#32 - Build Strength, Confidence, and Discipline with Alex Mikle

 Military fitness, strength training, fat loss, and performance coaching, Alex Mikle breaks down how to build strength, fix “skinny fat,” and develop discipline through structured training systems.

On this episode of Based Business, Parker McCumber sits down with Alex Mikle, founder of Rounds Complete Fitness, to discuss how elite-level fitness training translates directly into confidence, leadership, and success in business and life.

Alex shares how her background in athletics, advanced education in exercise science, and experience in the Army shaped her mission to “serve those who serve”—helping women in the military and high-performing professionals get stronger, faster, and more capable.

This conversation goes deeper than workouts. It’s about discipline, identity, and performance.

What You’ll Learn:
Why most people stay “skinny fat” (and how to fix it)
The truth about nutrition, under-eating, and performance
How strength training builds confidence and command presence
The biggest fitness mistakes holding people back
Why discipline in fitness transfers to success in business
How structured 12-week programs drive real transformation
Fixing posture, shoulder pain, and military-related injuries
The difference between training hard vs training intelligently

Key Concepts Covered:
Military fitness standards and performance training
Strength vs aesthetics (why performance wins long term)
Posterior chain development and injury prevention
Nutrition strategies for fat loss and muscle growth
Building confidence through physical discipline

Chapters:

00:00 Service Driven Mindset
01:26 Rounds Complete Fitness Mission
04:56 Athletics Background & Education
11:59 Why Join the Military
24:09 Nutrition Myths & “Skinny Fat”
28:40 Shoulder Pain & Injuries
35:01 Fixing Posture & Strength Imbalances
41:55 Fitness & Command Presence
52:07 Client Acquisition Strategy
01:06:31 Sales as Service Mindset

Who This Is For:
Entrepreneurs who want more energy, confidence, and discipline
Military members preparing for fitness standards
Professionals stuck in the “skinny fat” cycle
Anyone serious about strength, performance, and longevity

Connect with Coach Alex:
https://www.instagram.com/roundscompletefitnessllc/ 

Transcript

0:00

My motto is I seek to serve those who serve The army set me up with just the work ethic and the ability to just go, go, go, go, go. So that everything else in my life became really easy in comparison to that experience. Yeah. I mean, we don't just do what we do because we're bored and there's nothing else that we could have possibly done. It's because we have a passion to help people. People who get their fitness in check are typically more successful in other areas of their life as well. I wanna be the person who's making an impact and fighting for my country. And so I, I turned to my dad and I was like, Hey dad, if I joined the military, what would you say? He's like, if anybody can do it, you can do it. And two weeks later, I was enlisted in the United States Army, the best coaches are the people who can relate to your struggle. They're empathetic, compassionate, and they can see what you need before you even know you need it. I'm here today with Alex Michael, founder of Rounds Complete Fitness, and. Alex, so great to have you on the show. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you do. Yeah, it's good to be here. Hello again. I'm Alex. Um, well, Parker and I met about, what, how many years ago has it been? Like two and a half? Uh, three years. Yeah, almost three years ago. And you know, you and I. We share like this, this passion for wanting to develop people, not just in the Army, but just in all of the things that we love to do. You love to develop entrepreneurs. I love to develop athletes. So we kind of just dabbled in what would it would be like if we made a business that helped soldiers and, and entrepreneurs. And lately it's taken the direction of helping soldiers just because that's been a little bit more of my focus and passion with all of the changes happening with the Department of War. So what Rounds Complete Fitness does is it helps women in the military get faster and stronger through highly structured periodized and, and individualized training for about 12 weeks. And we dive into nutrition and we incorporate accountability and check-ins. And it's, it's been just a, a really fun process. We've really, since June of this past year, have gone full swing and I think we're up to. Like 16 people who we've helped so far. And it's been an absolute blessing working with anywhere from people just trying to go to basic training to high level captains in the field, artillery. And I've had a, a, a really, uh, unique experience working with all of these people. So why do you do it? I just love sports and athletics and coaching and the military, so it, it's like I get to take all of the things that I love and put it into a business. And I love knowing that I played some integral role in helping people become the person that they wanna be and. My specialty is through fitness, but it's also, we're in the military and like we face things that no average person faces. And we have our military responsibilities, familial relationships, friends, whatever. And I help them get through some of the most challenging parts of their lives. And I get to be a part of that. And it's beyond rewarding to be able to do that. So I believe every aspect of your life is connected to the others, generally speaking. Yeah. So taking care of yourself, your fitness, your health, your wellbeing, I think is a prerequisite for success in other areas of life really underscores kind of the, the importance of it. And, and generally speaking, when you go to the gym, right, you look around, there's probably a higher level of overall success for the people in that room than say the food court at the mall. I feel like you can look at somebody, and we've talked about this a lot, where you have that command presence no matter what you do, whether you're in business or finance or you're even a professor, the ones who carry themselves in high regard are the ones that are in shape. They take care of themselves, they know their self-worth, they're confident, and they can walk into a room and you immediately know that person has discipline and works out as opposed to the people who, I mean, these people might even just be starting their fitness journey and they're, they're not there yet, but those who just don't care about it, you can tell their, their postures slouched. They're not confident in the way they speak. Yeah. They, they almost have these insecurities that they back fall to, whether it's just using humor to cope or using some weird personality trait to, you know, enlighten people with, but when you immediately look at somebody, you can tell that person. Has discipline structure mm-hmm. And cares about themselves so that they can care about other things in their life. So how does a girl from the Midwest get into fitness? Like, what's your story with this? Well, I hopped out of the womb with a pair of hockey skates, and then that was it. I, uh, I grew up playing ice hockey my entire life. Like I can remember being three years old and my dad is, you know, lacing up these skates that are about the size of a subway sandwich and, you know, trailing me along in, I think it was like Bloomington, Minnesota. And I just fell in love with ice hockey. And my mom tried to get me to figure skate and she always imitates me. He is like, no, I just wanna play hockey. And that was it. And so I, I just loved. Athletics. I love being a part of a team. I loved seeing that my slap shot was getting faster. Yeah. And that I could beat people to the puck. And it just was this process of understanding the sport and then how do I get better on my own time? And I really took strength and conditioning seriously in high school. Um, fortunately I grew up in a, where, where hockey was a religion essentially. Sure. You know, and in Utah there's a temple on every corner. Well, in Minnesota there's a brewery, ice rink and an ice rink right next to each other. So I was privileged enough to have that. And, um. Once I started seeing myself like, get stronger and I'm noticing it in the mirror and I'm noticing it on the ice. It was just this transformation of, okay, I really have to take this seriously. I have to take my nutrition seriously and sleep and drink water. Mm-hmm. That carried into college where I wanted to get my exercise in sports science degree. Went on to get my master's in health science and human support performance and then following, now I'm doing the, the PhD program with that. So that's kind of how