How Iron Asylum Gym Inspires Determination and Discipline in Every Member

Summary

The Determined Society Podcast Episode Summary

Title: How Iron Asylum Gym Inspires Determination and Discipline in Every Member
Host: Shawn French
Guests: Alvin Lavitan and Kyle Foro
Release Date: March 28, 2025
Location: Iron Asylum Gym, Norfolk, Virginia

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1. Introduction to Iron Asylum Gym

Shawn French kicks off the episode by introducing Iron Asylum Gym, a 25,000-square-foot facility in Norfolk, Virginia. Highlighting the vibrant atmosphere, Shawn compares the gym's Friday night energy to a social gathering at a bar, emphasizing its role as a community hub for fitness enthusiasts.

Notable Quote:
Shawn French [01:02]:
"This is a whole another meeting to Friday night at the bar, right?"

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2. Founders' Journey and Gym Expansion

Alvin Lavitan shares the genesis of Iron Asylum Gym, celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Initially starting as a 4,000-square-foot facility catering to hardcore gym rats without the typical amenities of large health clubs, the gym swiftly grew from one to four locations.

Kyle Foro recounts his military background and transition into entrepreneurship, highlighting how Shawn French played a pivotal role in his journey. Their partnership, built on mutual determination and financial commitment, has been instrumental in the gym's success.

Notable Quotes:
Alvin Lavitan [02:05]:
"We grew into a bigger facility about two years after that. Kyle wasn't in the picture yet."

Kyle Foro [37:00]:
"I came to him, I was like, hey, you're successful. What should I do?"

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3. Gym Culture and Community

The hosts discuss the unique culture of Iron Asylum Gym, noting its appeal to various fitness disciplines such as powerlifting, strongman, Olympic lifting, and bodybuilding. The gym prides itself on its inclusive environment where newcomers may initially feel intimidated but quickly realize the supportive nature of the community.

Notable Quotes:
Kyle Foro [08:21]:
"We tailor to all disciplines, whether you're functional fitness, powerlifting, strongman, Olympic lifting, bodybuilding."

Alvin Lavitan [07:38]:
"We have more than half the members on money... That's pretty badass."

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4. Overcoming Challenges in Expansion

Shawn French and the guests delve into the challenges faced during the gym's expansion, including selecting optimal locations based on population density and competition. Alvin emphasizes the importance of perseverance and strategic planning in scaling the business.

Notable Quote:
Alvin Lavitan [03:58]:
"You have to have confidence. We're confident we know who we cater to."

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5. Motivation vs. Discipline

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the difference between motivation and discipline. Kyle and Alvin advocate for the latter, arguing that while motivation is fleeting, discipline fosters consistent progress. Shawn shares his personal transformation journey, underscoring the critical role of self-discipline in achieving long-term goals.

Notable Quotes:
Shawn French [09:20]:
"Discipline and determination will bring you where you want to be."

Kyle Foro [11:25]:
"70% of New Year's resolutions fall off after the first month or two."

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6. The Importance of Nutrition

The conversation shifts to the pivotal role of nutrition in personal development. Both guests stress that nutrition is foundational, often outweighing exercise in its impact on physical transformation. They offer practical advice such as staying hydrated, reducing liquid calories, and eliminating alcohol to achieve significant health benefits.

Notable Quotes:
Shawn French [15:46]:
"For me, it's like 99.9. Nutrition is massive."

Alvin Lavitan [16:09]:
"Simple habits like drinking more water and eating better portions can lead to drastic changes."

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7. Building and Maintaining Habits

Shawn, Kyle, and Alvin discuss strategies for developing and maintaining healthy habits. They emphasize starting small, such as committing to early morning workouts or incremental dietary changes, to build a sustainable foundation for long-term success. Alvin shares his tip of setting up hydration routines and engaging in minimal exercises when lacking motivation to prevent complete derailment.

Notable Quotes:
Alvin Lavitan [24:17]:
"Before you go to bed, put a bottle of water... When you wake up, chug that to accomplish one goal."

Kyle Foro [22:07]:
"Do I want to feel this way today or feel this way today? Most times, I roll out of bed."

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8. Personal Stories and Overcoming Self-Doubt

Kyle Foro opens up about his struggles with imposter syndrome and the fear of not having a "worthy" story to share. Alvin encourages him by highlighting his achievements and the impact his story can have on others facing similar challenges. Shawn reinforces the importance of sharing one's journey to inspire and support others.

Notable Quotes:
Alvin Lavitan [27:26]:
"Your story is not selfish. Someone needs to hear it."

Kyle Foro [28:34]:
"I have a daughter. I can't tell her to chase something when I'm scared to speak on a podcast."

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9. Determination Defined by the Guests

In the concluding segment, both Alvin and Kyle define what determination means to them. Alvin emphasizes being a role model for his family, showcasing hard work and dedication both physically and professionally. Kyle focuses on taking risks, persevering through obstacles, and maintaining unwavering focus to achieve his goals.

Notable Quotes:
Alvin Lavitan [34:48]:
"I'm determined to show my kids and my wife that hard work is non-negotiable."

Kyle Foro [36:13]:
"Without risks in life, you can't ever get ahead. You got to persevere and be focused."

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10. Closing Thoughts and Encouragement

Shawn French wraps up the episode by thanking Alvin and Kyle for sharing their insights and experiences. He encourages listeners to embrace determination and discipline in their personal and professional lives, highlighting the transformative power of consistent effort and resilience.

Final Quote:
Shawn French [41:40]:
"For someone that is shooting for something that they have to work really, really hard for and delay that gratification, have them listen to their story and stay determined."

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Key Takeaways

• Determination Over Motivation: Discipline and consistent effort are crucial for sustained success, more so than fleeting motivation.

• Importance of Nutrition: Proper dietary habits significantly impact physical and mental well-being, often more than exercise alone.

• Community and Support: A supportive gym environment fosters accountability and motivation, helping individuals overcome self-doubt and achieve their goals.

• Building Sustainable Habits: Starting small and gradually building habits leads to long-term success without burnout.

• Sharing Personal Stories: Opening up about personal struggles and achievements can inspire and aid others facing similar challenges.

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This episode of The Determined Society offers a deep dive into the ethos of Iron Asylum Gym, highlighting the founders' relentless pursuit of excellence and their unwavering commitment to their community. Through candid conversations and personal anecdotes, listeners gain valuable insights into cultivating determination and discipline in their own lives.

