JT Strength Therapy

These are my people. Started out intimidated by the gym culture, and now this client looks forward to the gym. 🙌

Whenever I’m asked about the secret to client retention, these words come to mind.

I’m not impressed by the amount of new clients a coach can get through the door. If there’s a high turnover rate of clients coming and going, then something’s not adding up.

I’m more impressed with a coach who’s constantly getting referred people, and has clients going on 5-10-15 and so on years strong, and now we’re talking.

Doing a great job and giving people the tools to succeed on their own, but making their experience working with you an enjoyable one will keep them around a lot longer than you think.

I don’t remember where I saw this saying, but it popped up in my brain after a recent discussion with a client.

As with anything, context matters.

If your goal is to increase your overall physical activity levels, nave at it.

But if you’re trying to put on muscle, you’re better off following a well structured training plan with progressive overload.

Don’t chase the sweat. Chase the results.

Thursday Mood.

I’ve been overlooking a few new client’s previous workouts, and the common theme was this: the ladies would skip training upper body out of fear of looking too masculine. And the men would skip legs and focus only on being top heavy.

Do both.

Yes, you can focus on certain body parts that may be lagging.
But don’t completely neglect the others.

Cheerio.

Congrats to being named League MVP and making All-CIF this season. It’s been a great year of training and I’m happy to see all your hard work pay off.

One of the reasons why you may have experienced a plateau in your weight-loss is because, as you drop weight, your body adapts by slowing down your metabolic rate.

What this means is that you need fewer calories to maintain your bodyweight. And, if your goal is to continue dropping pounds, you may need to decrease your calories further.

Another thing to look into is your NEAT (think of this as your activity levels outside your workouts). It’s normal for your body to feel fatigued and not want to move as much when you reduce your calories, so figuring out ways to increase your NEAT will help.

Stress isn’t always bad. Your perception of
stress, and your PERCEIVED ability to handle it can actually make it better - or worse.

Stress isn’t something we should necessarily shy away from - it’s an inevitable part of giving a damn about something.
People who see their stress as worthy challenges tend to fare better than those who catastrophize it. Often, stressful situations can be an opportunity for growth. It’s all a matter of perspective.

I find the pursuit of balancing out work, family time, eating, training, and sleep is a never ending juggling act. I have my good and bad days, but I’m constantly learning from it and getting better at it.

Which camp do you fall in?

The main takeaway from this is pain is complex. I posted this in my stories over a week ago and got a lot of great responses to it, so might as well post it on my main feed too.

It’s not that simple and straightforward. The person’s thoughts, fears/beliefs, stress levels, dietary and sleep habits, load management with their training program, and past experiences all play a part in a much bigger picture as to why they may be experiencing pain.

Congrats to being named League MVP this year. Still putting the finishing touch on his Ken Griffey Jr. bat flip, but it’ll perfected soon. Proud of you my dude. 🔥

Congrats to being named League MVP this year. Still putting the finishing touch on his Ken Griffey Jr. bat flip, but it’ll perfected soon. Proud of you my dude. 🔥

Maybe it’s just my own personal anecdote, but more often than not, the people who reach out to work with me (and have complaints of aches and pains), tend to also be the ones who don’t lift weights.

Lifting weights helps your body become more resilient, and I’ve noticed with these same people, the more consistent they are following their programs, they tend to have less complaints.

Stay strong people.

Proud coach moment right here.

No matter where you are in life, keep collecting those daily wins.

I see everyone putting in work.

It’s great to see so many women in the weight room these days, but there’s still rampant misinformation when it comes to getting the best results for your goals.

Check out some of the most common ones in the slides above, and share with a friend who you think needs to hear this.

There’s nothing more frustrating than losing
10-20-30lbs and then realizing you’re just a skinnier, flabbier version of yourself.

There’s a time and place for fat loss. Just make sure that’s not your primary focus all the time.

Muscle is good for the soul.

Stay strong fam.

What got you here won’t get you there.

Remember all the dumb stuff you used to get away with in your college years?

When I was in my early 20s, I remember looking up random workouts online depending on my mood that week (sometimes that day).

The flavors ranged from bodybuilding, powerlifting, to German Volume Training (10 sets of 10, anyone?). I’d also often chase PRs without a proper warm-up.

Sometimes, l’d just make up my workouts on the go.

On top of my idiotic ways, l’d eat everything in sight, play basketball a few times a week, and somehow continue to see progress. (Hi newbie gains).

It was great.

Until it wasn’t.

Now that I’m 41, my training is a reflection of what I enjoy doing and can recover from.

I stick to what I know will work, and try to be creative in how I can push myself without wrecking my body. It’s a more intuitive approach that’s grounded in timeless principles.

On the days I’m feeling good, I push a little harder. When I’m not feeling so good, I scale back and save the juice for another day.

Because the last thing I want is to be out with an injury, pi**ed off at myself for not sticking with a well-structured program (and not using my noggin when I had the chance).

Achieving that balance is what has allowed me to keep going.

