approach to wellness and therefore cortisol. And we're feeling like, "Oh, high intensity every day. More is more." More is not always more. Sometimes less is more. And sometimes less intensity is going to bring you closer to your goals faster, by managing your cortisol. Vincent Ferguson: Nice. Now, do you work out of a gym? Caitlin Jones: Currently, oh my gosh. I would love to. Right now what with local guidelines and what not, I work totally digitally. It's really incredible space. It's been a learning experience, an overall positive one, learning how to build and maintain relationships with my clients without the in-person component. Caitlin Jones: I miss it, of course. I miss training face-to-face. I miss teaching to a packed room of people. It's just not exactly potentially a safe option right now. So, I think in the future, I'd love to settle on some hybrid of online and in-person, because they both have their advantages. Vincent Ferguson: Definitely. Now, in regards again, to your program, Ditch Crunches Forever, how much of it relies upon diet? Caitlin Jones: Hmm. So I actually have two sort of signature programs here. Ditch Crunches Forever is a free mini course. Anyone who's listening to this show right now, if you're interested in any of the methodologies, I just discussed, Why strength training over cardio? Where does cortisol sort of play a part into all of this? I highly recommend taking Ditch Crunches Forever. Like I said, totally free. Can usually be found at the link in my Instagram bio @Caitlin Jones. Caitlin Jones: So, Ditch Crunches Forever is just a three part mini series. In the first-video, we go over metabolism, how building muscle affects metabolism. Why don't you need crunches if you want abs and what do we sort of replace them with? So there's a 20 minute instructional video answering all those questions. There's two follow along workouts to pick from. One is entirely body weight. One is with dumbbells. Caitlin Jones: So whether you have equipment or not, you can participate. And then the third sort of the last video is really, "How do we take what we learned and how do we apply it to our training in all sorts of environments using these concepts." There's also a downloadable PDF. It's about 30 different exercises that will strengthen your core without doing a single sit up, cardio or crunch. These are effective exercises proven by science and approved by me to work for building a lean toned stomach. Caitlin Jones: Now, the more in-depth program that I offer, Fitness Fluency, that's a 12 week total life transformation. And of course, Vince, we do talk about nutrition in Fitness Fluency. I take a very... What's the best way to explain this? For me, nutrition is all about abundance. It's all about the steps that we do take, the foods that we do eat, the foods that we do include. Caitlin Jones: And I don't really like to cut out entire food groups or ban any foods for my clients. Because the second I tell someone I'm working with, "Hey, by the way, those cookies... I know you love chocolate chip cookies, but for eight weeks, we're going no cookies." All that client can think of when she walks out of a conversation with me is, "Cookies, cookies, cookies. Darn it, Caitlin said, no cookies for me. I can't do this." Caitlin Jones: We sort of start to take this all or nothing mindset. So I really prescribe habits for my clients. We'll do a three-day photo journal. For three days they just take pictures of whatever they eat. They upload it to a shared photo journal that I have access to. Caitlin Jones: At the end of three days, we sort of work our way up the health pyramid. I personally believe and prescribe that the foundation of any healthy diet is an abundance of colorful plants. Is someone's diet colorful? Because it's not just macronutrients, fats, proteins and carbohydrates that matter. It's also vitamins minerals, antioxidants, fiber. All of these wonderful micronutrients that keep us young, that prevents us from getting sick. That give us energy. That make our skin and our hair appear healthy. So we start there. Caitlin Jones: Now we sort of then move on to protein. The first macronutrients I really check for is, is a client getting enough protein? So usually just with those two sort of big check marks alone will create habits. I might say to a client, "Hey, all I need you to do... The only thing you're going to change for us this week is at your lunch every day, I don't want you to change a thing, except I want you to add two cups of leafy greens." Caitlin Jones: This could be on the side of a sandwich. This could be you're having a rice dish or a noodle dish. Whatever it is, it's small enough that you can commit to it. Maybe it's a handful of baby carrots in the afternoon. Maybe it's a few cups of berries with your oatmeal in the morning. If you're having plain oatmeal, I might say, "Hey, I want a cup of berries on there, or maybe an apple, if it's the fall and berries aren't in season. But let's get some fruit going in there." Caitlin Jones: So we sort of just layer on these really small changes. Small, but consistent. I need something that my client is confident they can maintain 80 to 90% of the time. Because we are what we repeatedly do. And if we try to change too much all at once, we're in this all or nothing mindset, the second someone slips up, they go, "Oh, I can't do it. I'm a failure. I'm just going to go back to my old way of eating." And then that's really the cycle again, that we're trying to break here. Vincent Ferguson: Nice. Now this is part of the 12 week program, correct? Caitlin Jones: Correct. Yeah. So Fitness Fluency, we absolutely dive into nutrition because... I'm so glad you asked that, Vince. Fitness isn't really necessarily the place to start, if you're looking to make a radical change to your health and wellness. I actually teach that sleep is where most folks should be starting. If you're not getting at least seven hours a night, we really need to start there. Sleep is just nature's medicine. It's an incredible thing. Vincent Ferguson: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your fitness business? Caitlin Jones: It's a totally different landscape. Completely different. Prior to COVID, I was spending a lot more time in a group fitness environment. So I worked for someone else. I taught for a cycling company, but in terms of clients, my reach was, no exaggeration, in the thousands. Caitlin Jones: Over a month's time, I would have taught to thousands of unique riders just through those classes alone. My personal training business, that wasn't a major focus of mine. I did have a handful of clients on the side, who were just friends or residual from earlier days where personal training was a larger focus of mine. But when COVID hit, everything entirely shut down. Pretty much anyone who was interested in cycling, got on the Peloton platform or on a more equally established platform such as that. Caitlin Jones: And my employer didn't really have that same setup. So to be honest, I tried a lot of different things just to see what stuck. I did some bootcamps on Zoom. I did some dance cardio classes on Zoom. At one point, I was sort of teaching cycling class. Caitlin Jones: I had bootlegged a cycling methodology together, and you could do it on any bike. You could do it on a recumbent bike. That went on for about a month or two. And it was sort of the same thing. I wasn't necessarily offering personal training at the start. I definitely wasn't offering Ditch Crunches Forever, Fitness Fluency, but it was more people approaching me and really asking for what they wanted and what they needed. Caitlin Jones: And when enough people came to me and were like, "I'm looking for personal training." I said, "Okay, I have this package." We sort of arrive at something that they're willing to pay and I'm willing to work with. And we go from there. After about my fifth client approaching me for training, I was like, "Okay, this is it." This was all really effortless up until this point. So I think that this is probably the thing that works for me right now. And that's where I started pouring my focus into. Vincent Ferguson: Nice. Nice. And as you said, this is something that you can do.... You don't have to be in New York. You can be anywhere and conduct these online programs, right? Caitlin Jones: Yeah. It's so cool. It's honestly really cool. Because in this last year, I have spent more time with family than I've ever been able to do. And I can go to Mom's house for like a week or two and then spend half a week over at my sister's, helping babysit her kids. Caitlin Jones: And as long as I just take my computer with me, if I have a space that I can move in... I drive places now. I haven't been flying anywhere. It's all places within driving distance. I can bring a few kettlebells. As long as I have that pretty simple setup, it's like, "I'm the business. I show up. I give the sessions. I program." But so much of it is online. People would be surprised to see how much time I spend at my computer nowadays. Caitlin Jones: We're educating on social media. That's a big one. I'm keeping my online community engaged. I send out email blasts and I'm building out my website and I'm working on the backend and even accounting and insurance. There's a lot more that goes into it than people realize. And it's absolutely changed from the days of just show up, keep the class on the bike to a room of 70 people. Go home. That feels like archaic. It's crazy. Crazy to think just nine months ago that that's what I was doing. Vincent Ferguson: Where can my listeners find out more about Caitlin Jones and give us your social media handles. Everything we need to know about your programs and how we can reach out to you. Caitlin Jones: Absolutely. So my Instagram is just my name, no spaces, no underscores, no nothing. It's Caitlin C-A-I-T-L-I-N Jones, as in keeping up with the Jones's. It's an amazing way to stay in touch. Really, everything that I have to say, everything that I have to share, Instagram gets it first. Caitlin Jones: Generally the link in my Instagram bio will lead you to Ditch Crunches Forever, my free mini video series. Oh, please, please message me if you're trying to get access to Ditch Crunches Forever and you can't find it, or you just want to say hi, or you have a specific question about your own nutrition, fitness, whatever it may be. I love expanding my online community and I will voice memo you back and forth until the day is done. Listening to where you're at in your fitness journey and just purely asking how I can help. I would love to know. So please, please do not hesitate to reach out. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. Sounds really good. I'm sure you will hear from somebody. Caitlin Jones, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York and Six Weeks to Fitness, I want to thank you for coming on my show today. Caitlin Jones: Of course, Vince. Thank you for having me. It was really an enjoyable conversation. Vincent Ferguson: To my listeners and readers, I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging, and inspiring, and that you will continue tuning in to our Six Weeks to Fitness podcast. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them on my Six Weeks to Fitness blog at www.sixweekstofitness.com or email me at Vince@sixweeks.com. Take care. Bye, bye.