Transcript

[Kyle]

Take risks. Without risks in life, you can't ever get ahead. You got to be a horse with blinders on, man.

[Alvin Lavitan]

One of the greatest examples of determination again. Gets out of the military, no job, broke, unsure what you're going to do.

[Kyle]

So then I come to him and I was like, hey, you're successful. What should I do? Simply put, I'm the guy. You've never been a Home Depot before and every aisle is a year of your life and you're looking for a shovel. I'm not just going to walk up and down every aisle. I'm going to ask, hey, where's the shovel?

[Shawn French]

Exactly.

[Kyle]

So I asked him, hey man, what are you doing?

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I was like, good God, this guy is clearly determined, focused. What he saved up over the last five years, willing to invest this into a business and vision and into something that he wants to do. He's gonna be the right partner for me.

[Luck]

This one luck. I let the pain inspire me. I put my all in. Everything I'm doing up until it's done, I'm me for the entirety. I put it in overtime. I be working Just know I'm a go for mine.

[Kyle]

Cause I earned it.

[Luck]

They watch and I know it's time I confirmed it. A whole society determined determine.

[Shawn French]

What's up everybody? We're back with another episode of the Determined Society. I'm your host, Shawn French. We are live at Iron Asylum Gym in Norfolk, Virginia. Today I have two special guests with me. But before I introduce the guests, if this is the first time watching, I want you to go subscribe on YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts and share this episode with someone that you know love and trust that needs to hear this. So today I have with me the owners of of this beautiful gym that is 25,000 square foot lifters gym. This is a beautiful place, man. People down here right now at 9pm on a Friday night getting their lift in. So this is a whole another meeting to Friday night at the bar, right?

[Alvin Lavitan]

That's right.

[Shawn French]

So I have with me my man Alvin Lavitan and Cal Foro. Welcome to the show, boys.

[Kyle]

Thanks buddy. I appreciate it, man.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Appreciate you having us. It's always great.

[Shawn French]

It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. You guys got quite the quite the gig here, man. You got four locations, right? Veteran owned, Correct. Just a beautiful. So like what was the vision, man?

[Kyle]

That's you, man.

[Alvin Lavitan]

We actually just celebrated our 10 year anniversary. January 2nd. Right.

[Shawn French]

Wow.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Started with one location, Little Swamp Box, 4,000 square feet. And I've been in real estate for about 20 years. So at that point it was about 10 years in. I, like so many other people, Kyle included with gym rats, just absolutely love throwing the weight around, you know, training, having some fun. And the vision really was, it was I was a gym rat. Going to your traditional health clubs, fitness centers, and everything like that. And I always felt that there was like a niche crowd of people that didn't need all the fluff of 50 classes, pools, yoga, and nothing against them. Sure, there's a place to play.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

A cinema room.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You know, and then I said it'd be kind of cool to have our own little playground. About a 4,000 square foot building, literally across the neighborhood. So it's very convenient. And decided to pull the trigger. Kind of did it. I figured if I could find 100 like minded people, pay 39 bucks a month, it was going to cover the overhead.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

And it was kind of amazing because within the first month I think we had 100 people. And we've got something going on here.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

So that's kind of what happened. And then it just kept exploding. Exploding. We grew into a bigger facility about two years after that. Kyle wasn't in the picture yet.

[Kyle]

He was in the picture yet.

[Alvin Lavitan]

And then two years after that, I opened up a second location and I was kind of done right. I work in real estate full time, working the gym full time. And then Kyle kind of came along and was like, dude, we got to open up a third one. I was like, I really don't want to. He was like, no, we need to.

[Shawn French]

I'm glad.

[Alvin Lavitan]

He kind of gave me the kick in the ass to do so. And we did it. And that's where we are now. And this one's actually turned out to be the most profitable, the biggest one.

[Shawn French]

So this was the third location. Third location, wow.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Then I opened up our fourth one in Newport News, which is about 45 minutes away from here.

[Shawn French]

Holy shit.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Just last year.

[Shawn French]

Okay, so when did this one open?

[Kyle]

This one opened. Was that May of 2022.

[Shawn French]

Wow. So not that long ago.

[Kyle]

And Newport News was April of 2023.

[Shawn French]

So what's on the plans, man? You guys opening more? What you doing?

[Alvin Lavitan]

So we literally get that question to go probably five times a week. It's a goal. But, you know, you're a business guy. The biggest thing is finding a location that's worthwhile. Population density, our footprint, make sure it's far enough from the others, competition and all that.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You guys hear that background noise? That's a bunch of people. And that's always how it is in here.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, dude, that's. That's the Bobby Henlein foundation charity workout, man. They're out there getting it, you know.

[Kyle]

For sure.

[Shawn French]

They're getting it for sure. It's been crazy. The. The assault bike.

[Kyle]

Terrible. Brutal.

[Shawn French]

Oh, you guys kept.

[Alvin Lavitan]

He's a sleeper. Yeah. This guy's a monster. He's a stud. I mean, the dude's strong, he's fit.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. He goes, I don't do cardio. And he does. What was your time?

[Kyle]

I think it was 1. 113.

[Shawn French]

11350 calories in a minute. 13 seconds?

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

You're about a minute 30, right?

[Alvin Lavitan]

No, I did a 216.

[Shawn French]

216 master.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Can't generate the forces, but the record.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

What was the record? I don't know. So, you know, it's more over, like, a CrossFit workout and stuff like that. A lot of people are familiar with it. I don't know.

[Kyle]

It's 20 something, 24 seconds, I think, which is amazing. It's like the world record. Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

And these guys just generate so much force, and you're just.

[Shawn French]

That is just wild, man. That's wild. You had an interesting, you know, analogy. Before you kick the workout off, you want to share with the audience.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Oh, no, we talk about it. You know, it's a 50 calorie challenge, and everybody's like, oh, you know, whether you think that's a lot or a little, you know, Snickers bar has got about 250 calories. That's it. You know, you're only burning off one bite of a snicker, so.

[Shawn French]

Dude, that's wild.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Sound easy, but then it's in perception.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. What's even crazier, that one bite of a Snickers is 50 calories.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Kyle]

Makes sense.

