Building Forward

A listener asked what we think about starting powerlifting at 48. Our first answer: why do you care what 2 dudes on the internet think? Our real answer: decide what you want out of it before you start. Paul and Joey get into outcome goals vs process goals, why Joey felt empty after winning nationals, living with intention, what we'd actually do with $3 million, and the pressure Paul feels beco...

Episode 30. Paul and Joey get into the curse of the high achiever: what happens when your best becomes your baseline and anything less starts to feel like failure. From Paul stepping away from powerlifting to Joey's hybrid season, they talk about moving goalposts, why a roster full of "ugh" check-ins is the real price of fast money, and how to stand out in a red ocean of coaches all...

In this episode, Paul and Joey get into the difference between what you tell your kids and what they actually absorb, the implicit stuff. We cover why safety has to exist before any hard conversation can happen, Paul's own childhood pattern of hiding how he felt until he met Olivia, and the letters he's already writing to a daughter who hasn't been born yet. We also talk about communit...

In this episode, Paul and Joey catch up after two weeks off, and it turns out those two weeks were anything but quiet. Joey welcomed his second son, Grayson, in a delivery that turned scary fast: a cord wrapped around his neck three times and three minutes without oxygen. Paul lost his 11 year old dog Stella that same week, and the two of them talk through what it actually looks like to stay regul...

Joey's off for 2 weeks with his newborn, so this one's me alone with a camera and a list of questions I've been sitting on. We lost our girl Stella last week, and that loss set up the rest of the episode: what you actually control, where acceptance stops and giving up starts, and why the action you take is sometimes to pull back on purpose. I get into anger as rocket fuel and the fatigue debt it c...

Paul and Olivia are expecting, Joey's second is due any day, and Paul just ran 53 kilometers in 95 degree heat with 91% humidity. This one covers what changes when the decisions stop being yours alone, how Paul audits his anxiety instead of sitting in it, and the reframe that let him walk away from powerlifting without ever feeling like he quit. We close on why variety is the thing that actual...

Paul and Joey open the mailbag. This one runs through balancing a relationship with hard training and a fat loss phase, what modern masculinity looks like when you're a husband and a father, and how to actually manage recovery when you're stacking 12 sessions into a week. Paul gets into why he challenges his clients' beliefs but never questions their values, and Joey makes the case for...

In this episode, Paul and Joey get into the four questions Paul runs before any big decision, why setting completion as your only goal keeps you from quitting, and what happens when your identity is still tied to a performance metric that has an expiry date. We talk about finding your why sooner, giving yourself credit for what you've already survived, and the difference between validation you...

Jon Heck was a projected NFL draft pick who walked away from football to build a life he actually chose. In this one, Paul and Joey get into that decision with him, plus the accidental way he built his coaching business, the therapist question that stopped him cold, and why success always sends you a bill in time. If you've ever wondered when you'll finally feel like you've made it, or...

Three days before his first mountain 30K, Paul tweaked his lower back on a Hatfield squat and could barely stand up straight. He flew to California anyway, ran nine miles straight up a canyon, cramped the whole way down, and still finished under 4 hours. In this one, Paul and Joey break down the whole race: the McKenzie protocol that got his back moving in 3 days, why a bigger and more muscular at...

Paul and Joey get into the stuff that runs underneath the training: raising kids in a world that looks nothing like the one we grew up in, the fraud feeling that hits when you're not checking your own boxes, and why Paul blocks his entire life by the clock (yes, Olivia books a meeting when she wants his attention). They break down Parkinson's Law, why multitasking is a myth, and the two si...

Paul and Joey free-ball a full playbook for building a coaching business in 2026. They get into why you have to be good at something before you sell anything, giving away your best work for free, and the 6 years Paul spent learning to coach one bodybuilder who got his pro card a week after leaving him. Then it's niching down to the person you were 5 years ago, why soft skills now beat expertis...

