July 25, 2025 • 46 mins
Are you following your trainer's plan, hitting every workout, and still seeing no progress? It’s not your effort that’s the problem. In this episode, Dr. Taylor Waters, Ben Olliver, and Ryan Stevens expose cookie-cutter programs, buzzword traps, and the most common red flags unqualified fitness coaches tend to display. If you're choosing a new trainer or questioning your current one, this episode breaks down the key questions to ask and what real, results-driven coaching should actually look like.
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction
(03:46) Red Flags In Online Coaching Culture
(08:21) Looking Ripped Doesn’t Make You A Good Coach
(14:48) Signs That Your Coach Is Not A Good Fit
(23:02) What Real Onboarding And Feedback Looks Like
(30:09) Overcomplicating Coaching To Sound Smart
(33:56) Green Flags Of An Actually Good Coach
(37:07) The Reality Of Coaching VS. What Social Media Shows
(42:01) Holding Coaches To A Higher Standard
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You've signed up. Here's your plan.
Hold on. It's like you don't know
anything about me yet. How have you devised this
perfect plan for me when there'sno information being given at
all? Maybe you know my age and maybe
you know I'm a bloke. Key.
Red flags that you would look atfrom an online coach that you're
just alarm bells go off and think I probably wouldn't trust.
This I got 1. The path that it goes, Something
(00:21):
goes wrong in their life and they decide to do a bodybuilding
show. I'm Ryan Stevens.
Doctor Taylor Waters, I'm Ben Oliver.
Welcome to the Superhuman show, Yeah?
So today we're going to talk about how to spot a bullshit
coach. So this I think with, with
(00:45):
Facebook, obviously people used it for marketing it initially,
but I think Instagram has reallybeen the like the melting pot
of, of on the online fitness trend influencer kind of thing.
And it we've, we've seen the pattern so many times where
someone either has their own personal transformation or they
(01:06):
do a bodybuilding show or a physique show.
They do it once with a coach, you know, they've got a coach
themselves and then they say, oh, you know, I'm now, I'm now
taking on clients and the, I think the issue with online
coaching, not so much personal training 'cause there there is a
barrier to entry for personal training.
(01:27):
Like there is certifications that you need to have in the UK
anyway to, to personal train at a gym legally.
I guess you know you there's obviously some trainers that
probably don't. Have any?
It's still a somewhat. It's low. 100% it's an extremely
low like I mean, you used to take the courses and I would see
the the students on the courses that would pass and I'm like
(01:49):
really I. Remember it was like a 9099.2%.
You did fail. You did fail.
I think I'm the only one who failed a few.
But really those courses, you'rejust paying for the certificate
just like, yeah, yeah, it's almost like a guaranteed pass.
And that's. Like a real so it's but that
nought .8 probably passed away during the course, so it's.
Like they just pulled out they just they decided to get a
(02:11):
mechanic apprenticeship instead.That's why as well you can see
like you know these people who do like 1 show and then they
take non clients instantly. For me that's like they think
it's A1 size fit or oh that planwill work for everyone.
Yeah, and then they'll take my clients.
I've done it once, so I know what I'm doing.
And yeah, yeah. So the issue of online coaching
is there, there is 0 barrier to entry.
There's no, there's no governingbody.
(02:32):
There's no, you know, no one coming around saying let's see
your credentials. Nope.
You can't promote yourself as a fitness coach.
So I, I think people, people, I,I, I think initially it was for
bodybuilders to make a bit of side money so they can afford
their steroid cycles for their preps.
And it was like, well, if I justget a handful of clients and
tell them to eat chicken and rice, then I can afford my next
(02:53):
prep. Hey.
Do I? Do I?
Do I? Yeah, that was that was my first
coach. Yeah, that was that was.
So I, I, I think like I would, Iwould say that that's a red flag
When we, I, I've seen the patentso many times where they do,
they do 1, one event or one transformation.
And then it's like here I can, you know, I've had loads, I've
(03:14):
had loads of people in my DMS asking me for advice and
coaching. So I've decided to.
To open my new one, Yeah, no. One in there.
Yeah, you. Should call it on sit 10 second
screenshot this. Show yeah, evidence.
Evidence, please. It's, you know, it's, it's like
the, you know, throw me your questions and then it's like
they're just they're asking the questions themselves.
Oh, great question myself. So I I think the that that's
(03:37):
like a common trend that we've seen.
But when we go into like, let's let's talk about like the key
red flags that you that you would look at from a an online
coach that you're just alarm bells go off and think, I
probably wouldn't trust this. Part I got one like the.
Smallest you were itching to talk him.
I could literally feel. I could feel him getting
anxious. Because I saw him this morning,
(03:57):
yeah, like, and I'm thinking when I scroll through and I'm
like, oh God. Like when you use like buzzwords
like detox or yeah, like get these results in like 30 days,
like talking absolutes and stuff, it's like.
Yeah, I think absolutes or a, a very specific time frame.
We spoke about this in the past where it's like, do this in 30
(04:17):
days, see this in 14 days when there's so many variables that
go into that, that I, I don't, I, I don't like it at all.
Yeah, this, this is the coachinghead on, isn't it?
Because from a coaching standpoint that's not good.
But then sometimes the coaches also play in the role of the
marketer. And then from a sales
(04:39):
standpoint, that's what I catch,isn't it?
Like if if you just spoke coaching lingo and tried to sell
yourself, you, you wouldn't, youwouldn't tell eyes to a blind
man. But it's like, but it's, I think
if you, you, you need to put that out there to at least get
the attention 1st and then transition.
So sometimes I get it. I wouldn't like blank that out
(05:00):
every time, but a lot, a lot of the time it is not.
It's just the. I I think it's, it's just the
verbiage where like if they said, you know, some clients
have lost up to X amount in thistime frame, that might not be a
lie. And so, but when, when it's like
guaranteed this in, in this timeframe, I'm just I, I totally
(05:24):
understand that it's a form of market and I just don't
personally like that style of marketing at all.
Yeah. They won't say it the way you
said it though because it doesn't attract people.
Yeah, Yeah, yeah. That that's why I'm not a
marketer, yeah. Pay X amount and you might get
it. Yeah, I don't want might because
this guy's promising it around the corner.
Yeah. And that's it though.
There'll be like 30 lbs in 30 days or whatever it may be.
But like, do you know, whatever strategy that they are saying
(05:45):
they're going to use, they thinkthat's going to work for
absolutely every single person. So again, it comes down to like
the one-size-fits-all, you know?Yeah, I have another buzzword as
well. Which really?
Pissed. Go on then, go on, Cliff.
Biohack. Bio Biohack.
Oh, bio, like almost like you'vegot like a a secret.
Yeah, you know. I, I think again, it, it's, it's
not like, I think the, the, the word, like just it, it
(06:10):
presupposes what they're about to say next, which is normally
some bullshit. Yeah.
Like in, in terms of I'm going to make this easier than
everyone else on the planet because I've found a secret.
And again, that would be a red flag to me because there are no
secrets to it. There's nothing's.
(06:30):
And equally, you really think, you know, this 21 year old guy
from Australia who's just got his level 2 PT has discovered
this ground breaking thing before.
All the scientists that have been studying this for, you
know, God knows how long that PhDs in their field, you know,
lecturers at university. And it's like, Nah, Nah, just
(06:52):
Stevie down the gym has just discovered this one way to hack
your metabolism. 22 year old yeah, so.
And that's it though that you know the science behind it.
You've got some guys that's not experience, they're going to
fall for that straight away. You've got like other guys
who'll like promote like a supplement saying like this will
cure everything like this is thecore solution to all your
problems like some little tablet.
How many people like fall for different variations of that?
(07:14):
That's another red flag do. You know what, one of one of the
ones that I always think about is when, when all the coach does
is post photos of themselves doing something like as a, as a
coach, it's almost like a, a portfolio of clients in that you
have a, you know, I know some people don't train for the
(07:36):
physical transformation. That's generally what we we
promote and that's what we cover.
But it's like some people might just want to get stronger.
Some people might just want to get fitter.
But in general our, our angle ismore around the body
transformation. So what portfolio of body
transformations do you have? Like if you're just rigged
yourself and it's like, well, that's not evidence that you
(07:57):
know how to coach people. That's evidence that you can get
yourself in good shape. And it's like that's all you see
through it just like myself, topless myself, topless myself.
And I'm like that again, some people might fall for that, but
to me I'm like, that doesn't tell me anything about because I
know some really stupid, UN uneducated people who don't
(08:19):
really know what they're doing. And they're actually in pretty
good shape. Like they, their, their genetics
are pretty good. They respond pretty well to
anabolics and they're not scaredof a needle.
And it's like, oh, and they now they look, they look pretty
sharp. So it's like, Oh well, now
suddenly if I just post photos with my Rigar, people will think
I know what I'm doing when it's like, well, how are you going to
cater that to someone who doesn't respond very well to
(08:41):
metabolics and doesn't want to stick a needle in their ass?
I. I quite like seeing like I I
would view it as a green flag ifyou not only see like great
before and afters like you obviously because you want to
use social media as your highlight reel.
So you're going to post your best transformations that you've
got with clients. But I do like the occasional one
thrown in there that's like a bit mediocre.
(09:03):
Like, well, like the after picture is like, yes, you know,
he's still got a bit of work to do.
But like, it's, that's, that's probably typical of what I would
see from an average person that to me that I would view that as
like this, this guy is probably more honest than dishonest
because he's, he's posting the middle of the pack as well.
Not just the, oh, here's the five clients out of 200 that
(09:25):
have just responded really well to the one diet that I give all
my clients. It's I've got, you know, the top
10%, which look phenomenal. I've got a, a big bag in the
middle where they look pretty good, but, you know, not blessed
with good genetics, not the mostconsistent with their plan, but
still got pretty good results. I quite like that because it's
just more real. But again, like from a marketing
(09:47):
standpoint, if you, if you're paying for ads or something,
it's like, are you going to use these bang average
transformations to like to sell yourself?
Obviously not. So most people will just use
like the cream in the crop when.They yeah.
And and you know, like we've seen it in, in super as well.
There's there's that top percentwhich are just this despite
(10:07):
their start point being out of shape, they have very, very good
genetics where, where and they just haven't taken advantage of
them because they haven't reallytrained properly.
They haven't dieted properly. But then when they do, you know,
it's like they look like they'reon anabolics because they just
they're hyper responders. And then, but then you've got
guys in the middle, you know, which like I would say we kind
of sit in the middle a little bit as well in between.
(10:29):
We've just done it for so long. And so because, because a lot of
times the, the really, really genetically they wouldn't be
signing up for a program anyway.They're just in shape.
And so you're already like taking out the, the, you know,
the top .5%, but but then it's, it's getting someone with bang
average genetics in great shape.Like I get really impressed with
(10:51):
like I saw this. I think I said this to one of
our other coaches the other day.It was a video of Phil Heath.
