-: Welcome ladies and gentlemen.
Today is our first live portion of the assessment course.
So we are going to have these every week going forward.
A couple of times we're going to have some extra ones.
So just rules of the game here.
We are going to take questions at the end of each of these
but they will be particular to the topic at hand.
So if you got a question on something
that's going to be like four calls down the road,
we may pocket that and focus on questions
that are particular to the topics of discussion
for each individual call.
So without further ado,
let's go ahead and get this thing rolling.
So quick syllabus.
We're going to be doing these every week.
If you see the bottom point there,
I reserve the right to add more as I see fit.
So basically, if there's something I'm not able to cover,
or some extra context, or examples that we want to give,
we will throw those up as regular videos
for you guys to watch at your leisure
in between the live calls.
We're going to be alternating the physiology
and the biomarkers with training lectures.
So that's essentially
so that you guys can have an opportunity
to kind of put some of this stuff
like, you know, into practice.
And Adam and Cody are going to be doing
practical training presentations every other week.
So basically, next week,
I'm going to cover like systemic training
and looking at how we would approach the assessment process
for assessing that block of training
and that phase of training.
And then these guys are gonna follow that up
with practical examples every other week.
So every other week
you will have an additional practical session
or a practical live session,
and that will be where you also have the opportunity
to ask more questions specific to those phases, okay?
Each of these lives is going to be
approximately 60 to 90 minutes of lecture.
And then probably about 30 minutes of Q and A.
So at most, I think two hours would be the maximum we'll go.
So every call will be at least 60 minutes probably
and maximum two hours,
90 minutes probably on average is what I'm thinking.
And that is the basic syllabus, right?
Our objectives, I kind of covered this a little bit
but just to kind of expand on that a little bit,
I'm hoping from this whole course
that you guys really understand the foundational biomarkers,
the lifestyle factors and the training data points
that are gonna allow you
to like optimize programming results
without over-complicating your approach.
Because I've been in the place
where I've, you know, had a six page questionnaire
and I've been in the place
where I've asked like three questions,
or just jumped on the floor to see what happens
and everything in between.
And what we really wanna focus on
is optimizing what you guys do at any point in time.
So making sure that if you do decide
to put some sort of questionnaire
or some sort of data collection in,
that you're actually able to make use out of it
because the worst thing that you wanna do is add noise.
So as we're going through this process,
I want you guys to start applying some of the stuff,
start kind of workshopping it in your head
so that we can help you with any questions you guys have
on the usefulness or application of these things.
Because if I just list,
like here's all the things that you could measure,
and here's the like 20 possibilities
that each of those things could mean.
Not only would it be overwhelming,
but it would be extremely impractical.
So I have actually regressed what I do
in terms of the volume of data that I collect,
but I've become much more efficient with how I use the data
and I've become much more individualized
in terms of which data I collect from which client
and at what particular point in time.
So we're all about optimization in terms of the data, right?
Because you have to maintain kind of a proper perspective
on what you collect and how the client can use that
and how the client can, you know, track that.
And you have to understand, we'll get into this,
but like the questions that you ask,
and the data that you collect
can have even a psychological component
that people don't consider.
So it's not a less is better or a more is better,
it's asking the right amount of stuff
and the right questions at the right time
is what's going to make your life easier,
the client's life easier,
and ultimately just really help you be efficient
and effective at the same time, okay?
And then the last one on here,
like learn how to assess your training
and nutritional programming.
So taking this stuff,
not just from an individual perspective,
but then looking at how this stuff is going to shift
as we do different stimuli,
as we work with people with different goals
and understanding how we might look
at the same data points differently
or make different decisions
off of the same data point shifts,
depending on what type of training
and what type of goals we are working with
for that individual client.
So for today, I'm going to recap
some of the main points of that pre-course video.
Honestly, we're going to cover a lot of physiology
over the next 12 weeks.
This presentation and the pre-course content
is going to be the most important
because if you lose that context,
if you lose the perspective
of how you're supposed to take this,
you're going to go in too many rabbit holes, right?
And it's not going to be an efficient process for you.
There's going to be too much noise for you,
too much noise for your clients.
