The Excellence Cartel

Episode 111: Estrogeneration ft. Dr. Anthony Jay  Today we invited Dr. Anthony Jay, author of Estrogeneration onto the show to discuss the implications and origins of increased environmental estrogens on our bodies.  Estrogen dominance and testosterone deficiency are both on the rise, and it's no coincidence so is our consumption of and interaction with plastics, detergents, and other en...

Episode 110: Open Q&A with Coaches Alicia and Sarah   Alicia and Sarah are back today to join us on a round table, rapid fire style Q&A to answer your questions.  We cover benefits of HRT, recent deaths in bodybuilding, dawn phenomenon, activity trackers, and monitoring client progression.  This episode was filled with great take away information as well as laughs so let us...

Episode 109: Coaching Spotlight with Sonia Rosario   Today we invited Sonia Rosario, owner of SR Fitness onto our show alongside Mathew Park from Trainer Revenue Multiplier to discuss Sonia's coaching business and her aspirations for continued growth.  We discuss price points, her ideal client, and her fears and hopes being a new coach in this ever changing space. www.theexcellencecartel...

Episode 108: Hashimoto's!   It was just us three on the podcast today and we decided to take a deep dive into the obscure yet prevalent auto-immune disease known as Hashimoto's.  1 in 5 people suffer from an auto-immune disease with 75% of sufferers being female. Hashimoto's is the most common form, affecting about 8% of the US population.  Join us along a deep dive into thyroid fun...

Episode 106: Finding Balance with Social Media  Laurin Conlin joined us today from a solo trip away after unplugging from her social media for 10 days.  We discuss the necessity of social media as a tool for online coaches while expressing our unique feelings toward it as a distraction.  Our world has changed and will continue to change. Those of us who can adapt and maintain solid...

Episode 105: Open Q&A with Coaches Alicia and Sarah Today we were joined by Alicia Ciak of Fit Alpha Females and Sarah Fucinari of Team Fit With Me to answer your submitted questions.  We chat about feeding up, cardio modalities, and even get into discussing our new and varying approaches to SIBO and the GI MAP.  If you have questions you want answered make sure you DM them to us on...

Episode 104: Building Muscle for Women ft. Sarah Ford Bishop  Today we invited Sarah Ford Bishop, coach and host of Unfiltered Fitness Radio on to discuss her personal journey and recovery from an eating disorder to bodybuilding to coaching.  Thorough her personal experiences Sarah picked up tools and strategies which she uses in her coaching today.  We discuss how to train hard, ho...

Episode 102: Coaching Spotlight: Ashley Marcum   Kicking off a new mini-series here on TEC, we invited up and coming coach Ashley Marcum onto our show today to discuss her growth trajectory as a new coach in the space.  How do you go from 3 clients to 100? What systems should you have in place? Do you pay for marketing? Who should your target client be?  The coaching industry has ch...

Episode 101: 1st Phorm Weekend Recap  We had an awesome weekend in St. Louis talking business with other top coaches in the industry at 1st Phorm headquarters and we wanted to share what we learned.  Networking in this industry is extremely important and we didn't want to miss out on this chance to meet new and upcoming faces of coaching.  If you couldn't make the trip down you can...

Episode 100: G-Flux Applied with Brandon DaCruz   We invited Brandon back onto our show today to go over the various ways to apply the G-Flux concept to different client populations.  There are so many ways to make moving around more enjoyable. Brandon goes over some creative methods we can all expend more energy without adding more time on the treadmill.

Episode 99: GFLUX with Brandon DaCruz   Today we invited Brandon back to discuss energy flux and the concepts surrounding CICO (calories in versus calories out).  When most people diet to lose fat, calorie restriction is often inevitable, but energy expenditure restriction is an option.  Is it better to eat less and do less? Or way more and do more?  We discuss the consideratio...

Episode 98: Strength Finders   Today we sat down with business coach J.R Simon to discuss each of our top five strengths as coaches and business owners. Prior to recording this episode we each took a leadership assessment and he discusses our results live.  Leadership and business go hand in hand and there are many different leaders who have many different ways to get a job done.  D...

Episode 97: Training Smart with John Jewett Fresh off of his first call out top 4 placement at the Chicago Pro, John Jewett joins us today to talk about training and progression.  We discuss the interrelationships of volume, frequency, intensity, and time under tension and how various applications of these variables can help beginners and advanced trainees alike to continue progression withou...