So Phil, Phil Heath is like 7 time Mr. Olympia, for those that
don't know, just freak of naturelooked like he had been
bodybuilding for years when he just played basketball and he
was on, he posted on his Instagram and it was like, try
out this exercise. Like it requires good
(11:13):
coordination. And it's, it's basically like he
starts in the middle, like a, like an Arnie press and then one
arm goes up and then one arm goes down and then he goes back
to the middle and then he alternates it.
And then you look at the comments and everyone's like,
come on, Phil, like, what are you doing?
And he, and then it was, it's like, you know, how many
Olympias did this get you 0? And it was, it was just complete
(11:34):
nonsense. And but then people will look at
it and go, Oh, I'm going to givethat a shot just because,
because he's doing it. And it's just you, you see that
all the time where people are. I would probably throw that in
my red flag box with like, here's the one exercise that
you're not currently doing. And it's some quirky bullshit
(11:54):
thing that just doesn't make sense where it's not overloading
anything in particular. It might be, it might have like
a bit of a balancing element in or you might have to do a weird
kind of setup that looks novel in the gym.
But that's exactly the word. Like it's novel.
And so people are like, that looks more fun than just doing a
bench press. And then, so then and then
you've got guys that like go in on that as like the quirky
(12:17):
exercise guy. Then you look at their training
for the last 20 years and it's like, you didn't do any of this.
You didn't do any of this to build that muscle.
Yeah, it's like now you're just hanging on to your rig doing
this quirky stuff. But.
I like, I like coaches who bringcontext in.
So like again, like the like youwere saying, like a lot, a lot
of the reels and stuff you see out there now are like this is
(12:38):
the one reason why you haven't got big arms.
And it's like, what do you got no context here?
I might have no arms. Like you don't.
It's like they they just, it's, but it's like this is the thing
that they're trying to get to hook people.
When it's like some coaches, they'll go and say like, if you
are this type of person who struggles with this, then this
is the solution. So it's okay.
(12:58):
Now at least you're targeting this a bit more.
So you're looking at a specific problem and given a solution to
a rather than like everyone who's got small arms.
This is why you got it. And it's like we, you know,
context is king. We always say like within a,
within a coaching setting, we need context in order to give
good information. And on the, on the office hours,
how often do we hear it depends because it depends on the
(13:20):
context. And so when it's just, it's hard
because it's always blue in the line between coaching and
marketing and they, they have slightly different angles on it.
They're almost polar opposite. It's marketing tells you what
you want to hear and coaching tells you what you need to hear.
So you know, it is, it is tough,but that's one thing that
whenever I see it is like this is what you need if you've got
(13:42):
small arms. And what is it?
I mean, it's always naff. It's always something that's
ruckus. So I think the last thing I saw
was like, like, like these are the 10 leg exercises that you
need to do to get Jack legs or whatever it was like that is
like, you probably don't need todo that.
Yeah, you. Know so they just.
I mean, because we, I mean, we did a whole episode on leg
training and here's what we would do.
(14:02):
But I think there was a lot of context thrown into it as well.
Whereas like, you know, if you don't have any injuries, like if
you have access to this stuff, if you're competent in the gym,
then then do these things like or like try these things and you
might get some like I like, likeprobably likely less likely
versus you will do this. It's like, well, there's no
(14:25):
guarantee, but it's likely goingto happen.
Yeah. So OK, so now we spoke about the
kind of red flags on the surfacelevel.
Let's just say you have signed up for a coach that what are
some kind of key red flags that you would or concerns that you
would see like within the kind of fulfillment process?
So not just the shit that we seeon social media, but if you've
(14:49):
had experience with coaches in the past and you've kind of
within the first couple weeks, you're like, yeah, they're
saying it. What?
What have been those things? Because I know your first coach
was poo pants in in poo pants, putting it nicely.
So tell us about that. And when, when were you, at what
point were you like, I don't think this guy knows what he's
(15:11):
on about. I'm going to do it myself
instead. Oh God, there was one of the
first emails, terrible spelling and punctuation.
And even then I was like, again,it doesn't really mean you're a
bad coach, but I think, gosh, don't grasp English yet.
Then they were struggling, but it was.
I can't remember if this was a case with him specifically, but
(15:32):
one of the main ones that I see with coaches is when again, we
just spoke about context. When there's no discussion about
any personal circumstances, any,any, you know, preferences that
the client has, any in injuries that, that the client has.
It's just like, oh, you've signed up, here's your plan.
(15:52):
Oh, hold on. It's like you don't know
anything about me yet. How have you devised this, this
perfect plan for me when there, there's there's no information
being given at all. Maybe you know my age and maybe
you know I'm a bloke and I wouldsay to that it's it same old.
You haven't even asked me how many days a week I want to
train. You've just given me the plan.
For your, your experience, like what you're doing right now?
(16:14):
Yeah, You know what you're willing to do?
Yeah, kind of thing. Yeah, go on.
It's a classic. one-size-fits-all, that is.
Yeah. Look, on the other end.
This worked for me. There you go.
Yeah, a full piece of paper. Yeah.
And if there's one bit of advicethat I could give in coaching is
there is no one-size-fits-all like you cannot get.
If there was a one-size-fits-all, the problem
would be so easy to solve. Yeah, you could just put the one
(16:36):
plan out there. Boom, solve all of it.
Done. Easy.
The it's funny you mentioned about the spelling and grammar
because like, that's a pet peeveof mine.
Where I don't know if I just pace enough.
Even, but like, I, I think I gotit from my, I think I got it
from my dad because he used to have to go through like hundreds
of interviews for people applying for the police.
(16:57):
And so, and he, and it was really funny because he was
like, here's what we do first when we get all the
applications. This was back when like they
were posted in wasn't, wasn't online.
He goes, we take half of them and we put them in the bin and
he goes because we don't have time to go through all of them.
So he goes, you just split the deck.
You've got a 50% chance that we're even going to look at it.
And I was like, oh, that's, that's grim, That's rough.
And you know, people their wholelives just want to be a police
(17:18):
officer just like, oh, sorry. But then he would go through and
he's like, if I see any grammar issues or spelling errors
immediately in the bin because I'm looking for any reason to
disqualify them. And also he was like, if they're
not willing to proofread their resume or CV to the point that
there's no spelling errors, I don't want to work with them
anyway. And like that, that might sound
(17:40):
really harsh, but like I, it kind of stuck with me because
then if I, if I'm getting emailsfrom people or messages from
people and there's, you know, even on social media and people
like put posts and they spell something wrong.
I'm like, what you said was great.
And as soon as you spell this with like 2 OS instead of one or
something, I think a fucking idiot.
And it's just like it takes one second to proofread and, and QA
(18:03):
it. And and again, like that's not
someone might be really intelligent, they might be
dyslexic and and they don't havesomeone QA.
ING it all these red flags, we're saying is there might be
occasions. Of course they are.
This is a really like, I'm not going to say if you can't spell,
then you're an idiot. But my my assumption is is like
you didn't QA that. And because I don't have any
other context, so I'm going to make that assumption So that
(18:26):
that is a that is a big one for me.
Like it is, it is a red flag. Another one, when you tell like
the client to ask like a question to the coach and if
they can't answer why why they're doing something, that's
a massive red flag. Like I always say, if I can't
justify why I'm doing something,then you shouldn't be.
A and you see that a lot My my first if I just run through what
(18:46):
my put your hand back. OK, if I had to run through what
my experience like with that first coach because there was
there was red flag after red flag.
So the first one he sent me his he sent me the training program
and he was like, this is my training program.
It works really quick and I was like, oh, like, so I don't want
yours. Yeah, can I can I have mine.
(19:08):
The diet came through and I saw.My gym shorts as well, they work
great for me. And it was like when it, I
didn't want a coach, but I had people telling me like, because
I was doing a show, they're like, no, you need one.
And man, I was like, I think I can do it myself.
But I was being told and I was like, all right, fine.
And everyone around me seemed tohave one.
So I was like, OK, let's go. And then he sent me the diet
(19:29):
through and I was like working out the macros from the diet.
And I was on like I was on like 350 grams of protein or
something. And in, in my head, I was like,
well, I, I didn't, I couldn't justify that much protein for
the size that I was. So I was like, well, let's just,
let's just have a have a chat with him.
And I was like, why have you putme on this much protein?
And he's just like, trust me, mate, Trust me.
(19:49):
Like, yeah, this, this works. And I'm like, oh, all right, OK.
So like you. So if you're not telling me why,
it's like, you probably don't know why.
Yeah. We got through very little
changes. But sometimes we don't make, if
someone's cooking on gas, there's no need.
I don't want changes for the sake of changes.
But there was no feedback on theplan.
It was very much just like, yeah, sound.
(20:10):
Yeah. Good.
Go again. Go again.
But then it got to six weeks outand he went cold on me and I was
like, oh God, he's gone. So now I'm getting closer and
closer and I'm emailing him like, mate, where's his feedback
come in. And then he was like, oh, I've
been in, I've been in the hospital with a chest infection.
We'll start carb, carb cycling now.
(20:32):
And he basically just took my carbs on three of the days and
half of them and just like so, so, and that was the only
adjustment he made the whole 12 weeks was that.
And it got to the point where hewent, you know what I went, do
you mind? Because I didn't, I wasn't
really thinking, I don't know, I, I take the time.
I was like, can I just have my money back?
I was like, you've literally sent me one e-mail with a meal
(20:53):
plan and a training program on it.
Your training program spelt wrong and then no other
adjustments have been made. And then you just halved my
carbs in some meals and you haven't been able to answer any
of my questions. And you went two weeks without,
without a check in. And he just sent me some spiel
about, oh, mate, I've been, you know, this is how I pay the
bills and stuff. That's another.
(21:16):
And I was just like about me. Yeah.
And I was like, fine, whatever, mate, keep it.
And I, I ran the last four weeks, I think it was myself.
But then when I placed in the show, hey, you had a you had a
post out of it though, didn't he?
Yeah, me. I ran the last four weeks on my
own. Jesus, just an.
Asshole. Yeah, I think the the the on
boarding. First and last that was.
Yeah, first and last coach. There you go.
(21:38):
The the on boarding process is like, or it's almost like an
interview where, because I wouldsay another thing that I would
look for is a coach that just takes anyone because everyone,
everyone has a not like a, a niche per SE, but they, there
has to be a demographic that's out of there wheelhouse.
(21:59):
Like I'm, I'm pretty confident with most demographics, but if
someone was like, Hey, I'm, I'm competing in the Olympia.
Can you do my prep for me? I'd go mate, like I'm, I don't
think I'm, I'm not going to get you as dialed in as someone with
more experience at that level, especially with the drugs and
everything like that. Like that's not my Forte.
(22:19):
Equally, you know, if someone wanted to do an Iron Man, pretty
confident in my method, you know, carb carving up, you know,
during the events, things like that.