So if you haven't watched the first couple of videos,
that's why I'm going to recap them here,
but definitely go back and watch those
because they go in a little bit more detail
on these basic principles that you need to have
in terms of interacting with your client,
collecting data, and understanding the psychological impacts
of what you're doing here.
Because a lot of times we just like to focus on like,
well, okay, if I ask them this and they say this,
then here's the response.
There's the nutrition, or training,
or supplement change that they get.
But we're not robots, you know, not the coach or the client.
And we really need to have that perspective
when we do this assessment process
because even though we're mining for data,
that mining for data does have a cost,
can have an influence on somebody's compliance,
somebody's outlook over the program,
somebody's motivation, etc.
All right, so we're going to recap that,
cover the basic principles
of a first time assessment for our client.
Just kinda like, you know, an overview
of what we're collecting,
and then kind of set the foundational thought process
that we will use as we're doing evaluation
for each individual assessment.
So you guys kind of have like
that big thought process of them.
When we go through them individually,
we can just jump right into the physiology
and the case study scenarios.
So let's start with the first two unit recap, okay.
I made that quote in there,
if you're not assessing, you're guessing,
an uneducated fashion.
If you're assessing, you are still guessing
but just educated, and that's important
is, is that you can't expect to get absolute answers
with any one question, or sometimes even a ton of questions.
All we're doing is narrowing down the possibilities
so that we can have essentially
a higher percentage of chance
of having a positive intervention with this person.
So whatever changes that we're going to make,
what we're trying to do with our assessment
is to eliminate all of the bad possibilities
so that if we do implement a change,
or we do have an intervention,
that it's going to be a positive one,
it's going to work towards their goal, okay?
So every biomarker has a variety.
So like sleep, how many different ways
can we evaluate sleep, right?
And then of all of those different responses
to how somebody can report their sleep,
what are all of the possible outcomes, right?
So there's an infinitesimal amount of information
that we can get from even just a small amount of questions,
which is why it's very important
to look at this as a filtering process
of, you know, eliminating possibilities.
So then you can take that person as a whole
and choose what's likely going to be
the most effective intervention.
'Cause it's not just going to be
the most physiologically effective,
it's going to be the easiest one for them to implement,
the easiest one for you to track,
the easiest one for you as a coach to deliver an explain,
you know, and with whatever resources that you have
in terms of, you know, articles, videos, links,
things like that that may be instructional for that
versus you having to teach them.
So you can essentially pull all of those factors together
and then choose of what's left,
what is going to make the most sense
in terms of a positive interaction, right?
So humans, it's not an input output scenario.
One biomarker does not have one solution.
One biomarker is going to have a ton of solutions,
our goal is to narrow them down
to the ones that are most likely
going to be physiologically impactful.
And then from there, choose the ones
that are likely going to fit that client the best
based off of practicality, etc.
So recapping unit number three, our starting point.
You should approach an assessment of a new client
different than an ongoing client,
and that's very important.
The sooner that you can kind of accept
that, like you know, the first person you work with,
or the first time you work with somebody,
you are taking the worst guess,
then you know, like, okay,
if I don't hit the nail on the head day one,
I can get better day two, day three,
week one, week two, week three, whatever it may be, right?
So every new client you get,
you have to look at how much information,
what's the complexity the assessment need to be.
It needs to be proportionate to the available data
and the quality of that data, right?
Now if somebody has been training,
awesome, they have a training history.
They've been logging food, awesome, they have that.
But then the follow-up question is,
it's like, well, okay, they have been tracking it
but how well have they been tracking it?
Is that information even relevant,
like somebody could be tracking their food,
or their training in a way that really isn't relevant
to how you would evaluate that information, right?
They might just have a split, right?
Or they might say like, well, okay, I did this many sets
but it's like, do you remember how many reps
or how hard they were, or how much rest do you took?
Like if all of those things are missing,
the value of that data becomes a lot lower.
So you have to look at,
it's like, okay, is it worth to me fishing in this pond
if there's only small fish in it, right?
There's gotta be something worth catching
for me to spend time fishing in this pond.
So when you're choosing how deep to go,
how many follow up questions to give,
you have to quickly evaluate,
okay, wait, am I mining for gold here?