[Shawn French]

That's crazy, right? It's insane. So, so you guys got the four gyms here. What have you guys learned most about your journey? And I guess pushing through the fear of opening that because there's, you know, when you expand, right, and you add more. More gyms, there's always a level of like, oh, shoot, what are we doing, man? You know, like.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Absolutely.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. So how do you guys work through that together?

[Alvin Lavitan]

I mean, you got to have a little confidence.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Alvin Lavitan]

After we did the first tour, the first two were established, we kind of had a good, good following here locally, and we were kind of in the area here in Norfolk. We knew it was a little more central.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Alvin Lavitan]

On a major highway here or roadway. We're just confident man. We've got the mentality now. We know who we cater to, we.

[Kyle]

Know who we are.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

We know what price range we need to be in.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

What membership price point we have to be in Florida square footage. I tell everyone. I don't. We don't do much research on locality. Cuz if there's a Chick Fil, a, a Walmart, a Home Depot or Lowe's close by, we're in a good spot. PD is huge vehicles per day. So you want to stay around like 40 to 60,000 vehicles per day.

[Shawn French]

Oh wow.

[Kyle]

Signage on the major highways. Huge too. This one was. I'm spoiled with this one. Alvin's been through kind of the ringer of building from nothing to something for this one. For me we kind of. We did it together and then overnight it just blew up.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Wow.

[Kyle]

So I still consider myself a little spoiled.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

So I always have to rely on him. Even with the new 40s one because it's, it's going a little bit. It's still doing great. It's just a little bit slower. So I'm always like the album like hey man, how we. How we doing? Because he can compare it with Kempstool and Castleton because he's seen those. That Pace compared to the Norfolk Pace which. The Norfolk Pace was just exploding.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. So there's a crate. You. I think we were talking earlier. I think it was you, Alvin. You're talking about how many check ins a day you guys have here.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah. So this location, you know we're open 24 hours.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Alvin Lavitan]

But obviously our slow times are going to be from like 11 to 4am Yeah. 11pm for overnight. But we still get. There's never an hour where nobody's in here. That's a crazy thing. So at this location alone I think we're getting about 14.

[Kyle]

No. So Mondays and Tuesdays are busiest days. It's like 1700-1900 a day here.

[Shawn French]

That's wild.

[Alvin Lavitan]

And then of course it tapers. It tapers down somewhere around 14, 1500.

[Shawn French]

You guys have 3000 members here.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Right.

[Shawn French]

So like you're, you're talking more than half the members on money. I mean they're, they're running through here. Right? That's. That's pretty badass.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

You know, I mean, I mean we've.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Got the mentality like not to knock any other chains or gyms. Right. Some of theirs is strictly business. They. They would much rather you pay and never show up.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Use a piece of toilet paper or take a sip of their water. Yeah, we've got the mentality of, no, we gotta. Very fair price point. We want our people coming in here training. We like to know them. We want to see everybody kind of improving and actually utilizing the facility.

[Kyle]

We do our best to tailor to all disciplines, whether you're functional fitness, powerlifting, strongman, Olympic lifting, bodybuilding. So it's, it's a unique space in that regard. There's not a lot of places in this area that tails to all the disciplines.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

So no matter what you're trying to do, you can do it here, do it here.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah, we do get that.

[Kyle]

We do get it sometimes that we're intimidating, but I mean, everyone's the nicest. Everyone here is super nice.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

As long as you just get over that fear factor that, that just that initial shock. I mean, you can ask the biggest guy in here and he's, he's, he's a little petty bear. You hear the metal plates banging and clanging. You got the guys with their shirts off.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

It's a, it's an intimidating atmosphere.

[Shawn French]

Sure.

[Kyle]

But it's, it's, it's not intimidating once you spend a day here.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, I mean, I do like a walk in here. You know, we're outsiders. We're, you know, we're from Florida. We come in here. Well, and everybody's been super kind, man. Anything like this in Florida? Huh?

[Kyle]

Anything like this in Florida?

[Shawn French]

Not in our area, no. No, nothing like this, man. This is different. This is just a hardcore trainer's gym.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

You want to come here? You know, if you want to get in shape and you want, you want people around you that are doing it, that can help you, this is the place to be, man.

[Kyle]

Yeah. I always say motivation phase, you're maybe motivated three, four times a week, but it's the consistency. But you come in here and see other guys getting after.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

It motivates you even when you're not motivated.

[Shawn French]

You know, it's so funny because like I always say about motivation, like, I'm motivated like three or four times a month.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Because really, I truly feel like discipline and determination will bring you where you want to be. Right. Motivation is going to give you that kick in the ass that you need. I agree, but it goes away. It's fleeting. It's like tomorrow, right when we get up here and we light up the stage down there. Be so many people that are going to walk out here motivated as I'm gonna go chase my dreams, I'm gonna go do this. And they get home and their kid shits themselves, they got the flu and now they're cooked. They're done.

[Alvin Lavitan]

It's gotta go on.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, it's done. But. Right, but when we set our systems up, like, you guys have to build these gyms out. You got the template now. You know what works, right? So when you do that and you execute things daily, Right. Like for me filming the show, we have a cadence, right? We all have our certain jobs in here. My job is to show up and do this, right. I stay in my freaking lane.

[Kyle]

Yeah, for sure.

[Shawn French]

Right? And then at that point, I'm not. I'm not always. I'm excited to film because this is what I love to do. But there's certain things within the business I don't like to do, I'm not motivated to do. But the discipline says, yeah, hey, I have. I get to do this. This is what's going to build my business. Right? So how have you guys worked through that? Because the audience that's listening and watching this right now, someone is struggling with the discipline or just saying, like, hey, I'm not motivated to do this. So I'm gonna. You know what? I'm a chill today.

[Kyle]

I think you want to go first.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I was gonna say, I mean, it's simple. I mean, I'm not the first to say it, but I mean, it's, you know, it's that mindset shift, right. It's not like, for the gym. It's not, oh, shit, I gotta. I gotta go work out. It's, oh, shit, I get to go work out. Right?

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You actually have the ability and chance to go and improve yourself like hell, wouldn't you?

[Shawn French]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You can be normal. You can sit on the couch. You cannot do anything.

[Kyle]

I agree.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Or you go do something that helps you physically and really mentally.

[Shawn French]

Right. I mean, well, big time mentally.

