Real Talk with Rebel Fitness
Real Talk with Rebel Fitness is the unapologetic voice of Greenville, NC's Rebel Fitness community. A gym built on the belief that health and strength come from empowerment, not punishment. Born from a mission to challenge the toxic norms of diet and gym culture, this podcast is weekly dose of truth-telling, myth-busting, and mindset-shifting.
Real Talk with Rebel Fitness
What Grinds our Gears
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
On this episode, the Rebel Fitness GM, Reuben, stops by the pod for the second time to jam with Shemar on all the things that grind our gears as fitness professionals in this space.
What's up, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Real Talk with Rebel. I'm here today with my personal friend and GM at the gym, Mr. Ruben Mills. How are you doing, my guy?
SPEAKER_01Pretty good. Pretty good. Another good Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00100%. It's a great day to have a great day, and we're gonna have a pretty fun episode today. We're just gonna kind of shoot the shit, talk back and forth about things that, you know, as trainers, as fitness professionals, and some even just like as people, things that really grind our gears. So yeah. Little little grindy episode. And start us out, Coach Mills. What's one thing as a fitness trainer that really grinds your gears?
SPEAKER_01Misinformation. And if you're chronically online, then there's no shortage, whether it's you know, YouTube or social media or anything like that. Just the amount of bad information, fake information to sell you something, and especially now with AI, some of it is just so obvious. I I can't believe it. I'm stunned when I see it. Um like have you heard of chair tai chi by chance?
SPEAKER_00You know, I have heard about chair tai chi. I've I've seen it done at old people homes every you know, every once in a while. They're chair yoga, you know?
SPEAKER_01Which was wonderful, fine. Yeah. Um but so many advertisements of chair tai chi, and it's always a very swole AI person talking to a very confused person who's like, So what is chair tai chi? And the AI is, ah, I am so glad you asked. The gym is actually terrible for you over 35. Um, if you do, you know, three minutes a day after a week, your family won't even recognize you. After two weeks, yeah, you might just become the president. Like it's pretty crazy.
SPEAKER_00Man, it's just progressed. That's the the Athlene X five-minute ab videos we were doing back in the day. It's like after a week, if you do this five-minute ab routine, you'll start to see. Back it up there.
SPEAKER_01Back it up.
SPEAKER_00Athlene X, he's actually good. That's true. But some of those V Shred, yeah, V Maybe V Shred.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Seven-minute abs. Um, which is a comedian who had a joke of uh, no, it's from a movie. Someone, one of my clients was telling me about it where they're in the car and he's like, I have this great idea. And he's like, Oh, what's your idea? He's like, six-minute abs. Not seven-minute abs, six minute abs. Shave off a whole minute. I mean, hey, million-dollar idea.
SPEAKER_00If you can get it that quick, I'd agree. But nah, yeah, that's I have seen ads like that that are, you know, well, if you're barbell squatting, be careful. Your spine is crying out for help, and it's always, yeah, some dramatic ass AI misinformant just talking stuff that doesn't need to be talked because people are already scared enough of the gym without some AI lying to them.
SPEAKER_01So I guess my biggest problem with it is just the the false expectations of, you know, because even if people are, you know, smart enough to know or know enough about fitness to know, okay, that's not realistic, it still can put in your head, like, oh, well, you know, if I do well for a month, I'll be totally different. And it's like, well, not necessarily. Um, it takes time. And, you know, it takes time when you're doing the right things, let alone if you're, you know, maybe confused with all that bad information out there of, you know, cutting carbs or you know, going the full keto deal, or you know, all that all the different things that is you know, short-term gains. If there was a secret, it'd be out there, but it's not on a Google ad for sure.
SPEAKER_00There you go. I mean, that pretty much transitions right into the first thing that grinds my gears, which is just super out of this world, crazy, unrealistic expectations from clients. You know, they're coming in, they hold up the picture. Here's the the Gillian Michaels, here's the Victoria's Secret model, here's the the Hemsworth brother, whatever. I've got three months, what can we do? And you're just like, brother, respectfully, I don't know if I could get you there in 10 years. You know, he's on or she's on, and she's got a private chef, and you know, so the amount of work that people expect to have to do for a physique that they see, you know, on TV, online, whatever. I mean, it kind of feeds into the misinformation because you've got these celebrities like, oh, well, here's my here's my greens powder. This is why I have such a snatched waste. Like, no, you now have a greens powder that you're selling to people because you're already a millionaire and you want to be a billionaire, right? The greens powder isn't what snatched your waist. The fact that you have a personal trainer and a private chef and have been doing this correctly for years, if not decades, is what really makes you that way. But people see it online, they're like, oh, she made a crazy three-month transformation for this movie with the the most insane help possible. You know, the the biggest, best trainer she could have, probably starving herself, probably on some type of either fat loss burner or hunger suppressant. It's not realistic. You know, when people come in and now the GLP1 ads don't help at all that people are expecting X amount of weight loss and X amount of time and thinking they're going to be healthier after the fact. So it's there's just a lot of expectations floating around in the world that are leading people down the wrong path. Because it's not that you can't hit that crazy 20 pounds in three weeks goal. It's just you really can't do it in a way that's safe, sustainable, and not going to make you hate life for that period of time. You know, so it's it's partially the expectations, but coming out of your statement, it's the misinformation that leads to those expectations that really grinds my gears.