Paul and Joey get real about the season where training falls to third place behind family and business, and what to actually do about it. They get into prioritizing by enjoyment, the tedious prep an injury forces on you, and why the phone is the best excuse any of us has for skipping the work. Then Paul explains why he'd rather sell Coaches Corner than be owned by it, and how to market without...

Paul's mom Susan joins Building Forward this week, and she came ready. Susan spent 30 years in the fitness industry, raised Paul and his brother alongside it, and has built a life around movement, relationships, and finding the next goal worth chasing. The conversation covers how resilience actually gets built in kids, why social media is quietly breaking the identity formation process, happin...

Paul and Joey get real about the heavy season they're both in. Paul opens up about asking for help, finding out his low mood was physiological before it was mental, and the systems he built so he can actually be present on vacation. Joey breaks down a disaster of a morning that turned into a war path, and the two of them get into anger as fuel, why expectations quietly wreck relationships, and...

Paul and Joey get into how they're actually using AI in their coaching businesses, and why most people are doing it backwards. Joey breaks down the two weeks that changed how he runs everything, from his operating system to onboarding to clocking out and not thinking about work. They cover sleep and mental health, asking for help when your whole brand is built on grit, people as catalysts in your...

Paul and Joey go deep on saying no, gratitude, and what it means to live (and die) on your own terms. Paul's grandfather just turned down chemo at 90 and the conversation pulls everything into focus: locus of control, memento mori, the bad 10 minutes that steal your day, and the lore you leave behind. If you've been saying yes to too much and forgetting why, start here. CHAPTERS 00:00 Saying No, C...

In this episode, Paul and Joey go wide. Joey talks through his 8-week health phase and why periodizing nutrition matters once you've maxed out a mass. Paul shares his Summer Strong recap, why AI is the next internet for coaches paying attention, and the lessons from a failed app, a yoga class email, and the strategy of doubling down on what already works. If you're a coach figuring out whe...

Paul and Joey get into the lifter's journey, the long arc from full-effort beginner to over-optimizer, back to the foundational work that actually compounds. Paul shares how he went from walk-run intervals to a 6:47 mile in 9 months, the 30% volume rule that quietly maintains hard-earned adaptations, and why he now programs clients with color-coded exercise menus instead of fixed selections. J...

Paul and Joey lay out the difference between belief, delusion, and illusion, and why most coaches mistake one for the other. They get into how you turn a delusional goal into a believable one (Paul's 1:45 half marathon as the worked example), why ego-driven validation quietly hijacks your training and your business, and what 'I am where my feet are' actuallymeans when you'd rather...

In this episode, Paul and Joey break down the gap and gain framework and why most coaches waste years trying to fix the wrong things. They get into onboarding as the quietest lever in a coaching business, how soft skills beat programming for client retention, and how risk tolerance shifts when you have a family counting on you. If you're a coach stuck between fixing your weaknesses and doublin...

This episode of Building Forward is one of the most honest conversations we’ve had. We got into the reality behind growth… the stuff most people don’t talk about. Avoidance, self-sabotage, identity shifts, and what actually happens when you start “figuring it out.” Because the truth is, you don’t arrive… you just keep evolving. We talked about coping mechanisms, why high performers still avoid the...

This episode started with a catch-up about Arizona and turned into a real conversation about what actually separates high performers from everyone else. We got into building community with AI without losing your voice, why more followers means nothing if it doesn’t create qualified leads, and why content should support coaching, not replace it. The point isn’t to avoid the game. The point is to pl...

Most people don’t have a time management problem. They have a priority problem. In this conversation, we break down what it actually means to set priorities and live in alignment with them. Not just saying what matters, but making decisions that reflect it. Because the truth is, every time you say yes to something that doesn’t align, you’re quietly saying no to something that does. We also get int...

Most people think networking is about getting something. This conversation flips that completely. Paul and Joey break down what actually drives long-term success, and it has nothing to do with quick wins or trying to extract value from people. It’s about alignment. How you show up. Your intent. Whether you’re building real relationships or just trying to get ahead. Because over time, that differen...