More Than Just a Celebrity Fitness Coach with Josh Holland (he/him)

Today I’m joined by dedicated biohacker, fitness trainer, and health coach, Josh Holland. Together, we discuss the benefits of a sustainable, holistic approach to health and fitness. We also explore:

• The importance of sustainable changes
• Setting goals that are realistic and in line with your lifestyle and what you truly want
• Bio-hacking and how you’re probably already doing it
• Josh’s simple-but-powerful 4-week 15 x 5 workout challenge

Links:

• Visit Josh’s Website
• Order Josh’s book The Awareness Shift
• Try the 15x5 Workout
• Follow Josh on Instagram
• See more from Josh on Youtube
• Follow Mel on Instagram @mel_mcsherry
• Follow the podcast on Instagram @morethanjustpodcast

👏 This episode is sponsored by Softer Sounds, a feminist podcast studio for entrepreneurs & creatives. If you want to launch a podcast, they’re the team you need to sound good and feel great! Head to softersounds.studio to learn more.

🙌 This podcast is supported by listeners like you! If you enjoyed this episode, we'd appreciate it if you could make a donation of any amount at this link. You rock!

Transcript

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Hey MTJ listener, has listening to this podcast make you want to start a podcast of your own? Well, let me tell you about Softer Sounds, the amazing folks behind the editing and production of More Than Just. Softer Sounds is a feminist podcast studio that helps entrepreneurs and creatives make purposeful, powerful podcasts. Amelia and her team bring technical skills and and tender support to the podcasting process. They are systems enthusiasts, audio experts, and most importantly, great listeners. Everything they do makes podcasting easy, accessible, and fun, and I am obsessed working with them. I love that since day one, I have felt seen, heard, and recognized. Not only that, but fully supported in how I wanted to bring and want to continue to bring More Than Just to life. You can learn more about Softer Sounds services on their website at softersounds.studio. And don't forget to head over to the show notes for links to their many free phenomenal resources for podcast beginners and pros. All right, let's get to it. Welcome to More Than Just. I'm your host, Mel McSherry. On this podcast, we share how we are more than just descriptors and titles that identify us and our lives, our businesses, and our communities. In this safe common room space, you'll hear stories of success and lessons learned from myself and other misfits, entrepreneurs, and changemakers. My intention is to inform, connect, and expand our knowledge so we can be mentally, emotionally, and financially profitable, as we create the change we desire. My promise is that from each episode, you'll take away not only inspiration and a connection to someone you never knew before, but also the encouragement, the action steps, and the, support so you can create what you want. Music. Hello, hello, hello everyone. Welcome back to season two of More Than Just. I am your host, Mel McSherry. And once again, which you hear every single time, I am joined by yet another phenomenal human. And this time it is somebody that I am going to be getting to know more about the exact same time as you. Because Josh and I were introduced through a mutual friend of ours. And when I saw just all of the amazing things that he loves to talk about, that he loves to geek out on. And then I saw that we have mutual geeking out tendencies on videos. I just knew that we were going to be really close and connected. And we had a great virtual coffee. And I'm so excited to be able to learn more about you, Josh, as well as all of the things, because you are like the ultimate more than just. So first and foremost, I thank you so much for spending your time and energy with us today. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. And like you, I am quite excited to really learn more about you as we go. Also, I tend to be a person that doesn't just go with the normal like, you know, question and answer, right? Like just one way. So I might be throwing some questions out to you too. But yeah, yeah. Yes, please do. I always tell my guests that this is an organic conversation. And the one thing that I have found that I just love to highlight and more than just is that this is such a beautiful way to learn more about each other. It's by purely just having conversations and seeing the connecting points that we have. Because you and I have very similar stuff, not only in our professional background, but just in things that we are excited about. And just by having those connections, we're able to learn more about each other because we obviously have different stories surrounding them, what's happened to us inside of them. So yes, please, let's get this conversation started. So I always love to start things off, Josh, with the following question. What would you say is your main title or identifier, and how are you more than just? Great question, and I've listened to a few of your shows, and I love, first of all, just the overarching idea of this show is I really do think perfectly situated for someone like myself, because my main title used to be, for a long period of time, was fitness trainer or celebrity. I'm doing air quotes, because I know you don't have the video going here, but it's celebrity fitness trainer. I'm fine by that if that helps a person to sort of put me into a box, but I am a person that does not like to be put or kept in a box because I have a wide variety of experience and a multitude of things. And that usually comes about because of my curiosity. I have an ever, a never ending curiosity for most things. So over the years I've adapted my title from being just a fitness trainer to now, health optimization coach. So that usually brings up questions for people like what is an optimization coach? What does that even mean? And essentially my role and what I do in my in my practice or in my business is I Try to meet people where they are and then help them to become a bit more aware about, Where they are what they're doing, but then also help them to identify where they want to go because without that level of awareness. It's difficult for myself and for themselves to know where they want to go and then find ways to actually achieve that. So health optimization includes everything from fitness, health, wellness, lifestyle, biohacking, any of the things that might... Allow someone to become optimized in whatever it is they do, whether it's work or it's relationships or it's nutrition, sleep, you know, it's like everything is kind of holistic there. So that's my role. I love that and already we have such similarities in how we approach what we do because I am the same as a business guy. Like there. I'm not just a formula, right? Like people, and I actually used to, I don't know if I mentioned this when we chatted before, I was in the fitness industry for 10 years and that's when I initially got, you know, the bug bit of when you see people at a different light, right? And it's not what they think they are capable of. And you slowly, but sure them show them what you see and what they can really accomplish. It's just