If someone was like, I'm trying to break the world record for an
Iron Man, I'm like, there's probably some better guys.
Well, all they do is that. And so there's like you're
you're good up to a certain point, but then it's like
(22:40):
there's guys that just do what you're doing for a living.
They don't work with anyone else.
And that's when you go like realspecialized.
I think when you've got someone that's like, say done one show
and now they're taking on clients and then they're just
taking on anyone and they're applying like a bodybuilding
diet to anyone. And it's, it's just like I, I'm
(23:00):
not a fan of that. But like going, going back to
like the onboarding process. Like we, like I'll openly say to
clients, like the initial plan that I'm going to give you is
based off this one conversation that we've had where, you know,
we've gone through equipment availability, what your goals
are, what your limitations are, what you're willing to do, what
you're not willing to do, what your experience level is, you
(23:23):
know, how many days a week you want to train, You know, if
you've tracked macros before, ifyou followed a meal plan before,
like if you have a tracker, likeall of these things, like we ask
and then we, we get them going with like an initial plan, but
I'll always say to them, like this is an initial plan based
off a 30 minute conversation or 30 minutes an hour conversation.
It's not going to be perfect. Like the whole point of this is
(23:45):
to just get you going so we can collect some information, I can
get some feedback from you and then we can tweak as we go.
So because if from that one conversation, I don't know one,
if you're full of shit or not, you could have told me a bunch
of stuff on that call and then in reality, you don't do any of
it. 2, I don't know how well yourecover from training.
I don't know what your actual strength levels are.
(24:06):
I don't know what you really enjoy or what you don't enjoy
from the program that I put together.
You know, I don't know how competent you are when it comes
to tracking or any of these things.
And so it's like we all like I joke and I say like, we're
taking like an educated piece ofshit and throwing it against the
wall. It's like we're going to see
what sticks and then we're goingto work with that.
But for someone to say like, yeah, you know, fill out this
(24:28):
questionnaire and I'll get you the perfect plan.
That's complete bullshit. Like you, you cannot do it
without real world data. Like some of the best coaches,
they'll say like, right, for this, the next two weeks, we're
just collecting data like, you know, for, especially for like
endurance athletes and stuff, They'll be like, right, first
two weeks is fitness testing. Like we're looking at like your
(24:50):
gate cycle, you know, your VO2, We're going to put you on a
walk, bike and get your FTP. You know, we're going to do all
of these tests. And it's like, I'm not going to
give you any plan. And then even then, when I give
you the initial plan, we're going to adjust it every single
week based on what you're telling.
Yeah. But so like the, the they're
like, right, you've signed up, here's your plan.
Or if there isn't even a conversation, I even if it was
(25:15):
like a questionnaire, unless youwere saying to someone like I'm
going to give you like quite a general like plan.
If you fill out this questionnaire and you're and
you're upfront about it, fine. But if you're like, yeah, custom
coaching, but you don't even have a single conversation with
that client on bollocks like this.
So describe it like a bit like, you know, like a sat now, like
you'll they'll put your startingpoint location to get you to
your destination where like a lot of people, they'll give you
(25:37):
the perfect plan the way you want to go, but they don't know
where you're starting. From you know.
That's the basically the way I'ddescribe it.
Yeah, So what would, if you weregoing to describe like the your
stereotypical bullshit coach, like the the path that it goes,
It's for me, it's like they something goes wrong in their
life and they decide to do a bodybuilding show.
(26:00):
Like I've had a nightmare with something, whether I've been
broken up with, whether I've been, I've lost my job, whether
I've dropped out of uni or whatever.
And they decide, right, I'm going to do a show.
So I'm going to do bodybuilding instead.
So I'm going to do a show and this is going to change my life.
So they go through the show and it's like, I'm, you know, I'm
loving it like that. Fitness has always been my life
(26:22):
and, and people are messaging meand I'm in, I'm, I'm here, here
to inspire the next generation. And it's like, God, you're going
for like the, the Midlands championships, like calm down.
And then, and then they get to the show.
They do the show. They place third out of fifth or
or or three out of five. They say it's a tough.
Line up, yeah, always a tough line up.
(26:43):
And then they go, big announcement coming.
And it's like, here we go, yes, let's let's have the big
announcement. Big announcement.
Online coaching has now begun. OK, great.
Taking on new clients. Only 5 though, I'm only taking
on five new clients. Bollocks.
If you can take on 50, you take 50.
And then they start taking clients on board and then they
start to sort of the the cracks start to show.
(27:06):
Because then they start to the, the post show binge kicks in,
then they have a kind of identity.
They have an yeah, they have an identity issue there because
they're now they've started coaching, but then all they want
to do is eat and they don't likehow they look, yet they're
trying to coach other people to feel good about how they look.
And they have this fucking massive moral dilemma.
Yeah. And and then they retire from,
(27:28):
from bodybuilding because they they and then they and then they
shit on bodybuilding saying, youknow, it's it's terrible.
You shouldn't, you shouldn't do it, but so grateful for the
experience that, that I've had, you know, and if anyone else
wants to do shows, DM me. I'll get you ready.
I'll get you ready for them the right way, you know, because
I've done it the wrong way. And the approach that they use,
so they get like a Gen. pop client in and the approach is
(27:51):
the exact same approach that they use for their prep.
So it'll be like, you know, you've got big Johns come in big
Johns, 260 lbs. You know doesn't exercise at all
at the moment. Used to gym back in the UNI
days, but outside of that he's done and his shoulder's a bit
messed up comes in right five days lifting a week, fasted
(28:13):
cardio in the mornings, CVT mealplan and heavy Subs like fake is
like the exact same the exact same plan that you.
I remember one guy from back home.
I remember a female came to me and this female is like pretty
close to Gen. pop competes in a combat sport.
(28:36):
So like is Gen. pop ish, but like just basically to drop
weight. But then like would like to get
to a certain weight class as well to compete in a sport.
So I used this coach in the past, bodybuilding coach meal
plan, very strict fasted cardio on T3 as well.
So it's like, hold on, hold on. You're, you're prescribing
medication to this female where you're, you're overdosing a
(29:00):
thyroid medication to stimulate a higher metabolic rate in order
to drop weight faster. But it's like what?
Like if you do that, you know ifyou overdose a thyroid
medication, the risk of like muscle loss as.
Well, Oh yeah, it burns for everything.
Yeah, it's just you, just me just melt and it's like and
obviously and that's it. So it's like, so now it's like
(29:22):
you're you. Basically what you did is you
put it on this diet plan, you maxed out her output, she
stalled, you didn't know what todo.
So you just thought, well, if I just stick her on this thyroid
Med, she's likely going to keep on dropping.
But then it's like, well, now you've got it to a metabolic
shit show where she's got no muscle and and you know, she'll
(29:44):
be on this meal plan for six months, hasn't learned how to
eat at all. Just knows that if I wake up
really early, do fasted cardio train another time that that day
and eat off this meal plan and an overdose thyroid medicine
that's literally the same as like have you tried crack?
Like if you if you if you dose up on a bit of crack, you lose
(30:04):
some weight. Yeah, Yeah, I know.
The like the coach that is afraid to say they don't know
and they'll, they'll try and have an answer or they'll,
they'll make like we spoke aboutlike what they'll make really
simple things sound really complicated and they'll use
fancy words. You know, we because we joke and
we talk about training and the whole thing now it's like
strength curves and it's and, and levers and stuff.
(30:26):
And, and you've got like meatheads talking about levers
and they've never studied bio mechanics.
You know, if you ask them to like, you know, talk about bones
and muscle insertions and stuff,it's like they're just going off
what they see on Instagram. But like the, whereas, you know,
even when we talk to our clientsand we might be referencing like
a strength curve, but we'll be like, it's harder at the top,
(30:49):
but it's easier at the bottom. But if you do this, it's the
other way around. So you kind of, you know, you're
training your bicep to, you know, get strong in the bottom
position and top position. They're like, makes sense.
Well, we don't have to talk about like vectors and you know,
lever arms and moment arms and stuff.
It's just like, again, like I get it, people are trying to get
follow insurance on social mediaand stuff.
But like a really good coach is someone that can use like
(31:13):
really, really simple cues in the gym or, you know, even with
nutrition or whatever, like prompts to get the result
without having to, you know, over explain or, or take like a
really complicated concept and just really dumb it down like I
think I would, I would. That's what a very good coach
does, yeah. If you can guess someone to do
(31:33):
something using as minimum wordsas possible and as simple as
possible, that's the best way. But what a lot of people think
is I want to try and make myselfsound so smart.
Yeah, you know, And that's what they do.
And they use all these fancy words and stuff.
Even talk like talking about bracing, like in the, in the gym
where people are like, Oh, you know, so like we want to, we
want to like you want your diaphragm to like compress and
do these things. And you know, the we, we want
(31:55):
the intra abdominal pressure andstuff.
And I'll let you be like, if I'mgoing to punch you in the
stomach right now, what would you do?
And they'll go, and I was like, do that like, and then it's and
like, that's it. And they're like, oh, makes
sense. It's like, take a big breath,
right? I'm going to punch you in the
stomach and they'll go. That's that's exactly what I
want you to do. Like when you brace and so it,
but it's just little things likethat where like even like before
I started. On do you know what I would do
(32:16):
if you asked that question strict Don't even give them the
chance that boys, if I put your stomach.
I'm going to punch you fucking won't.
But like, even before, before I ever started online coaching,
and I'm not saying you like you have to do it this way or
whatever. Like I had taken my training
pretty seriously for about six or seven years prior to that.
(32:40):
I had multiple coaches because II wanted to learn.
I I wanted to learn from them. Like, I literally just wanted to
learn as much as I could with different approaches to diet,
different approaches to training.
Yeah. It's like, God, when I when I
was bodybuilding, it was like Shelby stands, Ken, Skip Hill,
Justin Harris, Jordan Peters, you know, when he was back in
(33:02):
the day, John OS Hollywood. There's a John Otis.
You remember John Hollywood. John Hollywood, No.
What a great name. Oh, it's awesome.
If I have a son, I might call itJohn.
Hollywood he just he he vanished.
He did a did an Owen power. He just disappeared.
There was AI can't remember his Damien Leigh's he was a natural
pro God. There must there must have been
(33:25):
more Christian Chapman. He's class like favour out of
everyone. Andrew Berry, who I used
previously and then used recently in the wank, like nice
guy would just wank and like like I wanted to.
It wasn't for like because I waslooking for a secret.
The other thing now, because we are coaches, I'm looking for
like what's something that we could maybe employ that they do
(33:46):
really well with their clients. That's like just a really good
fulfillment thing that we could maybe improve on Nothing.
The the only person that I wouldsay is just like exceptional
where everything they do is Christian like he he is beyond
fast getting back to his clients.