[Kyle]

There's a weird stat. I can't remember the exact percentage, so I might be butchering this, but I think there's something like 70 of New Year's resolutions of, like, going back to the new end to finish. 70 of that falls off after like, the first month or two.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. So yesterday was quit day.

[Kyle]

Yesterday was quit day. Is that like literally a day?

[Shawn French]

Literally a day? Is it like, I think 15 days or some like that? So might have been not yesterday.

[Kyle]

I think the issue is, is people, they. They go in too hard. I think the gym's a great accelerator habit.

[Shawn French]

Like, if you just.

[Kyle]

If you just plant the seed of waking up in the morning early and going in and taking like a step at a time. I think eventually it can formulate and kind of grow into other things. But you have to build a foundation first. You can't just wake up and say, I'm going to do everything.

[Shawn French]

No, Right.

[Kyle]

Especially in business, you gotta start small and grow upon it. Didn't Will Smith have like a. Some type of thing about laying, like, one brick at a time? Yep, one brick. It's the same thing in the gym. I think in any business. It's. You build the habits, you build the foundations, but you can't. You can't go so hard so fast. Like Joe Rogan or someone said, if it take. If you. If it took you six months to get out of shape, it's going to take you six months to get back in shape. You got to treat it as such or you just get discouraged. You wake up. The next thing, you can't mood like, I don't want it.

[Shawn French]

Who's going to go back and do that? Right.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

All about, like you're saying, habit stacking. Here's. Here's something crazy. It's something that I've been going through. So on December 20th. Sorry, December 3rd, I was £225.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Do what?

[Shawn French]

£225 on December 3rd.

[Kyle]

Okay.

[Shawn French]

And I said to myself, like, man, you're fat. Like you. I didn't like myself on camera. I hated it. I hated everything that came out because I was just so puffy. And I'm like, this is not. There's no longevity in this. Right. I'm unhealthy. So I went to a good friend of mine, I said, hey, man, fix me. And we went through all my nutrition, you know, put me on a great protocol. I'm down to 200, man, and I'm thriving. I feel amazing.

[Kyle]

A lot of people just need that, too. It's that accountability. They just need someone.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, it's in person, too.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah. It's like working out. It's kind of like the nutritional aspect. You got to find something that's sustainable.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

What you were saying earlier, it's. Too many people try to do too many things so hard, and that's where you crash or get burned out.

[Kyle]

Yeah. Start off just trying to drink a gallon of water a day.

[Shawn French]

Just try that. I mean, I love water. I do that when I'm fat, too. I love the taste.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Best thing.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, it's the best. But my point is, is, like, I had to have it stacked. Right. And I went to somebody like my friend Jeff Delaney, that. That went through my Whole nutrition. He has. He does have a weight loss clinic in Naples called Nuviva. And we went through everything, man, console DEXA scan, everything. I've done two dexas already in four weeks, lost 30, 13.77 pounds of fat in four weeks.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Wow.

[Shawn French]

Just by training hard, right? Six days a week. And, you know, three days are weight training, three days are hit training, and I'm dialed in on my nutrition, and I'm getting the results. But, like, I'm not sitting there thinking, like, I have to go so hard in the gym. I'm like, man, I'm gonna. I'm gonna start slow. I'm gonna. I'm gonna go to all these workouts because I committed to it. I reached out for support. But the main thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna listen to my body correct. And it's so funny because now the aches and pains that I had. I was talking to my buddy Mike before we shot the show here. Like, my spine is more mobile now. It doesn't hurt. My hip flexors don't burn anymore.

[Kyle]

There you go.

[Shawn French]

Right? My knees don't hurt anymore, man. 25 pounds. It's a lot of difference. Yeah.

[Kyle]

You chance.

[Shawn French]

It's a big time, big person. I feel like I look carrying around.

[Alvin Lavitan]

A couple of bricks all day long.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, I. I look like a different person.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Like, I saw pictures from the event earlier today, the sales. Sales training. I'm like, holy. I like me now.

[Alvin Lavitan]

There you go.

[Shawn French]

I'm like, yeah, I'll add that to my story.

[Kyle]

I think that's the greatest thing about fitness, too, about being like in this field, is if you're consistent and you're doing your daily habit, the results actually come quickly.

[Shawn French]

Very.

[Kyle]

And actually. And when you start seeing results, then it becomes addicting.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Like, I remember in, like, my real estate business, I was supposed to do, like, calls, notes and popeyes, but when as a new agent, it's really hard to track that you could do that for a year. And it's like, well, I don't know if I'm getting any business out of it. So you get discouraged quick. But this just like, man, you've just commit a couple months. Just really stick with it. You start getting stronger, you start looking different in the mirror, and then you become addicted to, like, the process.

[Shawn French]

What I found really interesting, and you guys will be able to speak on this, and I want the audience to really hear what you have to say because, you know, they talk about, you know, it's going to take months to see the physical change. I don't believe, I don't believe that. Right. Because I, I saw it in a week. I lost £10 in one week just by eating the right foods and exercising. Right. And then by week two, I was down 15, you know, and then just by then it's just like incrementally gotten better. But the crazy thing is, is like people say it's 80% nutrition.

[Alvin Lavitan]

No, son, it depends. I'd say.

[Shawn French]

I don't. For me it's like, for me it's like 99.9. Right. It's like, dude.

[Kyle]

Yes, I agree.

[Alvin Lavitan]

No, it's.

[Kyle]

Nutrition's huge.

[Shawn French]

It's massive.

[Kyle]

It's huge. Yeah.

[Shawn French]

So we say case by case. Right. So I mean obviously some one person could eat more of one thing than another person can, but.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Correct.

[Shawn French]

But what are your thoughts on nutrition, how important it is?

[Alvin Lavitan]

I mean that's the thing I need to dial in. I mean, but I'm not an age, I'm like 45. I still like throw weight five times a week and that kind of stuff. But yeah, I mean it's just a simple habits like we were talking about drink more water, eat, you know, better portions and you know, that'll just already in itself stop trying to drink so many liquid calories. I tell people that all the time. Yeah, yeah, you do those three small changes and from 90 of the population you're gonna see drastic changes.

[Shawn French]

Dude. On that protein.

[Kyle]

I don't even know if you like you drink. But just, even just cutting off, cutting out alcohol.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Will literally change your body's composition.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. And there's a lot of sugar in that.