like chef's kiss that they finally, that they get that, you know, that awareness and that confidence that, yeah, they really did have that all along. They just needed somebody to show them bit by bit what they can already do. And it's just so powerful. And I do the same in my business guiding as well. It's not just sales. It's not just funnels. It's not just, you know, it's you first and what you already have and the capabilities, the strengths, the strategies that you already possess. And then from there, showing them how they can utilize that to create what they want. And it's so much more than just like, you know, one magic pill or one trip pony. Yes. Well said. I mean, everything you're saying is spot on. And it's also like, sometimes we don't know what we're capable of, like you said, unless we're shown. Or it's almost like I have this, I don't know, like this sense when I see a person, just in how they move, how they arrive into a place, how they first reach out to me or contact me. It's like, it's a number of things that are happening without me really, it's a very subconscious. Assessment, if you will, about what's happening. And so when a person reaches out to me, there's a number of things that are happening, right? And I can almost tell if a person has contacted me from a referral, word of mouth, or if they search for me online or on social media. And then usually that first reaching out is kind of like, ah, okay, this is what we're dealing with, right? And I'm okay with it, right? There's some people who just want to, you know, say that they work with a celebrity trainer. But for me, it's like, what's the point of that, right? If you truly want to get better health-wise, there's a multitude of free stuff online. And I'm a person that does not live with a scarcity mindset. It's all about abundance, right? So if I can't serve you well, I'm gonna be one of the first to tell you, I may not be the right person for you, but I know these people might be. And I've come across that many times, even just before this call here, I just had a young lady that was helping me with a client, Because I'm on the road right now, I'm in Lisbon, Portugal, and I have a number of clients that I work with in person, like that are in New York or LA. And so when I'm on the road, traveling on tour, I either work with those clients still, virtually, or if they don't want to work with me virtually, then I set them up with other trainers. And it's really fascinating because sometimes these trainers are like, wait, but are you sure? Like, because, like, what happens when you come back? And I go, why are you even worried about that? Let's get through the first session. Right. Yeah. And if that client likes you and loves your work, worst case scenario, we tag team this client. Right? Right. Or even, I guess, in their case, worst case scenario, You got a new client. Right. And so my whole thing is, is that I don't own anyone. Right. And like, it's also the reason why I kind of stray away from the term celebrity trainer, because I find that in this industry, in the industry of fitness, I find that when someone trains a person that will be considered a celebrity, even if they've met them one time, if I trained them one time, they start calling themselves a celebrity trainer. And so they hang their hat on that title. And for me, it's like. I'm like, so what? To be honest with you, and I'm not even joking here, there's a number of times that I'll talk to someone and they'll go, oh, I saw this person on a movie. And I'll go, oh, I did some training sessions with this person before. And they're like, oh my gosh, are you serious? Why don't you have that on your website? Why don't you have that? Why didn't I know that? And it's like, well, because it doesn't really matter. The people I work with don't define who I am. But the culmination of what I do is sort of a reflection of what I can do, but it doesn't tell you who I am. I love that you said that because I really feel that we're in this transitional period of how we promote ourselves as entrepreneurs and as business owners, or back in the day it was. And I was guilty of this too, of like, share your lifestyle, sell your lifestyle, share how much you made, drop the names of where you're talking, drop the names of who you're working with. This is just to inspire people. And though that is partly true, to me, as I look back on it, that also almost made me look unattainable. Because it's like, oh, look at who they're working with and their perfect life. Why would they want to work with me? And then it was this intimidation factor. And I am the same. I don't want this. This isn't about me. My work is not about me. My work, this podcast, everything that I do is about supporting others and what I can do to bring ease, bring flow, bring all the things that they can bring into. Their lives. And again, this is the one thing that I love that I wanted to do with this podcast is we need to stop joining titles with that's who they are. Like you're a celebrity trainer. So that way, so to me, that could be, Oh, so that means you can make me look like this person. So that means you can do this. Right? No, that means I have information that can help you. But again, it's not a magic pill. Do you ever find, or have you ever experienced somebody being frustrated with the suggestions that you make or yeah, just frustrated that this is going to be almost like a different process or possibly a longer process than they originally thought? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think what sets me apart from other coaches or trainers or, you know, however you want to call the label, what sets me apart is that I'm constantly assessing. I'm constantly assessing. And what I find interesting is that when I was first getting my first handful of certifications in fitness, and then I guess in health coaching, there was always these checklists that you take a client through. And then that was almost it. In fact, it was the same thing even in the medical industry, right? You go, you do a blood test once a year, and or you do a checkup once a year, and you are supposed to leave and then that is to determine how the rest of your year goes. For me, I always felt that that was interesting and I'll never forget when I first discovered that I had a gluten allergy. I had to do my own research, or you could say it's intolerance or sensitivity. I went to the doctor, told him a number of things, and he's like, wait, you're this old and you don't have this and that. No, there can't be anything wrong with you. You're probably just doing something incorrectly. When I left there, I thought, wow, he didn't even really ask me anything about what I'm eating, how often am I eating. He didn't set me up for any blood tests or gut testing or anything like that. So I just thought, wow, there's a void in this whole world of health and wellness because everyone is just checking the box and then thinking that they're good. You go to the doctor, they do a certain set of biomarkers and then they go, hey, you know. What? We're going to review your panel and you're good. Things are good. I thought, wait a minute, but what is the quote unquote good based on? It's based on the average