Your 50th check in is the same detail and quality as the first
(34:10):
check in. You have an onboarding call and
you go through everything, tracks as much data as you need
to track, doesn't overcook. It simplifies everything the the
the like for for the client. Does macros, does meal plans,
does whatever the client needs, is very honest with them.
If he doesn't know, he'll say hedoesn't know.
(34:31):
Like that's not his area. Like if you said I want to do an
Iron Man, you're like, bro, I'm not the coach for you.
Like I you know, I do body composition, but like they're,
they're all massive green flags like that that I would see.
And that's the only one that's like ticked every box.
There's somewhere they might be really fast to respond, but the
response is shit. Or there wasn't an onboarding
(34:51):
call to start with, or the IT was the just trust me kind of
thing. Or is like the training program
is very generic and they didn't really give you any adjustments.
It was like, oh, can I do this? They're like, yeah, like there's
no adjustment of it for like they wouldn't go, oh, like why
do you want to do that? Or like, let's talk about that.
So here's why I want you doing it this way.
It was just like, yeah, whatever.
(35:13):
So they all, they all kind of had their pitfalls.
To be fair, it's it's probably giving you a really good because
you're you're the one who's pretty much built the coaching
staff and it's given you a good insight into.
What's good and what's not? Because again, I have, I've,
I've had one coach and he was terrible.
So I know what a terrible 1 is like.
And then and then that's that. And he's like, so I'm, I'm
(35:35):
always quite in intrigued to be like, well, I wonder what
they're doing, but. You've obviously experienced a
lot more that's that's, that's it.
Like it's it's worth doing and like.
Surprising as well man. Like people, I think more of the
people that you think are going to be good, often under deliver.
And some of the people who you think, are they really going to
do that much? And then you're, oh, they
(35:56):
actually give a lot because it'slike if you've got someone who's
pumping their life and sold intosocial media, how much time are
they spending coaching? Yeah, realistically, or if
someone is not that active on social media because they're
spending a bit more time with their clients and actually
coaching them, there's a. There's another guy called, I
don't know his last name becausehis Instagram is like Matt
Physique Collective and I know he used to work with Christian
(36:17):
and Joe Jeffries with their company.
And I've, I've never, I haven't worked with Matt.
I don't know him personally, butI've I've, he puts out good in
information, but I I really likehim because one, he's just so
transparent with like what like a day in their life actually is.
And he put up like, here's a typical day and it's like up at
5:30, like hydrate, go for a walk.
(36:41):
I have a coffee. And then he's in front of his
computer for the next 7 hours. And then he's like, I'll have a
lunch break, go for a little stroll back to work, like like
check insurance in the morning, consults in the afternoon, go to
the gym. And he's like, and then I've got
an hour before I go to bed with the missus and I'm just like,
that's what an online coach is like.
In my day. It's it's like that's what
(37:01):
you're doing. And and so when you've got like
the guys like, you know, postingcontent when they're on the
phone in Bali being like, oh, DMfor coaching or whatever, it's
like, you know, fucking coach. Yeah.
Like it's like the, the really good guys are quite pasty
because they just live inside their house.
Like they are sat in front of their computers 12 hours a day
and they and, and when they're not doing that, they're on their
(37:22):
phones responding to clients. Like it, it's like a full on
yeah, like and that's, and that's what they, that's what
they do. Yeah, when it's like, oh, day in
the life of a coat and it's likewake up.
I do my meditation in the morning, then I then I journal,
then I go on my laptop for 9 minutes and then I go off out to
the gym and then I'm at the gym and then they're like making
this fancy breakfast and it's like that.
(37:43):
There's no coaching going. On here, that's a red flag that
is. Yeah, I literally, I, I wake up
and I, and I probably shouldn't do this.
I'll wake up and I'll check my slack in bed because obviously
because the time difference, youknow, a bunch of messages come
through. I respond to all of those ready
for when those people wake up. Then I'd start my day and have a
coffee. And then I look at my calendar
(38:05):
of like, what have I got going on today?
What calls have I got? And then if anything needs to
get done that morning, it will get done.
Like check insurance, blah, blah, blah, Go to the gym.
And then the afternoon is just responding to coaches,
responding to clients, having calls, have dinner, maybe go for
a walk if it's still light outside, probably not go bed.
And that's it. That's literally it.
(38:28):
And so even though we have the amazing luxury of going out to
Scottsdale and doing these events, and, you know, we've
been very fortunate to be able to travel and stuff, like it's
probably 5% of our year, like ofour time.
Yeah. Like the rest of it is like half
the time. If we're like, oh, should we go
do this? One of us has got meetings at
(38:48):
that time, Yeah, we can't do it.Like the people who were like in
Bali saying like they're living the dream, making it out to like
where it actually ain't. They probably haven't got any
clients, you know? And they're the ones saying I'm
only taking on five now because my bucks are full.
Five spots. 5 spots remaining. Yeah, the next day, three spots
remaining. Yeah, Balik, there's still 5.
And then and then and then. It's like two spots remaining
and then two weeks later 5 spotsremaining and then it just like
(39:12):
hit repeat and then three monthslater it's like 10 spots
remaining. And.
It's like Eddie one, Eddie one, like, please.
Yeah. I'm doing a special office, it's
my birthday next week, 15 spots open.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not, as you know, people
who try and paint that picture that it's like the glorious life
when again, like my day is very similar.
(39:33):
To I love it, but I like, I love.
I love a routine. But I Love Actually coaching.
I like do you? You don't post a day in the life
on social media because. Who cares?
It would literally just be me like this.
Yeah, like on like just in frontof my laptop, like all all day
one. Really strong cough, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, You're like, Jess, can I have can I have some
dinner, please? And I'm like, no, I got, I got a
(39:56):
call in two yeah. And then back-to-back to it.
Like that's literally what it is.
But like, but I I love it. I love it.
Like I genuinely love it. But like, that's if you if you
really want to get good at coaching, like that's, that's
what they do. And so I I I would if if someone
is. Again, I, I totally understand
people need to do it for marketing and stuff.
(40:16):
And we're, we're very, very different because, you know, we
have a marketing department, we have a sales department, we have
a coaching department. This, you know, we're talking
about the the one man bands where like if you've got a one
man band and they're posting 10 times a day on social media,
they're probably not coaching that much.
If. You know, once it expands, maybe
(40:37):
they do have a marketing guy andthey, you know, they film
content and then they do coaching and stuff.
But like for most of the guys that are online coaches, they
are one man bands like they're we're not.
There's there's a couple companies that have several
coaches, but there isn't many that are doing it properly.
You look at some coaches like you're prepping for a show,
which is pretty time consuming already.
(40:59):
Then you'll post on social mediatwice a day, filming reels and
things, which takes up time. Then you're posting about going
away and travelling to here. It's like, I don't know where I
I can't squeeze this coaching time in I.
Suppose you could do it if you're going to take two weeks
to get back to someone via e-mail.
Obviously we get back to people within 24 hours Max.
(41:19):
See the other one which like this this does.
I wouldn't, I wouldn't say this is like a red flag, but like it
does annoy me a little bit when if a coach is travelling or
something, they'll post on theirInstagram story.
That will be like clients that check in on Monday, like please
bear with I'm travelling, like I'll respond on Tuesday.
I'm like, what if they don't have Instagram like or like, if
(41:44):
you're doing that as like a secondary thing and you've
already messaged all of your clients individually, fine.
But if that's like your only notification to your clients,
I'm like, I'm not doing check insurance tomorrow.
I think that's fucking terrible.Like I've like my my standards
for not doing check insurance. I have to be like in the air in
(42:08):
which case I would have either responded to them already or do
them immediately as soon as I land.
And I would let that individual client know like month, like
weeks in advance, like if I, if I needed to, if I, if I could,
but like just the, oh, please bear with like I've had a long
day and I'm just like, fuck you.Like it's like I'm paying you
money like for a service like. I've had a long day, yeah.
(42:29):
So yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's gotta be the worst when they take you.
Like personally I can't respond,I'm a bit tired.
Yeah, just I've had a long. Weekend what?
Tired because you blasted? Legs, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I, I think like, like we're response time is another one
which I would gauge, you know, they should be able to respond
(42:50):
in 24 hours. Well, our top coach value speed
is king. Yeah, it's hard because you've
you haven't had a coach Ben. Oh, Ben's coached you.
Yeah, Even then, I would say I was just a second pair of eyes
because you pretty much did yourown prep.
It was more like, yeah, keep doing what you're doing.
You almost like work as a team. It was, it was really like the
(43:10):
last couple weeks. Like a terrible.
Experience. I must say why about a
Shakespearean. Like you then, it was, I think
it was just the last couple. Weeks.
It was time. Terrible.
Yeah, your head completely goes at the end of a prep.
Yeah. You just need someone to just be
like, just do do this, Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, God, don't I know that? I've been at the back end of a
prep that you'd set and get in everything I'm doing.
Yeah, Yeah. And it's like, it's, it's quite
(43:34):
hard sometimes to know what's out there.
It's like, because I only know again, since that, what was
that? That must have been 13 years ago
now. I probably had that, that, that
coaching, that coaching experience.
So it's like outside of that, I've only known my own really.
But then when you do get a glimpse into what's actually out
(43:55):
there, you're like, oh. It's not great.
There is like, well, again, because you get people to come
to you and they said, Oh yeah, Ihad a coach before and I'm like,
OK, how, how was that experience?
I I usually would ask and oh, you know, and you see some once
he got back to me a week later on my check in like mate, if
it's like if it's 24 hours later, I'm like, whoa, you
better, you better get this doneon dusty.
(44:16):
It's like a week later. It's pointless submitting it in
the first place. And he's like that if there is
some real shoddy. So if you are looking for a
coach, you know where to go. No, but it it's just be careful
the ones who might seem like they are good, there are some
red flags out there. You know, they got a mad
following like and they're posting loads on social media
(44:38):
and things. Realistically, how much coaching
are they doing? If they are the coach, sometimes
they might be just the front manof the band and there's coaches
behind them and you're paying for one of those coaches.
But it's normally in the market.And then because it's like join
us or join my team. It's not like, do you want to
work with me? Because then, yeah.
It's like John John's the the front, the front man of the
band, but you don't coach in anyone.
(44:58):
It's it's it's us who managed the coaching.
But even then he did like for a long, long time he coached and
it was, it was only until we really started growing.
It was like, right, I can now delegate this.
It's not worth my time. You can't pay me enough money.
Because one, I'm not passionate about it anymore.
I'm passionate about the marketing.
But also there's there's guys onthe team that are better than I
am at this thing. So now you can you can go with
(45:20):
them. But yeah, so yeah, I think that
I think we've covered quite a lot of things, things to look
for in terms of red flags, but. Smacked if it coaches around.
Yeah, just ask, ask questions like, yeah.
And if you know, and even then, if if someone's short with you
with those questions, there's your answer.
Whereas they, you know, they should be willing and open to
(45:41):
talk about their processes and what the coaching process looks
like, what they offer. And, you know, and then be
crystal clear on what it is thatyou want from a, from a coach.
