020: Reaping the Rewards of Sacrifice with Kris Gethin

In a world of instant gratification how can you create more discipline for yourself and why should you bother? Kris Gethin is someone who is reaping the rewards of sacrifice and here's to answer both of those questions for you.

Kris is the CEO of Kaged Muscle suppplements, a best-selling author of several books including Bollywood by Design and The Transformer. He's also the host of The Knowledge and Mileage podcast, and is world renowned as a physical trainer and transformational specialist.

On today's Awesome Health show, we talk about his work with Bollywood stars, how he got into bodybuilding in the first place and how he transitioned into triathlon Iron Man competitions now. We wrap up with how and why to practice being comfortable with uncomfortable, and how doing so will have you reaping the rewards of your sacrifice.

In this episode of Awesome Health, you'll also hear:

• Why did he stop competing?
• What is knowledge without mileage?
• Why does he work with people in 8 or 12 week windows only?
• The 3 factors to look for when choosing a fitness coach.
• How does he change his clients' nutrition to adjust for the body's inflammatory responses?
• And much more!

More About Awesome Health with Kris Gethin

To begin our chat on Awesome Health today I asked Kris Gethin about the trajectory of his journey: where did he get started and how did his own physical transformation lead to his global success? He found the only things he could retain were studying health and fitness and actually implementing what he was studying. He hated school and had always been rather introverted so he liked to be on his farm outside on his motorbike.

For over a decade he raced motocross nearly every weekend, but it wasn't until his early 20s that his injuries started to keep him in hospital more than on the race track. He started seeing specialists like chiropractors, osteopaths, massage therapists. When he went to physiotherapy and started doing resistance training much of his pain went away, especially in his curved spine. He liked how he felt; he was more focused, his depression was lifting and he had more energy.

It had such an impact on him that he switched from engineering at college to international health and sports therapies. He learned everything related to health from personal training to coaching to aromatherapy oils, and he loved it.

Three years later he was certified and he knew it was his ticket out of mid-Wales. He left to work on cruise liners as a personal trainer and massage therapy, that job took him to Australia where he had his own gym. He also began writing and taking photographs, and then submitting his work to magazines so he could reach more people.

Next he took the big risk of selling his gym and moving to the US, Venice California specifically. He hoped he would be able to get a job so he started personal training in Gold's Gym while also getting his content out to the world. Within six months he had a contract to write and photograph, that led to him creating his own magazine which helped him get noticed by Ryan DeLuca, the founder of Bodybuild.com. Ryan moved Kris to Boise, Idaho to start as the editor in chief.

How to Take Risks and Sacrifice for Success

I wanted to know how he's been able to make such radical changes in pursuit of his career and what has he he learned along the way? He says oddly enough he doesn't see anything he has done as being radical or too much of a risk. His thought process is to ask himself: Well if nothing comes out of it what will I lose?

And the answer was always he would just go back to the life he had prior, and that was okay too. But he knew if he didn't take the risk and if he didn't go for it he would never know. And as he took those leaps and risks, he learned a lot along the way.

Today he says the world of Instagram and instant gratification of wanting results now, people aren't always willing to make the same sacrifices as they once were. If you put out a course that says people can get in shape in 4 weeks or 12 weeks, people will take the 4 weeks course. But if it doesn't work they'll shrug their shoulders and move on. But in the past people would to sacrifice before success, but now people want to bypass the sacrifice and have the success.

Our world now is more convenient and comforting so people fall into this rut more easily, and they expect that in all walks of life. He sees it in business, in physical fitness, etc. He doesn't want any part of that so he educates people so they can discipline themselves.

Another byproduct of people wanting success without sacrifice is people in the fitness world appearing as experts because they have millions of followers. He says not everyone has to be certified to be an expert, but just because someone has a great physique and a million followers doesn't necessarily mean that person knows what they are doing.

How to Find a Trustworthy Coach

Which led me to ask him what does qualify someone in the fitness world as an expert? How can you know if someone is trustworthy? There are several components and they are as follow:

1. See if they have any qualifications.
It isn't always necessary - he knows some coaches who work with Olympic athletes but they don't have qualifications. What they do have is instinctual knowledge.
2. Check out their other clients.
If they don't have qualifications speak to some of their other clients and ask what they have done with them.
3. Do they practice what they preach?
Another qualifying component is whether they themselves are in great shape. If they are then they may be someone you can trust to become your coach.

So things to look for are if they themselves look good and walk their own talk, if they have a proven track record you can verify, and if they have certifications and qualifications.

Next I asked him what has changed in the positioning of expertise and the availability of information (in a positive or negative way) thanks to the digital world today. Hear his answer to that plus his advice if you have a fitness goal you want to achieve, and what are the common challenges he sees consistently on today's Awesome Health podcast.

Episode Resources

• Kris Gethin's web site
• Kaged Muscle web site
• The Knowledge and Mileage podcast
• Kris Gethin on Instagram
• Kris' online training programs
• Masszymes web site (promo code mass10)