SPEAKER_01Well, that just made me think of um, you know, it was very popular with all the superhero movies coming out. And I forget maybe it was the guy who played Thor um in Marvel. Some someone was on, you know, one of the late night shows. Yeah. And he's talking to the host, and the host is like, oh wow, well, you know, then the before and after. Um and it's like, oh wow, like you, you know, you lost 40 pounds and built, you know, got 30 or 30 pounds of muscle on top of that, and you're like 55 or whatever. Uh, maybe this is Mark Wahlberg, somebody. He's like, huh. Conan. Rest in peace, Conan. He's not dead, but I miss his show. I liked him. But, you know, whoever else, uh, well, here's the thing. I worked out for eight hours a day. I had chicken and broccoli nonstop, and man, it was rough. And it's like, you put on 30 pounds of lean muscle while losing, you know, 30, 40 pounds of body fat as a 55-year-old man.
SPEAKER_00Hmm. Yeah. Hmm.
SPEAKER_01Shout out to I think his name's Alan Richardson. He plays Jack Reacher in the show, and uh, he was in the the TV series Blue Mountain State. He was on the late night show doing the exact thing I'm talking about. Um he literally said almost verbatim what I said, like, yeah, you know, it was a lot of chicken and broccoli and you know, a lot working out. Oh, and uh testosterone. Yeah. And I was yeah. Oh my gosh, he's being honest. He's being honest.
SPEAKER_00Who would have thought? Yeah. And it's not even like because TRT, right? Testosterone replacement therapy is just a thing that certain people do at a certain age. Like if you're trying to stay in the gym, stay active, whatever, TRT is something you can get from your doctor. So it's not like it's illegal or wrong to talk about, but yeah, they they'll just leave that little bit off so they can either sell you on this idea that you can do it the way they're doing it, just working hard and they're just this holier than thou, or they're leaving it off the top so they can sell you their secret product, you know, my and my fat burner pill or this protein bar, protein powder that I released. And it, yeah, it's just it's insane.
SPEAKER_01But yeah. Have you ever seen the like the Tom Brady website and like his plan and all the stuff he sells?
SPEAKER_00I've I've heard about it, but I haven't looked into it.
SPEAKER_01Tom Brady is a great athlete, but comes to nutrition, insane. And you know, and again, everybody's different. So there is not one, you know, one size fits all, whatever, you know. The the thing that gets me is you know, Tom Brady's saying, oh, you know, if you want to be like me or be an athlete like me, like here's the plan to follow. Um, and again, and that's kind of a problem with most, you know, fitness programs in general that you buy online that aren't really adapted to you, is you know, everybody has their own lifestyle and preferences. So, you know, this is not me just coming at Tom Brady specifically, but you know, he's selling you his weird foam roller thing for like 200 bucks. It's like, do you really need to do that, Tom?
SPEAKER_00Like you couldn't get the five below foam roller.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like you know, do you really need to sell a $150 water bottle that's just a water bottle?
SPEAKER_00I mean, there's there's there's gotta be something.
SPEAKER_01There's nothing. There's literally nothing. And his his his eating is just insane. It's it's like vegetarian, which is fine. Um, but it's it's it's so much shopping. Like you need seven different types of vegetables for every meal. And it's you know, what you're eating your veggies is great, that's awesome. But like for the average person, yeah, you know, like I live alone. I'm gonna go buy four heads of lettuce and you know, six carrots, and seven potatoes, and then two bell peppers and jalapenos and fresh basil and spinach for one meal. But and then then and then with the diet plan, you have to eat you know different meals. So I can't I can't just eat that same meal again.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, I have to just prep all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01No, no, no. I have to eat that once per day, and then I have to go into you know meal C, which is um, you know, a bean roast.
SPEAKER_00So that's that's real. That I mean that grinds my gears as well, just the the unrealistic, here's my plan, right? Because that's your plan did for you what it did, but that doesn't mean your plan will do for me what it did for you, which is another bit of the information they love to leave out, right?
SPEAKER_01Which is just like you said, you know, with with the whole private chefs thing. Like if you're Tom Brady, you don't have to go shopping for that. You're not worried about you know leftovers, you're not worried about how much it costs, you're not worried about prepping that and cutting that and doing that, especially, you know, if you have a full-time job and you know, a family or kids or you know, multiple jobs. Um, you know, if you are a rich athlete who has people to, you know, go shopping for, then that might be a great plan for you. Yeah. Um, it's definitely quality food, it's just not realistic for most people. And, you know, to put a huge price tag on that and sell this as, you know, this is the plan to get like me is just, you know, dishonest, in my opinion, which is, you know, a lot of marketing these days in general, though.