Dr. Francoise Sidime is a neuroscientist and assistant professor at the College of Staten Island, Helene Fuld School of Nursing and Wagner College. She obtained her PhD in neuroscience at the Graduate Center CUNY in New York. Francoise currently lectures and teaches extensive skills employed in the field of biology and neuroscience. Francoise is also the founder and president of Ekarus Global Science, a program dedicated to providing academic advancements, mentorship, and research opportunities to high school students in the STEM discipline. Dr. Sidime is also the co-founder of a sister company called PreMedPro, a program that offers pre-med high school students training skills in the field of medicine. Vince Ferguson: Before we get started discussing your research into autism, tell my listeners what inspired you to go into the medical field and become a neuroscientist. Dr. Francoise Sidime: So, there were several reasons, but the one that actually sticks out was my mentor. At the time, when I was trying to pursue a medical career, we were all required to basically do research in labs because that's part of the requirement in order to get into medical school. So, when I went and I worked with my mentor, he did a lot of work in neuroscience and he had extensive knowledge and just really, really well-versed in the subjects. As a result, I admired everything that he was doing and the work he was working on. As a result, I felt that that's where I should be. Of course, when I started to operate on brains, opening them up and seeing all these intricate structures, I knew there was no turning back at that point. Vince Ferguson: At that point you were hooked? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Oh, I was hooked after that. Yes, that was it. That was it. Vince Ferguson: Wow. So, how did you get involved with autism? Dr. Francoise Sidime: So my mentor, that was a field that he was actually working on. So, his mentor prior to that worked with him when he was a PhD and a post-doctoral student. So they worked on different areas, Fragile X. And so he continued working on autism as well. When I came into the lab as his student... This particular mentor, by the way, has a name. His name is Dr. Abdeslem El Idrissi. So, when I started working in his laboratory, I found that he was working a lot on autism cases. As a result, I ended up jumping on those topics as well and I realized I liked them a lot, and that's how I got involved in the research as well. Vince Ferguson: Okay. Well, did you get involved in any particular area of autism? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Yes. So, the particular area that we actually focus on is called the Fragile X. So, because autism has a vast spectrum, as most people know, they particularly worked on a single area, which is on the Fragile X. It's called the Fragile X syndrome. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Fragile X? Vince Ferguson: No. Dr. Francoise Sidime: No. Okay. So, they worked on the Fragile X syndrome and the thing about the Fragile X is that, because autism is very vast and there's so many areas that could be contributing to that particular disorder of autism, one of the things about the Fragile X is that you can actually pinpoint exactly where the issue is, and that issue usually is on the X-chromosome. So, there's an area there that's very fragile and it looks like an arm that's basically broken, and that area has this gene, which is called the FMR1 gene. That gene is basically silent. As a result, when this gene is silent, it means that whatever that gene is responsible for, it will not do. So, that area is going to have issues, of course. So, some of the symptoms you see when this gene is silent, that patients have anxiety, hyperactivity, depression. They have increased sensitivity to epileptic type of seizures. Dr. Francoise Sidime: As a result, you can really pinpoint that, "Okay, this part is silent so it's missing. This is what we see." So, it made it very easy to pinpoint where the issues are basically happening when you focus on this one particular niche, and that's what we actually did, so we focused on the Fragile X. Vince Ferguson: Sounds very interesting to me, as a layman. Wow. It really does. Now, your research has looked at phthalates or plasticizers and how it can cause neural behavioral abnormalities, similar to what is seen in individuals on the autism spectrum. Can you tell my listeners what phthalates are and why are they of concern? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Sure, absolutely. Right now phthalates, they're actually a huge hot topic, especially in the news. So, phthalates are plasticizers, and they're used to basically soften plastics. So, an example of a common phthalate that most people are aware of is bisphenol A, which is normally abbreviated as BPA, and this is the plasticizer that's sometimes used in baby bottles. So, there's a lot of commercials that say, "Oh, we're selling BPA-free bottles for babies." So, the phthalate we worked with, obviously it's in the same family, and this phthalate was called DBP, and that's dibutyl phthalate. This phthalate is an organic solvent, and this phthalate is used basically to mold a lot of plastics. So, plastic bottles like Poland Spring bottles, for example, toys, plastic plates, hospital supplies like catheters and tubing. They tends to use a lot of this DBP to basically help to mold it. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Now, the concern with these phthalates basically, like DBP, is that they're not stable, especially when you subject them to high temperatures. So what do I mean by high temperatures? These would be extreme conditions, like if you leave a plastic bottle with water and it's outside, for example, or if you heat up food on a plastic plate in the microwave. So, what happens is that that DBP becomes destabilized because it's actually in the plastic, so it becomes destabilized, and as a result, it leaches out of the plastic and into the environment. Now, in this case, the environment would be the water that you're consuming or the food that's basically on your plate. So, the reason why we picked DBP over BPA, bisphenol A, because there were a couple of studies that were done in 2000 and they found that there were high levels of DBP that were found in urine of the general population. So, that's why we focused on this particular phthalate. Vince Ferguson: Wow. That sounds amazing to me, because again, you talked about the microwave. So many of us have used microwave ovens to heat up our food. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Yes. Especially because a lot of food is delivered in plastic Tupperware, it's so much easier to throw that food in the microwave and eat immediately as such. Most people feel very lazy taking it out and basically putting it on a glass plate or ceramic plate. So, you could see how this could also be a problem. Vince Ferguson: Is it more of a problem for younger people or for adults? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Well, that's a very interesting question. So, what we did when we basically looked at our studies, we wanted to see, does it affect adults? Which generation does it affect more? So, some of the data that we basically got were different because when you become an adult, your brain has already been formed. So, what we found was that DBP would cause individuals to become sterile. So, it created different types of problems compared to a child. Well, maybe I shouldn't use a child. I should use mice because we did the study in mice. So, the offspring of mice basically exhibited behavior alterations that were similar to autism when they were exposed to this DBP. So, if you basically get exposed to it early on in development and your brain hasn't formed, then there's a possibility that you'd have these symptoms that may be related closer to autism. Vince Ferguson: And you guys used mice as an example. Dr. Francoise Sidime: That's right. So, the reason why we use mice it's because their bodies are similar. So, their anatomy is pretty similar to ours. The structures inside their organs are similar to ours. So, of course you won't go ahead and do these studies on humans because I mean, that could be dangerous. So, as a result, we did them on mice. So, what we did was we took pregnant mice and we targeted a particular window. That window was around, I think, gestational day 10 to 20, because that particular window is when the brain of the pups in the womb of the pregnant mouse, their neurons starts to connect. Dr. Francoise Sidime: As a result, we wanted to make sure that we gave that injection of DBP prior to their neuronal networks being formed so we could see, does this DBP really affect neuronal connections? And when they do get exposed to that DBP, what happens later on when they become grownups when we have to run studies on them? How are they going to behave? What's going to happen to some of the key proteins in their brains? So, that's what we were actually investigating. Vince Ferguson: So, what were your findings? Dr. Francoise Sidime: So, what we did, of course, as I said, we injected the mice and we waited until they were born. What we did was we looked at their brains at different time points. At first natal day one, when they were just born on day one, day seven, and then also at two months of age, just to see where the changes were occurring. Behavior-wise, what we noticed basically was that their brains, basically, the way the neuro behavior was similar to what we see in autism. So, we did a couple of tests because when you're dealing with mice, you run different types of tests to see, how are they behaving? How do you see hyperactivity and anxiety and so on and so forth? So, what we found was that they had increased locomotive activity. They were extremely hyper. They had anxiety. When we did a learning and memory test, they had decreased in this test. Dr. Francoise Sidime: So, in the test, you could teach them a couple of things and later on, they wouldn't remember. Also, they had a reduction in social interaction, meaning that when you presented... So, normally mice are curious. When you give them a new mouse, a stranger mouse, they will play with that mouse because they're trying to figure out who this mouse is. But when they were exposed to DBP early, they weren't really interacting. They would just sit in the corner. They won't socialize. So, the symptoms that we were obviously observing were consistent with the fact that they had this altered inhibitory system in their brain, or what we call the GABAergic system as well was actually affected.  And then what we did also after that... So, we noticed the behavior. So we wanted to see, well, the proteins that are responsible for making sure these behaviors are intact, what's going on with them? So, when we looked at them, we found that they were significantly down-regulated, meaning that the expression of them were less or they were basically affected as well. Vince Ferguson: That's amazing. Would you say that genetics play any part when it comes to autism in children? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Absolutely. I think it's basically both of them, environmental factors and genetics as well. Just like the way I've just mentioned, the Fragile X, so that's the particular area on the X chromosome that's affected. That would be genetics. And then obviously environmental, it would be something like dibutyl phthalate being exposed to the pregnant mother, for example, and then the child getting exposed to this DBP or dibutyl phthalate. So, it's definitely an interplay between both genetics and environmental factors. Vince Ferguson: Based on this study, you can safely say that humans should also be mindful of what we're putting in the microwave when it comes to heating up our food. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Absolutely. I mean, definitely we haven't run these studies in humans, but as I said, the anatomy of mice is very, very similar to the anatomy of humans. So, I would say one should be mindful of not heating up food on plastic plates. The other point that I would like to bring up while we're in that, because you just brought up a very good point, is that this DBP doesn't only penetrate our bodies orally. It could also go through the skin and inhalation as well. The reasons why we did these studies in low levels, because we wanted to see, because most people are not living by factories where you're making huge amounts of plastics, so how would these individuals get this DBP? So, clearly they have to be off low levels. So, what we also found is that, according to our research, is that DBP is used as a solvent as well. Dr. Francoise Sidime: It basically helps to make makeup, especially for young women, right? Because young women are using a lot of makeup in their young age bearing childbearing years. So, they use makeup and as a result, if there's DBP in it, it has a potential to cross the skin, cross the placenta, and then target an unborn baby. Because the molecule itself is hydrophobic, and therefore it can cross very, very easily through all these areas and target the baby. So, we did some studies just looking to see, well, if the mother was exposed to DBP, how much of that does the mother get in her brain versus how much the child gets or the pup gets? What we found was that the mother does get significant amounts in her brain, but definitely that DBP did cross the placenta and it does go to the brain itself as well. So, that was proof that it actually does reach the brain of these pups, the mice. Vince Ferguson: Wow. So, how would someone know that there's DBP in the product that they're using? Is it in their ingredients? Dr. Francoise Sidime: It should be listed. Right now, I believe by law, they should be listing whether products have DBP in there or not. That's why the baby bottles will say BPA-free. But most of the time, like when I buy my nail polish, for example, I always look for nail polish that says DBP-free so that it doesn't have it in there. The only thing is that I don't know what the rules and regulations are here in the United States, because I know that they're very slow in implementing some of these policies to stop DBP from being used as a solvent. I know in Europe, a lot of them have started to ban DBP as part of a solvent in terms of softening these plastics. But I think the U.S. hasn't quite gotten there yet, but hopefully eventually they will get there where they can ban this DBP from being used, and try and use alternatives that they can, just like what they're doing with the BPA, to see how they can soften plastic in a very different way. Vince Ferguson: Most definitely. This is very important. I can stay on this topic for a little longer, but we don't have that much time. Thank you. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Sure. Vince Ferguson: But also, I understand you are awarded the Marshall Plan Scholarship to conduct research in Austria at one of the hospitals in a town called Graz. Can you tell my listeners about that experience doing research abroad and also outside of the United States? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Yes. That was a phenomenal experience because you do all your research here in the United States, and you're always curious, and you're always wondering, "Well, how are things done elsewhere, abroad? Is it the same? Do they follow the same paradigms?" Because obviously the way that we get to graduate school and the way we apply with our GREs and the process is a little bit different than it is in Europe. So, I was really curious to see how this is actually done abroad. So, I did go to Austria first in 2011 to conduct research. At that time I was working with a team that were collaborating with seven EU countries on a project called biothane. So, they were looking at how food would affect the kidneys, and I was part of that team. And then a year later, I basically secured a scholarship to return back to Austria and work with another team, an amazing team in that same hospital in Graz and what they were working on was the brain. Dr. Francoise Sidime: They were looking at the brain kidney axis and seeing how contrast media, this is the media that's used when you're doing a scan, like if you want to scan the kidney, for example, you'd use a contrast, so they were looking to see whether that's safe for the kidneys and is the kidney basically excreted that contrast without being harmed. I learned a lot because I moved, it opened me up to other areas instead of just focusing on the brain, but looking at how the brain can work with other areas as well and other organs in the periphery. So, yeah, as a result, I was really impressed with that time when I was over there, that I decided I could come back here and encourage other students in the university to also try and apply for that scholarship so they could have the same experience and opportunity that I had. Vince Ferguson: Wow. We're going to talk about that a little later on, but how long did you stay in Austria? Dr. Francoise Sidime: So, I spent my summers there. So, the first, 2011, I spent about three, three and a half months. And then the following year, I also spent about that time as well, because I was still working on my research work back in the States. So, I couldn't stay out there longer than that. Vince Ferguson: Very nice. Good experience though, I would say, right? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Phenomenal. Yes. Really, really phenomenal experience. Vince Ferguson: Now, some of your other lab work has looked at the amino acid taurine and how that can reduce plasma glucose levels. Can this be a potential aid for those with diabetes? Dr. Francoise Sidime: So, taurine's a great amino acid. Some people heard of it's been added to Red Bull, right? Vince Ferguson: Yes. Dr. Francoise Sidime: People drink Red Bull, but most of the time they don't normally explain what the taurine actually does. But the thing with taurine is that it's a sulfur containing amino acid, and it's one of the most abundant free amino acids in many of our excitable tissues in our brain, skeletal muscles and cardiac muscles. One of the things about taurine, it's actually been important to prevent age-dependent decline of cognitive function. So, as a result, it's been shown and proven that when there's reduced taurine, and they've looked at that in mice that have a knockout for one of the steps that makes taurine, right? Because I'm trying to keep this very much in layman's terms and not use all of these fancy words. Vince Ferguson: Please, please, please. Thank you. Dr. Francoise Sidime: So, when there's a reduction in taurine in mice, they've been reported to show severe functional histopathology in the visual system, skeletal system, the heart, the pancreas and the brain. But if you increase supplementation that's shown increased benefits acting through the same organs as well. So, what we wanted to do was we wanted to look and see what would happen if we gave our mice taurine. So, we had two groups of mice, one that weren't fed taurine chronically for two months and then the others that were. We wanted to see how would they deal with glucose or diabetes. So, what we did was that we injected both groups of mice, ones that had taurine and the other ones that didn't have taurine, with a glucose shot. It's called a glucose tolerance test. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Basically we wanted to see what the results would be. So, what we found basically was that the mice that were not fed with taurine were not able to handle the glucose very well. So, they started to have huge spikes in their plasma glucose levels about 30 minutes into the test. Where the mice that were fed with taurine, they gradually increased, but not to the level that the mice that were not fed with taurine got to, and they were hypoglycemic, closer to baseline levels through the entire two hours of the test that we conducted. So, these were great findings that we found. So, I'm hoping that at some point this would be work that we could look at in humans and see whether we could get the same findings as well, because again, most of our findings are being conducted in mice. Vince Ferguson: Based on these findings, would you advise individuals to take taurine? Dr. Francoise Sidime: So, yeah, that's an interesting question. So, there was an individual that I knew that used to take taurine and consume it. He would state that, "You can use me as an example when you present your lab work because I'm living proof that taurine actually works. I'm a walking specimen." He used to have tremors, and he mentioned to me that when he took taurine, basically these tremors were reduced. Now, I think that's amazing. However, I can't give that type of medical advice nor am I allowed to, because we do our studies in mice. Most of these studies that we do in the lab, of course, like in any laboratory there's series of steps that one has to take. You do studies in mice before you move on to humans and you have a board that basically approves these different steps. But I'm hoping that, depending on how far this research goes, that maybe one day we try out human trials. That's something that I'd have to speak with my still current mentor, because I still work with him, Dr. El Idrissi. Dr. Francoise Sidime: But the exciting thing is that we're part of a taurine society. It's called the Taurine Society, and we're part of a team that, every two years, we meet up to look and see what the benefits of taurine in research, and we share our data. So, we go to different countries around the world every two years, and we share our data. So, hopefully yes, that this one day would take place where we actually do some human trials. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Because I know that taurine is also available in certain foods, right? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Yes. So, some foods will actually add taurine into their food because they believe that when you give it, it has benefits. But what we also found with taurine is that when you give it for a short period of time, we see the benefits. But what tends to happen if you give it chronically for too long, then the reverse happens. So, the mechanism changes. So, that's why it's important to investigate this further because chronically the mechanism is different from when you give it acutely for a short period of time. That's why I wouldn't be comfortable to recommend and tell anyone right now, because of the studies that we're running, that this is exactly what one should be doing as a human, and I'm not licensed to do that anyway. Vince Ferguson: Right. Right. Okay. So, I won't mention that you recommend this to everybody, so my listeners don't go out there and run out there and get a run on the taurine market. We'll stay away from that. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Yeah. For the meantime, until we've ironed out all the kinks, if any. Vince Ferguson: Yeah. Well, let me know, okay? Please. I want to know. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Absolutely. Absolutely. For sure. Vince Ferguson: Now, you are also the founder and president of Ekarus Global Science and the co-founder of PreMedPro. Are these charitable organizations? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Well, I could call them charitable because I know it's not a nonprofit because I haven't been getting funds for it. So, this is something that I started because I saw the need for programs like this because at the college level, I was part of a minority program. Well, it was a program that was substantially increasing the number of underrepresented individuals in the STEM discipline. This program was called the LSM Program, and this was founded by Louis Stokes. So, it was called the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. What that program did for me was wonders, because it basically paid for my Master's at the time when I was taking my Master's and it made pretty much all of us who were in that program do extensive research, go and publish and not focus on working, but focus on our education. Dr. Francoise Sidime: As a result, I realized the importance of programs like this. So, I wanted to start something at a high school level because I felt it's always good to grab the students while their minds are still young and we can still mold them. I figured that's the perfect time. I like to work with underrepresented students because sometimes we don't have the mentorships that other groups may be lucky to have. I've used my previous experience and said, "Well, it's important to set up something like this." So Ekarus focuses on exposing students to research at the college level, because it's much more... How can I put it? It's definitely of a higher level than you would do at the high school level, because some of the techniques that we use or we teach the students are very different. As a result, it makes them extremely competitive when they apply to schools out there, like colleges or even prestigious colleges. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Now, I didn't only want to stay within only doing the research component, so I also wanted to help medical students, so that's how PreMedPro came about as well. I was working with my colleague, Dr. Christine Bishara, and we decided that that would be something great, where we could bring in research and medical type of guidance to young students who may be interested. Bottom line is that when you expose students early on to touching the microscope or teaching them how to use a stethoscope or using a blood pressure cuff or machine, students get to feel what it's like to be in these particular fields and then they don't think that they're so far off. Also, when they see individuals like yourself, maybe they see a minority, a female wearing a lab coat, it doesn't look foreign and they could say, "This is something I would like to be, and I know it's possible because if she could do it, so can I." Vince Ferguson: Wow. Love it. Love it. Love it. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Thank you. Vince Ferguson: Really, role models are so important. Mentors, mentorship is so important and that's what you're doing. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Absolutely. Vince Ferguson: It's great. Dr. Francoise Sidime: It happened to me. I've had great mentors. The process itself is very vigorous to get into, and that guidance is key because those mentors have walked that journey. They know what it takes. They know when these deadlines are. So, it's important that you also teach the younger generation that's coming about that these are the deadlines, so this is how you have to be vigorous. You have to start off in college with a 4.0 GPA and try and keep it at a 4.0, so you don't ruin your chances of trying to get into medical school, for example. Vince Ferguson: Do students working with Ekarus get the opportunity to conduct research abroad? Dr. Francoise Sidime: Yes. So, one of the things that we started with some of my mentors... So, there's one mentor I haven't mentioned who was part of the LSM program, Dr. Claude Brathwaite, who played a huge role as well in my journey in becoming a neuroscientist. So, he started the Global CUNY project that allowed college students to basically go abroad and do research. What we decided was we could expand that and start doing it in different parts of the world, of course. So, I thought that this would be great for Ekarus as well, if the high school students are able to do that, where they can go abroad as well and do research. So, some of the countries... My mentor, Dr. Abdeslem El Idrissi, from Morocco, so we usually send students to Morocco to do research out there. Vince Ferguson: Wow. Dr. Francoise Sidime: We allow them to also experience the culture by going to cities like Casablanca, Fez, Taounate, for example. So, as a result, this is how I decided that high school students also should be given that opportunity to go abroad and start doing the research. Because if they're doing it here in the States, then there's no difference if they can do it abroad as well. Vince Ferguson: Wow. That is so amazing. That is so powerful. I really appreciate- Dr. Francoise Sidime: Thank you. Vince Ferguson: Yes. What you're doing is awesome, and I actually have more questions, but I'm not going to ask them because I'll be on here for hours with you, Dr. Sidime. Dr. Francoise Sidime: No problem. Vince Ferguson: But where can my listeners find out more about you and your work? Dr. Francoise Sidime: So, I have a website www.ekarus.com. That's spelled E-K-A-R-U-S.com. So if you go there, you'll be able to see information about Ekarus, and also the PreMedPro as well. If you go to www.premedpro.com, that also will lead you to the medical part for the high school students. I'm also on Instagram as well, and the Instagram handle is @ekarusglobalscience. So again, spelled Ekarus the same way, global science, all one word. So, we're on Instagram as well. When they go on, they'll be able to see young high school students like themselves, minorities as well, conducting research in a lab, presenting their research, doing dissections, so that they can get a feel. And also speaking as well because they teach other students what they're doing in the lab as well, so that they can get insights on what's actually happening at Ekarus. Vince Ferguson: Dr. Francoise Sidime, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York and Six Weeks to Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Dr. Francoise Sidime: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. The honor is really mine. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Vince Ferguson: To my readers and listeners, I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging, and inspiring, and that you will continue tuning in to our Six Weeks to Fitness podcast. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them on my Six Weeks to Fitness blog at www.sixweekstofitness.com or email me at vince@sixweeks.com, and please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes.