Or am I mining for, you know, just old regular rocks.
Because if I'm not mining for gold
by asking this person a bunch of deeper questions,
I'm likely wasting their time and possibly making them think
that certain things are more important than they really are.
So when we have our first person,
we have to figure out like
what's that minimal viable amount of information
that I can get?
And then based off of everything that's left over,
is it worth going through, or am I better off waiting
until I knew I can get higher quality information?
Because I'm in charge of the programming,
I'm in charge of the nutrition,
I'm in charge of what they're tracking,
and how they're tracking, etc.
Let's not waste my time, let's not waste their time,
discussing decisions made off of poor data
and let's just hurry up and get into collecting good data.
That's going to be the approach
that I suggest most of you guys take
with the new assessment.
It's like you find out what's that minimal viable thing
that I need to be able to get a person into a program
where then I can start collecting better quality data.
So a lot of coaches like to
like give a 12 week program sometimes
off of an initial assessment.
And I'm like, how about off of initial assessment,
we talk about maybe what we're going to do
for one or two weeks, or whatnot.
And then we can maybe make a decision
towards a larger program or a longer time commitment.
Unit four is a lot about getting into, you know,
where we're actually collecting data,
we have control of that, but not obsessing over stuff.
So you want to live between guessing and obsessing.
There's this balanced approach
where you're getting the most efficient information
to make good quality decisions
without adding a bunch of noise
and without expending a lot of energy on your part
or the client's part tracking stuff
that isn't going to be like big factors in decision-making.
So I think in the earlier videos,
I used the example of like, you know,
collecting fasting glucose, you know.
But it could be as simple as morning heart rate,
or how detailed you're having them track their food,
or whatever it may be.
So you need to make sure
that the detail that you're tracking
matches the effectiveness
at which you can use that data to make changes, right?
Because if you're tracking a bunch of stuff
that really isn't going to affect
your decision making process,
it's a waste on both ends,
and it can affect the client's perception
of what things are important in their program, okay?
So quality and quality balance.
Sometimes, you know, we can get really good information
from a few data points,
for other people, you may need a lot of stuff
to get a little information that you can put it in.
And the same thing for your interventions, right?
So this stuff can progress over time, right?
So you have to take into account a person's capacity
to be able to collect the data accurately.
So if you're starting to work with a person,
and maybe implementing one habit
is going to be the best thing,
you may not be able to give them a whole bunch of stuff.
So you may have to balance
what you as a coach can track,
irrespective of the client
versus what the client can track.
And then move forward with, okay, we got that habit down,
maybe it's like you're taking your morning weight,
or maybe you're doing this thing for tracking your food.
You're entering it in the app, or you're weighing it,
or whatever it may be,
once becomes essentially routine,
then we can move on to adding another one, right?
But sometimes for some people,
you may have to introduce a bunch of things
that maybe aren't the most impactful
but they just happened to be the lowest effort changes
that that person can implement, right?
So maybe a person's not going to weigh their food, okay?
But they can take photos or they can write down,
like the consistency of the meal or whatever,
or they can do the fist portions,
like you figure out, okay, what can we do, right?
You know, who knows?
Maybe for some people it's like just tracking,
like okay, how many times a day did I eat?
That's like, step one, right?
And then saying, okay, what was this meal?
Was it protein and carb?
Was it protein and (indistinct)?
That may be like starting point one, okay?
So the follow-up to that in terms of the net obsessing
is making sure that you consider the impact
of the data collection itself.
So by asking certain questions,
we affect a client's perception.
They can easily influence a client's perspective
on what's important, but just what you're asking them.
So if you have them weigh themselves every morning,
they're going to assume
that those daily weight fluctuations matter,
unless you're really careful in the coaching process
of saying, hey, you know, individual days don't matter,
we're looking over some sort of average.
I'll walk you guys through how I managed people
that had to weigh in every day
and kind of took it off the day to day influences
and used it to like kind of like used to sheet,
that would kind of put it into an average
so that it would always kind of illustrate
what we're looking for,
so that they would pay less attention
to those everyday measures.
Because you have to be careful
because if you introduce something like,
okay, I want you to take your HRV,
or your morning heart rate or your weight.