SPEAKER_00100%. Now the next thing that grinds my gears is kind of on the opposite spectrum of like going overboard on veggies and stuff, is just the the protein slop era that we're in right now. The fact that everything is a protein snack, everything is high protein, your protein is now like on a moral compass, like if you're below a certain number of protein for the day, like you're a bad person, which as a fitness trainer and somebody that works out all the time, I'm always going to support protein. Like it's the most important macronutrient to build muscle, to have energy for your workouts. You you need it, but you don't need skippy peanut butter that's an additional 12 grams of protein, and it's called protein peanut butter, but it's also six extra grams of fat and another 200 calories. You don't need protein Oreos, you don't need protein hot pockets. Or like now there's a a protein pocket at Subway, but it's not any better than just like the grilled chicken bacon sub. It's even like more calories with the worst calorie to protein ratio, but it's just marketed as here's our protein pocket, you know.
SPEAKER_01I literally have an example that I just saw. That's a good one is Honey Bunches of Oats. Uh the cereal. Um, I just was grocery shopping the other day and I noticed this where, you know, big fan, Honey Bunches of Oats strawberries, check it out. Um, but us, I think a serving of that is, you know, 160 calories and maybe three grams of protein, you know, not much protein. I saw they came out with Honey Bunches of Oats protein edition. So I was like, hmm. So I looked at it and it's 240 calories, I think. So, you know, not quite double the calories, but getting there. Yeah. And instead of three grams of protein, it's like eight. And it's like soy pea protein something. It's like, yeah, it is, you know, which is fine, but not the best quality of protein. Or a complete protein. Or a complete protein, and it's, you know, more expensive, more calories. How about you just have your regular cereal and have a protein shake on the side? Or a cup of Greek yogurt or something anything.
SPEAKER_00You shake a third of a protein shake into your milk and then pour it over the cereal, and all of a sudden your protein shake or your milk has 12 extra grams of protein in it, right? Like it is that easy, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. But they can put protein packed, great choice for breakfast. Start your day building muscle, whatever, on the box, and it's 240 calories for eight grams of protein, that's shitty incomplete protein. But as long as it meets some small weird ratio distinguished by the FDA, that's like total calories, 20% protein or something, it can be a protein enrich snack, you know. But it's it's horrendous. You can't go anywhere without hearing somebody talk about, like, well, have you tried like a cottage cheese pizza crust? It's like like, no, I have not tried a damn cottage cheese pizza crust. Have you blended chicken into a pizza crust? Like, no, I haven't done any of the bullshit freaking protein pizza options because if I want to have pizza twice a month, I'm just gonna have a good ass deep dish Jets pizza or go out and have pizza with my friends. But you don't have to make everything that you enjoy now a protein snack, and then you don't get to enjoy it, and you're having a shitty protein snack. Like Lenny's and Larry's cookies, for example, right? Like you're much better off just having a cookie when you want one and having something that's actually quality protein and a quality protein to calorie ratio than trying to eat this Linny and Larry's cookie that's 250 calories for 12 grams of protein, and it's terrible quality protein and packed full of sugar and fat and preservatives. So it's protein is running amuck right now. So don't be fooled by the business people that you need protein in every single second beverage, food, your toothpaste, what you don't need protein, toothpaste, okay? Like eat three solid meals a day with ground beef, chicken, fish, steak, venison, buffalo, whatever you really enjoy that has whole proteins, and or if you are vegetarian vegan, see the closest thing that you can do to having the fullest protein profile that you can have through beans, legumes, tofu, whatever it is that your preference is. But don't be fooled into this protein propaganda that if it doesn't have protein, it's bad. And just because it says air quotes protein on the box, that it's actually going to be good for you. I think it's gonna overall contribute more to weight gain and obesity in our nation because people are not noticing the increase in calories for the shitty increase in protein. So they're making the right choices in air quotes and getting, you know, screwed over behind the scenes.
SPEAKER_01And it's so expensive. And it's so expensive.
SPEAKER_00You can put protein on the box and charge three extra dollars for five extra grams of protein in the entire box. It's like yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's like you said, Lenny and Larry's, whatever it is, they're cookies, where it's like 20 grams of fat, 12 grams of protein for like six dollars. Yeah. It's like if you're at the gas station, like protein. Get get some beef jerky. It's also expensive, but it's beef.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and or get the little package of Oreos and then get a Fairlife protein shake that's actually 20 or 40 grams of protein, even if it's not a perfect ratio, you're doing a lot better than you are off the Lenny and Larry's cookie, and it's enjoyable, and you can have real Oreo thins or something that still tastes like a real cookie.
SPEAKER_01Like it's I mean, a fair life shake plus one actual shallow chip cookie, I'd bet is probably less calories than one Lenny and Larry's. And, you know, if you get the you know, the 40 grams of protein um type of shake, you're looking at triple the protein.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, no-brainer.
SPEAKER_00And like for me, I I'm a chip guy. I like to snack, so I just try my best to have the chips I actually enjoy, but then kind of enrich them in some way. Like lately, I've been taking cottage cheese and just blending it with a hand blender, and then I dip my spicy jalapeno chips or my sweet and spicy Doritos into blended cottage cheese. I just have a certain serving size of the chips. I don't eat the whole bag, but I'm also getting 14, 16 grams of protein while I'm snacking on chips watching anime. I didn't have to buy protein chips for $12. I just have cottage cheese that I use anyway, and pasta sauce and eggs and chips that I enjoy by themselves, or as a side, or dipped in a protein sauce that I make myself. And it's you can just do it that way. Like you can dip chips that you like into cottage cheese and eat that. And guess what? That's freaking protein chips.