of America. I don't know about you. I don't know about most people listening to this podcast. I'm not average. But I don't want to be the average of any average. You know what I mean? So I thought, okay, that automatically makes me think that I should probably do more testing because our gut changes, our microbiome changes constantly. Our skin changes constantly. We evolve as people constantly. So to answer your question about how to ... Has anyone ever got frustrated? They get frustrated with me all the time. Because I might say to them, okay, we're gonna do a gut test and then we're gonna do a blood panel. In fact, I'm doing a lot of work with this company called Life Force. And Life Force is, I partnered with them because they basically are the first company that sort of got it the way that I get it, which is we need to be doing testing of many tests, like every three months. Now, a lot of people think, oh, but I don't wanna test every three months. That means somebody's gotta take my blood every three months I've got to give poop samples or urine samples or saliva samples every three months. I don't want to do that. Okay. I might not be the person for you, but this is what I'm going to suggest. You don't have to do this if you don't want to do the optimization in the level I think you could do optimization. But I'm just saying this is available for you. So like how serious do you want to be? Right. Yeah. Cause it's about making that sustainable change, right? It's not just about when I was in the fitness industry, I made a really good name for myself in the bridal world and those bitches be crazy. But because they would want like instant results and like, you know, I want somebody's arms and they've got six weeks before their wedding and they want like a killer back and killer arms and then refuse to work the rest of their body no matter how much I explained to them that you can't problem spot trade, you have to do the whole thing. But it was one of those instances where she's like, again, I was younger and I was like, you know, they're paying great. I'm only going to see them for six weeks and then they're not my problem. However, some as the six weeks or eight weeks that they would get me grew on, they would slowly start to see, oh yeah, I can't move my arms today. So that's probably not a good idea. So yeah, let's, let's work my legs because I guess I do want to, you know, look better from the bottom down in my bikini or things like that. And it is sometimes that they have to be inside of it to understand it. But I hope one thing that the audience takes away from this episode already is that change is progressional. And change isn't about one formula or like I said or one pill or one workout or one sales funnel. It's about really understanding yourself and how it all works together as a collective. Because you, like you said, you are consistently learning. You are consistently changing. So of course, your business, your lifestyle, your things, your ideals are going to move with it. So why wouldn't you want something that progresses with you and makes you the best version of yourself in that possible moment? And I think we're getting there. More and more people are wanting to, quote unquote, do the work. But it's a little bit of an uphill battle sometimes. Absolutely. Yeah, I can distinctly remember the times when, I mean, I still do work with Madonna, but when I was first working with Madonna and I was getting my first handful of word of mouth referrals. The thing that I would constantly get is like, oh my gosh, so you're responsible for Madonna's arms? Her arms are amazing. I want her arms. And like you, I was young and I was like, okay, sure, let's do the work. And I quickly realized that they didn't wanna put in the work that she puts in to get those arms. Also, there is a certain genetic factor, right? It's not everything, but she also has access to multiple chefs. She also dedicates a huge amount of her life to working out. And that's where people were like, oh, you know, actually, I just wanna be more fit. And I go, ah, that's, here we go. Now that's the juice, okay? That's what we want, perfect. Yeah, it's that constant kind of, you know, like space holding and helping them, like I said in the beginning, helping them just reveal what we already see and what we know works well for them. And it's just that guidance of continuing to ask questions and can you do it before they finally go, oh, and you're like, there it is. Like I knew it was there, I just needed time. And I love that you talked earlier about that. You are constantly curious and I am the same way. My partner laughs at me because I will get down rabbit holes of certain things because I'm just obsessed with. How I mean just humans in general, right? We're so interesting. And I always love to figure out, a guest on my podcast called it the Genesis of where this came from, whether it is, you know, how people view different races, or just I'm just like, where the where the fuck did we get this audacity? As a kid, were you just as curious? Like, do you remember kind of the first things that you got kind of, I want to use the word hyper fixated on I don't know if that applies to you. But But what was that like for you as a kid? Like were you that kid that just asked a ton of questions and just always wanted to know? Yep, and it was actually encouraged. So you're spot on because I have always been, I mean, as far back as I can remember, I've always been a curious person. And I remember when I was growing up, there was this cartoon out, you may know it, called Curious George, you know, the little monkey. Right, and I related to that so much. In fact, my nickname while I was growing up, because I used to love eating bananas, maybe because of that cartoon, but also people would call me Curious Josh, just like Curious George. So it was like this thing. And some of my fondest memories back when I was a young boy was, I mean, in terms of just being curious anyways, is I used to open up watches and I used to open up like my remote control cars plan, anything that had inner workings, I wanted to open it up carefully just to look at it. I didn't know what I was doing with it, but I just wanted to look at it. I could open up a watch and just sit there and just stare at it for a long time just to see how. Things worked and how it moved. Then as I got older, I started to try to learn how to put it back together. I remember right at the tail end of when people were building computers. I was kind of getting fascinated with building computers, but then that was at the peak of my interest in sports, so I quickly kind of diverted from that to sports. But if I hadn't had sports like basketball and track and field and things like that, I probably would have been like a, you know. IT tech or something, you know? Like I would have probably been in something that has to do with like engineering or whatever, because I am very fascinated with how. Technology works, but also how the human body works. Yeah. Because we're human machines. Do you remember that show? I think it was called How It's Made. Of course. And they used to just show... I fucking loved that show. Yeah. Because that's the same thing of, I didn't