Some of those things that can have a connotation to them,
you can start influencing the clients,
like how much they think that's important
or they can let that affect their day, right?
If their heart rate is up, or HRV is off,
or their weight is off,
all of a sudden that can have this domino effect
for the rest of the day.
And then maybe that rolls over into the rest of the week.
And then before you know it,
we've created people that are neurotic
and hyper-focused on these things,
and that's actually having a negative impact
on the physiological outcome,
and the lifestyle outcomes that we're looking for.
So always consider that.
The other thing is just like, you know,
how much time is it taking?
So if you have a really busy person
and they don't have time to log their food
and you know that like,
they're not going to be successful at doing that,
but you make it seem like it's really important
that they track their meals really diligently.
And so then it's something that they can't succeed at
and now when they don't succeed at it,
they're going to have a negative outcome.
So this is where we have to be practical as coaches
with what we ask people to track
and the data collection that we get,
and the interventions that we make, right?
At some point in time, sure, there may be points
where if somebody has an expectation of a certain goal
and they're just not capable of doing,
like following through with an aspect
on the nutrition or the training frequency
or whatever it may be that kind of is imperative
to those results, then you have to have that discussion.
But before it comes to that point,
you should try and figure out,
okay, what things can we do
that this person is going to be successful with
and that I can get information with them
and that they can follow through
and have a positive emotional outcome
or psychological outcome by utilizing it,
or at least at the very least not a negative one, okay?
All right, recapping unit five, prioritization.
So we're gonna start each one of these physiological phases
focusing on the big rocks of that
rather than like going to the deepest rabbit holes,
because, you know, when it comes to,
like the first one we're going to do is sleep, okay?
We're not going to get deep into neuro-transmitters
for somebody that only is actually committing
five hours a night to sleep, all right?
So at that point in time, it's like, well,
maybe what we should just do
is actually try and get more hours.
Obviously, we'll go through the nuances
of like getting whatever you can out of sleep,
but you wanna try and focus on the big rocks first,
like too many people are going to be like,
oh, well, maybe you need more magnesium.
Well, it's like, okay, if you're only allowing five hours,
like magnesium does not add time to the day, right?
Take all the magnesium you want, the day is still 24 hours
and five hours is still five hours.
So we have to focus on the big rocks,
the things that are gonna make the biggest impact, right?
And usually if they're a big rock,
and they're a low investment on the client
and they are, you know, a very accurate,
consistent measure that you can track,
that's like a win-win on all levels, right?
Sometimes a big rock is a more complex thing
in terms of the assessment process.
And then you have to decide like, okay, what's better?
A lot of small rocks,
or the big rock depending on the client
and what they're willing to commit, okay?
Your first guess, always going to be your worst guess,
I said that already.
But you need to accept that,
and you need to explain that to the client.
And everyone's life becomes easier,
because if you lead with the expectation
that the beginning of you guys is programming together
is actually an extension of the assessment period,
that like, okay, we're going to take these first two weeks
and use that to get a better idea
of how your body is functioning and what it's prepared for.
You're, one, going allow yourself to be able to collect data
and make better decisions
when you commit to a longer-term program.
But also then you're setting them up to expect you
to be making changes
so that they don't think like,
oh, why are we changing things?
Like, did I fail at this?
Is this not good for me?
Like, did you choose the wrong thing?
You wanna make sure you set the mindset of,
like, okay, we're starting this whole process of coaching
with an assessment period, like a trial period.
And then what we're going to do
is we are going to refine from there.
So expect us to make changes in those first couple of weeks
before we make any long-term plan
of like here's how we're going to do this, right?
That's one of the things
is you don't want to get too much into the storytelling
of how you're going to get somebody to their goal.
And like, you don't want to be overly detailed.
It needs to be general and principle-based
if you do discuss that.
It's like you do the assessment,
you say like, oh, well you need to work on this thing
and this thing, so we're going to do X, Y, and Z.
If that X, Y, and Z is too specific
and too many things that are subject to change
that can disrupt the confidence the client has in you.
But also yourself, if you think that you have a crystal ball
and you realize all of a sudden, like, shit, you don't.
And that will show as well.
Like that always comes out with, you know, coach to client
when things don't go as planned.