it all came to be. And the army, I signed up for the Army partially not just to help, you know, serve my country and pay for school, but I was like, dude, I get to work out. I get to train. Yeah. And I get to do it for the Army. Why not? So marrying all of these things together has been the goal and I feel like we're kind of reaching that pinnacle of what that looks like. So you, you've had a, essentially a lifelong interest in athletics. Oh yeah. Um. What was maybe the catalyst that took you from somebody who was interested in that participating in sports to being like, no, I wanna get my degree in this and I want to build a career around training or helping others. Right. Because not just, um, you as a, as a coach, now you have, you know, essentially what a decade of coaching experience behind you before you even started your own, your own business. So you were also building a life that was serving people through fitness and coaching before entrepreneurship. What was maybe the, the catalyst in your mind that said, this is where I wanna build my career in. This is how I wanna help people. This is what. How I can serve others. Yeah, of course. So in Minnesota, my family is pretty well known. Um, my uncle is the voice of the Vikings and I wanted to new man on the Minnesota Vikings. Yeah, school Vike. Um, his name's Paul Allen. Maybe a lot of you have heard of him. Um, he has his own radio show, his own TV show. He is a track announcer at Canterbury Park. Everyone knows who he is. Like you hear his voice and you know who that is. And so I wanted to follow in his footsteps and do sports broadcast journalism.'cause I just loved sports. Um, I still do and our family is a huge sports family and I wanted to like be in the know and talk to players and you know, kind of be that person who follows like maybe the Minnesota Wild. But then as I told you just a little bit ago, I just fell in love with the process of strength and conditioning and I was like. Well, maybe instead of interviewing the players, why don't we get in the gym with them? Like, I love doing it. Yeah. And I got pretty smart at it and got pretty good at it and I just kind of went in that direction. And then once I started doing it in school, I joined the track and, uh, cross country team. And not even having ever done the sport, I was voted captain, so I was like, okay, maybe I have leadership qualities that people are looking for and I've demonstrated that I'm athletic and I can lead a team, which was by far one of the greatest honors I could had. And it came from being the top PT score at basic training in a IT consecutively breaking speed records. And so it just, like all of these things started accumulating towards. I want to be a leader for people who are also trying to get there and inspire people to take their fitness seriously. Especially in the military, you know, it's, it's part of our job. It's a, it's one of the things that we get rated on and if we don't do it well, we could lose our jobs. And so I've just taken that route and wanting to, instead of always just focusing on athletes, let's focus on the soldier athlete, the tactical athlete whose job depends on their fitness and wellness and ability to move their body effectively. Yeah. And, and have a 20 year career if they want one. So you mentioned, um, you know, you scored really well in physical fitness in the military and basic training. I talk often about, you know, my, my time in the military set me up for success through work ethic, through, I mean, essentially it's funny just to share the story real quick. I was, um. In Germany. Germany. And we deployed to Afghanistan. We came back from Afghanistan, I went to Fort Hood, Texas, um, was put on rotation to Korea and in both Afghanistan and then again in Korea. I, we were just working insane hours, like the volume of go time with different training events and things like that. The op tempo was very high. Yeah. Korea will do that. So when I transitioned out of the active duty and I came back to, uh, Utah, went to Utah Valley University, everything was easier.'cause I was wor, I, I was used to working 15, 16 hour days. I was used to that. So if I could do that consistently, I was like, well, why would I stop at, you know, 15 credits a semester? I'm like, I can go to school. You, you know, we start ROTC does PT in the morning at six o'clock. But I'm like, I could. Take classes until two or three every day. And that ended up putting my schedule like 17 to 20 credits. I'm like, this wasn't hard. So I go work in the afternoon in a warehouse and I would coach football after. So like, it was like the army set me up with just the work ethic and the ability to just go, go, go, go, go. Mm-hmm. So that everything else in my life became really easy in comparison to that experience. Multiple point question now, and maybe we we break it down. Uh, one, I wanna know, what was the just driving factor? Why, like, why did you join the Army two? How has being in the military influenced you and your career progression now, um, in the civilian side? How has that been beneficial or a detriment? Like what do you, you see happening there? Yeah, of course. So I remember the distinct moment that I wanted to join the military. I'll preface with, in freshman year of high school, I did 15 pushups to get a, a army strong, like one of those rubber band that things that we always wore, like the live strong. But I got an Army strong one and I wore that for years. And so it's just like, I, I was always very patriotic and I had, I still am, but I remember the distinct moment. I was on spring break in California and I was sitting next to my dad and we were just watching the news and North Korea was being a little silly goose and, you know, just, you know, pushing our buttons. And I was like, you know, if something were to pop off, I don't really wanna be the person who just sits back and watches the news and wonders what the hell is going on. I wanna be the person who's making an impact and fighting for my country. And so I, I turned to my dad and I was like, Hey dad, if I joined the military, what would you say? He's like, if anybody can do it, you can do it. Two weeks later, I was enlisted in the United States Army. I just went back to school, talked with ROTC, national Guard, and they talked about all the school benefits and health benefits and, um, just this overwhelming sense of pride to serve my country. And then, you know, school's not cheap, so I'm like, okay, if I'm gonna get school paid for, let's, let's do it. You know? So yeah, it was kind of a, a conglomerate of sorts of, of reasons why I did it. What year was that? 2013. So in April. April 12th, it'll be my 13 year anniversary. Similar connection here, actually, uh, when I was in high school, so this would've been 2008, 2009, um, I, maybe even 2010, I had been interested in joining the Army kind of my whole life. Like I was always playing soldier growing up. Um, actually at eight, at eight years old, I had. 8, 8, 9. Eight or nine. Um, when nine 11 happened, and I was asking my mom, I'm like, why would somebody do this? She's like, there's people that are, you know, they don't like our country. You know, she's like trying to navigate how to explain that to an eight or 9-year-old elementary school kid. And I, I made a comment to her. I was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna grow up and I'm gonna, I'm gonna join the army and I'm gonna stop bad people from ever doing something like this again. Like, but I told her that I must have been nine. Yeah. Um, and so it was like always in the back of my head, but while I was in high school at 2008, 2009. Timeline. I, um, I can remember also seeing North Korea doing missile attacks and our, uh, missile tests and they're threatening the United States. They're threatening the neighboring countries. And I kind of just got in my head, I'm like, you know, if something happened, I'm like, my parents are too old, my siblings, like, I wouldn't want my little sisters or anybody like suffering through this stuff. Yeah, right. So I was like, I had to be the one, it's oldest child mentality to pick up the mantle and go and, and protect the family and the homeland and all those kind of things. And, and so actually seeing the North Korea stuff then, um, was a catalyst for me. I was always interested in the military already, but like that was something that was driving me towards I need to go and act. So I was curious. There was a connection there. Yeah. I think a lot of us feel that. Or, you know, trying to overcome some crappy childhood situation. And instead of going down the cliche expected route of you, you know, you wanna make your life better and take ownership of it and join the