3 Client Wins From The First Half Of 2024 (Why I Have The Best Job In The World)
BZZZ.
Did you hear that? That was the 2024 halftime buzzer.
Jog to the locker room. Gather your thoughts. Splash some water on your face. And inspire your team to wake the hell up, get their act together, and take no prisoners in the second half.
Or, as my middle school football coach would preach, “You’ve got them by balls. Now, squeeze ‘em!!”
(You can only imagine the voice-cracked roar that would follow this battle cry).
If the first half of 2024 was a game, my coaching clients would be up 42-0. Over the next 6-8 minutes (depending on your reading speed), I’m going to highlight my 3 captains.
What you’ll learn:
How my fat loss client, Ethan, is benching 300 pounds for reps at ~10% body fat. Trust me - he’s the guy you send out for the coin toss to intimidate the opposing team.
What my mobility client, Jenny, did to get out of pain and start running circles around her grandson. She threw a Marshawn Lynch stiff-arm at her chronic pain.
How my in-person turned virtual client, Yihao, has progressed through three years of coaching. He’s ready to take the ball and run with it.
Client Win #1 - When Your Client Is Stronger And Leaner Than You
Ethan may be the most impressive guy I’ve ever worked with. He’s certainly one of the hardest working.
He’s got four kids, works a busy job, and absolutely crushes his fitness goals. The craziest thing? Every time we have a check in call, he’s in a good mood and easy to talk to.
He’s never once complained, or told me the routine was too hard, or said he was too tired.
How he does it all is beyond me. But it’s been inspiring to watch.
What Ethan Did:
Lost over 20 pounds in 3 months
Reduced his body fat from ~14% to ~8%
Increased his bench press strength from 225x10 to 300x3
How He Did It:
He strength trained 5x/week and did cardio 2-3x/week
He ate in a moderate calorie deficit that resulted in him losing about 1.5 pounds/week
He ate a ton of protein, trained his butt off, and prioritized sleep to prevent muscle loss
He did all of the above with about 90% consistency over a 3 month period
What You Can Learn:
Most people can’t expect to be this jacked, lean, and strong all at the same time. (Including myself. I’ve been 8% body fat and benched 285 pounds, but never at the same time).
When you combine good genetics with an insane work ethic, as Ethan has, you can achieve unbelievable results. A solid plan helps.
To lose fat while preserving strength, you need to be patient. Ethan spent years building muscle and strength, and maintained a conservative rate of weight loss to prevent losing muscle while shedding fat.
Ethan has 4 kids (!) and works a busy, high stress job. If he can do it, so can you.
Client Win #2 - When Your Client Needs To Keep With A Toddler And A Puppy
Jenny is the mom of one of the nicest guys I knew in college. We (the son and I) became good pals because we both spent the majority of our college days in the squat rack at the JMU gym from 2015-2019.
Flash forward to 2024 - Jenny had been receiving my emails since 2022. She’d been dealing with debilitating low back and neck pain for a few years and it wasn’t getting better.
When the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve, Jenny thought, “This has gone on for way too long. I’ve got a grandson I want to chase around, and I’m too young to wake up in pain every morning. I need to make a change.”
She emailed me, we started working together, and the rest is history.
Chronic pain is absolutely soul sucking. It can be a struggle to get out of bed, let alone embark on a new fitness and nutrition regimen. It makes everything more challenging and less enjoyable.
Jenny overcame it all and changed her life. Now, she’s reaping the benefits.
She’s stronger than she’s been in years and no longer in pain. At an age many struggle to get from the couch to the fridge, she’s tossing around a toddler and a puppy.
Similar to Ethan, her attitude is one of the most amazing things I’ve witnessed.
We’d have calls when she would have a splitting migraine and her back would be aching, and she was still light, cracking jokes, and laughing. “Oh, my neck is about a 9/10 pain and I’ve been dealing with a headache since Tuesday”, she’d tell me as she chuckled. “It’s fine, we’ll figure it out.”
Her effort, consistency, and refreshing optimism has paid off big time.
What Jenny Did:
Resolved her low back pain, fixed her sciatica, and significantly reduced her neck after suffering for years
Trained around her injuries and became the strongest she’s been in years
Lost some fat and improved her eating habits along the way
Earned the ability to play with her grandson and train a puppy without increased pain.
How She Did It:
She removed the activities that were causing her pain. This meant reducing the amount of high impact group exercise classes she taught each week.
She dialed in her mobility routine. We found the stretches/exercises that gave her relief, and she did these 1-3x/daily
She trained 3x/week at the start, and has built up to 5-6x/week. She began lifting with a barbell (without pain) for the first time in years
She started doing the things she knew she should, but had let slide over the years. She ate more protein, she started prepping her meals again, she addressed sleep, and took major steps to address her stress levels.
What You Can Learn:
When you’re in pain, do more of what feels good and eliminate/modify the painful stuff.
It’s simple, but not something most people take the time to think through.