SPEAKER_01Like it's it's but but but but you need to buy Quest chips for four dollars for one bag of five chips.
SPEAKER_00You know, I mean you could use certain that's what they're telling you. And that's that that's what grinds my gears. Take it away, Coach Mills. I'm gonna sit here and get flustered.
SPEAKER_01No, it's it's you know, there's there's the saying, keep it simple, stupid. Um because I enjoy like a taco salad meal prep where you know you get ground beef, ground turkey, you know, whatever you fancy. If you're you know, if you have poor taste, maybe ground chicken. Um that was a joke, but I I can't do ground chicken, you know. I can't, I can't do canned chicken. Maybe I'll try it one day. Um, that'd be a funny video, but uh, but you know, you mix, you know, you get some, you get your choice of ground meat or whatever you want, you know, mix in some taco shells, crush them up, you know, get you some greens, sour cream, hot sauce, you know, however you want to doctor it up, however you would want to make nachos. And I was eating at the gym one day, someone's like, oh, are those Quest chips in there? And I'm like, oh no, they're just regular taco shells. Um, and it's like, oh, well, you should use Quest chips, that's more protein. And it's like, well, like I said, they're expensive for like 10 grams of protein. So if I wanted to get more protein in my meal, I would just put an extra two ounces of whatever meat I'm eating in there. Um, and then I still get to actually enjoy the good taco shells. Um so yeah, I protein. Um, nothing disappointed me more than the legendary protein Pop Tart thing.
SPEAKER_00No, yeah, Chris has brought those up before. Eat a damn Pop Tart, in her words.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's so bad. It's so bad. Legendary did have they have these little protein donuts, and um they were okay. There was like a cinnamon one I tried. But again, it's like eh, you know, go get you a fair life shake and get an actual crispy cream donut if you want a donut. And the donut's probably what 100 calories, shakes a hundred versus the legendary donuts is okay, but pretty mediocre for like 300 calories. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Nah, I agree. And shifting out of that, because I'll sit here and talk about protein BS all day. Something else that grinds my gears, as a trainer and somebody that appreciates lots of different facets of fitness, I really dislike people who either are elitists about their specific aspect of fitness and like it's this way or no way, and or people that just kind of disrespect certain aspects of fitness, like oh, yoga, you know, Pilates, that's just that's just easy, right? It's I just think people should have respect overall for fitness and not have to be like, well, Pilates princess or nothing. Well, if you're not powerlifting, you're you're a you're a bitch. You know, there's just so much elitist or elitism, whatever you want to call it, of like, well, bodybuilding is the right way, or like power, crossfit. If you're not doing crossfit, what do you if you're not a Pilate, like just why can't people just be fit and be healthy and it be okay? And why can't people enjoy multiple facets of fitness, right? Like some of the fittest people I know are people that would try a CrossFit class, do yoga once or twice a week because they respect it as a practice and what it does for their mental. They lift heavy weights and they go on runs or play a sport or have a hobby that encourages them to be active, right? Most of the most fit people I know are not just a 100% CrossFit guy or a 100% Pilates girl. It's people that just enjoy and respect fitness and movement as a whole. So, yeah, the the elitism about you know bodybuilding or powerlifting or it just that grinds my gears because there's no reason for it. You can enjoy what you enjoy, and I have to put down anybody else for their preferences and or be like, well, you can like that, but mine's better, you know.
SPEAKER_01Sorry, man. If you wanna, if you wanna look it right, you gotta train like me. That's it. I mean, if you're if you can't do, you know, a five-minute dead hang, you're not an athlete. But I think your point comes down to I mean, it's it's ego. And I think that's the difference of you know, are you try are you a well-runnered athlete and you train, you know, because you enjoy it and you like being able to do things and try new things and just be active? Or, you know, did you find a hobby that is just like your identity to now? And now, you know, I don't consider myself an athlete or, you know, a gym goer. I am a bodybuilder. And that is how I train, that's how I like it. That's the best way to train, in my opinion. And I'm going to tell everybody. And if I see someone doing, you know, body weight dips over there, I'm gonna be like, you need to add some weight to that, buddy. What are you doing? You're training for endurance? Why would you do that? Um, and all comes down to your goals and you know, hopefully having fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, goals, preferences, like fun, like you said, like You can have a great physique doing 90% calisthenics and lifting weights a couple times a year. You can have a great physique never doing calisthenics in your life. You can have a great physique hardly working out. You can have a great physique from pretty much just running, right? There's all sorts of ways to have a great physique because a great physique looks different to different people and is based off can that physique do for you and provide for you in a way that you see fit and you find joy in. Like it's it's that simple. Like I love bodybuilding, I love sports, I appreciate yoga. I haven't tried Pilates, I think it would kick my tail and I'd have a little ego hurt myself. But I think all of it is efficient and effective. I think you just have to understand why you're doing what you're doing, so then you can appreciate every facet of fitness for what it really provides. Like powerlifting, strength training, whatever you want to call it, has its inherent benefits because strength training does certain things for you. Same thing with yoga for your mentality, your balance, your flexibility. Same thing with Pilates for your deep core and all these other things that are not targeted in specific areas of bodybuilding or powerlifting, but just know why you're doing what you're doing, have an appreciation for it, and then let other people do the same, right? Don't just blindly go into it and be like, well, someone's at Pilates is gonna make me skinny. And it's just like think for yourself, you know. Have be a free thinker. That's all it is for me. Don't get lumped into I'm a CrossFit guy, and here's me and my gang. Don't even talk to us if you do bar.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's just let people do their thing. And because I'm thinking back to like there was a video that went viral, or at least I think I saw it all over the place for a while, of um these ladies in what looked like a classroom, and they had you know these yoga balls in a stand and they were drumming them. Oh, yeah. And all the fitness people on social media were just you know roasting them, like, oh, it's a waste of your time. What are you doing? Ba-blah bah.