Brett Larkin is the founder of Uplifted Yoga, an online yoga and meditation community, empowering students to personalize their practice and ignite their best life on and off the mat. She's instructed at top studios, companies like Google and Pinterest, and leads the world's most interactive online yoga teacher training programs. She teaches to a social media following of over 400,000 people. Her content on YouTube is streamed for three million minutes each month.  Brett, how are you today? Brett Larkin: I'm well, thanks so much for having me. Excited to be here. Vincent Ferguson: Well, thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule to be here today. But before we talk about your company, Uplifted Yoga, tell my listeners more about your personal journey into health and wellness. Where did it all begin for Brett Larkin? Brett Larkin: I'm someone who has suffered a lot of anxiety, especially in my late teens and early 20s. I felt panicked all the time for no reason. It's hard for me to even really remember back on that period of my life, because I can't even remember how I was functioning, honestly. And for me, yoga ultimately became this doorway that led to a completely different experience of reality, where I was able to be fully present, let go of a lot of the fears and negative predictions, and kind of figure out how my mind had been patterned since I was really young and kind of rewrite a new narrative for myself. So for me, it's been very much both a physical practice, but also something that really changed the way I see the world. There's so much rich philosophy in this practice as well for those who are interested in that. Vincent Ferguson: So what was it about yoga that attracted you to that type of training? Brett Larkin: Well, it's interesting because I was a big naysayer of yoga, maybe like some of your listeners. Vincent Ferguson: Okay. Brett Larkin: As a child, I was a ballet dancer. I was very into kind of hardcore dance and very intense training. So I always thought yoga was sort of for losers who just wanted to stretch and sing, and I kind of naysay the whole thing, but then I had a dance injury and I started exploring Pilates. And I had a boyfriend at the time who said, "Hey, this is interesting. You are really into Pilates." And he and I have been kind of dabbling in a little bit of meditation. "So, Pilates and meditation, why don't we try yoga? That would be really great for you. It makes a lot of sense." But I was like, "Absolutely not. That's for weak people. I'm super strong, I'm a dancer." But he kind of encouraged me to go. Brett Larkin: And so, my first yoga experience was with Bikram yoga, which some of your listeners may be familiar with or have done, it's super hot, I think it's 105 degrees or more room to do a set of postures. There's a mirror so you can really analyze your form and it's a very intense experience. And so, that actually was the yoga that resonated with me the most at first, because it was kind of the most familiar to me in that it felt like a really intense dance or training experience type of class with the mirror and everything. So that was sort of my gateway, my first yoga experience. Brett Larkin: So it was very much about the physical and the sweat and everyone's different and is going to find a different style of yoga that meets you where you are in this moment. So I always really encourage people, don't write off yoga like I did until you try a lot of different styles because there's so many flavors out there. More than I think people are even aware of. And of course, that first Bikram journey led to then a much deeper exploration where I ended up eventually trying every style and studying with every school and it spurred a whole exploration from there, but that was my initial starting point. Vincent Ferguson: Bikram yoga. Wow. Brett Larkin: Yeah. Vincent Ferguson: Every time I hear it, I cringe, because I know it's very hot. Brett Larkin: It's so hot. It's funny because I mean, I haven't done Bikram yoga now in probably 10 years, but that was my entry point. So that's another thing I encourage people to be open to is the style of yoga you start with, or that you might be attracted to initially might not be the one you end up sticking with long-term. So it's important to have an open mind and kind of be ready to go on the journey. Vincent Ferguson: And I was going to ask you what type of yoga would you recommend for a beginner to try? Because I think if someone exposed me to Bikram yoga right away, that would have turned me off completely. Brett Larkin: Right. So my recommendation as strange as it sounds, would be to do a lot of experimentation. I think one of the things I see happen a lot is someone will go to the yoga studio closest to their house, or they'll do one YouTube video routine. And if they don't like it, they kind of just write off yoga as a whole, which would kind of be like writing off speaking when you've only sampled one language. Think about how many languages there are in our world and dialects and things. So I really, really encourage people to kind of approach it like you'd approach finding a mate. You're going to date a bunch of different people and sometimes it's going to work out and sometimes it's not and you just want to have fun. So, to kind of sample a lot of different styles... And I actually have a little challenge on my YouTube, where it's called “Find Your Style.” Brett Larkin: And I introduce people to five different styles over five days, because that was one of the things that I saw really prevented people from enjoying this practice. They just kind of have one impression of it and then think that was the whole story. When really, there's Restorative, there's Vinyasa, there's Hatha. Even within that Hatha word, there's Ashtanga, there's gentle yoga. There's Viniyoga. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. So I really believe there's something for everyone. And I think you need to really think about who you are, what your background is. Brett Larkin: If you're more that intense athlete person like I was, trying to do yin or gentle yoga, it's probably just going to be too far from where you are right now to maybe appreciate it. So you might want to start with a more athletic style, like Bikram or Ashtanga. If you're someone who has no fitness background whatsoever, those styles are going to be insane, right? You might want to start with yin, or even restorative yoga, or something very beginner gentle hatha, just to kind of gently get your body moving. So it's really like a dating game, I guess. Date all the styles of yoga. Try all the teachers in your area. Vincent Ferguson: I like that. Brett Larkin: Yeah. That's my biggest tip for everyone. Vincent Ferguson: Great tip. I like that advice, I truly do. Now, would you say that yoga is a lifestyle or just a way to exercise and meditate? Brett Larkin: Oh, that's such a loaded question. It's so interesting because when we look back at a lot of the ancient texts, what we see is that yoga was being written about as a means to achieve enlightenment. Right? Or a means to connect to whatever is beyond this plane of consciousness that we live in. And that the physical postures and the breath are all kind of a tool, a medium for that bigger aim. And then over the years, a lot of the physical piece of yoga got fused with a lot of the aerobics movement that was happening in the 70s and 80s. And there's sort of a modern yoga that's emerged that's in many ways quite different than what we see displayed in the yoga sutras or the hatha yoga pradipika or something like that. Brett Larkin: So, it's really what I think, is it's what you want to take out of it. If you just want to use yoga to improve your breathing and just really think of it as a breathing practice or a mindfulness practice that helps with stress reduction, you can view it through that lens by putting on that pair of glasses and looking at the body of work that is yoga through that framework. And there's so many great mindfulness-based programs or anxiety reduction programs, many that have huge scientific studies from major universities behind them now. Brett Larkin: For other people, right, you might be actually drawn to yoga because of the spiritual side of it. Right? You're kind of resonating with maybe the chanting or what's called Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion. You're looking to connect to something bigger, and that's available too. Then others are more, I just want to use this for cross training. Right? This is something that is going to improve my overall fitness and they're more focused on the postures. So it's kind of this buffet where again, finding the right teacher and the right style is so important because different styles bring in more, like Kundalini yoga, for example, which I do a lot of now is pulling in a ton of the chanting, the spirituality, all those things. So if someone's not interested in that, that's not going to be the right style for them right now. Right? Brett Larkin: So it's a buffet. And so I think you can make it a lifestyle, you can make it a religion if you want to, or you can really just see it as something like Pilates or breath work that is helping whether it's cross training or helping with anxiety. Pull out what works for you and try not to label the practice as a whole. Vincent Ferguson: So, basically yoga can be mental, spiritual, or physical. Brett Larkin: Yeah. And I think in its most beautiful form, it's all three, but that's not always... People aren't always either ready or wanting that. In which case you can completely divide it up. And like I said, it's like a buffet. Just take what works for you and leave the rest. Vincent Ferguson: Huh. Again, excellent advice. Now, do you associate yoga with Hinduism? Brett Larkin: Well, that goes back to a little bit what we talked about earlier, where, when we look at the origins of yoga, it did develop in India, Southeast Asia and these countries later, much, much later than when the yoga texts were written by the Brahmin sages. Much, much later, these are areas of the world that developed into different religions. Right? We see Buddhism, we see Hinduism, but most of the yoga texts, and I'm not as much an expert on this as some people like some of my teachers, but they predate a lot of what these religions look like now in the modern world. So, I think you can practice yoga without dabbling in Hinduism at all. For those that are interested in those connections, there are certain texts and gods and goddesses and chants where you can forge that connection. So again, it's really up to you. Brett Larkin: Again, I think the biggest maybe thing that I hope to share is yoga as a word, what does that even mean anymore? Right? It almost... It's like if we took a word like aerobic exercise, I mean, there's so many different forms of how that looks. A long time ago, we probably didn't even need to do it because we were hunter gatherers and running around all the time and then it emerged and it looked like fencing or something. And then it changed. And then it looked like a gym or kind of some of the stuff we see now. It's the same with yoga. Even the way yoga was practiced in the ancient times was so different depending on what region it was practiced in. For example, up in the Himalayas originally, where people were relatively safe, they were up in the mountains, cave dwelling, they practiced a very meditative type of yoga that was focused more on kind of the spiritual aspects and seated meditation. Brett Larkin: If we look at people who were living more at the border where the Mongols were at these times, thousands and thousands of years ago, their yoga was much more like what we see as Ashtanga yoga today. Very athletic because the military was actually doing it. It was training for them because they lived in a place where war was constantly breaking out and they needed to defend themselves. So even when we go way back in time, it's not like there's one style or one definition of what these practices are. It was very much variable based on people's kind of lifestyle and what, again, they needed to take out of the practice or what made sense to take out of the practice. I don't know if that's helpful to think about, but- Vincent Ferguson: It is, it is. Brett Larkin: It's a broad perspective. Keep a broad perspective is what I say. Vincent Ferguson: Amazing. Yes. So it's not just one piece, it's a broad potpourri or whatever they call it. You know what I'm saying? Brett Larkin: Yeah, exactly. Vincent Ferguson: Now in yoga, you often do you often hear the word chakra. Brett Larkin: Chakra, yes. Vincent Ferguson: Yes. What are they and how do they affect our daily lives? Brett Larkin: So chakra is, I think of them as programs, they're considered energy centers. So, some of your listeners