Like everybody kind of knows,
there's no really hiding it, right?
So when we look at these questions,
especially if you're using questionnaires,
I put this line in here.
Maybe we can have a contest for social media,
as we're going through these,
like who can post the best Kasem quote of the presentation?
But subjective measures are only as good
as you know your subject.
So when we're asking about sleep quality, energy quality,
like, you know, soreness, all of these other things,
the answers that you get from a client,
because they're subjective, you have to interpret them
with knowledge of how that subject reports.
If everybody in here has probably had that client
that underreports everything,
they're like, oh everything's always good.
And then the opposite end,
the person is like, everything is always bad.
And then you have some people that are in between.
You have to know
how that particular client reports their data, right?
Because, you know, if they stubbed their toe
and then that's the apocalypse,
then you look at their answers through that lens.
And it's kind of like your filter
of how you interpret that information, right?
Where you could have another person
that's like, oh yeah, my house is on fire,
my hair is on fire.
Like, eh, but you know, it could be worse.
Like you have to see that person's answers
through that lens.
So allowing yourself one to two weeks
to be able to communicate and interact with this person,
have like multiple submissions of some of the same data
gives you more knowledge about that subject.
So then all of a sudden you can have more accuracy and value
out of those subjective measures,
because I love simple questions that you can ask
to get a lot of information.
I prefer that over, you know, blood work,
and a lot of other things,
'cause it's like this data point right here
that I'm asking this person also could be
the first step towards a more important data point,
like to a conversation that can lead me to something
that I didn't realize was important
if I would have just like had them fill out,
you know, a really simple questionnaire
on physiology or whatever it may be.
So the more I know a subject,
the more I can individualize those questions,
not just which questions, but also the way that I ask them,
and the way that I interpret their answers.
So you need to prioritize the things
that make the most impact,
but are also that you can get the best quality data.
And then as you get to know that person better, right?
You set those expectations,
and you get better quality information from them.
So prioritize what you can get the most out of,
and a part of that is, you know, subjective stuff,
you're not going to get much out of that
until you know the subject.
Okay, continuing on that, this is just some pitfalls
that I see people go through.
If you're hell bent on finding an absolute answer, right?
So if you look at a client as a puzzle that has an end,
you're going to end up on like this impossible journey
that provides no reward, because there is no end, right?
Like you're always going to be evaluating a moving target
or you're looking for a moving target.
And you have to realize that,
because if you're sitting here trying to find the end answer
so that then you could be done,
like I've figured this client out, we're done.
What you'll do is you'll overspend the amount of time
that you are like asking questions
and looking at data and whatever.
And it's like the equivalent of like following maps
and looking for buried treasure.
And you do that over and over and over and over again,
you're constantly looking for this treasure.
And then all of a sudden you look at your watch
and realize it, like,
man, if I would actually just put my effort
into using the information that was available,
I would have made much more progress,
like I could use this time and establish more wealth
than the treasure was ever worth.
And that's often how it works with the assessments
is if you figure out
how to use the information that you have
to the best of your abilities,
that's likely going to provide you better results over time
than becoming obsessive and always trying to figure out,
like what's the answer?
I got to find out.
You'll get people and they're running complex panels,
you know, they're running Dutch tests and blood test
and, you know, sleep tests and stool tests,
and like all of these things.
You're looking for the answer
because in reality, there's probably actionable things
right in front of you or things that you could get very easy
that you could take steps in the right direction.
And taking a step in the right direction today
is better than hoping that you get the perfect step
in six weeks when you get that blood work back, okay?
You're a coach, you're a trainer,
man, use the tools that you have.
You work with people, use those people skills,
take advantage of the power of conversation
and find a way to move in the right direction
as soon as possible.
And your net progress over time is going to be good.
If you're waiting around for the perfect answer,
man, like results are just, they're going to pass you by.
And you're not gonna enjoy your work as much.
It's going to be a lot more frustrating, right?
It's a lot more frustrating.
Get those small wins for both you and the client.
Okay, last recap section, expectations.
So I would say, overall,
you know, all the years I've been coaching,
setting expectations and having expectations
is the most important aspect, not just of the assessment
but arguably the entire coaching process,
like you're working with human beings.