SPEAKER_00No, the comment sections on those posts are terrible.
SPEAKER_01It's like three sets of dilly dally.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, damn, come on.
SPEAKER_01It's like, but but we preach to people like go do something. Like you don't have to, you know, go to the gym for six hours every day, seven days a week. Like for them, that might be the start of their fitness journey. Instead of seeing it at home, yeah, they are out with their friends doing something that's, you know, is it the most efficient? No. Is it gonna get them, you know, swallow? No. But that might not be their goal. They're just stressed out from work and want to go hang out with their friends. So, and maybe that will lead them into, oh, well, you know, I've noticed I can, you know, I have better endurance, like, you know, just drumming for an hour or something, like for sure. Um, maybe they'll start walking or, you know, start lifting weights with their friends or go check out a Pilates class. Right.
SPEAKER_00Um, like people have had their lives changed by Zumba, right? Or just like those, those little trampoline classes. Like I'm a there's a handle and you jump on the trampoline to the beat and you jump off the trampoline on the trampoline. Like if you're somebody that does hardcore workouts, does you know, five, 10, 20 mile runs, you're like, they're jumping on an effing treadmill or they're jumping on a freaking trampoline. It's like, hey, sitting on your couch doing nothing or bouncing on a trampoline, what burns more calories? What's better for you? What's gonna potentially improve your quality of life? You know, hitting a yoga ball with drumsticks and going to the beat and doing a squat every once in a while and putting your hands up, what's what's burning more calories? That or sitting your ass on the couch, right? That's that really is it. Should they come in and be like, well, I don't know, like Jennifer Aniston yet? Like, hey, sorry, drumming on the yoga ball might not get you the victorious secret body that you're thinking about. But if you do that because you enjoy it, it's helped you be more fit and it's helped you be more social, there's nothing wrong with that, right? That's a beautiful way to start andor continue your fitness journey when you're at a time where you don't need to be lifting weights or doing crossfit or running marathons. Like every facet of fitness, I won't say every, the majority of fitness is okay and legitimate and up to you to make a choice of what you enjoy. That's that's it. Respect fitness, y'all. Respect wellness in general. If you don't, I'll come grind your gears because you grind mine. Give me another one, Coach Ruben. What grind your gears in the gym that you see, or just as a gym goer?
SPEAKER_01Well I don't know how to frame it as grinds my gears, but bums me out that people don't, you know, you know, they're not aware of or don't understand or don't think about the fact that the gym is empowering in that they have specific goals um that they want and hopefully realistic, so we'll assume that it's realistic goals. Um, but yet they struggle to, you know, achieve them or be consistent enough to achieve them, or you know, maybe this is a mental thing where they don't believe that they can do it or that they deserve it, or you know, they failed so many times before that it's just you know in their brain that they can't achieve it. But you know, if you come in to the gym and go, hey, you know, I want to, you know, gain some muscle, look a little more toned, which is looking tone grinds my gears of I don't look toned, but I don't want to lift weights. Good luck. Don't make me muscular. Good luck. Um, but you know, they have whatever goal they have, and then you know, they come in for their session, they're like, This is hard. And then, you know, as as the expert, it's like, bruh, you got four more reps left in the tank. Like, I'm going easy on you today. You could be doing even more than this. And it's like too hard. And again, there's a little bit of that that's kind of banter and it's fine. But you know, I can see it just recurring all the time. And it's like, well, you have these goals. I'm hoping you get there. You gotta trust the process, you know. Um, I think I mentioned it earlier, but it takes time. And, you know, the folks who have these crazy goals, they, you know, talk about wanting it so much, but when it actually comes to doing the work, it's too hard. Yeah, and everybody has days, but you know, you can't every day can't be a bad day for you, you know.
SPEAKER_00That's true. If every day is a bad day, you need to go to therapy. That's just that's the way it is. But no, I agree.