may be familiar with traditional Chinese medicine or acupuncture, which is really mainstream now. I think most insurance even covers acupuncture. So, the Chinese medicine system, they work with these acupuncture... They call it meridians, right? These lines in the body. And the yogic system, instead of calling those channels meridians, they call them nadis. But it's the same thing. It's basically a pathway of energy in the body. So there's the heart meridian, the liver meridian, all these things. So the systems are the same, just using different words. Brett Larkin: And then in the yogic system, a chakra is where we see a lot of these meridians or nadis intersecting. So if you imagine a rotary in a busy street or town, right, where all the cars are coming together, all the roads are coming together in this big rotary. Those areas of the body get pulled out in the yogic philosophy as these energetic hubs. And the word chakra literally translates to wheel or disc. And I think of them as like a program, because each of them resides in a different area along your spine and sort of governs a different... Saying it's an area of your life is an oversimplification, but deals with a different realm of how you interact with the world. Brett Larkin: So for example, your root chakra at the very base of your spine is very much associated with your sense of safety. Your security. Are your needs being met? Are you getting enough food? Are you getting enough sleep? Things like that. While something like your throat chakra, which is obviously much higher up, is dealing with how well do you communicate? How well do you listen? Do you have trouble speaking up? Or are you kind of the over-boisterous type who doesn't let other people get a word in edgewise? Right? So each of us have these unique energy centers that are manifesting in different ways, that kind of result in how our life unfolds, right? Brett Larkin: So you might just be like, "Well, that's my personality. That's the way I am." But what yoga kind of teaches us is if you want to investigate these energy centers or work with them, you can kind of reprogram them. So just like when you sometimes get an update, I have an iPhone, but I think Android is the same. Every six months, there's a new operating system, right? Download the new system. So, we can be unaware of these energy centers and just operate the way we do. Or we can be like, "Hey, I want to rewrite my programming around safety and getting enough sleep. Or I want to rewrite how I act and give and receive love in relationships by working with my heart chakra." Brett Larkin: So it's just an opportunity to bring more awareness into your life. And then the beautiful thing about the chakra is you can work with them physically by doing Athena, you can work with them on a meditative level, on a spiritual level. So kind of like we talked about before, there's a lot of different ways you can tap into them. Or you can say, I'm not interested in the subtle body. This is, we're now in the realm of the subtle body of yoga. I just want to stay focused on the athleticism, the yogic postures. For those who don't resonate, they don't even have to go there. Right? It's kind of just this other layer of the practice that you can tap into if you choose to. Vincent Ferguson: I like it. I like it a lot. Can practicing a certain type of yoga, bring abundance into your life or the chakra bring abundance into your life? Brett Larkin: Oh, I definitely think so. Yes, yes, yes. I love working with this theme of abundance and abundance comes ultimately from gratitude. They're linked. So in order to attract abundance, we need to shift into feeling grateful and a sense of gratitude. So there's lots of wonderful practices that can help with that. There's classes on that specific theme. One of the biggest things that yoga helps with is just helping slow us down. So we can't be grateful if we're rushing or stressed. Or I don't know, maybe someone out there can be, but I know for me, when I'm rushing and stressed, I'm not in a state of gratitude or reverence. I'm usually not being very kind to my family members who are near me. So, counteracting that rushing and counteracting that stress and anxiety I think is so pivotal as a first step, to even allow someone to slow down. Right? Step into those feelings of, what am I grateful for? Brett Larkin: And what really separates yoga from all other forms of exercise is the focus on the breathing, the breath. So, no matter what style you use, if people are feeling overwhelmed listening to this, honestly it kind of doesn't matter because all the styles have this common thread of using the breath to calm the nervous system; to shift into what we call the parasympathetic nervous system, which is more of our rest and digest functions, instead of being always on kind of stressed out, orange alert, which is where we live most of our lives by default, just because of the way our society is set up and functions. So much is being asked of us, especially with technology, and we're bombarded with information. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, we are. Brett Larkin: So, that's the biggest thing. Just doing any kind of yoga, really doing the breathing. And if you commit to it, you'll see after most yoga classes you feel calmer. Right? You feel more grounded. You're feeling more in your whole body instead of just living up in your head with all your thoughts spinning. And that's usually how people are like, "Oh, I like this feeling," and how they end up coming back to classes. Vincent Ferguson: How do you find a good yoga instructor? What should you look for? Brett Larkin: It's a great question. I think someone who's talking a lot about the breath would be really important. I think someone who is constantly kind of challenging you to play, instead of saying the posture has to look just one way, kind of giving you a couple different options. That's what I really like and look for in instructors. So instead of it being really dogmatic and rigid, kind of being more about finding your personal edge, because a lot of these athena, these kind of an alphabet of the yoga postures are going to look different on different people. Right? Depending our height and our weight and our background and our prior athletic experience. Brett Larkin: So I think someone who's really encouraging you to explore rather than saying you have to get to this exact thing, is something that I would recommend looking for. Someone who's talking a lot about the breath. And then, honestly, just someone who resonates with you. That's the most important thing. We all are going to have different teachers who resonate with us at different points in our journey. So your job is again, to just kind of do that dating work I talked about and find the one who's going to meet you where you are right now. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, yes. That was really good. Now, Brett, you're not just another yoga teacher or instructor. You are what we call the gold or platinum standard, the creme de la creme of teachers. But from where and from whom did you get your training? Brett Larkin: So I studied with Alan Finger, who is such an incredible teacher. He was the original co-founder of Yoga Works, which is a huge yoga chain that some people may be familiar with. So he was the person I originally did my training with in New York, and he has just a wonderful background in Viniyoga, it's called. And he has a lot of knowledge about tantra, which isn't anything... You say tantra and people think like tantric sex and weird stuff. No, it's really a deep knowledge of the ancient yoga texts and philosophies. So I absolutely love his work. And Anodea Judith is another huge teacher of mine and inspiration. So she's kind of the world's authority on the chakra system. And she has a PhD. She's done a lot of work integrating the chakras into her work with patients as a psychotherapist. Brett Larkin: So, she is an incredible resource and has lots of books on the chakras for people who are interested. I love... Some of my other teachers Guru Singh, Kia Miller, Elena Brower. Different people again, who resonate with you at different moments. So I think it's really important to find that teacher who resonates with you and then learn as much as you can from them. Embody what they have to share, make it your own, and just keep building your own experience. So yeah, those are some of the people who've been highly influential for me. Vincent Ferguson: So everyone had someone to help them get to where they are today. Correct? Brett Larkin: Absolutely. And in the teacher training programs I run now, that's a lot of what we work on, right, is helping you find your own unique style, your own unique voice. Figuring out what different parts of this lineage and this practice you want to blend together. Do you want to teach something that's very spiritual or do you want to veer away from that? These are all choices that even as instructors, we end up needing to make. Yeah. Vincent Ferguson: I see. Now you call your business Uplifted. Brett Larkin: Yes. Vincent Ferguson: Where did that come from? I don't know. Tell me. Brett Larkin: I don't know either. It's when I started my initial... I mean, it just kind of came to me when I was originally starting my own yoga community and kind of my own style. I noticed that one of the things I was really seeing within the community before it had an official name was just people being so encouraging of one another, kind of really lifting each other up. All the programs and everything I do online is extremely interactive. So whether it's through our app or the trainings, you're not practicing alone. It's always very community-based. If you're moving through a program, it's cohort based, meaning you're with the same students going through an experience at the same time, even though we're online. So there's just a huge comradery. And then, obviously Uplifted is how I feel when I do yoga or after I do yoga. So, that's kind of where the name came from. It just kind of came to me one day. Vincent Ferguson: You followed your gut, your feelings, and you went with it because now it's extremely successful. And how did you get to this point though, Brett? What inspired you to turn your yoga expertise into a business and make it so successful online? Brett Larkin: I think, life is so interesting because I originally started posting videos online because I was too nervous to teach in person. So originally- Vincent Ferguson: You, really? Brett Larkin: Yes. Yes. So back in 2011, it was almost a cop out because I was still trying to build my confidence to audition for studios and that kind of thing. So I ended up teaching a lot online because for me that felt less scary somehow. I didn't really think anyone would watch any of the videos I put up. Now, the YouTube channel has over 400,000 subscribers. Vincent Ferguson: Amazing. Brett Larkin: So it grew madly over the course of time. But I think, kind of how I mentioned before, the community and the connection with the students and seeing how the training, whether it's a training plan they're doing in the Uplifted membership, kind of something smaller that we designed for students, or the full certification program. I think for me, what's most rewarding is really seeing how it affects all areas of their life. I mean, most people who come out of our programs or a part of the community say that the way they're speaking to their kids and their partner is different. The interactions, the relationship, it's a complete shift, not just on the yoga mat, but in kind of how they're experiencing reality, the world. Brett Larkin: Like the same thing I experienced as a young person, once I started having some of these breathing techniques and tools to help me cope with a lot of the anxiety and stress I was feeling. So, I think that's what really drove me. I never really set out to be, "Let's make this a business." It was always, how can we just help and serve more people and connect with more people and grow the community? And I think that's part of what ultimately has made the business successful because it was never really about building some corporate thing or the money or anything like that. It was always sort of just a passion of mine. Almost like a side project and then it just kept getting bigger. And now obviously, it's my full project, but that was never my intention. So, I'm just so grateful to the community because I think it's not just me. It's like A, the team; my team that now supports everything we do. And then our entire infrastructure of all our graduates, all our alumni, all our students. I mean, they're just the most incredible people. Vincent Ferguson: Do your students come from all across the country or any one particular area? Brett Larkin: They come from all over the world. It is so incredible. Vincent Ferguson: The world. Brett Larkin: Yes. I was in the Facebook group for one of our trainings yesterday and it's like, Poland, Russia. We've shipped our training manuals to Zimbabwe. It's crazy. And then, of course, I mean, we have a lot of people in the United States, but I would say 30-35% international and from everywhere. It's amazing. Vincent Ferguson: Unbelievable, Brett. Brett Larkin: Yeah. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. I knew you were a rockstar, but wow. That's amazing. Brett Larkin: Well, it's really fun because it makes the training experience so incredible because you're getting these perspectives from people all over the world, which is so different than just doing something that's local. I mean, that has a beauty to it too, but I think that's been something. I mean, every time we run a training, I learn so much from the students. I always tell them that. Right? Because they just have such different backgrounds and so many diverse ideas and it's just, really makes it really rich. Yeah. Vincent Ferguson: But is there a problem because of the language barrier? Brett Larkin: No. One of the things that a lot of our international students appreciate is everything is recorded. So, when you sign up for a training, you get prerecorded content, whether as a student or a teacher, there's a lot of prerecorded content. So they can re-watch, they can slow down. But even everything that we do live is, they also get recordings to all of that. And then they have the manual to follow along. So for a lot of them, they're more comfortable with written English as opposed to spoken. So obviously, you need to know English. I mean, otherwise it's not going to work. They've said it's actually really nice because if something's confusing, they could just rewind. Right? Or listen to it again, which makes it in some ways better than actually a live training where you don't have that option to press pause. Vincent Ferguson: Wow. What an amazing model, business model, that you have going and I can speak for hours about it because it's just very, very exciting to me and interesting how you were able to do this. But at this particular time our country and the world is going through the Coronavirus pandemic, and it's been a very challenging time, mentally, spiritually, physically, and financially for some people. But are more people turning to yoga to help them deal with the stress of these times? Brett Larkin: I think so. I mean, just looking at pure data, we saw a huge spike in the interest in yoga, the interest in online yoga, the interest in online yoga trainings during this time of the pandemic. A lot of that is because a lot of people who I think didn't consider studying online suddenly were sort of forced to because there was no other option. Vincent Ferguson: Yes, of course. Brett Larkin: But I do think there's a bigger theme of people realizing that we need support structures. We need a home practice more than ever that really supports us during these times of intense stress. And if you look at everything with yoga, from the 1950s until now, it has only grown, it has never dipped. Whether we look at the success of Lulu Lemon or yoga studios or the interest in the keyword online. I mean, it just goes up and up and up because I think it's just becoming more mainstream, and more and more people are figuring out that they can kind of connect with it in whatever way they want. And that it's really the ultimate life hack to deal with uncertainty, anxiety, and coming back to the breathing and all the science that's backing up how important that is. So, I think it's growing because of the pandemic, but it was growing before that, and I think it's just going to keep growing. Vincent Ferguson: Well, I think so, too. And as I shared earlier with you, before we started recording the interview, I run a nonprofit organization whose focus is on obesity prevention for families, especially children. Do you recommend yoga for children as well? And if so, what age should parents introduce yoga to their kids? Brett Larkin: I definitely recommend yoga for kids. I do yoga with my own. It's wonderful, wonderful and you can just introduce it simply by inviting... I mean, even when you just invite a child or anyone to take a deep breath, that's yoga. Right? That's a core yoga concept. So for kids, I think what works best is, or for little kids, is to do the different poses that relate to the different animals, like lion's pose or butterfly pose. They absolutely love that, because it's just like you're playing around on the floor and kind of introducing them to the idea of moving their body. And then songs and music are a wonderful, wonderful way. There's so many great yoga kids' albums that again, just get kids moving, acting like animals. And then before bed is always a really nice time. Brett Larkin: I always invite my son to do deep breathing with me before bed. He doesn't even know we're doing yoga. Right? We do deep breathing. I put my hand on his belly. I encourage him to breathe into his belly. Something we see with people who have different medical conditions or maybe are struggling with obesity is often that they're a reciprocal inhibited breather. So if you're a reciprocal inhibited breather, what that means is your diaphragm isn't operating in a way that's the most anatomically efficient for your body. And it means that you're not getting as much oxygen, as much breath, as you could be. It's like you're getting 20 or 30% instead of say 80 or 90% each time you breathe in. Which leads to short, shallow, rapid breathing over time, that can just end up feeling normal unless we kind of counteract and try to correct that. Brett Larkin: So, people can Google or look up diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing, but that's something that I would work on for yourself, but also really with your kids because it calms them down. And it's kind of insuring that they're going to have a breath pattern that... And what's interesting is breathing in this way has actually been linked to reducing obesity. Vincent Ferguson: Really? Brett Larkin: Yes, and restorative yoga as well. There's been great studies on this. So, I think a big takeaway for the obesity focus is it doesn't have to be hardcore athletic yoga that helps reduce or aids in weight loss, let's say. Actually these restorative, simply lying down, focusing on your breath-based practices, have a huge effect as well in weight loss. Yeah, it's incredible. Vincent Ferguson: This was an awesome interview, Brett. Where can my listeners find out more about Brett Larkin? Brett Larkin: So you can simply Google my name, Brett Larkin. You'll find YouTube videos, you'll find our website. Or upliftedyoga.com will get you to kind of our members' area. I have over a thousand free videos on YouTube, so you can practice with me any time. And then if you want to go deeper, we have so many courses and designed experiences with a lot of interaction for both students, the student community, and people who are looking to teach. So, that would be the next step. I'd love to practice with some of your listeners on YouTube. So hopefully they can look me up, Brett Larkin, and find a class that works for them. https://www.brettlarkin.com/300-hour-online-yoga-teacher-training/   Vincent Ferguson: And on social media- Brett Larkin: Yeah. Mainly YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. So, yeah. And the same, Brett Larkin yoga will get you there. Vincent Ferguson: Perfect. Now Brett Larkin, let me just say on behalf of my organization, Body Sculpt of New York and Six Weeks to Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Brett Larkin: Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure. Vincent Ferguson: You are amazing. To my listeners and readers, I truly hope this program was informative and encouraging and inspiring, and that you will continue tuning in to our Six Weeks of Fitness podcast. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them on my Six Weeks to Fitness blog at www.sixweekstofitness.com or email me at vince@sixweeks.com.

Mike Telem is the co-founder of Kemtai, a digital home fitness company using AI and computer vision to provide a virtual gym with real-time precise feedback. He is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in building and marketing digital products. Mike lives in Israel with his wife and their two teenage sons. He has a Black Belt in martial arts and is a master swimmer. I am pleased to have Mike Telem on my Six Weeks to Fitness Podcast. Mike, how are you? Mike Telem: I'm very good. Thanks. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Vincent Ferguson: Oh, it's my pleasure to have you on the show. Before we talk about Kemtai, Mike, tell my listeners a little more about you. Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Mike Telem: I grew up in Israel. I'm almost 45 years old, and had a pretty regular and good life here in Israel. I actually moved to the United States for a couple of years when I was in eighth and ninth grade. That was a very nice experience. I lived in New York, so I'm still a Giants fan and follow U.S. sports quite closely, whether it's the NFL now and the NBA a little bit earlier. Then I came back, I studied high school in Israel. Served in the army, as most of us do, and studied psychology in the university. Vincent Ferguson: Excellent. What part of Israel do you live in? Mike Telem: I live in the central part, close to Tel Aviv, for those of you that know it. My town is called Giv'at Shmuel. Very nice place, about 15 to 20 minutes from the beach. Now the pools are actually closed, but we can still swim in the Mediterranean and the weather in Israel is quite comfortable for swimmers because we hardly get any winter here. Maybe just two or three months. Vincent Ferguson: Sounds nice. Well, I'm in New York and right now it's kind of cold and rainy, so we can appreciate the sunny weather you guys have in Israel right about now. Were you interested in fitness as a child? If so, were there any role models in your life that inspired you? Mike Telem: Yes. I loved fitness and as a child, I would obviously just call it sports. I played a lot of group sports around school and very early on, started doing competitive sports. I think I was five when I started practicing martial arts and judo specifically at that point. Mike Telem: That was together with my grandfather, who's probably that ideal person that I was always looking up to. He was also a Black Belt and we even managed towards ... He was getting older obviously, but we were able to practice a few times together as Black Belts at the same time. That was a very exciting and very emotional time. I also played soccer on a team in my town, and I played professional squash. I was actually the Israeli junior champion at squash. You could say that I was very much into sports. Mike Telem: There were a few years where I did all three of these things at the same time. I'm not sure how exactly, but I love doing sports since I was young. At a later age, obviously you start looking at it slightly differently from the fitness perspective, from the health perspective. Maybe you don't do the same things because of your body or because you don't want to go crazy, because if I do judo or play soccer, I might do things that I shouldn't do because you get excited. I definitely love sports and fitness very, very much. Vincent Ferguson: When did the entrepreneurial bug hit you? Mike Telem: That's an interesting question because as I was getting into high tech, which was kind of a fluke or a mistake, I was never interested in high tech. I didn't like computers, especially when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. I got into it because there were a lot of job openings and I thought, "Well, there's a limit to how many years I should be a waiter." Even though I was a pretty good waiter, but I decided that there are some opportunities there. Mike Telem: Even while I was in high tech and the whole startup concept and culture started in Israel following a little bit what happened in Silicon Valley and all the success stories, I always used to say it's better to have a good job, a steady job. I don't necessarily see myself opening up a startup. But after a few years in the market gaining experience, you start to see things that could be better, that could be done differently. I was lucky enough to have my best friends from high school also in high tech. Mike Telem: In 2009, without thinking about it too deeply, which is I think something good for an entrepreneur. If you think about it too much, you'll never do it because the chances are against you. The odds are against you. We decided to leave our jobs about five minutes after that 2009 financial crisis where everybody thought that the