[Kyle]

Yeah. Well, you could speak more on me. I'm not a nutrition or something like that. But when you drink alcohol, I think I'm pretty sure your body shuts down all. It's like fat burning cells. Because now it's working on omitting the, the alcohol and you're just working. It's just, it's just all it's doing and I think it's like a two to three day process that it takes just to get the alcohol. So you're not burning fat, you're not getting muscle, you're just kind of sitting dormant for three days because your body's working to push out all the, the toxins.

[Shawn French]

It's crazy. I, I stopped liking the drink a while ago, so. Like it anymore.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You know, one of the things I really actually and I drink. I mean we were in my office yesterday.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

For a beer. Having a beer. It's not like we drink a lot.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Alvin Lavitan]

But I do appreciate, like, on my feeds and stuff. I don't know if you guys have noticed a lot of, like, sobriety.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Celebrations and kicks and this and that. I'm like, it's actually motivating, you know, dry January that's going on right now with a lot of people. That's some good stuff.

[Shawn French]

That's really cool, man. It's really cool. I mean, hey, it's a healthy habit, right? They're gonna feel better. They wake up in the morning, they're probably doing better at work. And you know, what if they're. If they're married with kids, they're probably having better interactions with the wife, and they get a little more patient with the kids. Right. Hands out, you know? Absolutely. So I agree. So, I mean, I just think that, you know, when we. When you look at it, everybody wants to, you know, they have the idea of wanting to get in better shape, wanting to do something. That's what the show's about. It's about determination and discipline. Right. But. But there's a disconnect with people, man. What do you think? Where do you think it lies, you know, with the disconnect to continue on the path? Let's say you have someone come in, you know, starting the gym. You can just see them quit on themselves after about a month. What do you think that's going on in their mind?

[Alvin Lavitan]

I mean, it's a good factor. Things. One, you got to find the right atmosphere, right? So whether that's going to be in here or a Pilates studio or a CrossFit gym or the YMCA or something like that. Atmosphere, I think, well, is a big thing, right? You got to find your crowd. And again, that might be. You want to go do a tough mud or you want to do a power living competition or bodybuilding or whatever it is, you know, run your first half marathon, I think that's one big thing.

[Kyle]

Goals or lack of it. I mean, I try and I try and I try and almost. I don't know if it's like, the wrong analogy, but, I mean, I have a couple family members that were alcoholics. Right. And it's hard to get someone that's drinking alcohol or an alcoholic to stop. Like, they're gonna stop when they want to stop.

[Shawn French]

Sure.

[Kyle]

And I think it's the same almost in anything. Like, if somebody actually wants to get serious about their health, they're gonna get serious about their health. Other than that, it's the same thing. Like, today was quit day, right?

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Most people, they, they go through the phase and then they just resort back to their normal, their normal habits because they don't have the goals, they don't have the driver. They just don't really actually want it. But it's, it's tough. I totally agree with Alvin. Atmosphere is huge.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Because like what you said, you're motivated. Three or four times a month coming into a place like this, it helps to see other people getting after. It's, it's inspiring. You get motivated.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Even if you're not motivated. Yeah. But, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's tough. I don't, I've always been in gym. I, my, my brother's a big guy. He got me into working out. My. I used to wake up in middle school from my mom working out at like 4:00 in the morning basement to Jock Jams Volume One. It's like, oh, I do.

[Shawn French]

I remember. That's like good stuff.

[Kyle]

So that's used to wake me up.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

So like I've always been around it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

For me, it wasn't, it wasn't hard. Like, I don't. It's even like the same concept of spenders versus savers. Like people that have issues just saving money, they don't. There's a disconnect. There's the money there. I'm going to spend it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Whereas me, if the money's there, it's like, oh, it's not my money. I'm not going to spend it. I need to use it to invest in X business or whatever the case. I don't have that money. For me, it's just so one to one. But there is a disconnect and it's hard to. I don't. Maybe just because I'm not in it. I just don't understand. But what do you think?

[Alvin Lavitan]

One of the other things and this could relate to everybody is life happens, right? Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, you get derailed because something happened at work. Like you said, your kids get sick.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Whatever it is, you got into a argument with significant other. It could just be so many things and then it kind of throws you off. You get into the slump for a couple of days, you miss the gym three, four days. Like my rule is don't miss the gym more than two days in a row.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Right. And that's not overworking yourself. But you do that, then you start creating that habit of next day, next day, next Monday, next week, I'll get back.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. And then it's like a two months. Right. You know, it's crazy. So this, this is one of the things that used to be with me. Like I would, I would play with it a little bit, right? Yeah. Like I'm committed and I'd bring my clothes when I'd go on a road trip to the gym because you know, all hotels have gyms.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

And I would never go. And it's so funny, last night was the first night I stayed here and I was, my ass was up at 4:00am and I was in the hotel gym by 4:30.

[Alvin Lavitan]

There you go.

[Shawn French]

And dude, I was so proud of myself.

[Alvin Lavitan]

As you should be.

[Shawn French]

Because I've never done it.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

You know, like, yeah, I'm locked in. But am I really locked in? Can I do it here? And so it was a non negotiable for me to get in the gym. It just felt, it felt amazing.

[Kyle]

I always challenge myself with like the thought process like when I'm laying them in bed because I've been going probably around 5:00 in the morning pretty consistently now and there's some days where I just don't want to move. Yeah. But then, but then I think it's like, well, I know if I wake up and I go to the gym, I'm going to feel amazing afterwards. It catapults the day. You have energy. But I also know the feeling if I don't wake up and go and then I'm miserable and I have this burden on my shoulders. Oh, I still got to go to the gym and I haven't released that energy yet. So then ask him. I get kind of crazy.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Yes. No, so do I.

[Kyle]

So like yeah, I think, I think of like, oh, do I want to feel this day, this way today or do I want to feel this way today? And most of the times I roll out of the bed.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Like mental aspect that we were talking about. I mean choose your right. We're both. Well it used to be a 5am or my kind of switch off really depends on like my calendar in that day. But he's a 5Amer and I'm an advocate for it. I'm like guys, like you just said there's no greater feeling than getting up, driving when there's no traffic, sun hasn't even come up. And you get in here and you're like, yeah, I'm working when everybody else is kind of sleeping. Right. You could have that mentality but it sets you off. You get the bed usually earlier because you're tired. At, you know, 8 or 9pm Most of the time.