have enough guts to take something apart, but to watch how things are created or where... One of my favorite things to watch is like chef's table and cooking competitions. I'm like, how does this human see a picture of of a tree and all of a sudden know what a tree should taste like, what those ingredients are and just create this out of thin air. It blows my mind. But I don't know if you, I'm sure you do see this, but I think it's kind of cool that you said that you love machines and love IT and the human body. And that's also a bit of what you do, correct? Because that's a lot of what biohacking is and putting those two together. So for those who don't know, can you quickly walk us through what biohacking is and how How did you come to connect to it? Yeah, I'll read off a definition of biohacking because I get this question all the time. I'm sure. I've just notated what is biohacking, and I have two sentences and a thought to end with. Biohacking is getting the best out of your body and life by adapting your environment, lifestyle, and diet. Sometimes it involves technology. Sometimes it involves getting back to a more primal state. Of biohacking as upgrading and optimizing your brain and body. So that is some of the most concise words around what biohacking is. And the reason why I wanted to define it and then mention that is because a lot of times people think of biohacking as only the use of technology. But as you heard me note there, sometimes it involves getting back to a more primal state. And because I'm a person that loves diversification, I like to have experience in a multitude of things, then it's probably easy to understand that biohacking to me is a blend of ancestral wisdom. And this sort of this blend of modern technology, and where do they meet, right? In fact, we can use modern technology to help us get back to a primal state or to help us identify and become more aware that we need to get more to back to a more primal state. I like to draw the connection or the bridge between ancestral and modern. So things like grounding or earthing. So earthing is more of the, it would be, it's the same thing really, but earthing is more of that primal state, right? So this is taking off your shoes, being barefoot, walking through nature. And obviously there's a lot of benefits around that, but it's essentially getting sort of neutralizing this, this highly positive charge to, to be at a more sort of balanced state. Right. And connecting to the earth. And that's why that could be labeled as earthing, but then the biohacking side of it, or the modern technology side of it would call it grounding. Right. And grounding is very useful. This is why we can live in modern homes without killing ourselves from plugging something in because it is quote unquote grounded. What that does is it keeps the electricity from sparking too much or overwhelming the entire system because the ground is there. The problem with that though is that all the homes are grounded to the point where we don't get the grounding effect. If you don't ever go out and get grounded, or you don't have some sort of kit like I do, I mean, I have pillowcases and bedsheets, and I've got these body straps, and I've got a number of things that allow me to stay grounded even while I sleep, whether I'm indoors or not, right? Mm-hmm. And then if I couple that with walking barefoot and trying to be as involved in nature as possible, we're just talking about one facet of biohacking. Well, I do have a couple of videos on my Instagram that basically states that at the end of the day, we're all biohackers. Because if you've ever adapted your environment to meet a certain need, then in essence you're a biohacker. And a common example that I throw out there is that if you have changed the temperature in your home to make it a little bit more comfortable, then you're a biohacker. You've just adapted your environment, right? You've manipulated your environment. If you've ever turned on the fire... Put some food in a pan, you've readapted or manipulated that food to make it more digestible. Therefore, you are a biohacker. So I like to try to put these things out there so that people. Don't get intimidated by the term of biohacking, thinking that you have to be hooked up to lasers and things. I mean, we can do all of that, of course, right? There is all of that. There's layers and levels. Yes. Yes. So I don't know if that answers your question, but that's kind of how I see it and how I try to explain it to people. And I love that it mirrors so much what I do on my business guidance aspect of combining that spiritual with structural or for you, nature with science. There is room for both and they're both needed because one elevates and supports the other in multiple ways. And that's why I love to utilize the spiritual tool, human design, because it gives my clients It's just a beautiful look at who they are, how they're energetically designed to create what they want. And it gives them so much validation, so much confirmation, and so much awareness of what are those little things that they can shift and what they're already doing right. Like, especially as entrepreneurs, it's so easy to be like, I'm doing this wrong, I'm failing at this. Okay, but let's look at how you're automatically doing things correctly without even trying. And then with that awareness, What technical tools can I pull from my 13 years of business coaching, quote unquote, world can we then utilize? Is it then do we look at your offers, your funnels, your time management, your emails, all of that jazz? But it does start with that combination of awareness, which we mentioned earlier, with that, OK, what is then the tactical tool that we can then customize or fit into what we want to create? I fucking love it. It's so cool. Yeah. You know, another little example, just to kind of drive that. That notion home further. I really remember growing up, I was a big part of like Boy Scouts and I think like we had this program called Christian Crusaders or something like that, where it was essentially like Boy Scouts, but you had this opportunity to, you know, I grew up in Oklahoma. You could, we could easily go camping. And you know, nowadays there's this, there's this phrase or this term called glamping, which is sort of glamorous camping, right? Or you could do what's known as primitive camping. And anytime I was ever offered the opportunity to go camping, I always wanted to do the primitive camping. I wanted to learn how to make fire with the tools available to me in nature. I wanted to learn how to tie certain knots and you can get all these pins for achieving all these goals. But at the same time, it's like making sure to have the tools and tactics in case you can't, right? That's that kind of the biohacking side of it. It's like, you know, what would happen if? If literally like if tomorrow. All of the electricity went out and the world just went dark. There's going to be a certain subset of people that are going to be well prepared and won't miss a beat. There's going to be a lot of people who are going to be freaking the fuck out. Right. It's those people that freak out as soon as Instagram goes down or Twitter goes down. They're like, I can't run my business. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. You know, and it's like the pandemic was one of those things that kind of brought that to light for a lot of people because you know what happened to the grocery stores and this And I didn't really have, I didn't miss a beat. But here's the thing, I do have a generator in my apartment in New York. I do have solar panels in my room. I do have charging things just in case. I have candles. I've got, there's a number of things that I have. I do very well with intermittent fasting. So if I miss a meal, I don't freak out. So I say all these things because I feel like we should be prepared for anything at any time and understanding where you are, being aware of where you are and what you're capable of or lack thereof should allow you to understand who's in your inner circle and what community do you want to be a part of when shit hits the fan? Yeah, I love it. Yeah. And it's conversations like this where we're pointing things out for people, but giving them the space to listen and register, right? It's not like we're preaching at people and be like, this is what you should do. Sharing these stories and somebody going, Oh, yeah, like, I never had a moment of panic during the pandemic, right? A moment of panic when this happened. Did I actually take any things, any steps, any actions to change it or to protect myself or to give me plan B, plan C, plan D, all of the things. And I'm really hoping that a lot of people are now are doing exactly that just going, Okay, yeah, I've been putting this off, or I've been relying way too much on this process, this person, this thing. And at the end of the day, what is it something that's really going. To benefit me in the long run. Right. Yeah. Well said. Well said. Hey friends, liking the episode? Pretty epic, isn't it? Well, guess what? This episode and all others have been made possible by financial support and contributions from listeners like you. So if you would like to continuously hear how these epic humans are more than just. Go ahead and head over to our GoFundMe and make a contribution. Cool? Alright, let's get back to the magic. So how did your curiosity take you from taking watches apart to moving into the fitness industry? Yeah, so the curiosity just sort of blended into everything else I did throughout my adolescence to, you know, becoming a teenager and then becoming a young adult. Like I went from doing martial arts, learning everything I could about martial arts, which as you might know, I mean, Eastern philosophy is so fascinating because there's a lot of esoteric understanding. So some people who just don't believe just don't get it. And here I am at age, I don't know, seven, eight, nine, 10 years old, I had to understand what chi energy was. And to be able to lay on a bed of nails and to be able to break bricks with my hand or fly through the air and break boards with my feet and to be able to take a punch to my gut and learn how to harness energy, right? And if I grew up in a more Western philosophy, it would have been known as adrenaline, right? And just building your energy and taking energy drinks or taking a supplement, whereas in the Eastern philosophy, it's all within. So you learn how to bring it up at a moment's notice. So that was all very fascinating. And because my dad was very multi-layered and still is to this day, he was a plumber, he was a carpenter, he was a chief of police in our hometown, he ran the EMT services, he was the storm chaser, He ran a karate school. He was also a deacon at the church. So he did all these things. I got a chance to kind of see like, wow. So it is okay to be good at many different things. One weekend, he might have a police uniform on, another weekend, he might be chasing storms, and then another weekend, he might bring my brother and I along with him to build scaffolding and to build something. He brought us everywhere and we had our own little utility belts. I was so curious about everything. So if you take that whole taking watches apart, and then you apply that to understanding how a house is built and how plumbing is done. All of these things just fed my brain. So if you can imagine, I was very good in school and I loved school because I got a chance to learn things. I was a person raising my hand, asking questions. I had to balance out like this whole, is he brown-nosing or is it just that he's a really good student? So I had to learn how to balance that out by becoming a class clown as well. So, I was the funny guy, I was the athlete, but I had one of the best set of grades throughout all of school. And from kindergarten to graduating high school, I had perfect attendance. Because one, we didn't have any choice really. It was just like, no, you're going to go to school. You throw up and your mom's like, oh, you feel better? Okay, now you're going to school. Yeah, no, no. You're going to school. You go to school, if you still feel bad, then they'll send you home. But you're not... You know what I mean? That was that. Yeah. Because in my family too, that was their paid daycare because we didn't have a lot of money and both my parents had to work. And so they were like, no, no, we can't pay for a center or risk not going to work. So save. You go to school, they will take care of you until we can come get you from school. Exactly. Exactly. So I bring up all of that to say that either I chose routes that allowed me to continue feeding my curiosity, or it was sort of there for me, and I just had to be open enough to want to explore it. And when it came time to try and figure out what I wanted to do in life, because as you get into being a sophomore, a junior, and a senior in high school, it's kind of like, well, what are you gonna do with your life? And I'm like, I'm gonna play professional basketball. I knew that's what I was gonna do. So obviously, though, I had certain things that I knew that I could fall back on if basketball didn't work out. So I wanted to do physical therapy and psychology because those were very fascinating to me, right? I didn't realize until I got to school that that was a huge load of work, right? Because I wasn't just a student and an athlete. I wasn't just a student athlete. I had three jobs while I was in college and I played on the basketball team and I had a double major. Wait, wait, wait, take it easy there, Josh. Right, right. You're going to just blow through. Exactly. So it was just like, okay, Josh, you know what? You need to check your ego. And it's cool and cute that you want to do a double major because you're gifted academically. But what are you really doing? Do you really want to do that? Or is it just appeasing everyone that's like, Josh is going to be great in school and he's going to be the best, blah. So I said, you know what, I'm going to go to communications. Because something told me back then when I had to make that decision, literally I went from physical therapy and psychology to communications. And people were like, what? Why are you doing that? And then that's when everything sparked for me. I got a chance to learn how radio programs work. Some people don't even realize how a radio signal comes into our cars or into these little boxes called a