And if it doesn't feel like theycan deliver that, then find,
find, find another one. Yeah, but awesome.
Thank you everyone for listeningand tuning in.
Be sure to like and subscribe oniTunes, Spotify, and YouTube and
(46:03):
we'll see you next time. If you love this show, please
like, share and leave us a five star review so that we can help
more people. I'm John Matson, reminding you
to always go get what's yours.
You've signed up. Here's your plan.
Hold on. It's like you don't know
anything about me yet. How have you devised this
perfect plan for me when there'sno information being given at
all? Maybe you know my age and maybe
you know I'm a bloke. Key.
Red flags that you would look atfrom an online coach that you're
just alarm bells go off and think I probably wouldn't trust.
This I got 1. The path that it goes, Something
(00:21):
goes wrong in their life and they decide to do a bodybuilding
show. I'm Ryan Stevens.
Doctor Taylor Waters, I'm Ben Oliver.
Welcome to the Superhuman show, Yeah?
So today we're going to talk about how to spot a bullshit
coach. So this I think with, with
(00:45):
Facebook, obviously people used it for marketing it initially,
but I think Instagram has reallybeen the like the melting pot
of, of on the online fitness trend influencer kind of thing.
And it we've, we've seen the pattern so many times where
someone either has their own personal transformation or they
(01:06):
do a bodybuilding show or a physique show.
They do it once with a coach, you know, they've got a coach
themselves and then they say, oh, you know, I'm now, I'm now
taking on clients and the, I think the issue with online
coaching, not so much personal training 'cause there there is a
barrier to entry for personal training.
(01:27):
Like there is certifications that you need to have in the UK
anyway to, to personal train at a gym legally.
I guess you know you there's obviously some trainers that
probably don't. Have any?
It's still a somewhat. It's low. 100% it's an extremely
low like I mean, you used to take the courses and I would see
the the students on the courses that would pass and I'm like
(01:49):
really I. Remember it was like a 9099.2%.
You did fail. You did fail.
I think I'm the only one who failed a few.
But really those courses, you'rejust paying for the certificate
just like, yeah, yeah, it's almost like a guaranteed pass.
And that's. Like a real so it's but that
nought .8 probably passed away during the course, so it's.
Like they just pulled out they just they decided to get a
(02:11):
mechanic apprenticeship instead.That's why as well you can see
like you know these people who do like 1 show and then they
take non clients instantly. For me that's like they think
it's A1 size fit or oh that planwill work for everyone.
Yeah, and then they'll take my clients.
I've done it once, so I know what I'm doing.
And yeah, yeah. So the issue of online coaching
is there, there is 0 barrier to entry.
There's no, there's no governingbody.
(02:32):
There's no, you know, no one coming around saying let's see
your credentials. Nope.
You can't promote yourself as a fitness coach.
So I, I think people, people, I,I, I think initially it was for
bodybuilders to make a bit of side money so they can afford
their steroid cycles for their preps.
And it was like, well, if I justget a handful of clients and
tell them to eat chicken and rice, then I can afford my next
(02:53):
prep. Hey.
Do I? Do I?
Do I? Yeah, that was that was my first
coach. Yeah, that was that was.
So I, I, I think like I would, Iwould say that that's a red flag
When we, I, I've seen the patentso many times where they do,
they do 1, one event or one transformation.
And then it's like here I can, you know, I've had loads, I've
(03:14):
had loads of people in my DMS asking me for advice and
coaching. So I've decided to.
To open my new one, Yeah, no. One in there.
Yeah, you. Should call it on sit 10 second
screenshot this. Show yeah, evidence.
Evidence, please. It's, you know, it's, it's like
the, you know, throw me your questions and then it's like
they're just they're asking the questions themselves.
Oh, great question myself. So I I think the that that's
(03:37):
like a common trend that we've seen.
But when we go into like, let's let's talk about like the key
red flags that you that you would look at from a an online
coach that you're just alarm bells go off and think, I
probably wouldn't trust this. Part I got one like the.
Smallest you were itching to talk him.
I could literally feel. I could feel him getting
anxious. Because I saw him this morning,
(03:57):
yeah, like, and I'm thinking when I scroll through and I'm
like, oh God. Like when you use like buzzwords
like detox or yeah, like get these results in like 30 days,
like talking absolutes and stuff, it's like.
Yeah, I think absolutes or a, a very specific time frame.
We spoke about this in the past where it's like, do this in 30
(04:17):
days, see this in 14 days when there's so many variables that
go into that, that I, I don't, I, I don't like it at all.
Yeah, this, this is the coachinghead on, isn't it?
Because from a coaching standpoint that's not good.
But then sometimes the coaches also play in the role of the
marketer. And then from a sales
(04:39):
standpoint, that's what I catch,isn't it?
Like if if you just spoke coaching lingo and tried to sell
yourself, you, you wouldn't, youwouldn't tell eyes to a blind
man. But it's like, but it's, I think
if you, you, you need to put that out there to at least get
the attention 1st and then transition.
So sometimes I get it. I wouldn't like blank that out
(05:00):
every time, but a lot, a lot of the time it is not.
It's just the. I I think it's, it's just the
verbiage where like if they said, you know, some clients
have lost up to X amount in thistime frame, that might not be a
lie. And so, but when, when it's like
guaranteed this in, in this timeframe, I'm just I, I totally
(05:24):
understand that it's a form of market and I just don't
personally like that style of marketing at all.
Yeah. They won't say it the way you
said it though because it doesn't attract people.
Yeah, Yeah, yeah. That that's why I'm not a
marketer, yeah. Pay X amount and you might get
it. Yeah, I don't want might because
this guy's promising it around the corner.
Yeah. And that's it though.
There'll be like 30 lbs in 30 days or whatever it may be.
But like, do you know, whatever strategy that they are saying
(05:45):
they're going to use, they thinkthat's going to work for
absolutely every single person. So again, it comes down to like
the one-size-fits-all, you know?Yeah, I have another buzzword as
well. Which really?
Pissed. Go on then, go on, Cliff.
Biohack. Bio Biohack.
Oh, bio, like almost like you'vegot like a a secret.
Yeah, you know. I, I think again, it, it's, it's
not like, I think the, the, the word, like just it, it
(06:10):
presupposes what they're about to say next, which is normally
some bullshit. Yeah.
Like in, in terms of I'm going to make this easier than
everyone else on the planet because I've found a secret.
And again, that would be a red flag to me because there are no
secrets to it. There's nothing's.
(06:30):
And equally, you really think, you know, this 21 year old guy
from Australia who's just got his level 2 PT has discovered
this ground breaking thing before.
All the scientists that have been studying this for, you
know, God knows how long that PhDs in their field, you know,
lecturers at university. And it's like, Nah, Nah, just
(06:52):
Stevie down the gym has just discovered this one way to hack
your metabolism. 22 year old yeah, so.
And that's it though that you know the science behind it.
You've got some guys that's not experience, they're going to
fall for that straight away. You've got like other guys
who'll like promote like a supplement saying like this will
cure everything like this is thecore solution to all your
problems like some little tablet.
How many people like fall for different variations of that?
(07:14):
That's another red flag do. You know what, one of one of the
ones that I always think about is when, when all the coach does
is post photos of themselves doing something like as a, as a
coach, it's almost like a, a portfolio of clients in that you
have a, you know, I know some people don't train for the
(07:36):
physical transformation. That's generally what we we
promote and that's what we cover.
But it's like some people might just want to get stronger.
Some people might just want to get fitter.
But in general our, our angle ismore around the body
transformation. So what portfolio of body
transformations do you have? Like if you're just rigged
yourself and it's like, well, that's not evidence that you
(07:57):
know how to coach people. That's evidence that you can get
yourself in good shape. And it's like that's all you see
through it just like myself, topless myself, topless myself.
And I'm like that again, some people might fall for that, but
to me I'm like, that doesn't tell me anything about because I
know some really stupid, UN uneducated people who don't
(08:19):
really know what they're doing. And they're actually in pretty
good shape. Like they, their, their genetics
are pretty good. They respond pretty well to
anabolics and they're not scaredof a needle.
And it's like, oh, and they now they look, they look pretty
sharp. So it's like, Oh well, now
suddenly if I just post photos with my Rigar, people will think
I know what I'm doing when it's like, well, how are you going to
cater that to someone who doesn't respond very well to
(08:41):
metabolics and doesn't want to stick a needle in their ass?
I. I quite like seeing like I I
would view it as a green flag ifyou not only see like great
before and afters like you obviously because you want to
use social media as your highlight reel.
So you're going to post your best transformations that you've
got with clients. But I do like the occasional one
thrown in there that's like a bit mediocre.
(09:03):
Like, well, like the after picture is like, yes, you know,
he's still got a bit of work to do.
But like, it's, that's, that's probably typical of what I would
see from an average person that to me that I would view that as
like this, this guy is probably more honest than dishonest
because he's, he's posting the middle of the pack as well.
Not just the, oh, here's the five clients out of 200 that
(09:25):
have just responded really well to the one diet that I give all
my clients. It's I've got, you know, the top
10%, which look phenomenal. I've got a, a big bag in the
middle where they look pretty good, but, you know, not blessed
with good genetics, not the mostconsistent with their plan, but
still got pretty good results. I quite like that because it's
just more real. But again, like from a marketing
(09:47):
standpoint, if you, if you're paying for ads or something,
it's like, are you going to use these bang average
transformations to like to sell yourself?
Obviously not. So most people will just use
like the cream in the crop when.They yeah.
And and you know, like we've seen it in, in super as well.
There's there's that top percentwhich are just this despite
(10:07):
their start point being out of shape, they have very, very good
genetics where, where and they just haven't taken advantage of
them because they haven't reallytrained properly.
They haven't dieted properly. But then when they do, you know,
it's like they look like they'reon anabolics because they just
they're hyper responders. And then, but then you've got
guys in the middle, you know, which like I would say we kind
of sit in the middle a little bit as well in between.
(10:29):
We've just done it for so long. And so because, because a lot of
times the, the really, really genetically they wouldn't be
signing up for a program anyway.They're just in shape.
And so you're already like taking out the, the, you know,
the top .5%, but but then it's, it's getting someone with bang
average genetics in great shape.Like I get really impressed with
(10:51):
like I saw this. I think I said this to one of
our other coaches the other day.It was a video of Phil Heath.
So Phil, Phil Heath is like 7 time Mr. Olympia, for those that
don't know, just freak of naturelooked like he had been
bodybuilding for years when he just played basketball and he
was on, he posted on his Instagram and it was like, try
out this exercise. Like it requires good
(11:13):
coordination. And it's, it's basically like he
starts in the middle, like a, like an Arnie press and then one
arm goes up and then one arm goes down and then he goes back
to the middle and then he alternates it.