[Shawn French]

I've been passing out hard, man. Yeah, been passing out really hard. Like around nine, my wife's like, are you gonna fall asleep? Really? Again? I go, dude, my body's just. I'm going to bed tired.

[Kyle]

And then like even like, not to boost our insomn, but a space like this, our, our busiest times, obviously when the military gets out between like 5 and 8 or something like that. And then the morning crew. But the morning crew is a serious crew. Like, it's a good group.

[Shawn French]

Oh, it's a serious group. Hell yeah.

[Kyle]

There's no nonsense.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Anybody that's getting up four or five. But it's, I mean, so that's, it's back.

[Kyle]

It's probably like, it might even be busier than this in the mornings at 4.

[Shawn French]

At 4am that's great.

[Alvin Lavitan]

And this is what we love to see. Obviously we've got the event, but there's.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, you know, there's way more people here.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah, there's still, you know, 80, 90 people here Friday night at.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

9:30.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Come on.

[Shawn French]

That, that's insane. The thing, the thing, dude, that, that I found is, you know, you can, you can shift, right? You can go, okay, I can either be happy and, and go do what I need to do, or I could be miserable the rest of the day and have this burden on my shoulder.

[Kyle]

Correct.

[Shawn French]

The one thing I found, but I think it's so dangerous. I want the audience to really think about this is the moment you tell yourself the night before, I'm going to get up at 6, 7. I don't care what time it is to go do a certain activity y and you don't go do it. You are setting your day up for failure.

[Kyle]

Correct.

[Shawn French]

Because now you've already taken the easy road. And the moment you take the easy road and choose easy over to the hard, like your discipline goes out the window. Now the next time you have to make a decision through that day about am I going to do the right thing or am I going to do what's easy? Guess what? You choose.

[Kyle]

It's easier for you to choose the easy.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. It's easier for you to choose easy.

[Kyle]

You lose that self confidence and self respect. Slowly.

[Shawn French]

It happens. I've been through it. Or, yeah, hey, I've been there. Right? That's what got me in trouble. Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

And one of the tips that I tell everybody, like gym guys again, back on the water kick. I tell everybody, before you go to bed, put a bottle of water or Your Stanley cup of water. Sixteen ounces, right? When you wake up and set that alarm, chug that thing down. You've already accomplished one goal. Hey, I'm hydrated. I'm ready to go.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

If you don't feel like going to the gym, which sometimes happen, set yourself up, do five sets of sit ups, push ups, air squats. Just get some movement going. Stretch, whatever you want to do. At least you've accomplished something today.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Because the rest of the day might go to.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, there's so much too.

[Kyle]

Put your alarm clock in your phone on the other side of the room so you actually have to get up.

[Shawn French]

And my wife would destroy me.

[Kyle]

But once your feet hit the ground and you walk five. Like I'm actually.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, you know. You know what's crazy? Like a lot of times too, with, with what I'm doing, like, I'm trying to show people, you know, hey, you can make these changes. Like, if I can do it, you can do it. And really looking to inspire. So every morning I've been doing these, these things on my story, like, like around 4:30 or you know, like right before I go into the gym, I'll write this message on whatever download comes to my mind, you know, about comparison or, you know, just whatever it is. Discipline, it doesn't matter. Right. I'm giving value first thing in the morning. And then I'll put a timestamp on it and then I'll put blood type determined every day. People like, I love these. These are freaking incredible. Like, thank you for these. Like, oh my God, I was just dealing with this last week and da da, da, da da. Thank you for putting this. I know I'm not alone. So you know what? I have to wake up and go.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah, big bad eyes watching you.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. Because if I don't. All right, he stopped.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

But you know, and hey, and the bottom line is there might be something on the calendar like you said, like, you know, maybe I'm traveling, but like, if I'm traveling, I'm still doing the story.

[Kyle]

The motivator also needs motivation.

[Shawn French]

What's that?

[Kyle]

I said motivation. There's a quote like the motivator also.

[Shawn French]

You know, I need that accountability. Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

100.

[Shawn French]

And then like, hey, keep doing these, keep doing these. So that's, that's me every single day. That's my self accountability. But I'm also doing it to help people because I know everybody else is thinking the same thing.

[Kyle]

It's true. You made a good point about being alone because a lot of people, a Lot of people feel like they are alone, but when they see other people struggling through it, like, oh, me feeling this way is normal. Yeah, that's almost. It's almost reassuring.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. A lot of times people tell me like, oh, my God, I needed to hear that. I'm like, I needed to write it because I needed it.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah, absolutely right.

[Shawn French]

That's like the best type of coaching when. When you're like, just sharing your journey with the public and your friends. It helps you heal, but at the same time it gives value to them and then it sets off a whole, you know, chain reaction of them going out and taking action.

[Kyle]

100%. Yep. I agree.

[Alvin Lavitan]

It's kind of what I said about Kyle. Kyle's not the biggest fan of like, speaking and podcast.

[Kyle]

Oh, I was going to do this.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I tell him, huh.

[Kyle]

Only reason why I'm here now, cuz of ver my daughter. I was like, I can't. I told you this there.

[Shawn French]

I.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Well, the thing is, you're doing great, though. He hate talking. I don't like videos.

[Kyle]

I just feel like I'm like, I haven't really accomplished anything yet. What am I going to say is 35.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I'm going to put his business. Like he told me.

[Kyle]

You said, I'm 35.

[Shawn French]

You're 35.

[Kyle]

34.

[Shawn French]

You're 34.

[Kyle]

And you're.

[Shawn French]

I'm 45, so I'm 46. Yeah. On your age. Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

But Kyle, Kyle's got chips on his shoulder. He feels like he's always got to do more, do better, which is absolutely nothing wrong with that. He also feels like he doesn't have a story worth sharing quite yet because he feels like he wants to accomplish so much. And I'm like, Kyle, dude, you're 34.

[Kyle]

35. Keep on.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You know, your father, you're married, you're successful, he leads a real estate team. You've been in the military, you've gone through that.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah. You've been dead broke.

[Kyle]

Been dead broke.

[Alvin Lavitan]

27, multi millionaire.

[Shawn French]

So what?

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah, so that's what I said. I'm like, dude, your story is not.

[Kyle]

It's probably come back to what you said before. Like, comparison, Right? I just feel like I'm. I don't know. Comparison.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Which is the thief of. What's the quote?