world was going down. Mike Telem: We decided that we're going to go after our idea, which was around personalization of websites. We went ahead and did that and that was the start of my entrepreneurship mentality I would say. Later on, I think I would look back at some of the things that I've done as I was an employee in other organizations and I guess I can see that I was always into trying new things and taking responsibility and being very committed to what I'm doing. I guess it started brewing back then. Vincent Ferguson: That sounds really good. Now, what are some of the pros and cons of being an entrepreneur, Mike? Mike Telem: Obviously one of the pros, it tends to be very interesting, very challenging in a good way. My father was an entrepreneur in a few companies as well and I saw the times that he succeeded and the times that he failed. You do get a lot of ups and downs and you need to be able to handle them. I don't mean that as it's going down, you don't care or you don't feel anxious or even concerned, but there's something inside you that tells you, "It'll come back up again if I do enough about it." But being able to take those times. Mike Telem: When you care about something, you feel very bad when it doesn't work well. In any business of your own, it doesn't matter if it's a restaurant or a high-tech startup, you care a lot. Then you have a lot of good times and a lot of bad times. I like to say that it's very similar to being a professional athlete I think because if you think about most professional athletes, most of the time they lose. They get to the semi-finals, they get to the finals. Maybe sometimes they don't even get there. They lose and they lose and they lose at a certain point, right? Mike Telem: Once in a while they win the whole thing. Even you look at the Lakers that have just won the NBA title and specifically LeBron James. Yeah. He has a lot of titles, but he lost a bunch of times. You look at people who have won gold medals in the Olympics. You'll remember that, but they also lost many times. As an entrepreneur, you have to be able to lose or not succeed a lot of times and keep on going. That's possibly one of the hardest things about being an entrepreneur. If you can do that, then you can do the rest. Vincent Ferguson: I think a lot of entrepreneurs who listen to this podcast would benefit from that advice. You know what I mean? Excellent. Mike Telem: Thank you. Vincent Ferguson: Now, most of your work has been, as you said, in the high-tech space. Was there an aha moment that motivated you to move into the fitness space and create Kemtai? Mike Telem: It was a combination between the fact that both I and my two co-founders, Mor Amitai and Naomi Keren, are very much into fitness and sports. Naomi is a Pilates instructor as a hobby, Mor loves running and working out at home. I had times where I used to work out in front of YouTube videos. The second piece of this equation is that Mor and Naomi have been dealing in computer vision for around 15 years. They actually had a previous startup that dealt with computer vision. Mike Telem: Now you have a group of three people that like sports, that like fitness, that know what can be done with computer vision and know what it takes to create a product, to create a company. We very quickly got to the idea of leveraging computer vision to see what you're actually doing and giving you feedback. As an amateur athlete, I've always been very aware of the importance of guidance and feedback. I always ask whatever trainer is around, "Look at what I'm doing. Tell me what I'm doing wrong. Don't tell me that I'm doing great. Just tell me what I'm doing wrong, how I can get better." Mike Telem: I like to get that advice, even if it's sometimes hard to follow. We thought, "Well, why can't we use computer vision to give that type of advice?" That is Kemtai. Vincent Ferguson: What does Kemtai actually mean? Where did the name come from? Mike Telem: The name itself doesn't have a specific meaning, but more of a feel. We hope that a feeling of something dynamic, an action that you can take, but also something that sounds calming and sounds connected to the whole concept of wellness. To some people, it sounds a little bit Eastern or Asian perhaps, but it doesn't have any specific meaning. We just really liked the sound of it. We spent some time looking for various names. It's actually not that easy to find a name that nobody else has used. Mike Telem: We were able to do that. We also always reminded ourselves that just like with children, products also make the name. Vincent Ferguson: True. The product, the name is very important. Now, explain, what can a user expect to experience from Kemtai and what makes it more effective than other fitness apps on the market today? Mike Telem: That's a great question. In terms of what makes Kemtai more effective, Kemtai actually sees you as you work out and can see if you're doing things right or wrong and can also give you a score so you understand your actual performance. As you're doing a specific exercise, let's say you're doing squats, something that everybody can relate to, Kemtai notices that your back is not straight and will tell you with audio and visual cues that you should straighten your back or that you shouldn't go so low. Mike Telem: As you follow the instructions, you start feeling the engagement, the connection to the technology that is helping you do the exercise in the best way possible so the workout is more effective and also more fun. The first thing that people typically get excited about is, as you just open up Kemtai and start the first workout, it scans your body and identifies all the data points in your body. Your shoulders, your elbows, your arms, your legs. Mike Telem: You feel that connection because as you move, you can see that Kemtai is seeing you, and you can see a visual of your skeleton on the screen. You see that Kemtai is following what you're doing and that is a very magical moment because you understand what the software has done and what it can give you. Vincent Ferguson: When I heard about Kemtai, I was so blown away by it. It's definitely a game changer. If I'm looking to build muscle or if I'm looking to increase my cardiovascular conditioning, can Kemtai help me with that? Mike Telem: Yes. Kemtai has most of the types of exercises and workouts that you would expect to find in other applications. This goes to your question about the difference as well. You'll find things like running in place and jumping jacks and other things for cardio and small or large weights or pushups or other core exercises to build your muscles. The fact that it gives you feedback, the fact that you can see if you're doing it well and how well you're doing it, means that each and every movement, each and every exercise is so much more effective. Mike Telem: If you want to build muscles, as we all know, doing the proper movement sometimes even more slowly and doing it correctly and seeing that you're getting a 90 and not a 70, immediately in real time, means that whether you have 10 minutes for a workout or 50 minutes, that time is so much more effective than what it would be if you were just following a video in YouTube or some other apps, or maybe riding a bike at home, which is very, very limited in terms of what you're doing and has practically zero feedback in terms of, are you doing it well? Mike Telem: You can practically sit on that bike and have a cup of coffee. Everything else will still continue the same. Vincent Ferguson: That's true. That's true. As a trainer, I'm always correcting the form of clients. As you know, technique, form is everything when it comes to performing the activities. Mike Telem: Yes. That is typically the most important thing. It also is very important in terms of avoiding injury, doing things the wrong way, or sometimes fooling yourself, thinking that you have improved while in fact, you're just doing more repetitions, but not in the proper way. Being able to be more effective in the same amount of time is so important. Everybody's very busy. Home fitness is great first and foremost because you don't need to spend too much time around it. You don't need to drive anywhere. Now, you can do so much more and be so much more effective in the same time period. That is very, very helpful for the users that are using Kemtai. Vincent Ferguson: Definitely. What do you need in order to use Kemtai? Do you need a laptop, desktop? Mike Telem: All you need is a laptop or a desktop, basically a computer with a camera. You don't need any special computer. You don't need to buy any $2,500 device in order to use Kemtai. Just your laptop and your browser and a decent internet connection. Your videos are not recorded, are not even saved anywhere. The system really looks at you like a human being and gives the feedback in real time. No information is being sent to the cloud about your workouts. The only thing you need is laptop and a little bit of room in your house to work out. Mike Telem: If you want to take it out and do it on the porch or in the garden, if there's good weather, you can do that too. It's relatively not sensitive to lighting and the space around you. It's very, very convenient and very, very easy to work out with Kemtai and also very affordable because you don't need to buy anything special. Vincent Ferguson: Can you also use Kemtai on mobile phones? Mike Telem: Not right now. We've decided not to develop Kemtai for mobile phones, because when you think about it, the user experience for something like Kemtai on a mobile phone is quite problematic. The screen is very small. You'd have to put the phone on the floor and it will be very difficult to interact with the system. If you think about it, it's similar to a Zoom session, right? That everybody's doing nowadays. Mike Telem: As much as you can control it, you would prefer having the Zoom session on your laptop. Yes, it can work on a phone, but it's not very convenient and you would never pick that in the first choice. Kemtai will run on mobile devices later on, probably next year, but we think that the better experience would always be on something like a laptop and later on, maybe on smart TV or on a device that's connected to a larger screen just because you can see what's going on a lot better and experience this interactive content. See exactly what the trainer is doing and follow their guidance and get the feedback and really make the most out of your workout. Vincent Ferguson: Awesome. How long are the exercise programs and how many exercise programs are in the app? Mike Telem: There are a few hundred different workouts. Some of them are 5 to 10-minute workouts with maybe just five to 10 exercises. Some of them are as long as an hour. You can do a few workouts one after the other. There are various trainers in Kemtai. These are not just Kemtai trainers, but external personal trainers can also upload their content to Kemtai and then Kemtai runs its processing and learns those movements to enable you as a user to pick a trainer of your choice. We have trainers from Japan, from Singapore, from Brazil, from New York, from Israel. From various places. Mike Telem: The idea is also to be a platform that enables trainers to bring forth their style of exercise, their types of workout. Just like in YouTube, you can choose, who you want to watch. In Kemtai, you can choose who would train you and you would get feedback based on their way of doing a squat. Not necessarily Mike's way of doing a squat. You can choose the trainer that you prefer. Vincent Ferguson: Now that again, is a game changer when it comes to personal training, because I do know some trainers who would be interested in learning about Kemtai. How do trainers get paid for their experience or their expertise? Mike Telem: Right now these are relatively early days with Kemtai but the idea is that trainers would get paid a percentage of the revenue that comes from people working out with their sessions. Similar to what music apps are doing, where if a lot of people subscribe and listen to your music, then you'll get a specific percentage of that. If maybe less people listen to someone else then that singer or songwriter will get a little bit less. The idea is to share a percentage of that revenue with them and also enable them to get to so many more customers. Mike Telem: If you're a great personal trainer, why should you be limited to the people that live around you specifically? If you're a great trainer, why not let users from around the world, work out with you? Get your type of feedback. This is really bringing you, the trainer, to life in other people's homes. If you're a very good trainer, not necessarily a celebrity, but a good trainer that provides good workouts and good feedback, a lot of people around the world using Kemtai will