SPEAKER_01It comes from a place of, you know, it it causes it frustrates me, but it's from a place of you know, love of like, you can do it. Like you could, it's all in your control. That's one of the reasons I fell in love with fitness is that it's fair, you know. Um, you know, assuming you're a healthy adult or a healthy person in general, if you have goals and they're realistic and you do the right things, you will get there. Might not be as smooth as you want, life happens, might not be as fast as you would like because it takes time, but you know, if you keep your eye on the prize, you will get there. You can follow the plan and get to where you want to be. But not if you, you know, don't show up or give up or you know, struggle to actually do the work. As the great, you know, Ronnie Coleman once said, you know, everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but no one wants to lift no heavy ass weights. You know, everybody wants to get in shape, but ain't nobody wanna, you know, eat quality protein, not, you know, cereal protein. Um, they don't want to, you know, get their steps in, uh, be at the gym consistently. You know, people would rather, you know, from what I've seen, it's a lot easier to not have that dopamine hit of, okay, I'm locking in this month, I'm doing the gym seven days a week. I'm gonna, you know, hit it hard, and then, you know, it'll be awesome. And then a weekend, it's, you know, it doesn't work because it's just not realistic for them. It's like, well, what if you, you know, hit the gym hard two or three days a week to start? Um, you know, meal prepped, spent some of those other days that you're not having to spend in the gym, you know, go for a walk if you have time, or just meal prep. Or, you know, like you said, if you struggle with every day is a bad day, look into therapy. Like, I'd much rather have three awesome workouts that you hit every week compared to seven workouts that you hit okay for two weeks and then you kind of fall off until next year.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Hard to get to your goal with that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. No, I mean, that is that's one of the hardest things I think as a trainer. Like, and like you're saying, it's not like a a grind your gears thing. Like at certain points, it like gets frustrating, but it's like, hey, I can take you where you want to go, but you gotta come with me, you know, and that's that's one of the hardest things. It's like I I can make you the list, give you the supplies, give you the list of tasks that need to be done. You still gotta do it, right? Like I can make you the meal plan, you still have to stick to it. I can give you the intensity at which we need to be working, but you still have to execute. Like me yelling at you doesn't make the workout any more effective. It's you actually going to or close to failure, right? And that's that's hard to teach. You know, it's people think it hurts, and maybe it does, it does hurt or it is uncomfortable, but just because it starts to hurt, just because it starts to get uncomfortable, doesn't mean that's where you stop. There's a lot of stuff that gets very uncomfortable or even painful, and you just have to keep going, whether it's in the gym or just in life, you know. So that's what I try to bring up to people that it's like, hey, if you want to quit right now and it's just squats or it's just burpees, or it's just like you have 12 more rows and you want to quit, like, what what does that reflect about your life, your work, whatever? Like, if you're willing to quit when it's just this, this is not a great detour. This is not some insane mountain to climb. This is, do you have the mental fortitude to give me 10 more squats, five more burpees, right? So just I always try to bring it to people in that, you know, kind, not nice way. Like not being an asshole, but just being like, hey, it's 10 squats. You're telling me you you can't. Like, and if that's okay and that's what you want to say about yourself, and that's what you want to take on, that you can't do 10 squats, that's fine. But like, I believe that you can, and that's always how you got to frame it, right? Like, hey, I'm giving you this, I'm coming with this expectation because I believe in you. Because I know in my heart of hearts, in the back of my mind, that you can do 10 squats. You just have to be willing to give it to me right here, you know, because that's very frustrating as a trainer. Like, hey, I know what it takes, how to get you there. I will push you, but I can't make you do anything. This isn't a gun to your head situation. You can stop squatting whenever you damn want to.
SPEAKER_01You know, it's not life or death. And I think one of the major pluses of the gym is just that it pushes you to do something uncomfortable that you don't want to do in a safe way on a regular basis. And, you know, and this is and you know, I'm I'm framing this as more of people who have like specific intense goals. There's plenty of people who just want to go get a little sweat, get the dopamine hit from being active and calling it a day. And then they're happy.
SPEAKER_00The cute post on Instagram. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that's fine. You know, any amount of fitness is still good for your health. But, you know, if you are trying to get specific goals or trying to really see a difference in body composition or strength, you got to push that hard one way or the other, on a regular basis. And, you know, failure is not the enemy, you know. Like you said, you know, hey, I want you to do 10 squats. Oh, I can't do it. It's like, okay, well, let's try. Maybe you only get five or six. I'm still gonna, you know, hype you up and say, great job, good try. You know, we'll get there. And you won't believe this, Shamar. But the cool thing about fitness is next week, maybe they could do 10 squats, even if they couldn't this week. And then you get to give them that hype of, do you see that? You know, you see, you know, a month ago you were burning out at five, and now with a hundred pounds, you're doing 12. Like, you're getting there. Um, but you know, if people aren't willing to, you know, walk with you to get to that point, you know, it's tough to it's tough to get there.