Episode 96: Body Image with Megan Shaver   Today we invited Megan Shaver, mental health coach for Polly Pocket Fitness to discuss body image and how negative self perceptions affect both men and women of all ages.  Body image issues begin as early as age 12 for boys and girls, and social media adds fuel to this fire. Megan discusses ways parents can educate and provide love and support f...

Episode 95: Gut Health with Dasha Agoulnik, RD  Today we invited Dasha Agoulnik, RD and owner of Core Perform to the show and asked her 9 of our hardest questions pertaining to gut health.  We covered methylation, SIFO vs SIBO, candida, thrush, and yeast infections, troubleshooting constipation, the Herxhiemer reaction and more!  Dasha attended Tufts University in Massachusetts wher...

Episode 94: Perspectives From Amateur to Pro   Today we were joined by two bikini athletes - one an amateur and another a pro.  Jeffrey Su's client Jessica Steurer recently competed for her first time after her original prep was derailed by covid. She came prepared today with some hard questions surrounding competing, the lifestyle, and the question of achieving excellence while keeping...

Episode 93: Training Through Hormonal Dysfunction   Today we were joined by Chanel Collette, head coach and owner of Audacious Athletes to talk about MRV, of the maximum recoverable volume of training to stay out of metabolic adaptation or to recover from hormonal decline.  Chanel walks us through key concepts such as loading and deloading, volume, and RPE.  Quantifying her clients'...

Today we were joined by Austin Stout to take a walk through the DUTCH Test, a urine-based analysis of hormones and their metabolites.  Austin explains what gets tested and what results might mean, for areas such as cortisol, estrogen, and androgens, and how coaches might leverage this analysis tool over traditional serum blood testing. 🏆 THE EXCELLENCE CARTEL 🏆 Follow us on Instagram: scoob...

Episode 91: Backstage with IFBB Bikini Pro Aria Adamy Today we were joined by IFBB Bikini Pro Aria Adamy who opens up about her reformed relationships with body and food after her decade-long climb up from amateur into pro ranks. Aria discusses how she sought counseling for her mindset toward food and opened up about hormonal dysfunction as a result of overtraining, dieting, cardio, and contest pr...

Episode 90: Dr. Bill Campbell   Today we were joined by Dr. Bill Campbell, director of the Performance & Physique Enhancement Lab at the University of South Florida to discuss his research in calorie cycling and the effects of macronutrients on muscle preservation in a caloric deficit.  Why carb cycle? If you are a client of ours maybe you've experienced a 5 low 2 high diet cycle or...

Episode 89: Insulin & Testosterone Optimization with Lucas Aoun Today Lucas Aoun from the Boost Your Biology podcast joined us to discuss simple, actionable steps we can all take to boost testosterone levels in both men and women and increase our insulin sensitivity.  Hormone optimization carries heavy weight in both physique progression and overall longevity.  Tune into this episode...

Episode 88: HSD & Cortisol with Sean Golden   Today we were joined by Dr. Sean Golden, owner of the Golden Health Method to discuss the intricacies of 11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, an enzyme responsible for the conversion of cortisone to cortisol.  We dive deep into the science behind the body's glucocorticoid response and Dr. Golden suggests some ways to mediate stress for optim...

We are back after a great weekend at the 4th PEC conference in Nashville, TN. Dr. Jay Wiles joins us today to pick things back up with an in-depth discussion on HRV, aka, heart rate variability.  Dr. Wiles walks us through the day to day applications of HRV while busting common myths of bio hacking which surround HRV today.  In HRV, higher is not better but higher modulation is optimal f...

Episode 86: Coaching with Jaime Filer   Today we were joined by Jaime Filer, owner of Jaime Filer Training to talk about her personal experiences in the health and fitness industry as a gay athlete and ED survivor.  Raised in a reform Jewish household and having witnessed the slow decline of her father to ALS at an early age left an impression of resilience which eventually propelled her...

Episode 85: Training with Paul Carter  We were joined today by Coach Paul Carter, elite strength coach, hypertrophy expert, author at T Nation and founder of Lift-Run-Bang to walk through the do's and don't of training broken down by body part.  Paul delivers a heavy dose of coaching and personal training philosophy mixed with a dash of textbook anatomy (in a surprisingly understandable...