radio. How does that even work? I got a chance to learn that. I also got a chance to produce my own radio program. At the university I was at, the radio program hadn't existed for a handful of years, and then I revived it with a group of friends. We revived the radio program, and I had my own radio show back in college. I also got a chance to learn both sides of the camera, which nowadays, when people think, well, who does all your editing, Josh? Like on social media, I do. Because I had a background in learning how to edit, learning how to shoot to edit, and also understanding how to present myself on camera because I had practice in it. I went to school for it. So anyway, I hope that answers your question. But it's basically, it's been, I've cultivated this career path I mean, since I was a little kid. Yeah. And I love that you said that you asked your ego and checked your ego because it's so easy. And I'm going to equate this to entrepreneurs, that's why I spend a lot of my time with, well, I should do this, right? Because I have this information or because I want to do, for example, I want to be a business coach. I need to get the best certification ever. I need to do this. I need to do that. No. Could you? Yes. Do you need to? Not necessarily. What are the other ways, you know, what moment or what pause can you take to really evaluate? What do you want and what really is that you don't already have that can? Continue to help you create what you want to create and I love that you're like, yeah I could have done a double major and also Am I doing that because I want to do it or am I doing that because of the expectations that others put on me and I? Can then continue to prove to them how smart I am how accomplished I am am. That takes some like that's some serious questioning because it is it is so easy to get caught up in just that next step. What's that next step? What's that next thing I need to do. And yet when you do take that pause and go, okay, why am I really doing this? What is this for? Who is this for? Then it's like, there's more than one way to accomplish what you want. It's like that phrase, there's more than one way to skin a cat. But if you don't give yourself the chance to think about it, honestly, to pause and think about it, and then understand that making a different decision doesn't mean you are lessening yourself or lessening your intelligence or your capabilities. As just honoring the time and energy that you have and knowing that at the end of the day, you will have time and energy to continue to dive into these curiosities, but maybe they're just not attached with a piece of paper and that's okay. Yes, I love where you were going with that about changing courses or whatever. Some people might view it as a failure, but I like to throw in the analogy when people say, well, what's the worst that can happen? I like to double down and say, what's the best that can happen? Right? Right? Yeah. Right? Because that is an abundance mindset to me. That's thinking, changing courses, it doesn't have to be seen as a failure, but it could also be seen as leveling up. You know what I mean? Yeah. Maybe we're upgrading just by asking ourselves what we really want. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. I can tell you, I swear to you, I get this so often when it comes to trainers or people in the biohacking space that want to quote unquote do what I do, they always ask me, Hey Josh, what certifications do you have? For me, I almost roll my eyes every time because it's like, it doesn't matter what certifications I have, to be honest with you. It's like, we all know that, at least in America, you get your driver's license when you're 16, if you can pass. You get your driver's license when you're 16 years old, and then you get that validation of this car that says you have a driver's license now, you're legal to drive. But then what? Then what, right? Most people are still a little bit freaked out when they actually get on the road, right? It is not until you actually do the driving that you become confident in becoming a driver, right? It's the same thing with training. So why would anyone ever sort of limit yourself or put yourself in a cage by trying to get the fanciest of certifications? You know, I have so many people saying to me, Josh, like you're so intelligent and so many different things. Why don't you become a doctor? I'm like, well, I don't want to become a doctor because doctor is put into a box, right? And a doctor is bound by all of these regulations in the medical field that I am totally against, right? Why would I subject myself to that when I can continue doing what I'm doing, you know? Like, yeah, so. Titles and papers are not, shouldn't be quantifiers, right? It shouldn't be something that's like, oh, well, what's going to qualify you? It's the knowledge that you have. Because I, I mean, again, the corporate gym that I worked at here in Chicago for a brief time, we had outside trainers who had the top certifications because they had to be in order to outside train in our gym. And I would cringe when I would see how these people are trained. I mean, basic stuff. They're like, why are you making this human do this right now? But because they're certified, they've got the muscles to prove it. Like obviously, they're the end all be all. And it's like you have to, as the other person on the other side of the table, ask questions, see how they treat. Are you even comfortable with this person? Do you agree with their philosophies? Because honestly, they know enough to make a job out of it and a living out of it. It's what is the connection that have the relationship that you have? Is this somebody that you can and want to support you through this time? And it's those things of like, when you have the space to not only talk about all the knowledge that you have without any constraints, right? Because I'm sure you talk about a lot of things that contribute to your mastery as a fitness trainer. But it's also like you said, it's not confined to a regimen. It's not confined to a to a certain rhetoric. It's just you passing along amazing knowledge that you have to a person at the right time, in the right place, at the right way that is going to continue to support them. So I and I love that. And I love that, you know, and I'm the same way. I'm constantly learning different ways and different things that I'm curious about that I know are all have a central theme of just helping people be the best versions of themselves and to create this collective change to where we are talking to each other and learning from each other and working with each other and not trying to make carbon copies of ourselves or be a carbon copy of somebody else, but coming again from a place of just chatting and seeing what are the connectors that we have and how can we talk about our different experiences inside of it and then And how can we continue that conversation and move it forward with those action steps? So with this now, Curiosity, because you're buzzing around, you're all over the world right now, where is your curiosity taking you right now? What seems to kind of be your earworm right now of just like, oh, I'm really geeking out on this? This is