[Shawn French]

Comparisons of. Thief of joy.

[Kyle]

Yeah. I mean, I'm happy. I'm. But I just feel like I still.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You're still hungry?

[Kyle]

I'm still.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I'm happy.

[Kyle]

I'm hungry.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. No, but you can still be hungry, right?

[Kyle]

I Agree. I got to get better. And like, the point was like, I have a. I have a 13.13month old little girl, Vera. I'm like, I can't tell her, like, hey, go do something or go chase something when I'm too scared to speak on a podcast.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Like, it was literally what I said.

[Shawn French]

That's amazing.

[Kyle]

You know, so.

[Shawn French]

But you know what you could also think of too?

[Kyle]

Huh?

[Shawn French]

You don't speak up.

[Kyle]

What was that?

[Shawn French]

If you don't speak up, finally speak up and tell your story.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

You're selfish. You know why? Because someone needs to hear that. That's because you can say the point.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I was saying after you had shared yours and you know how you're the motivator.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Like, how many other guys are in the military? They feel kind of lost, want to get out, maybe stay in. They're afraid of what's going to happen. How many other guys were dead broke?

[Kyle]

Yeah, yeah, there's a. Plenty. I mean, I'm very good one on one, but for some reason, like once you got these like bigger lights on me and like one.

[Shawn French]

What are you talking about? You're killing it, dude.

[Kyle]

I don't know.

[Shawn French]

I mean, this is.

[Kyle]

This mic.

[Shawn French]

This is what we do. Yeah. This is easy.

[Kyle]

This is my first one, I think. I think I did one with you at your kitchen table once. Remember that? Maybe. Yeah, we were just winging it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, but see the point. Yeah, but see the point is though, right? It's like your story, and I know this is extreme, but your story could save someone's life.

[Kyle]

Possibly.

[Shawn French]

It's worth it.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You're right. They might be in that same status and going down, man. What am I going to do? Where am I going? I'm broke.

[Shawn French]

What's the point?

[Alvin Lavitan]

We love to share that stuff.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

My background's a little different.

[Shawn French]

See? See? But no, I think. But I think, you know, at the beginning of everything, as me and Kyle were talking about it, you know, he asked me if I, you know, this whole imposter syndrome thing.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

That's just until you get proficient at something. Right. That's normal. Right. But it's also when you compare yourself to other people thinking, like, what have I actually done? Right. But then you're. You're looking at a snapshot of someone's life. You have to go off your experience.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Right. Everything that you've accomplished. Right. Dead broke at 27, successful real estate team that you lead. You're married, you have a daughter, you know, you own two gems, you know, or you might Be partnering the other two. I don't know. But, like. But, dude, like, you've done some stuff, you know, and people need that light. People need to see that. And so this is like a therapy session on calendar.

[Kyle]

No, I like it.

[Shawn French]

Sorry, guys. You know. You know, say, hey, come on. But, like, that's gonna be my challenge to you after here, man. It's like, dude, just find your voice and do it little by little, right? Start with maybe typing something on your stories, maybe then do a video. But just understand that you got to be willing to really suck at it. I agree with that, you know, because I was terrible. Yeah. You know, terrible reps. You get your.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Reps in, you get better, you get stronger, you get faster, whatever it is. Right?

[Shawn French]

Just like, squats, right? You're not. You don't have the greatest technique when you squat at first, but you learn.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You know, when I'm Asian. I had the Asian squat when I was.

[Shawn French]

You had the Asian squad? What's the Asian squat?

[Alvin Lavitan]

No, no, the Asian squad is demonstrated. No, all Asians can literally just like, sit in the squat. It's like the thing. If you ever.

[Shawn French]

Can you get back up, too?

[Alvin Lavitan]

Oh, yeah.

[Shawn French]

That's amazing.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Ask the grass. That's easy.

[Shawn French]

Ask the grass is an Asian thing, huh? Unbelievable.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Y'all never seen that?

[Shawn French]

No. I mean, no, I. It's okay.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You know, they're always okay.

[Kyle]

Oh, like a suit. Yeah, yeah.

[Shawn French]

No, they're literally.

[Alvin Lavitan]

You know, they do so many things just sitting here like this, and, you know, for most people, they're like, the hell.

[Shawn French]

So what do you do down there? You just hang out?

[Alvin Lavitan]

That's what I'm saying. I love it, dude.

[Shawn French]

I love it. That's fair. Fantastic. No, but, you know, what's next for you guys, man?

[Alvin Lavitan]

I don't know, man. Just like, I think so many other guys that have the entrepreneurial spirit and just go getters and some dogs. We've got a hundred ideas.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Like, I just want to open up more gyms.

[Shawn French]

More gyms?

[Alvin Lavitan]

Gyms, Obviously, these. They do very well, fortunately, so thanks to all of our members and supporters and everything like that. But, yeah, more gyms keep dominating. You know, we do very well in the real estate aspect around here as well, but we're both also family men, so just like everybody else, it's a balance of the family life, kids life, and all that, and we just keep doing what we're doing, I think.

[Kyle]

Yeah, we were talking about before, about, like, the greener grass syndrome, I think. Yes, it's. There's A lot of noise out there right now. It's easy to get distracted. But I think you just keep digging the same hole. Eventually you'll hit something, you know?

[Shawn French]

Yeah, dude, I just think that it's so important, like, when you have your purpose and you know what it is.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

And you enjoy doing something like this doesn't work to you guys?

[Kyle]

Yeah, no, it's really not.

[Alvin Lavitan]

It's fun, you know, sometimes, you know.

[Shawn French]

Any business, there's stressors behind it. Like, this is fun for me, but there's times where I'm like, dude, this is stressful as.

[Kyle]

Yeah, we're just firefighters in gym. I. I own a few apartment complexes and it's. It's really.

[Shawn French]

Wait, so hold on. You own apartment complexes, too?

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. You've done nothing.

[Kyle]

But I. I think it's very similar because when you own, like, apartments, you're just putting out fires. Like, there's a leak, there's this and that. It's very similar here. Now we have great management.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Kyle]

Tessa here kills it. Trey and Ramsey, they kill it. Xavier also here. They all kill it. So we're. We're pretty hands off. I mean, we were involved in everything, but they do a really good job of handling everything. But in essence, we're firefighters. We do a lot of stuff behind the scenes.