military or trying to get citizenship. I, I love learning about why people join the military, but, um, you asked how that's transferred over in the civilian life. It has certainly set me apart from most candidates that get interviewed, and it sets me apart from a lot of the people that I work with or have worked with. Um, it has also made it challenging because we do have drill weekends and we have annual trainings or captain's career course, like all these things that come up and, you know, having to work around, like I teach at the University of Utah right now, like having to work my teaching schedule in with upcoming, you know, we have drill and annual training coming up and, and what does that look like? Um, that's challenging, but I will say. The, the level of support and respect I've gotten from employers or, you know, in my PhD program, the faculty members who are like, what can we do for you? How can we make this happen? Yeah. Um, it's, it's overwhelming and I'm grateful for it. And I would say my confidence in myself, my ability to speak in front of people, my ability just to take charge, adapt, and problem solve probably stands out more than your typical person. Um, not to say that I don't get lost in the details and forget things and mess things up. I'm not perfect, but I've just noticed it as I've gotten older that the military has shaped me into somebody who can just like, be like, okay, this is the issue. I don't know what's going on, but we're gonna figure it out and, and make it happen, and try to smile through it a little bit. Right on. Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about the business. Mm-hmm. Rounds Complete Fitness. What is it? Who do you serve? Why does it matter? Of course. Um, so Rounds, complete Fitness is a strength and conditioning business. So I'm a strength and conditioning coach. I've been doing this since, for eight years, nine years, so or so. Um, and what I do is I create highly customized and tailored programs fit for the individual soldier that I'm working with. And right now I'm focusing on women in the military. So it doesn't matter if you're Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, army, coast Guard, space Force, whatever, I'll take you in and I will go through a thorough assessment of what do you need, what do you need to work on, what are we struggling with? What does your lifestyle look like? Mm-hmm. And. You know, are you active duty National Guard? Are you on deployment? Are you going to training soon? Are you gonna basic training? Like I have a whole list of things that I can and, uh, work with. And so now you'll work with other people too, right? Yeah. They don't have to be in the military. They don't have to be, but right now I'm just focusing on the military because of all of the changes in the Department of War. Mm-hmm. So they're, they're tightening up the standards, which I welcome the opportunity to get better and to push myself and to raise my own fitness. But with that, there's a lot of women who aren't quite there. Sure. And I'd like to think I'm a little bit higher on the fitness level for a female. And so if I am, you know, trying to overcome these obstacles, as somebody who's been in the fitness industry this long, I'm thinking about the lowest level who is new to fitness is, yeah. Not quite as well versed in what it's like to weightlift or, you know, develop a running program. That's actually really important. I mean, I'm thinking about when I joined the Army and I didn't have. You know, the years of experience behind how to train, how to train appropriately and what to do in order to achieve my specific fitness goals. Like you think about it at 18, 19, 20, you don't get, you don't get education on that stuff in high school. No. It's garbage. Right. And, and your physical fitness classes, those are garbage. Yeah. We're playing with scooters and Yeah. Fricking well, I, I, okay parachutes. My personal example here, I wanted to get super big and jacked and strong outta basic training. Typical. I had lost, you know, maybe some, some weight while I was in basic training, and I was already very thin and, and skinny at the time. But I, I, I was like, I felt embarrassed about my, how skinny I was, like when I left a BA basic training. So I'm like, okay, I go to a IT. And I'm like, I'm buying mask gainer because I go into GNC and I'm like, I wanna, I wanna get yoked. Yeah. I wanna get huge and jacked and be like, big and muscly. And they're like, great, here's $2,000 worth of shit that you don't need. Mm-hmm. But also what happens when, uh, you start taking mask gainer and, uh, you're not, you know, maybe training the appropriate way. Right. I got fat. Yeah. Dude, I straight up, I gained 25, 30 pounds. The mask gainer worked. Yeah. You gained, I gained, you gained some mass, but I got fat. I didn't get strong. I didn't get, uh, I mean, I was getting stronger. I didn't get muscular, the physique that I wanted. Yeah. And largely in hindsight, that's because I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. I, I, like, I thought I was. Doing the right things. Like I was going to the gym. Yeah. But I wasn't maybe training appropriately. Right. I wasn't training to muscle failure. I was training to maybe muscle failure adjacent. Um, which is okay for some things. Sure. But if you want to get big Oh yeah. Strong like burn muscles, like hypertrophy. Yeah. You need to go to muscle failure. Yeah. Train to train to failure. Um, you need to increase your protein level. And part of the issue with the mask gainer was like the mask gainer has a shiz ton of carbs and fats and not as much protein actually. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, you take one scoop of away protein powder, you get 30 grams of protein. I'm taking two scoops of mass gainer, but that only has 50 grams of protein. So it was less protein but also 2200 calories or whatever like that. And God, yeah, you're getting your daily allotment of calories in a singular shake. Poor tummy. Set me up for failure. And then, you know, as I'm doing that, my run began to suck in the army. I, I, I struggled those early years mm-hmm. Where it was like if I could get my sit-ups and my run to be good, I would suck at pushups. Yeah. If I could get my pushups and my run to be good, or my pushups and my sit-ups to be good, I'd suck at the run. Mm-hmm. I was like, I could always get two outta the three, but I could never get all three. And it was because I didn't know what I was doing then. Yeah. I mean most people at that age in general, dunno what they're doing, especially people in the army or military, dunno what they're doing and they hurt themselves. And not to say that I haven't, that's the truth. Yeah. Not to say that I haven't undergone my fair share of injuries, but that's because I was still learning myself. Even though I was, I had a degree in it and I was passionate about it. I still didn't know everything. And so what I'm trying to do with these women is. Or anybody is take all of my successes. I've had, you know, winning high A PFT, A-H-C-F-T, whatever, five times I did that because I, you know, knew what I was doing for the most part. Mm-hmm. But in between those awards, if you will, I, I failed a lot. And so I'm trying to take all of my successes and give them to these people and expedite them through my failures or roundabout them so they don't have to endure any of them, or maybe one or two instead of all of the ones that I've endured. So I was just trying to pass on a bunch of little torches to people so that we can all hard charge forward. And you mentioned the mask gainer thing. So guys are always trying to get big and they wanna look huge and swollen, whatever. I am encountering the contrary where most women I talk to, like common buzzwords, I'm in a caloric deficit. I'm in a caloric deficit, I'm cutting, I'm only eating this. And what I, I'm like, yeah. Respectfully, honey. Um, we got a fuel. I sometimes don't eat enough and it's hard just because, like I'm training all the time and it's just like your, your days get busy. Well, the hard part and, and I think this is what you're, you're building to, sorry, if I jump in, I'm, you're good. I'm like so many women, they put themselves in a position to be skinny fat. Yeah. And if you're not familiar with the term skinny fat, think about this. It's like you're in a caloric deficit, but you're not getting the protein to build and sustain your muscle. So you're actually still fat. You're just skinny. Yeah. And fat. So I always say it's not about what you have, it's about what you can do with it and yeah. That's great. Great saying. I always thank you. Um, I always try to compare this with women, so I ask how much do you weigh? Uh, like 