an easy one. This is a very easy one because it's literally at the forefront of my brain right now. So I think you're familiar with the fact that I wrote a book called The Awareness Shift, right? I co-wrote a book called The Awareness Shift with a former client of mine and a colleague. Her name is Tessa Cash. We together wrote the Awareness Shift. You know, it was like for me, there was a bit of imposter syndrome, you know, like I knew that I was not a writer. So I would always profess the fact that I'm not a writer. But what is a writer, right? You know, like, like, what is a writer, the fact that I am the one that writes all of my social media content would state that I'm a writer, you know? Yeah. But I kind of needed to, to get that first project out there called the awareness shift, together with someone who is a writer to be able to kind of say, all right, I can actually do this now. So I have written another book and it's based on the 15 five concept. And I actually just released this morning, actually, no, what is today? Today's Tuesday. Yesterday, I just released a video of week one of a fitness challenge called the 15 by five fitness challenge or workout challenge. And I'm going to be releasing week by week for four weeks, this fitness challenge. So you and anyone listening, you know, should definitely go and check out my Instagram and you'll see the explanation of it. There's a PDF of it. And this, the book that I'm writing is basically an ebook resource to fully dive into what the 15 by five concept is all about. It's something that I developed because I saw a void in the world of fitness in which everyone was always just kind of chasing the thing that looked the best and felt the best that, you know, for social media. And it was all this high intensity interval training. And it's all amazing and it's fabulous. There's a lot of research out there. People are really doing well with it. But what about those who aren't doing well with it? What about people who can't move? And I happen to be a person that was working with people that just quite frankly, didn't want to do it. Like not everybody wants to be a high performing athlete. So I said, oh, okay, well, what can I do, that can capture the biggest amount of people, whether it be high-performing athletes or super sedentary, obese clients and everything in between. That's why I created this, because it's all based around isometrics. And I utilize the concept of the seven-minute scientific workout, Tabata protocol, the super slow method embodied by science. I kind of utilize all of that and thought to myself, you no one is talking about isometrics. Mm-hmm. Right? And when you hear isometrics, what do you think of? I think of like, so the same muscle like over like a plank as an isometric. Or so it's the same muscle contracting and building and contracting and building. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Well said. You hit the nail on the head. Most people think of planks and wall sits. Yeah. Those are isometric exercises. Absolutely. Right? Yeah. But a lot of people don't understand that isometrics, like isometric strength training was sort of the thing in the world of bodybuilding and powerlifting, right? And it's very different than plank and a wall sit. It's actually like using, you're pulling or pushing weight that does not move, but it engages parts of your muscles that gives you extreme amounts of strength without doing damage to your joints. And I thought to myself, oh, Oh, wait a minute, what would constitute an isometric hold? And I started to think, okay, any body weight movement that you can hold in a position, sort of a concentric loaded position for a period of time that constitutes an isometric. Oh, okay, maybe I can create a program that allows people to get stronger without getting bulkier, right? Because that was the fear too. A lot of the girls that I worked with thought strength means bulk, and that's totally not the case. So I was- You have a whole other episode about that. Oh, of course, of course, right? So I thought, okay, I understand this concept of progressively overloading people, as in kind of nudging them into better performance without overdoing it, right? So creating injury. And I thought I might as well just come up with a whole concept around it. So that's the four week concept of 15 by five. I'm definitely looking that up because that is so cool. And it's so funny. I was just, I have a personal trainer who I love to pieces because him and I are the same mindset of, you know, I told him I like my weight. I just want you know, I'm 40 I'm gonna be 42 this year. I just want to be able to have healthy lifestyle, not break a hip at 50. And like, you know, still be able to be active and comfortable in in my own skin. And I love the way that he trains because he takes that to heart. And we talked a lot about how we were talking about CrossFit the other day. And that's, again, a whole nother conversation. But just how people think that this massive hit like CrossFit is the only way that you can get in shape when it really is those little things that you do every day that makes such a big difference. And I, and that makes it so accessible. And that's also so important is that things that you want to do for yourself, create for yourself, when somebody feels that it's accessible, that is clutch because I'm... Over. I mean, I'm sure you are too in the fitness industry. I'm definitely over in the quote unquote coaching industry of this quantifier of you have to be able to, you know, to financially afford it, you have to be able to do this to, you know, make these choices and prove to me that you deserve this like, fuck that noise. This is something that you want. Let's make it accessible to everybody, because that's what's going to help everybody achieve. Like you mentioned, you know, tag teaming with the other trainer. It's not about what's going to happen when they leave, It's rejoicing in the fact that you have a new client and what are the opportunities and possibilities that can come from working with this client and being connected to you? Like it's those reframes that make such a big difference. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, I think of it like this too, you know, the piece about, you mentioned people thinking that they have to have a certain amount of resources to be able to afford going to a gym and this and that. I started to dive into that a little bit deeper. And so this This is a little deep here, but I kind of feel like people tend to use that as an excuse to not do something. Yes. A hundred percent. I find that people are like, well, you know, I'm not an athlete, so I don't want to train like that. Check. No problem. You know, I don't have a gym, so I couldn't train this week. Check. No problem. I don't have the right shoes, so I couldn't run. Check. No problem. Yeah. It's like, well, do you have a body and do you have 12 minutes? Right? I created this program because you can do lower body, upper body, core, and I just asked someone for the first week to commit to three to five days during that first week, and 12 minutes each of those days, right? And it takes care of your upper body, lower body, and your core, right? And if you can commit to that, and I promise you, every single person that's ever done this for the first time. They're all surprised and shocked at how simple it is, but how tough it is to carry out, right? And at the end of this four week process, Not only will you get a physical benefit, like an aesthetic physical benefit, but there's a huge amount of mental benefit. Because I promise most people will really think about doing it a second time after they do it the first time. And I'm not even saying that they will really think about wanting to do it again. Most people are gonna have this internal conflict of like, that was way tougher than I thought it was gonna be. And that's that moment to kind of check yourself like I was saying before about checking in with my ego. So for me, it's things like doing a cold shower, doing a cold plunge. If it sucks and it's hard to do, I have to have that conversation with myself to say, why am I not doing it again? And it's the same thing with this 15 by five program. So I challenge you and I challenge anyone that's listening to check it out because it's very simple. This is the simple kind of one paragraph or one sentence pitch. You basically take one exercise for the lower body, one exercise for the upper body, one exercise for the core. You would do each of those 12 rounds. Of 15 seconds of a hold, five seconds of rest. Okay? So basically, like to give you an example of what the lower body version would look like, you could do a squat or you can do a split squat or you could do a wall sit. But let's say you're gonna do the squat. You would stand up, you would do a squat, halfway squat down, right? So get into a squat position, hold that for 15 seconds, that's round one. Stand up for five seconds, breathe. I encourage nasal breathing, which there's a whole spiel about that, right? Producing more nitric oxide, dilating the blood vessels, increasing circulation, which is a benefit way beyond just. The look of your body. So you would go in a squat position, stand up, five seconds, squat position, 15 seconds, stand up, five seconds. You do that 12 rounds, and then you wait 30 seconds to one minute before you move to the next section of the body. And then the same thing would apply to a pushup. You would hold a half pushup position, which not many people can do a full pushup on this, right? Even me. Like I won't do the entire 12 rounds in a full push-up position. It's just way too difficult. So I do a kneeling push-up. I just hold myself, hover just above the ground, halfway down for 15 seconds, push myself up for five. And then that's 12 rounds. Again, wait 30 seconds to a minute before going to the core. And then the core one would be a boat pose or anything that you would consider like a core exercise, right? But a boat pose, you're sitting on your butt, legs off the ground, hands off the ground, chest up, hold it for 15 seconds, rest for five, 12 rounds. That's it. I'm definitely checking this out because I equate this to things that I utilize in my business as well. That's one of the reasons why I wrote my book, She Profits, is to show how it is so simple to make these decisions and to make these shifts. It's not necessarily easy, but creating what you want is rather simple when we take away all of the shoulds, all of the noise, all of the crap, and just go back to these really beautiful basics of what we already have and what we can already do and just taking it to that next level. Fucking love it. I'm excited. Josh, I am so sad to say that we probably should wrap this up because I could talk to you forever. Likewise. But there's just been so many beautiful gems here. And I would probably say that the general theme. And not only curiosity, but just awareness is so prevalent. And I'm so excited to hear the feedback from this episode of the ahas that people have gotten. So as we wrap up, is there anything else that you would just like to share with our audience? Yeah, I would love for people to try to go and find my book called The Awareness Shift. It's not even just a plug. It is a shameless plug. But it's not just a plug. I really do have this book out there in hopes that people become more aware about their entire life in general, this holistic approach to health optimization. So if you are more curious about what I do, what I actually do, and some of the methods and techniques that I implore with myself and for my clients and my family and my friends and loved ones, then check out that book. And just as a note, make sure you find the book that has the yellow shift, right? So it'll say the awareness shift with the yellow shift. And the reason for that is because that was our updated release, because the first one had a lot of issues. When we worked with the publishing company, they ended up going bankrupt, literally like the day after we released our book. And we wondered why there was so many, like we were being rushed throughout it, but there was some typos and some mistakes. And that book is still circulating out there, but with this new one, now we went self-publishing route and we made all the updates we needed to. So I think it's about like 20 pages longer, a lot more content and it's more up to date. So that's the book to definitely check out. And then keep your eyes peeled for the 15 by five workout by yours truly. And I think there's gonna be some articles written about it and things like that. But I would love for people to give it a shot. And then I would love to see like feedback online. I wanna see people talking about it like, oh my gosh, this was really difficult or oh my goodness, this was way easier than I thought for week one. And then week two is gonna be something different. Week three is gonna be different, week four is different. So that's really it. I just want people to wake up. You know, to be a woman. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. And all of those to make it easier for y'all. All of those direct links will be in the show notes. So definitely go free to check that out, as well as all the ways that you can respectfully stalk Josh and ask him questions. I know I will be posting about the 55 because I, yeah, count me absolutely in. But first and foremost, and again, thank you so much, Josh, for spending your time and energy with us. It was, it was fucking awesome. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank you. And hopefully we can get you on my show soon. Heck yeah! Look for a crossover! All right y'all, have a great day and we will chat with you soon. Bye! Music. All right folks, once again, thank you so much for listening to this epic episode. All of the resources and links connected to it will be in our show notes located on our website morethanjust.buzzsprout.com. If you liked this episode, which I would be shocked if you did not, go ahead and hit that like, subscribe, review, and share. Also remember that this episode and all others have been made possible by financial contributions and support from listeners like you. So if you would like to hear more stories of how Epic Humans are more than just, pop on over to our GoFundMe and make a contribution. Also don't forget to follow us on Instagram at more than just podcasts. Thanks again. See you next time. Music.