And then you look at the comments and everyone's like,
come on, Phil, like, what are you doing?
And he, and then it was, it's like, you know, how many
Olympias did this get you 0? And it was, it was just complete
(11:34):
nonsense. And but then people will look at
it and go, Oh, I'm going to givethat a shot just because,
because he's doing it. And it's just you, you see that
all the time where people are. I would probably throw that in
my red flag box with like, here's the one exercise that
you're not currently doing. And it's some quirky bullshit
(11:54):
thing that just doesn't make sense where it's not overloading
anything in particular. It might be, it might have like
a bit of a balancing element in or you might have to do a weird
kind of setup that looks novel in the gym.
But that's exactly the word. Like it's novel.
And so people are like, that looks more fun than just doing a
bench press. And then, so then and then
you've got guys that like go in on that as like the quirky
(12:17):
exercise guy. Then you look at their training
for the last 20 years and it's like, you didn't do any of this.
You didn't do any of this to build that muscle.
Yeah, it's like now you're just hanging on to your rig doing
this quirky stuff. But.
I like, I like coaches who bringcontext in.
So like again, like the like youwere saying, like a lot, a lot
of the reels and stuff you see out there now are like this is
(12:38):
the one reason why you haven't got big arms.
And it's like, what do you got no context here?
I might have no arms. Like you don't.
It's like they they just, it's, but it's like this is the thing
that they're trying to get to hook people.
When it's like some coaches, they'll go and say like, if you
are this type of person who struggles with this, then this
is the solution. So it's okay.
(12:58):
Now at least you're targeting this a bit more.
So you're looking at a specific problem and given a solution to
a rather than like everyone who's got small arms.
This is why you got it. And it's like we, you know,
context is king. We always say like within a,
within a coaching setting, we need context in order to give
good information. And on the, on the office hours,
how often do we hear it depends because it depends on the
(13:20):
context. And so when it's just, it's hard
because it's always blue in the line between coaching and
marketing and they, they have slightly different angles on it.
They're almost polar opposite. It's marketing tells you what
you want to hear and coaching tells you what you need to hear.
So you know, it is, it is tough,but that's one thing that
whenever I see it is like this is what you need if you've got
(13:42):
small arms. And what is it?
I mean, it's always naff. It's always something that's
ruckus. So I think the last thing I saw
was like, like, like these are the 10 leg exercises that you
need to do to get Jack legs or whatever it was like that is
like, you probably don't need todo that.
Yeah, you. Know so they just.
I mean, because we, I mean, we did a whole episode on leg
training and here's what we would do.
(14:02):
But I think there was a lot of context thrown into it as well.
Whereas like, you know, if you don't have any injuries, like if
you have access to this stuff, if you're competent in the gym,
then then do these things like or like try these things and you
might get some like I like, likeprobably likely less likely
versus you will do this. It's like, well, there's no
(14:25):
guarantee, but it's likely goingto happen.
Yeah. So OK, so now we spoke about the
kind of red flags on the surfacelevel.
Let's just say you have signed up for a coach that what are
some kind of key red flags that you would or concerns that you
would see like within the kind of fulfillment process?
So not just the shit that we seeon social media, but if you've
(14:49):
had experience with coaches in the past and you've kind of
within the first couple weeks, you're like, yeah, they're
saying it. What?
What have been those things? Because I know your first coach
was poo pants in in poo pants, putting it nicely.
So tell us about that. And when, when were you, at what
point were you like, I don't think this guy knows what he's
(15:11):
on about. I'm going to do it myself
instead. Oh God, there was one of the
first emails, terrible spelling and punctuation.
And even then I was like, again,it doesn't really mean you're a
bad coach, but I think, gosh, don't grasp English yet.
Then they were struggling, but it was.
I can't remember if this was a case with him specifically, but
(15:32):
one of the main ones that I see with coaches is when again, we
just spoke about context. When there's no discussion about
any personal circumstances, any,any, you know, preferences that
the client has, any in injuries that, that the client has.
It's just like, oh, you've signed up, here's your plan.
(15:52):
Oh, hold on. It's like you don't know
anything about me yet. How have you devised this, this
perfect plan for me when there, there's there's no information
being given at all. Maybe you know my age and maybe
you know I'm a bloke and I wouldsay to that it's it same old.
You haven't even asked me how many days a week I want to
train. You've just given me the plan.
For your, your experience, like what you're doing right now?
(16:14):
Yeah, You know what you're willing to do?
Yeah, kind of thing. Yeah, go on.
It's a classic. one-size-fits-all, that is.
Yeah. Look, on the other end.
This worked for me. There you go.
Yeah, a full piece of paper. Yeah.
And if there's one bit of advicethat I could give in coaching is
there is no one-size-fits-all like you cannot get.
If there was a one-size-fits-all, the problem
would be so easy to solve. Yeah, you could just put the one
(16:36):
plan out there. Boom, solve all of it.
Done. Easy.
The it's funny you mentioned about the spelling and grammar
because like, that's a pet peeveof mine.
Where I don't know if I just pace enough.
Even, but like, I, I think I gotit from my, I think I got it
from my dad because he used to have to go through like hundreds
of interviews for people applying for the police.
(16:57):
And so, and he, and it was really funny because he was
like, here's what we do first when we get all the
applications. This was back when like they
were posted in wasn't, wasn't online.
He goes, we take half of them and we put them in the bin and
he goes because we don't have time to go through all of them.
So he goes, you just split the deck.
You've got a 50% chance that we're even going to look at it.
And I was like, oh, that's, that's grim, That's rough.
And you know, people their wholelives just want to be a police
(17:18):
officer just like, oh, sorry. But then he would go through and
he's like, if I see any grammar issues or spelling errors
immediately in the bin because I'm looking for any reason to
disqualify them. And also he was like, if they're
not willing to proofread their resume or CV to the point that
there's no spelling errors, I don't want to work with them
anyway. And like that, that might sound
(17:40):
really harsh, but like I, it kind of stuck with me because
then if I, if I'm getting emailsfrom people or messages from
people and there's, you know, even on social media and people
like put posts and they spell something wrong.
I'm like, what you said was great.
And as soon as you spell this with like 2 OS instead of one or
something, I think a fucking idiot.
And it's just like it takes one second to proofread and, and QA
(18:03):
it. And and again, like that's not
someone might be really intelligent, they might be
dyslexic and and they don't havesomeone QA.
ING it all these red flags, we're saying is there might be
occasions. Of course they are.
This is a really like, I'm not going to say if you can't spell,
then you're an idiot. But my my assumption is is like
you didn't QA that. And because I don't have any
other context, so I'm going to make that assumption So that
(18:26):
that is a that is a big one for me.
Like it is, it is a red flag. Another one, when you tell like
the client to ask like a question to the coach and if
they can't answer why why they're doing something, that's
a massive red flag. Like I always say, if I can't
justify why I'm doing something,then you shouldn't be.
A and you see that a lot My my first if I just run through what
(18:46):
my put your hand back. OK, if I had to run through what
my experience like with that first coach because there was
there was red flag after red flag.
So the first one he sent me his he sent me the training program
and he was like, this is my training program.
It works really quick and I was like, oh, like, so I don't want
yours. Yeah, can I can I have mine.
(19:08):
The diet came through and I saw.My gym shorts as well, they work
great for me. And it was like when it, I
didn't want a coach, but I had people telling me like, because
I was doing a show, they're like, no, you need one.
And man, I was like, I think I can do it myself.
But I was being told and I was like, all right, fine.
And everyone around me seemed tohave one.
So I was like, OK, let's go. And then he sent me the diet
(19:29):
through and I was like working out the macros from the diet.
And I was on like I was on like 350 grams of protein or
something. And in, in my head, I was like,
well, I, I didn't, I couldn't justify that much protein for
the size that I was. So I was like, well, let's just,
let's just have a have a chat with him.
And I was like, why have you putme on this much protein?
And he's just like, trust me, mate, Trust me.
(19:49):
Like, yeah, this, this works. And I'm like, oh, all right, OK.
So like you. So if you're not telling me why,
it's like, you probably don't know why.
Yeah. We got through very little
changes. But sometimes we don't make, if
someone's cooking on gas, there's no need.
I don't want changes for the sake of changes.
But there was no feedback on theplan.
It was very much just like, yeah, sound.
(20:10):
Yeah. Good.
Go again. Go again.
But then it got to six weeks outand he went cold on me and I was
like, oh God, he's gone. So now I'm getting closer and
closer and I'm emailing him like, mate, where's his feedback
come in. And then he was like, oh, I've
been in, I've been in the hospital with a chest infection.
We'll start carb, carb cycling now.
(20:32):
And he basically just took my carbs on three of the days and
half of them and just like so, so, and that was the only
adjustment he made the whole 12 weeks was that.
And it got to the point where hewent, you know what I went, do
you mind? Because I didn't, I wasn't
really thinking, I don't know, I, I take the time.
I was like, can I just have my money back?
I was like, you've literally sent me one e-mail with a meal
(20:53):
plan and a training program on it.
Your training program spelt wrong and then no other
adjustments have been made. And then you just halved my
carbs in some meals and you haven't been able to answer any
of my questions. And you went two weeks without,
without a check in. And he just sent me some spiel
about, oh, mate, I've been, you know, this is how I pay the
bills and stuff. That's another.
(21:16):
And I was just like about me. Yeah.
And I was like, fine, whatever, mate, keep it.
And I, I ran the last four weeks, I think it was myself.
But then when I placed in the show, hey, you had a you had a
post out of it though, didn't he?
Yeah, me. I ran the last four weeks on my
own. Jesus, just an.
Asshole. Yeah, I think the the the on
boarding. First and last that was.
Yeah, first and last coach. There you go.
(21:38):
The the on boarding process is like, or it's almost like an
interview where, because I wouldsay another thing that I would
look for is a coach that just takes anyone because everyone,
everyone has a not like a, a niche per SE, but they, there
has to be a demographic that's out of there wheelhouse.
(21:59):
Like I'm, I'm pretty confident with most demographics, but if
someone was like, Hey, I'm, I'm competing in the Olympia.
Can you do my prep for me? I'd go mate, like I'm, I don't
think I'm, I'm not going to get you as dialed in as someone with
more experience at that level, especially with the drugs and
everything like that. Like that's not my Forte.
(22:19):
Equally, you know, if someone wanted to do an Iron Man, pretty
confident in my method, you know, carb carving up, you know,
during the events, things like that.
If someone was like, I'm trying to break the world record for an
Iron Man, I'm like, there's probably some better guys.
Well, all they do is that. And so there's like you're
you're good up to a certain point, but then it's like
(22:40):
there's guys that just do what you're doing for a living.
They don't work with anyone else.
And that's when you go like realspecialized.