135. Okay. Now you're trying to cut weight and 1 35 is not a lot of weight. Mm-hmm. Especially for all the things that we need to do. You take a 135 pound woman who is lean and cut and she weight trains. She, you know, mixes in some cardio training. She, she's on top of her nutrition and eats probably 2200 calories a day 'cause she just has high output. That's the kinda 1 35 we want, not the 1 35 who is probably in the 30% body fat range, but kind of looks skinny. Has zero muscle tone. Yeah. Can't even do a pushup. And just has that like naturally what people say high metabolism, which I could go off and do a whole other tangent on that, but starving probably getting like 40% of their daily caloric needs and hitting the StairMaster for two hours a day. Mm-hmm. Not tactical, not. Productive. You want this 1 35 or I want the 1 35 that can bench and run and deadlift. Yeah. Yeah. Or gimme 1 55, which is how much I weigh. And keep in mind muscle weighs significantly more than fat. Yes. It also demands more calories than fat. Correct. So having more muscle is actually more beneficial because you're going to burn more calories, you're going to burn more fat while having more muscle, regardless of what you weigh. I always say stop looking at the scale. Look about or look at what you're made of and what you're capable of. Yeah. And all of those aesthetic things will work itself out. So I'm trying to shift the focus for women on, 'cause we are scared of the height and weight stuff. It is harder for us because, you know, uh, if you have a 25-year-old male and a 25-year-old female, how much we're able to weigh is completely different. And now that we're at the same standards, I have to perform at the same amount as this guy. Okay, so I'm 31, 30 1-year-old female, 31-year-old male. I gotta deadlift 300 pounds or so to get 90 points, and I can only be 155. Okay, well how do I structurally plan to not injure myself to perform at such a high level where this guy could think The needle test, by the way, might help that a little bit though. Yeah, we'll see how that plays out. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's just my, like, I don't wanna say concern, but question. Big question I have for, so the new, new the military height, weight, body fat standard. Mm-hmm. Right. For the men, I think it's the same for women, is that your waist circumference, which is measured at the belly button mm-hmm. Around straight line, around the back can't be more than point, well 0.55 of your height in inches. So, for example, uh, if somebody, I'm just gonna use small numbers because they're easy. Sorry. If somebody is. 60 inches tall. Right then 0.55 around the waist would be like, what, 32 inches? You can't have more than 32 inch waist. Mm-hmm. Um, but then the weight is irrelevant now, so you can safely now, I think, put on more muscle and not have that same fear. Okay. Um, that's something I need to look more into. Yeah. I need to, and, and gosh, man, oh, this conversation is already inspiring me to get better, take care of myself. I, um, I got this shoulder injury. I gotta go to go to Costa Rica and get some stem cells. I, it's the move with, um, I thought I had a labrum tear. Mm-hmm. Went in for the MRI, uh, they'd give you the MR MRI with contrast. They said, Hey, good news, no tear. I'm like, well then why am I in pain all the time? They said, well, here's the bad news, AC joint deterioration and supraspinatus tendinopathy. And I'm like, what does that mean? Yeah. They said, so you're in the army, right? And I'm like, yeah. They're like, and you used to do power lifting, right? And I'm like, yeah. They said, in short, you have used your shoulder. It is used. And I'm like, okay. They're like the, I, my, um, my provider. He slipped this in. And I'm like, dude, that's such a dickie dick up thing to say. He says, he says, you know, the average age of somebody with this diagnosis is like 60 to 70. Yeah. And I'm like, come on man. Why are you telling me that? Like, what can I do to to, to make it better? And, and all they have for it in the US anyways is they're like. Oh, uh, physical therapy. I'm like, hold on. Use is what causes me pain. And you're just telling me I need to use it more. Use it lighter. Use it lighter Sometimes, yeah. More consistently. I'm like, what's the, like, if it hurts because I'm moving. I'm like, how do I, how do I fix that? And, and you can't have a surgery for tendinopathy or anything like that? No. So, so my theory is I'm looking into like PRP, but I'm afraid of PRP. I'll own it. I get a little bit scared. Well, 'cause everyone talks about that's like the most pain they've ever experienced in their life. Really? Because, well, you think about the PRP, right? The way it works, um, they draw your blood, they throw it in the centrifuge or whatever. They extract the plasma, then they inject that directly into the injury. Oh boy. So you get a needle going into where you're already injured. Yeah. And then all of the pressure of pumping that area full of plasma. Oh gosh. Um, Clint Markland. Shout out to the homie Clint, sub sergeant Major. He, uh, he told me it was the most painful experience of his life. That dude's been hit by. Yeah, that dude, a car, he's got like a dozen screws in his ankle. That dude withstands pain. I'm like, and you're telling me the PRP was the most painful thing you've experienced. Um, have you tried red light? I should try red light. The, the problem is, and, and you're actually, this is what you're studying, right? Mm-hmm. What's the efficacy of red light at depth? I understand that it's more effective for, uh, closer to surface level penetration. Yeah, so you have near infrared and then you have infrared, and that's about 800 to 1200 nanometers deep. I think I'm using the correct terminology, but the infrared is what really deeply penetrates. Yeah, we're talking about going to the joint, the shoulder joint. Yeah. It, that gets under the subcutaneous layer. And so what red light does is it regenerates your mitochondria, which the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Yeah, I, I too took seventh grade biology. See, I wanna give my dissertation and yell that out to everybody and be like, shout out to every seventh grade science teacher who's losing their mind right now. Um, so it regenerates your mitochondria. And what that also does is it stimulates like a TP production, which is your basic unit of energy, and it also just breaks down to the cellular level. I'm trying to break this down into more layman's terms. So how does red light fix my shoulder? Yeah. So all of the like, toxins that are occurring within your joint right now, and like the damage that's been done, red light stimulates tissue and cell repair. So instead of going in and doing invasive surgeries or, you know, weeks, months, years of physical therapy, red light just naturally stimulates cell growth and tissue growth. Have you ever looked into like, uh, pairing red light with stem cells? Um, no, but I'm assuming, just based off of what I know about both of them, it's like taking protein powder and creatine and Yeah. Throwing, yeah. Go hand. Throwing a glass of water hand. That's kind of what I'm thinking right now too. Yeah. I think what, from what I know about it, it would be beneficial. So the thing about the tendinopathy, as I understand it, and I'm not a doctor, you know, I get, I get my medical information from, um, my primary care provider and from grok. Yeah. I was gonna say ai. Ai, yeah. AI doc. But that tendinopathy is essentially the, your, your tendon is so worn out mm-hmm. That it's like, it's beyond it saving. I would, 'cause there's not the blood flow or anything to repair, like tendons don't get that way A muscle does. Yeah. So that's where I'm like, okay, PRP, they say, 'cause that just creates the perfect environment for healing. Mm-hmm. So it would expedite or help the tendinopathy as much as it could naturally. Or you get stem cells, the stem cells go in and it's actually just cr the new cells Yeah. Forming to solve the issue. Um, well think about a car, right? Like you have a used car that has a. 250,000 miles on it, which your shoulder has 250,000 pushups and all this, the crazy shit that we've done. Yeah. You know, that's definitely part of it. Dude. The pushups man. Yeah. So I have, that caused me so much pain now. Thoracic outlet syndrome. I've been dealing with a shoulder issue that finally is for the most part resolved. You get some stem cells in Costa Rica. Yeah, exactly. I was gonna say, okay, take me with you. So what? What happens with all of the pushups that we do and lack of upper body back training, shoulder work that we, the army just didn't think about doing?'cause we are just so focused