If you want to keep training well into your senior years...

-respect your limits
-follow a plan that allows you to push yourself (based on your goals)
-prioritize your recovery

Enjoy your weekend fam.

Conversations with people who take care of themselves just hits differently. The mutual respect for the decades of work it takes to get to this point. The always evolving reasons for continuing on this path.

For me, it’s trying to lead from the front, modeling the behavior for my kids, prioritizing my mental health, and never getting complacent.

The gym is my sanctuary, and even on days when I don’t feel like going, thinking back to my reasons gets me through the door. It allows me to be the best version of myself.

What’s your reason for training?

Swipe to keep reading ➡️.

Random thoughts after wrapping up a coaching call with a new client who was frustrated with their struggles of yo-yo dieting and being inconsistent with training.

Please share this with anyone who will find this useful.

If you’re interested in working together, drop me a message and we’ll take it from there.

This is not a sympathy post, but more so to stay true to myself. I find writing to be therapeutic, so here goes:

Yes, Jackie and I have been divorced for some time now. We still have love for each other and our families, and have been working together to make sure our kids continue to thrive. I’m truly grateful for the memories we’ve shared and our two beautiful children.

The process wasn’t easy, but we drifted apart over the years. You don’t get married with the intentions of getting divorced, but I do think it’s important to show our kids that even even when things don’t work out as planned, you can still work together and wish the absolute best for each other.

I have a lot to be thankful for in my life, but this was incredibly hard. The feelings of shame, depressive thoughts, and fears of letting my kids down were real, but working with a therapist and having conversations with those closest to me, have helped me get to the other side.

I’ve grown a lot from going through this, and the only thing in life that’s constant is change.

Through all the interactions I’ve had with everyone I meet, the one commonality I see is this: everybody’s going through their own s**t, and this was mine. But you can’t let what happened yesterday take away from today.

Thank you to everyone who showed their support through this dark time.

Live your life.

Your homework for today. Small hinges swing big doors.

The only way you lose is if you quit.

SHARE this with a friend who needs to hear this.

Just wrapped up a session with a gentleman who’s had two hip replacements by the age of 50. His priorities have changed since the second surgery.

Money is no longer a priority (trust me, he makes plenty). He mentioned just wanting to be able to do the little things again.
Playing with his kids. Being able to walk up a flight of stairs.
Feeling strong and confident again.

He spent most of his life focusing on building up an impressive portfolio, but let his health become an afterthought.

Making money is important. It gives you options and the ability to live life on your terms. But it doesn’t have to come at the expense of your health.

Seeing a lot of disrespectful things being said
amongst coaches, and the sad thing is it only creates more confusion for the people we’re trying to help (our current and potential clients), which should be our main focus.

Everyone’s trying their best with what they know.

Except for the 20 year old fitness “business” coaches who keep reaching out asking if l’d like to make $10,000,000 in two weeks following their programs. You can go kick rocks.


**twithouts**ttingonanyone

Yes, I’m aware ‘gooder’ isn’t an actual word, but the slang fits.

If you’re struggling to get back on track with your training and nutrition, just know you don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need 4-5 workouts a week. Shoot for 2-3.

You don’t need to eat chicken and kale all day. Start with having protein at each meal.

Keep making those ‘gooder’ gains.

I thrive on human connection.

I’m fascinated with what makes people tick. Their goals, fears, and hobbies. More often than not, as a coach, I find developing rapport with a client first makes it that much easier to push them towards their goals. It’s not all just sets, reps, and progressive overload throughout the week. Understanding what the person is going through on the inside helps guide me in knowing when to push, and when to scale back.

To me, this is the art of coaching.

Thanks for coming in today . Glad you’re feeling better my man. 👊

Had a great time learning more about plyometrics from today at the amazing facility. Big thanks to .fitness for putting this all together, and it was great meeting all the other coaches there.

If you keep waiting for the right time to get started, you might find yourself waiting forever.

My most successful clients are the ones who intentionally set aside time each week for their workouts.

A lot of people put their health on the back-burner because they’re “too busy.” But if you make it a non-negotiable now, it’ll be a lot easier to make it a lifestyle no matter what life throws your way.

A lack of results usually boils down to a lack of consistency, effort, or both.

The truth is you can’t have one without the other.

A new client recently told me he’s been consistently going to the gym for the past year, but was frustrated with his lack of progress. As we dove deeper, he acknowledged that he wasn’t pushing himself hard enough during his training sessions.

I see this time and again with the busy individuals that I work with, and the reality is most people can get better results by spending less time in the gym.

Yes, you need to be consistent. But you also need to push yourself in order for your body to change.

Considering how many people are constantly
looking for shortcuts, this might be the easiest way.

It likely took you a lot longer than 4 weeks of overeating and not lifting weights (think months and possibly years) to put on all that unwanted weight. It’s going to take longer than 6 weeks to reverse it.

This takes time and a whole lotta patience.

But if you start today and keep collecting those daily wins, your progress will compound over time, and I promise you won’t regret it.

Play the long game.