SPEAKER_00No, for sure. I mean, a big like analogy I use with my clients is because they come in looking for more confidence, right? Or they want to feel better about themselves, they want to feel really good about what they accomplished in their workout. And I'll just be like, okay, I'm a grown man, I know I can ride a bike. Does hopping on my bike and riding down the road make me excited or make me feel more confident? They're like, well, no, I'm like, nah, because I know I can ride a bike. They're like, yeah. I'm like, so if you know you can lift 95 pounds, why are you walking over there and just lifting 95 pounds and expecting it to make you feel brand new? Like if I know I can walk upstairs and I walk upstairs, I'm not gonna be like, I walked up the stairs, right? If I'm riding my bike down the road and I know I can ride a bike, it's not, holy cow, I'm on a bike. It's no, I'm riding, I'm I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, right? So if you want to be excited, be impressed with yourself, be proud of what you're doing, you gotta like try to jump out of a plane. Like I've never jumped out of a plane, so if I did that, I would feel really cool, feel really excited, feel like, wow, I'm proud that I'm doing this, or like go rock climbing in a way that I never have, or finish a hike that's really, really hard because I don't know if I can. But the fact that I tried proves to myself that I'm willing to try hard things. And the fact that I complete it proves to me that I'm capable of hard things. And even if I don't complete it, I might be more capable than I thought I was, and or it just gives me a new goal and a new anchor point to know where I'm actually at. You have to fail to know where you're at. You can just keep getting, I could do that. I could do do it then, right? Fail, figure out what you can actually freaking do. Like that's that's the biggest thing. But that that's that's hard to teach.
SPEAKER_01Well, it reminds me of the thing of like, you know, was it's I I forget the exact quote, so I'm probably gonna butcher it, but it's you know, like overcoming your fear or bravery is not the absence of fear, it's like overcoming it. So it's fine to be a little nervous, you know. You got it. If I'm maxing out on squats and I'm looking at that, you know, 200-pound bar or whatever, going, Oh, I don't know if I can do it, like that's normal. Good, right? But then you try and maybe you hit it, maybe you don't.
SPEAKER_00Um, if it if it doesn't scare you a little bit, if it doesn't make you nerf, like that's what they say about like relationships or pursuing somebody too. Like, if they don't make you like a little nervous or get like if you're not scared to talk to them, like you're probably not that excited about it. Like, we're just like, oh yeah, I can go get that. Like, you're go do something that pushes you to be better, you know?
SPEAKER_01Like laughing. Something in this video I saw, it's awesome. It's just like kids' birthday party. And um, there are like all these little girls dressed as princesses with like little shields and swords, and this dude in a dragon costume, like a blow-up dragon costume, like runs over and the camera pants to like all the kids, and they are like losing their mind. And and and one of the girls is like she's like holding her like shield up, like upside down, like really stressed. And then like the dragon comes over, and then like all the kids charge, and she's like the first one that like jumps on them and starts hitting them with the sword. And it's like that is the perfect thing of like you know, being brave is overcoming that fear, exactly and like running at it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's just like peace is not the absence of problems, right? Peace is the ability to deal with problems as they appear. So, same thing. Bravery is not the absence of being scared, it's the ability to face fear head on, which is that's that's deep, Coach Rubin. That's that's real stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, and and you know, not not to stay on the topic for too long, we basically said it, but you know, I I tell my clients, you know, I will ask you to do things that I pretty much 100% believe that you can do. And sometimes I might be wrong, but like I'm not gonna set you up to do something so ridiculous you're gonna get hurt, or like ain't no way they're gonna squat this. Oh, you got it? 10 reps, let's go. It's like that's don't break her. Yeah, it's like, no, you I'm pretty sure you can do 10. If all you can do is eight, then that's cool. Like, let's give it a shot.
SPEAKER_00Um so that's real, that's real. Anything on the nutrition or like media side of stuff that really grinds your gears lately, like the way influencers are for certain, like any influencers that grind your gears, any fads nutrition-wise or weird stuff like that that grinds your gears.
unknownDr.
SPEAKER_00Mike Isertel doing cosplays as Dora the Explorer these days and being crazy.
SPEAKER_01Hard to think of anything specific. I have I have tried to cleanse myself of all the of all the bad influencers. Media cleanse. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um gotta put you on the spot every once in a while, man. Keep you on your toes.
SPEAKER_01No, I mean, I've actually been, you know, I've been consuming good fitness content. Believe it or not, it's out there. It's out there, folks.
SPEAKER_00Is it possible?