I think when you've got someone that's like, say done one show
and now they're taking on clients and then they're just
taking on anyone and they're applying like a bodybuilding
diet to anyone. And it's, it's just like I, I'm
(23:00):
not a fan of that. But like going, going back to
like the onboarding process. Like we, like I'll openly say to
clients, like the initial plan that I'm going to give you is
based off this one conversation that we've had where, you know,
we've gone through equipment availability, what your goals
are, what your limitations are, what you're willing to do, what
you're not willing to do, what your experience level is, you
(23:23):
know, how many days a week you want to train, You know, if
you've tracked macros before, ifyou followed a meal plan before,
like if you have a tracker, likeall of these things, like we ask
and then we, we get them going with like an initial plan, but
I'll always say to them, like this is an initial plan based
off a 30 minute conversation or 30 minutes an hour conversation.
It's not going to be perfect. Like the whole point of this is
(23:45):
to just get you going so we can collect some information, I can
get some feedback from you and then we can tweak as we go.
So because if from that one conversation, I don't know one,
if you're full of shit or not, you could have told me a bunch
of stuff on that call and then in reality, you don't do any of
it. 2, I don't know how well yourecover from training.
I don't know what your actual strength levels are.
(24:06):
I don't know what you really enjoy or what you don't enjoy
from the program that I put together.
You know, I don't know how competent you are when it comes
to tracking or any of these things.
And so it's like we all like I joke and I say like, we're
taking like an educated piece ofshit and throwing it against the
wall. It's like we're going to see
what sticks and then we're goingto work with that.
But for someone to say like, yeah, you know, fill out this
(24:28):
questionnaire and I'll get you the perfect plan.
That's complete bullshit. Like you, you cannot do it
without real world data. Like some of the best coaches,
they'll say like, right, for this, the next two weeks, we're
just collecting data like, you know, for, especially for like
endurance athletes and stuff, They'll be like, right, first
two weeks is fitness testing. Like we're looking at like your
(24:50):
gate cycle, you know, your VO2, We're going to put you on a
walk, bike and get your FTP. You know, we're going to do all
of these tests. And it's like, I'm not going to
give you any plan. And then even then, when I give
you the initial plan, we're going to adjust it every single
week based on what you're telling.
Yeah. But so like the, the they're
like, right, you've signed up, here's your plan.
Or if there isn't even a conversation, I even if it was
(25:15):
like a questionnaire, unless youwere saying to someone like I'm
going to give you like quite a general like plan.
If you fill out this questionnaire and you're and
you're upfront about it, fine. But if you're like, yeah, custom
coaching, but you don't even have a single conversation with
that client on bollocks like this.
So describe it like a bit like, you know, like a sat now, like
you'll they'll put your startingpoint location to get you to
your destination where like a lot of people, they'll give you
(25:37):
the perfect plan the way you want to go, but they don't know
where you're starting. From you know.
That's the basically the way I'ddescribe it.
Yeah, So what would, if you weregoing to describe like the your
stereotypical bullshit coach, like the the path that it goes,
It's for me, it's like they something goes wrong in their
life and they decide to do a bodybuilding show.
(26:00):
Like I've had a nightmare with something, whether I've been
broken up with, whether I've been, I've lost my job, whether
I've dropped out of uni or whatever.
And they decide, right, I'm going to do a show.
So I'm going to do bodybuilding instead.
So I'm going to do a show and this is going to change my life.
So they go through the show and it's like, I'm, you know, I'm
loving it like that. Fitness has always been my life
(26:22):
and, and people are messaging meand I'm in, I'm, I'm here, here
to inspire the next generation. And it's like, God, you're going
for like the, the Midlands championships, like calm down.
And then, and then they get to the show.
They do the show. They place third out of fifth or
or or three out of five. They say it's a tough.
Line up, yeah, always a tough line up.
(26:43):
And then they go, big announcement coming.
And it's like, here we go, yes, let's let's have the big
announcement. Big announcement.
Online coaching has now begun. OK, great.
Taking on new clients. Only 5 though, I'm only taking
on five new clients. Bollocks.
If you can take on 50, you take 50.
And then they start taking clients on board and then they
start to sort of the the cracks start to show.
(27:06):
Because then they start to the, the post show binge kicks in,
then they have a kind of identity.
They have an yeah, they have an identity issue there because
they're now they've started coaching, but then all they want
to do is eat and they don't likehow they look, yet they're
trying to coach other people to feel good about how they look.
And they have this fucking massive moral dilemma.
Yeah. And and then they retire from,
(27:28):
from bodybuilding because they they and then they and then they
shit on bodybuilding saying, youknow, it's it's terrible.
You shouldn't, you shouldn't do it, but so grateful for the
experience that, that I've had, you know, and if anyone else
wants to do shows, DM me. I'll get you ready.
I'll get you ready for them the right way, you know, because
I've done it the wrong way. And the approach that they use,
so they get like a Gen. pop client in and the approach is
(27:51):
the exact same approach that they use for their prep.
So it'll be like, you know, you've got big Johns come in big
Johns, 260 lbs. You know doesn't exercise at all
at the moment. Used to gym back in the UNI
days, but outside of that he's done and his shoulder's a bit
messed up comes in right five days lifting a week, fasted
(28:13):
cardio in the mornings, CVT mealplan and heavy Subs like fake is
like the exact same the exact same plan that you.
I remember one guy from back home.
I remember a female came to me and this female is like pretty
close to Gen. pop competes in a combat sport.
(28:36):
So like is Gen. pop ish, but like just basically to drop
weight. But then like would like to get
to a certain weight class as well to compete in a sport.
So I used this coach in the past, bodybuilding coach meal
plan, very strict fasted cardio on T3 as well.
So it's like, hold on, hold on. You're, you're prescribing
medication to this female where you're, you're overdosing a
(29:00):
thyroid medication to stimulate a higher metabolic rate in order
to drop weight faster. But it's like what?
Like if you do that, you know ifyou overdose a thyroid
medication, the risk of like muscle loss as.
Well, Oh yeah, it burns for everything.
Yeah, it's just you, just me just melt and it's like and
obviously and that's it. So it's like, so now it's like
(29:22):
you're you. Basically what you did is you
put it on this diet plan, you maxed out her output, she
stalled, you didn't know what todo.
So you just thought, well, if I just stick her on this thyroid
Med, she's likely going to keep on dropping.
But then it's like, well, now you've got it to a metabolic
shit show where she's got no muscle and and you know, she'll
(29:44):
be on this meal plan for six months, hasn't learned how to
eat at all. Just knows that if I wake up
really early, do fasted cardio train another time that that day
and eat off this meal plan and an overdose thyroid medicine
that's literally the same as like have you tried crack?
Like if you if you if you dose up on a bit of crack, you lose
(30:04):
some weight. Yeah, Yeah, I know.
The like the coach that is afraid to say they don't know
and they'll, they'll try and have an answer or they'll,
they'll make like we spoke aboutlike what they'll make really
simple things sound really complicated and they'll use
fancy words. You know, we because we joke and
we talk about training and the whole thing now it's like
strength curves and it's and, and levers and stuff.
(30:26):
And, and you've got like meatheads talking about levers
and they've never studied bio mechanics.
You know, if you ask them to like, you know, talk about bones
and muscle insertions and stuff,it's like they're just going off
what they see on Instagram. But like the, whereas, you know,
even when we talk to our clientsand we might be referencing like
a strength curve, but we'll be like, it's harder at the top,
(30:49):
but it's easier at the bottom. But if you do this, it's the
other way around. So you kind of, you know, you're
training your bicep to, you know, get strong in the bottom
position and top position. They're like, makes sense.
Well, we don't have to talk about like vectors and you know,
lever arms and moment arms and stuff.
It's just like, again, like I get it, people are trying to get
follow insurance on social mediaand stuff.
But like a really good coach is someone that can use like
(31:13):
really, really simple cues in the gym or, you know, even with
nutrition or whatever, like prompts to get the result
without having to, you know, over explain or, or take like a
really complicated concept and just really dumb it down like I
think I would, I would. That's what a very good coach
does, yeah. If you can guess someone to do
(31:33):
something using as minimum wordsas possible and as simple as
possible, that's the best way. But what a lot of people think
is I want to try and make myselfsound so smart.
Yeah, you know, And that's what they do.
And they use all these fancy words and stuff.
Even talk like talking about bracing, like in the, in the gym
where people are like, Oh, you know, so like we want to, we
want to like you want your diaphragm to like compress and
do these things. And you know, the we, we want
(31:55):
the intra abdominal pressure andstuff.
And I'll let you be like, if I'mgoing to punch you in the
stomach right now, what would you do?
And they'll go, and I was like, do that like, and then it's and
like, that's it. And they're like, oh, makes
sense. It's like, take a big breath,
right? I'm going to punch you in the
stomach and they'll go. That's that's exactly what I
want you to do. Like when you brace and so it,
but it's just little things likethat where like even like before
I started. On do you know what I would do
(32:16):
if you asked that question strict Don't even give them the
chance that boys, if I put your stomach.
I'm going to punch you fucking won't.
But like, even before, before I ever started online coaching,
and I'm not saying you like you have to do it this way or
whatever. Like I had taken my training
pretty seriously for about six or seven years prior to that.
(32:40):
I had multiple coaches because II wanted to learn.
I I wanted to learn from them. Like, I literally just wanted to
learn as much as I could with different approaches to diet,
different approaches to training.
Yeah. It's like, God, when I when I
was bodybuilding, it was like Shelby stands, Ken, Skip Hill,
Justin Harris, Jordan Peters, you know, when he was back in
(33:02):
the day, John OS Hollywood. There's a John Otis.
You remember John Hollywood. John Hollywood, No.
What a great name. Oh, it's awesome.
If I have a son, I might call itJohn.
Hollywood he just he he vanished.
He did a did an Owen power. He just disappeared.
There was AI can't remember his Damien Leigh's he was a natural
pro God. There must there must have been
(33:25):
more Christian Chapman. He's class like favour out of
everyone. Andrew Berry, who I used
previously and then used recently in the wank, like nice
guy would just wank and like like I wanted to.
It wasn't for like because I waslooking for a secret.
The other thing now, because we are coaches, I'm looking for
like what's something that we could maybe employ that they do
(33:46):
really well with their clients. That's like just a really good
fulfillment thing that we could maybe improve on Nothing.
The the only person that I wouldsay is just like exceptional
where everything they do is Christian like he he is beyond
fast getting back to his clients.
Your 50th check in is the same detail and quality as the first
(34:10):
check in. You have an onboarding call and
you go through everything, tracks as much data as you need
to track, doesn't overcook. It simplifies everything the the
the like for for the client. Does macros, does meal plans,
does whatever the client needs, is very honest with them.
If he doesn't know, he'll say hedoesn't know.
(34:31):
Like that's not his area. Like if you said I want to do an
Iron Man, you're like, bro, I'm not the coach for you.
Like I you know, I do body composition, but like they're,
they're all massive green flags like that that I would see.
And that's the only one that's like ticked every box.