And so the most important result to track
is that you're meeting the expectations
of the client, right?
And the most important thing for them to be compliant on
is that they're meeting their
and your expectations going forward, right?
So you shouldn't evaluate how good of a coach you are
on the results your clients get per se, right?
You should evaluate how good of a coach you are
by how much the results you get
match the expectations that you and the clients set
for those results and the process
of what it was going to take to get those results.
Because, you know, anybody can train enough people
that some people will get fantastic results
and other people will have a terrible time.
And this is chance.
The beauty of us having physiology
that is adapted over thousands of years of evolution
and whatnot, we're extremely adaptable
means that we can do tons of shitty diets
and shitty training,
and a certain percentage of us
are going to manage to somehow still come out
with net progress in them, not everybody.
But whether or not that process came easy,
whether it was sustainable, whether it was enjoyable,
all of those things come down,
that's where the coaching really matters
because you should have people
that are losing a quarter of a pound a week
and people that are losing four pounds a week.
And the thing is, is that both of them should be happy,
both of them should be enjoying the process
because both of them should be having their expectations met
because you should be having these conversations with them
about managing expectations, about what they can expect,
about what they need to expect from themselves,
and what they are going to expect from you
because it's their satisfaction
with your coaching experience, right?
And you delivering results with them
and keeping them accountable.
All of that wrapped in together
that is going to make the journey sustainable,
whether their goal is to lose 10 pounds or 100 pounds,
or to put on 20 pounds of muscle or whatever it may be.
But if at any point there's a deviation
between what the expectations are
and what the results are or what the service is
or what the experience is,
that's where everything spirals out of control,
you'll compliance, you'll lose clients.
Managing expectations is huge.
So a big part of your interview assessment process
should be establishing expectations.
So if you can't have an expectation for a data point,
there's no point in measuring it sometimes.
So if you can't have an expectation
for what should change in terms of body weight,
or what should change in terms of sleep,
then all of a sudden you're putting a variable in there
where your client's going to set an expectation on that,
whether you give them one or not, right?
If you have them track something,
they are going to have an expectation for that.
So you have to set the expectation
for every data point there is, right?
And now it's perfectly okay,
if like, hey, we're going to track this
because our goal is that that thing isn't going to change.
And if it does change,
then that would give us some information, right?
So it doesn't have to be that there's an expectation
for a data point to change.
It just needs to be
that the expectation is it doesn't change, right?
So if somebody's weight should be going somewhere
or whatnot, like this is where,
like the N word style of coaching
where you're using a training stimulus.
It's so much more valuable
because you know when you do a stimulus
that there's going to be certain expectations
or certain things that you can expect.
You said this is going to happen, and it happened.
And also their confidence in you is like sky high.
But if you leave them with a bunch of stuff
that's like kind of ambiguous,
then you get those questions like, hey, this happened,
what does that mean?
And then you got on the cuff,
like, well, I don't know what that means.
But if you establish the expectation
of like, hey, we're expecting,
maybe you tell them like, hey,
we're expecting your weight actually to go up,
because with this program,
you're likely going to hold a little bit of water
at the beginning.
That's really good to have that expectation
so that when someone's like,
what's happening, like why is my weight going up?
Super, super important.
All right, I know I'm getting a little rant here.
I'm going to get off the soap box.
But if you guys take nothing away from this,
then it is that like expectations are super important,
managing those, like you will be a better coach
and have better results with your clients
and better experiences for them.
You will be busy as fuck
if you just manage expectations with people,
even if you can't get the absolute best results,
you'll be delivering the best experience, okay?
So there needs to be an if this, then that
for every variable that you choose,
because you should be able to have an expectation
of like, okay, if sleep gets worse, that means this.
If sleep gets better, that means that, right?
And there can be more than one option,
but there should be some expected actionable responses
to those variables.
And with your client, you should kind of have like,
okay, here's where we're going to go,
or, we're tracking these things
and you have those answers like ready to go, right?
So sometimes you set the expectation for the client,
but you should always be able to at least
be expecting to be able to answer that thing
in a certain way if it changes
from one direction or another, okay.
(subtle electronic music)