If two stretches give you 30 minutes of relief and take your pain down from 8/10 to 5/10, do them 8 times a day.
If sitting at your computer for 3 hours straight increases pain, take breaks.
Even if you know your stuff, having a coach can help.
Jenny is a phenomenal personal trainer/exercise instructor. 75% of the changes we made, she knew intuitively would help.
She just needed someone to help her zoom out, identify the most important action steps toward her goals, and get started.
You invest time and effort in the gym so you can get more out of life.
Sure, setting new PRs and feeling strong is fun.
But being able to train her puppy without being limited by back pain is life changing.
Chasing her grandson around without wincing and grabbing her neck is life changing. That’s the stuff that matters.
Client Win #3- When Your Client You Almost Didn’t Train Becomes A Three Year Success Story
It was 3 years ago, the final week of June. My boss at the Duke gym called and said, “I know you leave for clinicals next week, but I have a client for you. He only wants to do a few sessions to figure out his knee pain. Can you take him on?”
I went back and forth. Why take on a new client for only a week? Sounded silly.
“Yeah, sure!” I told her, figuring an extra $50 or $75 for a few sessions would make a nice dent in the 100k of debt I was racking up for PT school tuition.
I trained Yihao for 3 sessions in person, and 3 years online.
If the words, “Phd candidate in computer science at Duke” don’t make it clear, he’s a brilliant guy. He was also very busy, and wanted to figure out how to fix his pain, get stronger, and not gain fat.
Despite his unbelievable workload, he’s been one of my hardest working, most consistent clients over the past 3 years.
June was his final month working with me. Bittersweet. Bitter, because he’s a great guy and an amazing client. Sweet, because he’s learned the tools to keep making progress on his own.
What Yihao Did:
He resolved his knee pain in weeks, and it never came back
Gained a tremendous amount of strength, culminating in benching 75 pound dumbbells at ~140 pounds body weight
Transformed his diet by eating more protein, more fruits, and more vegetables, and less McDonald’s (his go-to on late lab nights)
Improved his power and dominated the badminton court
Maintained a healthy body composition and weight, despite being chained to his desk for 8-12 hours/day
How He Did It:
He strength trained 3-5x/week, and did cardio 2-3x/week by walking or playing badminton
He gradually increased his protein and fruit/veggie intake. Eventually, eating 120 grams of protein and 3-4 servings of fruits and veggies became automatic.
He stayed consistent for years, while watching many of his colleagues sacrifice their physical health for academic and professional progress
What You Can Learn:
Often, maintenance is a win.
Yihao made slow and steady progress over the past few years, but there were periods when the top goal was to not go backwards.
When you have a deadline looming and are working 14 hour days, maintaining your physique/health is a huge win.
There is value in working with a coach for extended periods of time
I have some clients that work with me for as little as 6 months to a year. Others have worked with me for over 4 years.
When you outsource your fitness to a coach, you make sure it never falls to the wayside. It’s insurance against the inevitable decline when life gets in the way.
Yihao and I checked in every month to adjust his program, improve his accountability, and help him stay on track. As a result, he earned incredible results while maintaining a high output of work.
“Too busy” is a soft excuse
Adjusting your workouts to a realistic level during busy times of life will always trump taking weeks off.
There were weeks Yihao did 1-2 bodyweight workouts /week, and other times he did 5 strength workouts and a few cardio sessions/week
It is far easier to maintain your fitness than it is to build it up. It is also far easier to maintain a routine than to go back and forth between periods of “on” and “off”.
If you have a busy or stressful few weeks ahead, taper down your fitness routine to a minimal level. Try not to ever stop completely, because it requires a ton of energy/motivation to get back into the swing of things after periods of inactivity.
Too Many To Mention
You know what’s crazy? I have at least 20 clients from the first half of 2024 that are worthy of this list.
That’s a testament to the quality of people I’m lucky enough to work with, not my ability as a coach.
You just read about three of my favorites. I get to work with amazing, hard-working folks like Ethan, Jenny, and Yihao every day. How lucky am I?
So, thank you for reading and for supporting my work! It means the world.
Best,
John
P.S.
If you’d like to join these guys and transform your life in the second half of 2024, you can schedule a free chat with me to learn more about my coaching.
P.P.S. Kelly found out she passed her S.C.S. (physical therapy sports clinical specialist) exam on Friday. Her intellect and work ethic is surpassed only by the amount of engagement photos she’s made me take.
3 Steps You Can Take
Apply for coaching - If you’re ready to start, you can fill out a coaching application here (it takes 90 seconds or less). Best case, you change your life. Worst case, I’ll help you draw up a road map to get closer to your goals.
Sign up for my newsletter - If you’d like to hear more, sign up for my mailing list here.
Keep learning - You can check out my other articles here. Nobody asked me to, but I’ve spent a ton of time researching everything from artificial sweeteners to saturated fat to testosterone and more, so you don’t have to.