There's somewhere they might be really fast to respond, but the
response is shit. Or there wasn't an onboarding
(34:51):
call to start with, or the IT was the just trust me kind of
thing. Or is like the training program
is very generic and they didn't really give you any adjustments.
It was like, oh, can I do this? They're like, yeah, like there's
no adjustment of it for like they wouldn't go, oh, like why
do you want to do that? Or like, let's talk about that.
So here's why I want you doing it this way.
It was just like, yeah, whatever.
(35:13):
So they all, they all kind of had their pitfalls.
To be fair, it's it's probably giving you a really good because
you're you're the one who's pretty much built the coaching
staff and it's given you a good insight into.
What's good and what's not? Because again, I have, I've,
I've had one coach and he was terrible.
So I know what a terrible 1 is like.
And then and then that's that. And he's like, so I'm, I'm
(35:35):
always quite in intrigued to be like, well, I wonder what
they're doing, but. You've obviously experienced a
lot more that's that's, that's it.
Like it's it's worth doing and like.
Surprising as well man. Like people, I think more of the
people that you think are going to be good, often under deliver.
And some of the people who you think, are they really going to
do that much? And then you're, oh, they
(35:56):
actually give a lot because it'slike if you've got someone who's
pumping their life and sold intosocial media, how much time are
they spending coaching? Yeah, realistically, or if
someone is not that active on social media because they're
spending a bit more time with their clients and actually
coaching them, there's a. There's another guy called, I
don't know his last name becausehis Instagram is like Matt
Physique Collective and I know he used to work with Christian
(36:17):
and Joe Jeffries with their company.
And I've, I've never, I haven't worked with Matt.
I don't know him personally, butI've I've, he puts out good in
information, but I I really likehim because one, he's just so
transparent with like what like a day in their life actually is.
And he put up like, here's a typical day and it's like up at
5:30, like hydrate, go for a walk.
(36:41):
I have a coffee. And then he's in front of his
computer for the next 7 hours. And then he's like, I'll have a
lunch break, go for a little stroll back to work, like like
check insurance in the morning, consults in the afternoon, go to
the gym. And he's like, and then I've got
an hour before I go to bed with the missus and I'm just like,
that's what an online coach is like.
In my day. It's it's like that's what
(37:01):
you're doing. And and so when you've got like
the guys like, you know, postingcontent when they're on the
phone in Bali being like, oh, DMfor coaching or whatever, it's
like, you know, fucking coach. Yeah.
Like it's like the, the really good guys are quite pasty
because they just live inside their house.
Like they are sat in front of their computers 12 hours a day
and they and, and when they're not doing that, they're on their
(37:22):
phones responding to clients. Like it, it's like a full on
yeah, like and that's, and that's what they, that's what
they do. Yeah, when it's like, oh, day in
the life of a coat and it's likewake up.
I do my meditation in the morning, then I then I journal,
then I go on my laptop for 9 minutes and then I go off out to
the gym and then I'm at the gym and then they're like making
this fancy breakfast and it's like that.
(37:43):
There's no coaching going. On here, that's a red flag that
is. Yeah, I literally, I, I wake up
and I, and I probably shouldn't do this.
I'll wake up and I'll check my slack in bed because obviously
because the time difference, youknow, a bunch of messages come
through. I respond to all of those ready
for when those people wake up. Then I'd start my day and have a
coffee. And then I look at my calendar
(38:05):
of like, what have I got going on today?
What calls have I got? And then if anything needs to
get done that morning, it will get done.
Like check insurance, blah, blah, blah, Go to the gym.
And then the afternoon is just responding to coaches,
responding to clients, having calls, have dinner, maybe go for
a walk if it's still light outside, probably not go bed.
And that's it. That's literally it.
(38:28):
And so even though we have the amazing luxury of going out to
Scottsdale and doing these events, and, you know, we've
been very fortunate to be able to travel and stuff, like it's
probably 5% of our year, like ofour time.
Yeah. Like the rest of it is like half
the time. If we're like, oh, should we go
do this? One of us has got meetings at
(38:48):
that time, Yeah, we can't do it.Like the people who were like in
Bali saying like they're living the dream, making it out to like
where it actually ain't. They probably haven't got any
clients, you know? And they're the ones saying I'm
only taking on five now because my bucks are full.
Five spots. 5 spots remaining. Yeah, the next day, three spots
remaining. Yeah, Balik, there's still 5.
And then and then and then. It's like two spots remaining
and then two weeks later 5 spotsremaining and then it just like
(39:12):
hit repeat and then three monthslater it's like 10 spots
remaining. And.
It's like Eddie one, Eddie one, like, please.
Yeah. I'm doing a special office, it's
my birthday next week, 15 spots open.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not, as you know, people
who try and paint that picture that it's like the glorious life
when again, like my day is very similar.
(39:33):
To I love it, but I like, I love.
I love a routine. But I Love Actually coaching.
I like do you? You don't post a day in the life
on social media because. Who cares?
It would literally just be me like this.
Yeah, like on like just in frontof my laptop, like all all day
one. Really strong cough, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, You're like, Jess, can I have can I have some
dinner, please? And I'm like, no, I got, I got a
(39:56):
call in two yeah. And then back-to-back to it.
Like that's literally what it is.
But like, but I I love it. I love it.
Like I genuinely love it. But like, that's if you if you
really want to get good at coaching, like that's, that's
what they do. And so I I I would if if someone
is. Again, I, I totally understand
people need to do it for marketing and stuff.
(40:16):
And we're, we're very, very different because, you know, we
have a marketing department, we have a sales department, we have
a coaching department. This, you know, we're talking
about the the one man bands where like if you've got a one
man band and they're posting 10 times a day on social media,
they're probably not coaching that much.
If. You know, once it expands, maybe
(40:37):
they do have a marketing guy andthey, you know, they film
content and then they do coaching and stuff.
But like for most of the guys that are online coaches, they
are one man bands like they're we're not.
There's there's a couple companies that have several
coaches, but there isn't many that are doing it properly.
You look at some coaches like you're prepping for a show,
which is pretty time consuming already.
(40:59):
Then you'll post on social mediatwice a day, filming reels and
things, which takes up time. Then you're posting about going
away and travelling to here. It's like, I don't know where I
I can't squeeze this coaching time in I.
Suppose you could do it if you're going to take two weeks
to get back to someone via e-mail.
Obviously we get back to people within 24 hours Max.
(41:19):
See the other one which like this this does.
I wouldn't, I wouldn't say this is like a red flag, but like it
does annoy me a little bit when if a coach is travelling or
something, they'll post on theirInstagram story.
That will be like clients that check in on Monday, like please
bear with I'm travelling, like I'll respond on Tuesday.
I'm like, what if they don't have Instagram like or like, if
(41:44):
you're doing that as like a secondary thing and you've
already messaged all of your clients individually, fine.
But if that's like your only notification to your clients,
I'm like, I'm not doing check insurance tomorrow.
I think that's fucking terrible.Like I've like my my standards
for not doing check insurance. I have to be like in the air in
(42:08):
which case I would have either responded to them already or do
them immediately as soon as I land.
And I would let that individual client know like month, like
weeks in advance, like if I, if I needed to, if I, if I could,
but like just the, oh, please bear with like I've had a long
day and I'm just like, fuck you.Like it's like I'm paying you
money like for a service like. I've had a long day, yeah.
(42:29):
So yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's gotta be the worst when they take you.
Like personally I can't respond,I'm a bit tired.
Yeah, just I've had a long. Weekend what?
Tired because you blasted? Legs, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I, I think like, like we're response time is another one
which I would gauge, you know, they should be able to respond
(42:50):
in 24 hours. Well, our top coach value speed
is king. Yeah, it's hard because you've
you haven't had a coach Ben. Oh, Ben's coached you.
Yeah, Even then, I would say I was just a second pair of eyes
because you pretty much did yourown prep.
It was more like, yeah, keep doing what you're doing.
You almost like work as a team. It was, it was really like the
(43:10):
last couple weeks. Like a terrible.
Experience. I must say why about a
Shakespearean. Like you then, it was, I think
it was just the last couple. Weeks.
It was time. Terrible.
Yeah, your head completely goes at the end of a prep.
Yeah. You just need someone to just be
like, just do do this, Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, God, don't I know that? I've been at the back end of a
prep that you'd set and get in everything I'm doing.
Yeah, Yeah. And it's like, it's, it's quite
(43:34):
hard sometimes to know what's out there.
It's like, because I only know again, since that, what was
that? That must have been 13 years ago
now. I probably had that, that, that
coaching, that coaching experience.
So it's like outside of that, I've only known my own really.
But then when you do get a glimpse into what's actually out
(43:55):
there, you're like, oh. It's not great.
There is like, well, again, because you get people to come
to you and they said, Oh yeah, Ihad a coach before and I'm like,
OK, how, how was that experience?
I I usually would ask and oh, you know, and you see some once
he got back to me a week later on my check in like mate, if
it's like if it's 24 hours later, I'm like, whoa, you
better, you better get this doneon dusty.
(44:16):
It's like a week later. It's pointless submitting it in
the first place. And he's like that if there is
some real shoddy. So if you are looking for a
coach, you know where to go. No, but it it's just be careful
the ones who might seem like they are good, there are some
red flags out there. You know, they got a mad
following like and they're posting loads on social media
(44:38):
and things. Realistically, how much coaching
are they doing? If they are the coach, sometimes
they might be just the front manof the band and there's coaches
behind them and you're paying for one of those coaches.
But it's normally in the market.And then because it's like join
us or join my team. It's not like, do you want to
work with me? Because then, yeah.
It's like John John's the the front, the front man of the
band, but you don't coach in anyone.
(44:58):
It's it's it's us who managed the coaching.
But even then he did like for a long, long time he coached and
it was, it was only until we really started growing.
It was like, right, I can now delegate this.
It's not worth my time. You can't pay me enough money.
Because one, I'm not passionate about it anymore.
I'm passionate about the marketing.
But also there's there's guys onthe team that are better than I
am at this thing. So now you can you can go with
(45:20):
them. But yeah, so yeah, I think that
I think we've covered quite a lot of things, things to look
for in terms of red flags, but. Smacked if it coaches around.
Yeah, just ask, ask questions like, yeah.
And if you know, and even then, if if someone's short with you
with those questions, there's your answer.
Whereas they, you know, they should be willing and open to
(45:41):
talk about their processes and what the coaching process looks
like, what they offer. And, you know, and then be
crystal clear on what it is thatyou want from a, from a coach.
And if it doesn't feel like theycan deliver that, then find,
find, find another one. Yeah, but awesome.
Thank you everyone for listeningand tuning in.
Be sure to like and subscribe oniTunes, Spotify, and YouTube and
(46:03):
we'll see you next time. If you love this show, please
like, share and leave us a five star review so that we can help
more people. I'm John Matson, reminding you
to always go get what's yours.
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