on pushups. A lot of us suffer from really poor posture and lower back pain and neck pain because we're always doing this. I have all of those things. Yeah. All of us do. And so thoracic outlet syndrome, it's where your pec muscle is pulling in. Oh, unfamiliar. And it's pulling so hard on the nerve and joint and going like into your biceps that like it shot the most painful, just shooting pain. Into my arm for weeks and I was just kind of walking around like, you like to do my seatbelt in my car? I'd have to like do this thing. And I'm like, how the hell old are we finally? I don't have to do that. But it, a lot of that stuff that you're experiencing is, we're so focused on pushups and, and sit-ups and running and, and being here, and we have our ruck sacks and our vests and our, we're driving and we're on our computers and this, and that can transfer over into the civilian life. So what my program is also focused on doing is focusing on the posterior chain. We have, we have to pull everything back. Yeah. So that when it comes to us doing the farmer's carry or the rucksack or the, you know, just day-to-day stuff in the field, we're not like this all the time. And we, we don't have that postural misalignment. So let me ask, what kind of things could somebody say it's a, a typical office worker mm-hmm. Listening to this podcast, what could they do to better support their. Thoracic chain, is that the term you used? Thoracic chain. Chain Posterior, yeah, posterior chain. So like I suffer from like my shoulders round forward from just years of all the things that we, we've been doing. Sure. And I've been actively focused on like when you're at the gym, like you're focused on pulling these muscles back. Mm-hmm. But also, so some maybe like lap poles. Yeah. So things that, like rows pull wide bar rows everything down. And a lot of times we do shrugs and things that, you know, tighten up our traps. That's not quite what you want. We wanna focus on deadlifting, RDL and hinge movements. We wanna focus on rowing and pulling and maybe doing like the rower machine instead of just like the bike or the treadmill or whatever. Or here. And then if like you're not super into the gym, hit a wall and just do some, some wall slides just to get your shoulders pulled back. Yeah. Or you can do it on the floor. Um, I like to take a foam roller and I'll. Center, the foam roller down my spine, um, vertically. And it allows your shoulders to fall back and just, you kinda like fall into it and let gravity do its thing. Sure. And my chiropractor shout out to Alexis in Salt Lake. Um, she's amazing. You met her. She, uh, she said, do things that like loosen you up and bring you joy like dance. Yeah. And for me it's like, go skate or do things that just like bring your nervous system down.'cause a lot of us suffer from just cortisol in flux off the wazoo. Yeah. Or fight or flight or we're stressed out. So then we're in this protective mode and we're turling up and you know, we're like fricking um, what's the, the, the Bowser and, and Mario cart with, with the big old shoulders in the turtle show or whatever. And so. Doing things that allow you to just breathe and bring down that vagal tone and bring down your stress levels. It actually teaches your body to relax and fall back. And in the military, we're always like this or the position of attention. Yeah. Or just like so wound up all the time and I'm having to teach myself that, okay, like, we're just gonna breathe, we're gonna bring things back, we're gonna fall into it, we're gonna dance and be whimsical. And it, it's actually improved my overall ability to just like, let my body do what it's supposed to do. Yeah. Very good. So what's the payout, I mean, maybe that's a weird term, but somebody signs on with you, they go through this coaching program. Mm-hmm. They're, they're getting these benefits. What are they actually, what's the, the experience at the end? What's the transformation? Right. So. On paper, you read it, it's 12 weeks. Highly customized, tailored strength and conditioning, nutrition, guidance and accountability and check-ins. Okay. That's what you would read, uh, in the description. The intangible part that you can't just buy comes from your willingness to improve yourself. Mm-hmm. Your willingness to take extreme ownership of yourself, your fitness, your career, and watching yourself go from being somebody who maybe was a little bit more timid and shy and didn't know what they were doing to tracking your results and seeing, oh my gosh, I. Increased my deadlift by 40 pounds this month, or I, I can see my abs again, or my muscles are popping out. Yeah. My husband or my wife is like, attracted to me again, real turned on because they see that I'm, I'm doing the damn thing and I'm starting to feel the difference in what foods are doing to my body. Yeah. And it's taking that ownership and awareness of, of saying, I can do this, and I'm, I'm gonna transfer it into my job. God bless you. Allergic to bullshit. I'm just kidding. Yeah, me too. That's what my, one of my dog tags says. Um, so it's, it's watching them go from timid, shy, maybe scared, maybe uncertain of themselves to three months later they're down 20 pounds, 40 pounds. Confidence boost. Yeah, big confidence boost. Their peers are noticing it, their family is noticing it. Like Christmas just happened a couple months ago. I had some people go home for Christmas and their family's like, holy crap, you look like a runner. Or like, you look like you've been training hard. And that's like the biggest reward is like when other people notice too. Not like we're just doing it for validation, but if your family notices, then you show up to drill next month or you, you show up to whatever training event and people notice and that makes you feel good. Yeah. And it transfers over into your fitness test too. Like my friend Ashley, who did the program with me for six months, said she scored one of her highest, a AFTs that she's ever done as a postpartum mom. You know? Yeah. Like she went from, I don't even know how to run and use my body to six months later, I absolutely destroyed the combat standards. Yeah, that's a huge accomplishment. So we're not just selling you a program, we're selling you and, and offering you a completely transformational process and an opportunity to decide if you wanna just blend in with the rest or rise above and set yourself apart. Yeah, I, I mean, it really sounds like the, the biggest benefit in my mind, um, hearing you talk about this is the confidence, and that was something that we, we maybe touched on at the start of the episode was you talk about like the command presence. Mm-hmm. Right? When you can step up in front of people and one, you're confident in yourself and your presentation. Two, you own the room. Mm-hmm. And I think for the listeners, viewers on YouTube, make sure you like and subscribe. Um, think about this as an exercise. Somebody who is strong, fit, capable, intelligent. When they stand up in front of you and they explain something to you, you receive that information much better than someone who is fat. I was gonna keep on, but I mean like you could just stop there. Yeah. The physique signals something to us and whether you consciously or subconsciously recognize it, I guarantee you do. And that is competence and discipline. At a minimum, they have got their fitness in check, and if you have your fitness in check, what else in your life is in a good spot? This what we were talking about at the start was that people who get their fitness in check are typically more successful in other areas of their life as well. I think that there's some overarching connection in terms of things like discipline, right? If you have the discipline to do the hard thing every single day, you probably have the discipline to get online and send your outreaches every day. You probably have the discipline to pick up the phone when somebody calls. You probably have the discipline to hold yourself to your systems and your standards. So I actually, man, so many thoughts, so many ways to take this, but I use, um, daily fitness as like a checklist item for me now. Mm-hmm. Because I had fallen off the wagon for a while and I got hurt, and so I'm like, uh, yeah, just stop doing it. F's your jive. So I'm like, well, okay, well, what can I do? Like I need to get back into the habit. What can I do? I can walk every day or run or put on a weighted vest and rock. And so I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do one of those three things every single day. And I just add it to my daily checklist. But then I'm developing the discipline that helps me succeed in other areas of my life because I'm holding myself to the standard that