Vigor Life Podcast

Eric Cressey is the world’s leading expert on sports performance, especially in the baseball realm. He is one of the most trusted and recognized strength coaches in the industry. He also recently became the New York Yankees Director of Player Health and Performance. I met Eric Cressey close to 15 years ago when I traveled to Birmingham, England to attend a seminar he was speaking at. That talk ins...

It's the third (and definitely not the last) time that Martin Rooney will be on the show. Martin never disappoints. With his decades of experience in the industry he shares wisdom on everything from how to navigate difficult times and show up as a leader, to turning adversity into triumph, tactics and strategies to be productive and come out on top, and the many many lessons found in his new (must...

Back with another Q & A episode where I cover some things in more detail while also doing some rapid fire answers that are practical and tactical. I go over everything from the importance of training tendons, and how it transfers to being more bulletproof, to improving performance from strength to speed and agility. I also share my favorite training splits, discuss whether conjugate training is go...

Is your life Groundhog Day? Well it might be the secret to your nutrition success. In this episode I answer your questions about nutrition. I also share my coaching method and tips for how to answer clients questions surrounding things like Netflix nutrition documentaries, anti-inflammation diets, what's best and how to succeed in a big box coaching environment. Tune in as I dive deep into these s...

I have been friends with Mike and Steve for years. Mike being one of my closest, and Steve a close friend and business partner for over a decade. We’ve all been through a lot in our lives – messing things up, and learning the hard way. Thankfully we continued to take the lessons, ask for help, and dedicate ourselves to improving and growing. So much so that we've made coaching others to a better p...

After over a decade of working with clients from all walks—as well as consoling fit pro’s—has taught me that the “You can do it!” rah rah approach doesn’t work, most of the time. This fact was also affirmed in my years of studying coaching, change psychology, behavior change, environmental sciences, pedagogy and communication. So what does work? It's simple. Having a better approach to coaching. T...

Vigor partnered with National Rugby Champions, the Seattle Seawolves a little over a year a go. A partnership that led me to meeting Chris Tombs, the team's Strength and Conditioning Coach. Chris has worked with elite players in rugby for almost two decades and has a reputation for developing players at the highest level – enabling them to withstand the test of time, and have long fruitful careers...

Years ago I crashed and burned. The cause of my burnout was a decade of working like crazy and not sleeping enough... to the tune of 3-4 hours a night. This led me to go to the doctor and get tests done. The results of those tests led me to overhaul my health and prioritize sleep. I’ve done a podcast on sleep before, but when I heard Nick Lambe's talk at an event we were both speaking at, I knew I...

I've known Dr. John Rusin for over 6 years now – both as a friend and colleague. In that time I've had the pleasure of hosting John at four events, including the PPSC certification – which brought together 110 coaches from all over the world. In 2020 John's Pain Free Performance Training Certification course will be certifying close to 5,000 coaches all over the world because it straight up works....

When I first met James Foster a little over 6 years ago it was an instant connection. At the time, we were both helping each other grow. Myself helping him grow his BJJ dojo, and him teaching me BJJ. But the lessons did not end there. James, a 20 year BJJ veteran, has been highly respected in the BJJ community for a long time. In the the last 6 years however, he has made some serious achievements...

I’ve spent the last two decades studying with the best of the best to learn how to get the best results (through training) for myself and my clients. A standout lesson in my years of training and experimentation came from Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman. These two very smart men gave me a structure that simplified what to include in each session, along with a lens to view my programs through to en...

Recently I was down in San Diego for an event my friend Craig Ballantyne was putting one. While there Jay Ferruggia and I decided to take the opportunity to visit the famous Glute Lab to train with our friend Bret Contreras. AKA “The Glute Guy.” Apart from a great training session, we got to talking about training, which led to this podcast episode. In it you'll get some powerful insights on progr...