enjoy choosing your workouts. Vincent Ferguson: I like that concept completely, but you're still in the early stages of this though, as far as building this out, correct? Mike Telem: Yes. Because of COVID, we've launched an initial preliminary version quite early, around April. Just wanted people to enjoy it and be able to use what was available then. We're now getting close to a very substantial new version that include these workouts that I mentioned, and also studio workouts, where you can choose, for instance, Pilates for beginners or for advanced or high intensity training or yoga. Also, developing a concept we call the adaptive coach that changes the workout in the middle of the workout based on your actual performance at that moment. Mike Telem: If I see that something is too difficult for you, I might lower the level or the intensity in the next exercise. If I see you're doing very well, I might increase the intensity in the next exercise. This is even taking this whole concept of real-time feedback another step forward. Those things are coming out pretty soon. We would probably be announcing it in a couple of weeks. I guess you got a sneak peek here to these concepts. Mike Telem: We think that now in terms of having enough content, various types of workouts and exercises, the product has made a lot of progress and we're seeing users enjoy it more and work out with it on a regular basis. Vincent Ferguson: Do you think Kemtai will inspire more of us to actually work out at home? Mike Telem: I think so. Home fitness was huge before COVID. Home fitness was actually huge 30 or 40 years ago with Jane Fonda and DVDs and people buying bikes for their houses. Home fitness has always been a big market. People have always seen the advantages. What I think COVID has done, apart from a lot of bad things, is give people an opportunity to realize just how much progress was done in home fitness and the fact that in many aspects, you can do things at home today that are as good and in some aspects, even better than what you can find outside or in a gym. Mike Telem: For instance, Peloton is a great example. You can get a great experience, some would argue even better than a spinning class, and you can do it at the convenience of your home and even do a class with a thousand people. Kemtai provides you the experience of having a personal trainer at your home, providing real-time feedback, personalized perfectly to you. Most people can't afford that, not even once a week, not to mention a few times a week. Logistically it's typically an issue. COVID pushed people to explore home fitness and to realize what advances were made in the past five/seven years in this market. Mike Telem: Now they're enjoying it and I think they will continue to enjoy home fitness even after COVID ends, which I hope happens very soon. People will have a hybrid approach where maybe a couple of times a week I go to the gym, another time maybe I go outside running, a couple more times I work out at home with Kemtai or any other technology that I find interesting and relevant for me. That's what you're going to see I think in the next few years. Vincent Ferguson: I agree. I'm totally sold on Kemtai and I'm sure a lot of my listeners will be as well. What is the financial investment? What does it cost? Mike Telem: It's actually quite affordable in my opinion. It's $19 a month. You even get a discount if you take an annual subscription, you get all the workouts, all the trainers, all the exercise. You can use it as much as you want. Other people in your household can use it. I guess for a year, you would still pay less than one personal training session and you can use Kemtai as much as you want. One day you can do Pilates, the other you can do high intensity or weights, anything you want. Vincent Ferguson: How are you guys getting the word out about Kemtai? I know you're doing podcasts, but what other advertising and marketing are you doing? Mike Telem: We have some social media campaigns that you can expect, but to be honest, we really believe in word of mouth. We think that as the product is getting better and better, more people are simply going to talk about it. I can see that more and more people are getting to us via simple search in Google because someone told them about Kemtai. We're now releasing a concept that we call a challenge where I can imagine that the challenge is maybe three simple exercises, two minutes long altogether. I do the challenge and I can see that I got a 75 and I can see my rank in the global leaderboard or how I rank with my country. Mike Telem: I can share the challenge with you and say, "Hey, you talk a lot about fitness. Let's see how much you can get. Let's see what you're going to score in the challenge." Those are the types of things that we prefer, where people simply enjoy it and share it with others. Strategically, that is the type of marketing that we want to do. You might call it more product-oriented marketing, where I just want people to get a chance to try Kemtai. Use it and if they're happy, tell their friends about it and that's going to be enough. Vincent Ferguson: I agree. I think that will be enough because Kemtai is going to sell itself. I really believe that. Mike Telem: Well, I hope you're right. I think you're right. We still have a lot of work to make sure that you're right. Vincent Ferguson: Right. Exactly. Now, Mike, I run a nonprofit organization for children, right? A health organization, but can kids use the Kemtai program? Mike Telem: Yes. Technically, at least from a certain age Kemtai picks up the body just as well and kids can use it. It hasn't been our focus right now, just because it's important to be a little more sensitive with things that you provide kids, but we love helping these types of causes. We want more kids to be active and keep their health and get good habits from a young age. I was actually not aware that you have something like that so I would love to learn more. We would love to provide access somehow to your audience so they'll be able to work out with Kemtai free of charge, of course, and enjoy home fitness. Vincent Ferguson: Great, we're looking to do some stuff for the children, because all the kids are home now and childhood obesity is a major issue. That's what we're trying to combat. I will send you some information through Margie about what we do and this way, perhaps we can work together on helping children to become more healthy. Mike Telem: That would be wonderful. Vincent Ferguson: Now, where do you see Kemtai in the next five years? Mike Telem: I think we will make a lot of progress on the technology on additional ways of adapting the workouts to your goals and to your performance, making it more effective, but also working on making it more fun. Adding more ways of really bringing to life the different trainers and the different styles. Supporting more types or categories of workouts, whether it's Pilates and yoga already, but later on, maybe some shadowboxing and some other types. A lot of people have asked us, can we help their golf swing? Mike Telem: Again, technologically, it's definitely possible, but every different category takes some attention. We're hoping to cover more and more of the ... Martial arts is something that's close to heart for me obviously. I would love to train karate via the application. Again, I don't see it replacing going to the dojo and working out, but it can definitely help and increase your proficiency in those categories Vincent Ferguson: I can see that as well. Kemtai is definitely a game changer. I'll stand by that. Mike Telem: I appreciate that. Vincent Ferguson: How can my listeners learn more about Kemtai? Mike Telem: The best thing would be to go to app.kemtai.com. That's A-P-P.K-E-M-T-A-I. com and try it out. There is a sample workout. Everybody can try, see what it feels like. It's a very easy workout. You can do it in your jeans. The whole idea is to get a feel for Kemtai and then decide whether you want to try it out. There's a money-back guarantee. It's very, very easy. It's a lot of fun. Just go to app.kemtai.com or www.kemtai.com and give it a try. Vincent Ferguson: Excellent. Excellent. Can we follow you on social media? Mike Telem: Yes. You can follow Kemtai virtual fitness on Instagram. We have a Kemtai user group on Facebook. You can join and follow either one of those. Get information from us and updates, and also connect with peers that are following up and working out with Kemtai. Vincent Ferguson: Excellent. Mike Telem, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York and Six Weeks to Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today. Mike Telem: I appreciate. It was a pleasure. I love talking about my job and I love talking about fitness and it's been great talking to you. I appreciate you having me.

Just as you can sculpt your body, you can sculpt your mind. On this week's business edible, Chris Collins and BigMike talk about how important it is to pay attention to what you feed your brain and how you exercise it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of our Six Weeks to Fitness podcast, I am joined by Dorcas Meyers, Founder of Roc-A-Natural LLC. and lifestyle wellness coach, who advocates for beauty that illuminates from within for a holistic, authentic new you.  Dorcas is dedicated to emphasizing the beauty of natural hair, and educating diverse generations about the importance of proper nutrition and exercise to illuminate your beauty from the inside out.  Dorcas is also the creator of the Roc-A-Natural Hair, Health and Beauty Transform Your Life Expo, which will take place on Saturday, May 13th in New York City at the Watson Hotel. During the interview, Dorcas will share the many exciting activities, presentations, and workshops that will take place at the Expo, such as an innovative and exciting Natural Hair Fashion Show. Industry professionals and fashion designers from the tri-state area will have the opportunity to showcase their fabulous work through the wonder of artful expression. During the show, the Roc-A-Natural Awards Ceremony will honor outstanding leaders who inspire excellence, ingenuity, effect change, a positive mindset and offer resources to live a successful and natural lifestyle.  Vince Ferguson, President, and Founder of Body Sculpt of New York and creator of the Children’s Sports & Fitness Expo, will be on hand to receive one of these prestigious awards.   Certified Holistic Nutritionist Yvette Onofre, will address the nurturing of a healthy body through the “Nutrition Workshop and “Smoothie Operator” demonstration that will radiate confidence and beauty from within. This is just a small sample of what will take place at this highly anticipated event which will inspire and encourage an entire community to be proud of their inner beauty while seeking a more natural way of life. This is the Roc-A-Natural Hair and Beauty Transform Your Life Expo’s 4th year in existence and it shows no signs of slowing down.  Dorcas’ enthusiasm is contagious and Inspiring.

In this Episode of our Six Weeks to Fitness podcast, guest host, Leslie Sterling, will interview President and Founder of Body Sculpt of New York, Inc., and the Creator of the Children’s Sports & Fitness Expo, Vince Ferguson.  During the interview, Vince will discuss what life was like growing up number 7 of 9 children in Brooklyn, what inspired him to create the Children’s Sports & Fitness Expo and the importance of role models.  Vince will also discuss how he was able to secure so many sponsors and raffle prizes for his events and how anyone can do it with the right formula, as well as how vital volunteers are to the success of his many events

In this episode of our Six Weeks to Fitness podcast, I will be joined by Leslie Ann Sterling, a poet, writer, mental health advocate and Shape Up NYC Fitness Instructor.  During the interview Leslie will share her health challenges which began immediately following the terrorist attacks on the world trade center in 2001, when she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”) and severe depression. After treating her mental illness with medication and support from family and friends, Leslie found out she had breast cancer and underwent six surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation and now is cancer free.  Almost 10 years after her cancer diagnosis she saw an ad for Body Sculpt of New York’s Six Weeks to Fitness Challenge and decided to participate in the hopes that it would not only improve her physical health, but her mental health as well. It did both! Now Leslie Sterling is a Mental Health Advocate and Shape Up NYC Fitness Instructor, teaching others how to get in shape physically and mentally.  This is a very warm and inspiring episode on how one woman snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.