I set. If you say you're gonna do something, you do it. Yeah, exactly. And it, it sets you apart in such a way that people aspire to be like that. But you're not so displaced from, you know, everybody around you that it's like, you're, you're this unattainable God or goddess. Right? Like, it, it, it shows you that, okay, yes, you are in shape, you take care of yourself. You are maybe not a gold medal Olympian. Shout out to all the gold medal Olympians for us. Go Team. USA. By the way, Alex used to train Olympians. Yes, I did. It was very fun. I enjoyed it. Um. She's bonafide, legit sometimes, um, it shows that like, instead of being like here and like, you're like this Everest human being that's unattainable for most people, you're, you're like here. Like, okay, I can take the, the necessary steps it takes to be in this area to be like this person, and that goes across fitness, finance, you know, relationships, marriage, et cetera. You can look at just very successful people and you see that it's attainable and you ask them what they did, and it's not sexy. It's not gorgeous and beautiful. Yeah. It's just the work. It's just showing up for yourself every single day and you have to love yourself enough to want to do that too, and finding your own self-worth and meaning throughout the process. Mm-hmm. You know, I, through, I, I just made a post about it recently, like what I learned through rehabbing this shoulder injury for four months. Like, you're gonna get frustrated, you're gonna get pissed off, you're gonna question everything about yourself, you're not gonna feel good. Yeah. But I showed up for myself in the ways that I could, just like you. I put on the, the weighted vest. I went for the walks. I went for the runs. I, I did very light band work. I did mobility. I sat on the bike. I did whatever I could to keep myself moving so that my body would heal itself. Yeah. And, and drive that blood flow back into my shoulder. And now the other day I did 20 pull-ups. So you just touched on this. This is actually fitness hack. Fitness hack. For anybody listening, I noticed, if you're not familiar with the concept of a run streak, a run streak is you run a mile or more every day a. Consecutively. Right. So at one point I had like a 200 day run streak. Damn. I noticed doing those. And so now I, I periodically add them into my, like training. Uh, when I, I'm on a run streak. I have better circulation. When I have better circulation, I have better recovery, right?'cause the blood is pumping, it gets the oxygen and the vitamins, minerals, nutrients, whatever it needs to the muscles to fix them. And then, and then I notice I don't get sore the same way when I'm lifting or working out. Yeah. Flushes out all of those toxins too. Um, so people confuse lactic acid with metabolic acidosis. So me lactic acid builds up while you're training. It's that burn feeling. Yeah. But the, the soreness that we have is metabolic acidosis and ways that you can. Eliminate that or reduce the, the fatigue of that is by doing exactly what you just said. It's getting up and moving when you don't want to flush it out, like you said. Yeah. You flush it out, you drink your water, you get your micronutrients and your macronutrients. Mm-hmm. And as I think we've talked about this before, but when you raise your heart rate, when you have an insulin spike, when you raise yourself above homeostasis, it forces that blood flow. And then when you feed your body with healthy foods, you know, eat a banana and then some hard boiled eggs that's going directly into your muscles for recovery. Yeah. Your body has a lot harder time digesting food when it's just at rest the entire time. We want a little bit of a spike to drive the blood flow and macronutrients, micronutrients to your body. Mm. And then it, then you bring it down a little bit and that's where recovery happens. Okay. So let's talk about, I'm gonna rephrase this. That way we can make an awesome short in a minute. What are the benefits of getting your fitness in line? Translating to, I have a civilian job or a career? I would say if you are wanting to go for that promotion, you are going to have the energy to put in the extra work to show your boss, your employer, supervisor, et cetera, that I'm willing to do what it takes to get this promotion. Or you know, say you have a chaotic family life and a high demand job, you are going to be sacrificing so much. To your family and your job that at the end of the day, you're not going to have any time for yourself. Mm-hmm. But if you have the discipline, either before or after work or at lunch, whatever, to be kind of the odd person who sets their alarm or doesn't go to in and out with the team, but they go to the onsite gym or they go for a walk or run, whatever, you're gonna start to feel this sense of empowerment. Like, this is my time, this is for me, and it's gonna make you wanna give back more to your family, more to your, um, to your place of work. And so I was, I was listening to, um, Tanner talk about this. He said, it's worth it to do the harder thing if you know that you're doing the hard thing, you're doing something right. Whether it's, and he made a reference to this, um, wanting to go for that promotion. Okay. Well, if you take care of yourself. You're going to be able to put so much more into that. You're not gonna feel drained and exhausted. Yeah. And like it's taking from you. You're gonna feel like, wow, I did something for myself. Now I wanna give my all in this. When we feel like everything is taking from us, then we want to give nothing for ourselves. It's just, it's this draining psychological concept. But the moment we start to give back to ourselves and we love dopamine, we love reward, you can, you can take feeding yourself a healthy meal as a reward. It doesn't have to be a Reese's Peanut butter cup. It can be like, I just had a really delicious protein shake and make it your favorite protein shake if you move your body and treat it with respect. That is giving something back to yourself, not this thing that you have to do. Mm-hmm. So it's changing the mindset. And then when you do that for yourself, all of those things can flood into every facet of your life. And I think I talked about this with my framework, it was like faith, family, friends, fitness, food, and finance. If your fitness and food, which is the rudimentary aspect of your existence isn't flourishing, all of those other things aren't gonna succeed and thrive. Yeah, I like that. And five Fs, faith, family, friends, fitness, food, finance. Oh, six Fs. Yep. Six big Fs. That's, uh, you're a real effer there. Um, okay, let's talk about the strategy. Sure. How does base business help rounds complete fitness grow? Uh, one, you're gonna get the clips and everything outta this, but let's talk about what are you actually doing? Um. What's outreach look like? Where's clients come from? How do we, uh, improve those things? Like, let's, let's, let's dive in if you're willing to dive in. Yeah, sure. I think, um, what we've seen the most success in is doing simple boosted posts. And with those boosted posts like I, the one that just is the money maker, the content creation, the, the, the conversation creator is the one where I just. For shits and gigs. Picked up 300 pounds, put it down, and like, just kind of looked at the camera like, wow, that was kind of cool. And then I just, I was like, screw it. Let's, let's boost it. See what if it reaches people? It's reached like hundreds of thousands of people and has generated hundreds, if not maybe a thousand conversations by now where I have it set to women in the military, like 20 to 35 in the United States, et cetera. So I have like my settings specifically geared towards that. And a lot of times it's people interested in joining the military, in the military, or used to be in the military. Or you get the Army wife every now and again too. Who's super ua? Um, shout out to the Army wives. Yes. Um, couldn't do it without you girls. Nope. Nope. Um, and then, so every time I get a, like, I try to go in and be like, hi, so and so. Thanks for your follow. Are you in the military? Hi, thanks for reaching out. Tell me about yourself. And I do that on TikTok too, so that's like my free Yeah, it's not a conversation. Yeah, like free organic stuff and then the boosted posts on Instagram and that's been the driver to it. So one was deadlifting 300 pounds, one was talking for 30 seconds about the changes with the Department of War, and then it sparked this like need for, oh, I need whatever you're talking about, because I'm feeling the pressures. I'm in the military. Yeah. I'm gonna feel the pressure. Yeah, I'm feeling it. So like if I'm feeling it, you're feeling