SPEAKER_01You know, you know, we, you know, don't don't you know don't listen to me with this one, but like you, all the information you need is online. Whether now it's a it's hard because you have to sort through. All the all the terrible information, yeah. But it is there and you know, easier said than done. But um, you know, most most of the content is average, you know. I'm I'm kind of been I'm I'm kind of sick of content to be honest, because it's you know, no one's really given anything new. Yeah. Which is, you know, there's only so much information out there, and once you say it, you say it. But you know, besides you know, good recipes, new creative ideas, um it's it's hard to it's hard to really mess up. Oh, here's how I made my you know high protein lasagna with ground beef. Yeah. And then, you know, instead of using all the ricotta cheese, I use cottage cheese. Like awesome, you know, it's great. Um I don't know. I mean, a lot of content and believe believe it or not, a lot of the stuff on the internet is useless or a waste of time. But there are some influencers I like that sometimes make quality videos and then just sometimes don't. Um like for a while there it's pretty popular for fitness people to be like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do the the the heaviest man's daily diet, you know. It's like I'm gonna eat 15,000 calories just to go, oh it's too much food, guys. Like and subscribe. It's like good job. That was that was really smart. I'm glad that now I know that eating fast food four times a day and then a 12 uh pack of donuts at the end of the day is bad. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean that's good job. That's one of the things that gets to me about fitness content is because there is only, you know, so much information or so much baseline that you really need to learn, it just starts to get sensationalized like anything else, right? Like it's trying out the most expensive gyms in the country, eating the least amount of calories possible, eating the highest calorie meal from every continent. It's like, you know, it's at that point, it really is just entertainment and taking people's attention. And are you not just contributing to them sitting around doing less than they would be otherwise? You know, so I I agree. I do also find good, helpful fitness and nutrition content out there. There's just so much that's sensationalized or scripted, or you know, it's it's planned and they're they're having you know fake fights in the gym or they're engagement baiting. So there's there's just a lot of fakeness in the fitness industry, as there is in every industry right now. But because it's so hard to stand out and so oversaturated, people are just doing and saying the most, which puts more and more people on the wrong path to begin with, because the more out of pocket and sensationalized your content is, the more it gets pushed into stupid ass algorithms. So that grinds my gears. That the dude talking about, you know, yelling into the mic, talking about I'm gonna eat this whole pet 97,000 grams of protein, and eats, you know, as many ribs as he can until he's covered in barbecue sauce and laying on the floor. It's like, how is that fitness content? Like, I see that you're wearing a stringer and that two weeks ago you have a video of you working out, but like it's it's just all attention seeking, you know, and it's but that's that's what the internet's come to. It's no longer social media anyway, it's attention media. They're just going for your attention. So you're not really socializing. You see stuff from random people online way more than you see stuff from people you actually follow, which is how you know it's no longer social media, it's algorithm stupid media. So everybody just be like Coach Mills and do a media cleanse. Only scroll on Reddit.
SPEAKER_01Do you do your best to not watch stuff that makes you mad because that's impossible? It's impossible. Well, and like you said, that is the interaction they want to make you feel, whether you feel happy and it's a cute cat video, or you feel mad because it's something political that you hate, and then you gotta go in the comments and type to everybody about it. Um, or you know, it's it's you know, it's either end of the spectrum. Just be cool. Just be cool. Watch stuff for entertainment, just be exactly for education. Uh but yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean that's social media in general for the past like year and a half has just grinded my gears. So that's why I couldn't be on the social media team at the gym. Shout out to the fact that we have a social media girl now. Saves my hide quite a bit. Shout out to Brie. But that's about it for me, man. I think we can call it there. I appreciate you coming up here and you know, talking about what grinds your gears. And you know, what's one thing that you love as a trainer to end on a high note? You know, what's one thing that, if it's the opposite of grind your gear, polishes your window, whatever it is, you know, makes you all happy, go lucky, and giddy.
SPEAKER_01The the folks who do show up and we do help. Um, or or even like earlier talking about the people who, you know, I I kind of joke that the gym is kind of like a church in which we I want you to come as you are, you know. Whether you had an awesome day or a bad day, come to the gym because you're gonna feel better once you're done. Um, so you know, giving people, you know, workouts where they do work hard at the end, they're like, Wow, that was tough, but I feel I feel good, I'm in a good mood. Um, and actually seeing the results and seeing how, you know, it can change people's lives for the better, talking to uh clients and like, oh, like, you know, my back used to hurt all the time and now it doesn't really hurt anymore. Or, you know, I have some clients more recently who um, you know, had some, you know, joint issues and stuff, and they were coming in, like, oh, well, you know, I'm pretty, I'm pretty happy. Like I've been getting stronger. And you know, I haven't had to take, you know, any any medication or muscle relaxers, you know, since since I started training here with you. And I was afraid that once I got back into the gym, I'd have to be taking them all the time. And it's like, oh, that's pretty cool. Like, you know, you're getting some results. You're putting in the work. Or just the people that, you know, say, ah, well, you know, I I always thought gyms were awful and I hated them, but now that I, you know, here at Rebel, it's really fun. And I've never like looked forward to coming to the gym before. So I feel like we we are doing a good job of you know healing some healing some gym trauma for some people. Which is awesome because that is a lifelong skill that will benefit their health.
SPEAKER_00No doubt. And it's not so just just right there, y'all. It's not all grinds our gears, right? A lot of this it fills our cup. If this wasn't what we wanted to be doing, we wouldn't be doing it. Sometimes you just gotta vent a little bit and get it out there. Talk about the dumb doo-doo that's online. But that'll be it. We'll see y'all again soon. Make sure you follow us on Instagram, on Facebook. You check out the website. Go listen back to any of the prior podcasts that we've got and we'll see y'all again soon later. Yo, this is about to really hurt some people's feelings so if you a little sensitive you might as well turn this jaw to drop a dime when you already dropped a dime got a wife I'm home but you steady