At Vigor Ground we teach that there are four components to success in a body transformation: training, nutrition, mindset, and recovery – with mindset being the integral center. Despite the importance of mindset, many people ignore it – which can lead to bottlenecks and failed results. In this podcast I go over 14 lessons and strategies to improve your mindset so you can build success, no matter w...

We live in a time when there's more information than ever on nutrition and fitness readily available at our fingertips. Despite that, obesity rates are on the rise and overall health is declining. If you're interested to learn about nutrition for transforming your body—or an individual you are coaching—you could go online and study the many reputable sources available and know just about everythin...

Dr. John Berardi co-created the number one nutrition coaching program and certification in the world, Precision Nutrition. He is responsible for shifting the fitness industry's perception of nutrition coaching, and is the reason many coaches are better equipped to help their clients succeed. I’ve been fortunate to call John a friend and mentor for over a decade. I watched him take Precision Nutrit...

Kelsey Heenan and her husband Dennis are amazing humans. I met them over a year ago, and was so happy that they were able to present at this year's Vigor Ground Fitness and Business Summit. At the Summit, I got the chance to learn more about Kelsey's story, and how it led her to the work she now does with HIITBURN. We talk about it in this episode, but Kelsey went from being a college athlete, to...

Methods are many, principles are few. Methods change, but principles never do. This is one of my favorite sayings. It also drives the direction of successful program design – for both your clients, and yourself. When it comes to program design, it's great to have as many tools in your toolbox as possible. BUT, those tools will only be effective when they’re used with the principles that shaped the...

I met Matt Dawson through a mutual friend and it didn't take me long to realize that we were cut from the same cloth. Like me, Matt is trying to achieve a goal that some would deem "crazy". And I knew I needed to get him on the podcast to talk about it. Matt’s journey started much like my own – as an athlete. Following his athletic career, he then entered the fast-paced world of investment banking...

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is clear – altruism matters! I’ve shared a lot about how much it means to me – in particular, and how it drives my decisions in business and life. When it comes to the importance/power of of living selflessly, one of the people I look up to is Scott Harrison. Who is the founder of Charity: Water. Like myself, Scott's past includes a firestorm of heavy partying, late nig...

On this show I bring on Marcus Harden who is not only an OG at Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance, but also an incredible human being. Marcus has worked in eduction and with youth for close to two decades. He inspired me to start the Vigor DREAM program. A scholarship program that I am working with Marcus to develop that will mentor, guide and support young men and women through accountability,...

When it comes to energy systems training (AKA “cardio”) there are few people in the world who understand, teach, and coach it better than Joel Jamieson. Let's put it this way, if Joel was a character in Game of Thrones, he’d be announced as “The shield that protects the realms of conditioning” – which is why I brought him back on the podcast for a second time. This episode is full of mind blowing...

Over the course of two and a half decades of being an athlete and coach I’ve done more diets and experiments than I can count. Every time I learned something in theory, I would experiment with it on myself, before taking the lessons and adding them to my coaches toolbox. My latest experiment: the Paleo AIP diet. This one entered my radar thanks to my friend Jay Ferruggia – who has been raving abou...

I have been a student of sales and persuasion for over a decade now. What led me down this path was a desire to be a better leader, coach and business owner – since sales and persuasion are crucial to all three. The word "sales" often gets a bad rap. This is namely due to the common belief that "sales" = forcing someone to do something; which is an uncomfortable thought for most. In reality howeve...

Back when I was a personal trainer working with clients one-on-one I only had to rely on myself to get the job done. As long as I got results for my clients and hustled, everything worked out fine... until it didn't. As my business grew, I started to collaborate with other trainers and build a team. It was a natural progression, but it forced me to take a look at how I was running things. As I gre...

If you’ve been around strength and conditioning for awhile you’ll likely know Joe Defranco. Joe is one of the OG’s who started the warehouse gym movement, became a trainer to the pro’s, and is now one of the most accomplished coaches in the industry. He’s been there, done that, and still doing it. Joe has successfully moved from a career owning and growing gyms, to one where he works with only a s...