it. Um, so paid stuff is just that the boosted post generating conversations. Driving them to book a call by getting to know them, their story, their pain spots. Um, yeah. And I, I think that's actually a really good strategy is yeah, you understand where they have pain and anxiety. Mm-hmm. You can address those things and if you understand the pain and the anxiety, you understand how to solve for the pain and the anxiety. Mm-hmm. So you can present a solution in such a way that it helps. Yeah. Most of the time I get people who, they're like, I'm a beginner to lifting, or I just, I'm coming off of surgery, I'm a postpartum mom. Yeah. I'm joining the military. I don't know what to do. And so it almost always boils down to, it sounds like you really need some structure and routine and something that's manageable and easy for you to follow. Yeah. And that is like kind of that. Yes, I need that. What does that look like? And then I say, um, I would love to tell you more about it. Would like, let's have you book a call and I can run you through what I do and how I can help and introduce myself. And so you kind of make it personable and not like, yeah, book a call so I can sell, sell you something. It's no, like, I wanna get to know you. I want you to know who I am, and I, I think I can really help you in this area. And then I get 'em to book a call and I'll oftentimes go back into my messages and I'll see where I sent a link. And if that person hasn't booked a call yet, and it's been a couple days, I'll be like, Hey, I'm a follow up. Uh, just checking to see if you still, if you found a time to chat, would love to, you know, talk with you. And they're like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. You know? So it's like oftentimes you just need to remind people because our phones get blown up a hundred thousand times a day. So that's my method for that. And then. Get 'em on the call. Uh, I'm just like, yeah, yeah. Tell me a little bit more about yourself. And so you learn more in like this discovery period of really what they're feeling. Mm-hmm. And you can see their body language and listen to their tone of voice. And for me, like I said at the very beginning, what my superpower is, it's just knowing people and understanding what kind of person I'm working with almost instantaneously. And I can, you know, shift myself into whatever gear I need to Yeah. To tailor myself to that individual. It's kind of fun, but it's also strange at the same time. Um, so once I do that, I just, I give them. Kind of like what I ran through earlier, the on paper thing, be like, okay, so that's what it looks like, but let me tell you like what you're going to be experiencing and what's gonna happen if you give it your all. And like really try to drive the emotional aspect to it. To get them, yeah. To want to invest in it. It's good practice. Yeah. It's, it, it is a practice because it's the emotion that makes people buy. Mm-hmm. I mean, logical people, they might be able to buy, when they look at things on paper, they see the value, they see the what you provide the results, but it's the people like, especially women, they're just more emotional to begin with. So you have to find a way to tie the emotion back into it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And oftentimes that works. If you take that approach, you really just try to understand them and listen to their story and relate some of their pain points to some that you've had. Yeah. Like, oh, I totally understand. Like my, I've had lower back pain for years now, and like this is how I've managed it. This is how I've been able to overcome it. Oh, well I need that 'cause I'm in pain all the time. Yeah. Like, oh, I totally get it. My schedule is jam packed. I have this, this, this, and this. But like if I have a routine and a set schedule, I don't have to think about it. I can just go in, okay, yeah, I need that. I need something that's like mindless and I can just follow. You. Just find the thing that is preventing them from reaching their ultimate level of success and you offer that as a solution. And sometimes it's a no-brainer right. On the spot. Yeah. Sometimes you gotta, I don't wanna say haggle, but haggle a little bit to try to get them to see the value of what you're offering.'cause a lot of people just don't perceive that. And it's, it's been a, when I ask questions for that, I mean, just what I do. Yeah. Is I'll, I'll send somebody like, what would this be worth to you if you wake up tomorrow and you are shredded? Mm-hmm. And everyone can see your discipline. Everyone can see that you do the hard thing. Yeah, it kind of makes people think of like, of a different version of themselves. Yeah. Yeah. So that whole thing has been kind of the driver of how I've been able to acquire this many clients. And on the TikTok side of things, I just respond to comments and if I can message them, I will be like, Hey, thanks so much for reaching out. Tell me about yourself. And they'll sometimes tell me their whole freaking life story. I'm like, thank you for sharing. Um, and then some people are a little short. So the people who give kind of the one or two worded answers, you really gotta kinda, yeah. Like pull it out of them.'cause they might be shy to talk to you or reserved. You need to build the relationship, build a little bit of trust. There's some people, I give something to them, some, right? There's some people who message me and be like, what do I have to do today to, to get this right now? And you're like, book a call. Boom. And it's. Two messages. Yeah. And they're ready. There are some people who are super timid and don't even wanna tell you what their MOS is or where they're stationed 'cause they're afraid that you're gonna like use it against them. So it's like, no, I've had that happen's. Like people think I'm like some creeper. I'm like, honey, I'm in the military. You, you are a Russian spy. Yeah. Like, and you are going to use this against us. Yeah. Like, did you not see the page? I'm clearly not that. So you really have to kind of pull them into this comfortable spot. And that's where it takes knowing how to construct a conversation and, and orchestrate the perfect way to get them to feel comfortable with you and create a safe space. So to teach, to teach the entrepreneurs business people that are listening in right now, the thing that you're saying is working is you make content. You post the content on social media, you find what's. Engaging or resonating, you're boosting those and then you're starting conversations with everybody that engages on those posts. Mm-hmm. Correct? Yep. Something that, um, I've been talking about with some of my coaching clients recently is when somebody engages with your social media, that's actually them raising their hand that you can talk to them. Mm-hmm. It doesn't need to be something where you feel guilty for sending an outreach or an open message or something like that. I, I view sales now through this analogy. Um, the burning building analogy, are you familiar with that? Probably. But remind, so when you're walking down the street, you see a house on fire. Mm-hmm. Lady hanging out the front window screaming for help. Do you go help her? I would. Exactly. Now you help somebody that needs help. You see somebody who is outta shape and struggling with their fitness and they want to get it under control, why don't you just help them the same way? Right? Yeah. So you're, you shouldn't be afraid of making the sale if you're helping somebody that needs help, right. It's the same concept. Um, so that's, I guess how my mind is viewing stuff right now. If, if what you're doing, if you have faith, if you believe in your product and your service and you can actually get somebody the result they need, the transformation they need, the help they need, don't you have an obligation to offer it? And then it's just making the offer. Yeah. I mean, we don't just do what we do because we're bored and there's nothing else that we could have possibly done. It's because we have a passion to help people. Yeah. And we find our niche and we we're passionate about. Helping the people that we serve. And I, my motto is, I seek to serve those who serve. Yeah. I like that. So I'm serving people who are serving, and I am a servant myself. And that to me brings joy. It brings reward. It makes me feel like I'm doing something. Yeah. For people, for the betterment of humanity, especially for our service members. And so sometimes I get a little pushback where it's like, wait, you're promoting a service to sell to military people? It's like, yes. But imagine if they keep going down the path that they're going, they lose their job. Yeah. And so it's like family loses livelihood. Right? No more benefits. Exactly. Yeah. And so I'm not just trying to, I always communicate like I'm not interested in taking service people's money. That is not what I'm doing. I am trying to make you the best service member you could possibly be. Well, also paying my bills and, you know, buying groceries. Yeah. Because I could be off doing corporate. Well, think about this. The more money you make doing this, the more people you can help. Exactly. You boost posts. Yeah. You run ads. Like those things are necessary. You have to have some revenue to pay for those things. My motto also is, make an impact to make an income. So, love that. I think what, what was Akbar's? He, his, his is make more. Give more. Yeah. Make more, give more. Mine is make an impact to make an income. So like, I, like I was just about to say, I could be doing some corporate job that I absolutely hate that gives me two weeks of vacation and drives me into the dirt and make maybe a decent salary. Or I could be making money for myself to help as many people as I can to watch them become the best versions of themselves. Yeah. And. Freaking serve our military to the best capacity that they can serve, because I've never been more of a liability to the military than when I wasn't taking care of my mental and physical health. Yeah. And so I don't want people to experience the mental and physical drawbacks if I have anything to say about it. If I can help you navigate and push through all that. I'm not a therapist, but I'm really good at listening and can provide a lot of insight if I can guide you through that. In the three to six months that we worked together, I did my job for sure. Yeah. Alex, that's awesome. Thanks. You've provided the listeners today with a ton of value. Is there anything that I can do to provide you or your audience with value? I would say I would like to make more of an impact. You know, I wanna, I, I just have this vision that. Rounds Complete Fitness slash Captain Alex Michael, soon to be, whatever rank I make it to is the go-to fitness expert for the military. She is a credible, she is confident, assertive, knows what she's talking about, has helped hundreds if not thousands of people in the military and is well known. Not just because I want everyone to know who I am, but because I made that much of a difference. Yeah. In the military and for that to be my legacy. So on top of the other things that I'm doing directly in the military, I want that to kind of be adjacent or integrated into Yeah. That's what you wanna be known for, right? Like I wanna be Yeah. Like I, I know Major Shay haver pretty well. She was one of the first two female army rangers. Everyone will know who she is and she paved the way for women in the military. Um, along with Major Christ. I wanna also. Be right behind their coattails or eventually make it up with them to be that woman in the military, or that's just overall service member who showed people in the military. That's possible. Yeah. I want that. Could do that. So I don't know how we make that happen. You've heard me talk about the Authority engine a couple times now. Mm-hmm. I think that that's probably the best foundational point for this and recognize these things are not fast, they're not immediate. Right. Um, your first, you know, actually in that last presentation I did at the January Mastermind, we had, uh, Alex Ivy or Adam Ivy come out and present on, on his YouTube journey and how he's building, you know, channels. Um, and you saw his graph. Mm-hmm. His charts on his per channel growth. And for the first three months of consistent posting, when I say consistent, I'm talking about like you're on the daily post. Um. The algorithms, you're just learning about your content. And then for month three to six, you're starting to get a little bit of traction. They're testing different audiences, and then it's month six through 12 where you actually start to see real growth. But you've gotta get into a point where you are consistently present for six consecutive months. Yeah. Before you'll see the growth. And that's the hard part for a lot of people is they'll get on, they'll post a couple times, and then they're like, well, I'm not getting any results. And they stop. Um, Todd, my Facebook and my Instagram right now is a case study in perseverance. Like I have posted every single day, uh, maybe since like. I might have missed one in December, but at least this year, at least in 2026, I haven't missed a day of posting. I see your face every single time I open my phone. It doesn't matter where I am. Correct. You are on every single platform. Like that's intentional. There he is. I'm on every platform. I post every day on every platform. Yes. I'm trying to engage on every platform so that I can grow the audience in those places, but I'm like, that's the next step for you in building what you wanna build there. To get that recognition, you need to be. One captivating, right? And to be captivating, you have to have content that's out there that people can, can see and consume. So more content creation. Second is more consistent posting, right? Uh, getting it out on all your platforms every single day, just so that you are in that same position. Then over time, what happens is you build the notoriety and you build the trust with that audience, more people start coming to you. Like, I get clients now from social media and from my podcast, even though my views aren't impressive, like I'm not viral by any means, but it's just because people see me every single day and they're building trust with me, and they're seeing how I think and how I solve problems and how I help people. And that's what brings 'em in. Mm-hmm. So the same process can be weaponized for you and fitness coaching. When people see you building content, they see you providing value and information and helping others day in and day out. Every single day when they open their phone and they see you on Instagram and TikTok and LinkedIn and wherever else, and then eventually it's just, well, Alex is the person in that space. She's at the front of my mind. I need help. I go to Alex. Yeah. My friend needs help. I send her to Alex. That would be ideal. Yeah. I think consistency. So it's built that engine. Yeah. Consistency has been my issue in a lot of things. Just because I easy to drop the ball, hate phone all the time. Yeah. It sucks. Like I love that I can take my business anywhere literally. And you know, I can do it when I, when I feel like it. It's, I hate being on my phone and computer all day. So I need to just kinda get over that and do the hard thing. Yeah. To push through and use the tools that are available to you. Yeah. Right. There's social media management platforms. Um, you can schedule things now, like just use what's available, batch your content out, you know, one or two days a week, something like that. Yeah. I think, uh, that's the next thing. Just every day something, sometimes it doesn't have to be anything, uh, like reveling. It's just, Hey, I thought about this, or I, somebody asked me about this, or, the way that you get over this is by x, y, z, bam. Let me know if you have a question. And so those easy things I think are overlooked when we're, we're trying to think so big picture and we're like, well, some of the best content that I've seen are the 30 seconds to 60 seconds of somebody that I respect talking about. Something that might not even be directly related to fitness. Yeah. But it's like, hey, I've noticed this little area in my life. I fixed it and it made this better. So, I dunno, just being a little bit more creative, the path of self-improvement. Yeah. I think that's what we're all striving for right now is Amen. Being the best version of ourselves. Indeed. That is something that resonates a lot with me. I talk a lot about the, the path to self-actualization. Mm-hmm. And the thing about self-actualization, for those that don't know, it's the top of the pyramid and, and Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It's not really attainable. Right? No, it's just continuous progression. It's always becoming the better version of yourself. Doing what you were always meant to do. What you are, are called to do, the people you serve. It's everything. So it's just doing that at the highest best possible level. Go team. Go team. Alex, thanks so much for coming on the show today. Uh, Alex, where can they follow you? You can go on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, good old LinkedIn, and you can go to Rounds, complete Fitness, and you can find us just about anywhere as well as YouTube. Uh, we will be beefing up the YouTube channel, um, or omnipresence. Yeah, or you can just follow me at Alex Michael.