[Shawn French]

Sure.

[Kyle]

It's just this broke. This broke. The hot water heater went out. There's a leak here. Yeah. I think you got stuff going on in Castleton, Kempsell.

[Alvin Lavitan]

It's always plumbing stuff.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

The protein shake.

[Kyle]

A lot of these guys flopping on the toilet and they break toilets there. It's just. I think you're. Can't your heat. Your heat go out?

[Alvin Lavitan]

It's always something. But what are you going to do?

[Kyle]

But, like, for me, like, that either cry over. I'm like, ask him. Like, I respond, like, in two seconds. Like, for me, it's an issue. Like, I didn't get this help ASAP because I don't want my members to, you know, be cold or hot or not have a bathroom. We had no water at Newport News for like, four hours because somebody hit a fire hydrant. So, like, that's inconvenient. Someone has to take a piss. They can't. You can't. But it's always something. Yeah, but in the grand scheme of things, I think it's pretty minor stuff.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, well, I mean, I mean, it's like you. You. You cannot have all this foot traffic and things not break. Right. And that's just. That's the part of the blessing and the curse. Right. You have this many people coming in. Like I walked in, I, I honestly didn't know what to expect on a Friday night. You know, I walk in, I'm like, holy shit, dude, there's. This place is jammed.

[Kyle]

Really? Yeah, that's.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, it's great. Right, but so, yeah, things are going to break. But that's just a testament of what you guys built.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Part of business. Cost of business. Yeah, absolutely.

[Shawn French]

So let me ask you this. This show is, you know, called the Determined Society. So I want each one of you to answer this. What does determination mean to you and what does it look like?

[Alvin Lavitan]

I need a pause here. Cut tape. Let me see. What does determination mean to me for us? I don't know. That's such a hard question. I wish I like had an evening to talk about it, but one of the things I can say is, you know, being a family man, like, I'm determined to literally show my kids and my wife, you know. Well, shout out to my wife if she ever watches this. But We've got our 20 year anniversary in March, so it's been a long time.

[Shawn French]

Oh, nice.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I've got three kids. One's grown up, he's an engineer up in DC. They've got 13 year old twins. And I'm determined to let them know that their dad is an absolute monster. I love that, like everything that I do is literally for all of them. They're going to be set, but it's also the mentality and the physicality. Like they come in, you know, they're wrestling, they're golfing, one's track, one's field hockey, they're doing everything. So I'm determined to be that role model for him to fully understand that, hey, your dad's out here busting business. He's out here busting his tail physically. Cause he wants to be the dad that's out there on the basketball courts with you.

[Shawn French]

Yes.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Running with you. Not just screaming from the sideline, run faster, do better. And I'm determined to let them know that hard work is, it's non negotiable. Like they will be hard workers.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. So that's. I love that, man.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I love that, dude.

[Shawn French]

That's really good.

[Kyle]

I can, I'll piggyback off that because that's, it's great. I mean, take risks.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Without risks in life, you'll, you'll, you know, you can't ever get ahead. Persevere. There's always going to be obstacles in your way. You got to be a Horse with blinders on, man.

[Shawn French]

Dude, it's so true, man. It's focused.

[Kyle]

I mean, there's. I mean, when we first met and I. We met back in, like, what, 2016. But I approached him a few years later asking about the gyms when I got out of the military because I saw, you know, a successful lender, somebody open a gym, like, ooh, he knows something. I don't know. Let me go talk to him. And I had no money. I was broke. So he gave me, like, this astronomical number, like, hey, come back with this X amount, this number. And I came back with it, what, a couple years later, like, hey, I'm ready. Let's open up the gym.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Now.

[Kyle]

That's probably the best, but, wow.

[Alvin Lavitan]

One of the greatest examples of determination. Again, he gets out of the military, no job, broke, unsure what you're gonna do.

[Kyle]

He tries to get me. I tried to be an appraiser. First. I passed the test. Then I realized that they require, like, something like some 2000 hours of OJT. But the appraisal community here is like the cult. Like, they don't. They only hire within because they're technically hiring the replacement. So nobody wants to train the replacement, of course. So you don't get trained.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

So then I come to him, I was like, hey, you're successful. What should I do? Simply put, I'm the guy. If you go to. If you go to Walmart, Home Depot. You've never been to Home Depot before. And every aisle is a year of your life, and you're looking for a shovel, and you've never been there for. I'm not just going to walk up and down every aisle. I'm going to ask, hey, where's the shovel?

[Shawn French]

Exactly.

[Kyle]

So I asked him, hey, man, what are you doing?

[Alvin Lavitan]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

And he tried to get me into lending. I'm a lender, and I couldn't pass the test. Granted, I didn't really study, but I took it like two or three times. I took like three.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I wasn't determined.

[Kyle]

Granted, it's a hard test.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

But I took it two or three times. I'm like, dude, this ain't for. This isn't for me.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

So I went back to him. I was like, hey, what else you got? So then he said, realtor. I'm like, okay. So I went like, that's just me. Like Forrest Gump.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Okay.

[Kyle]

So I just went and I did that. And then I came back, like a month later and he introduced me to my old team member and just hit the ground running.

[Shawn French]

And it's amazing.

[Alvin Lavitan]

And speaking of the determination there, man, I mean, that was the craziest thing. Kyle, literally, again, he went from broke, goes on, joins a couple teams, does very successful in real estate. Comes back to me five years later.

[Kyle]

It might have been less than that.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Maybe less. He goes, hey, man, how about that gym? And I was like, dude, remember, it takes a lot of money.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I'm not going to let you buy in without money. He's like, I've got a lot of it. So I was like, God damn. So he was determined. He literally stacked every dollar. He's so frugal.

[Kyle]

Even today, I don't spend any money.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

I'm so cheap.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

And then I'm just trying to grow.

[Alvin Lavitan]

Came back with a lot of money. I was like. And to me, I was like, good God, this guy is clearly determined, focused. He's going to be the right partner for me. He's willing to. You know what he saved up over the last five years? Willing to invest this into a business and vision into something that he wants to do. So I knew, I knew he was the right one.

[Kyle]

So, yeah, I was on. I was on a nine month deployment on the Roosevelt. And I got off. I got off in six months because I wrote a business proposal. It was called Sovereign barbell. It was 16 pages. And I sent it to my cat, my. My CEO, man. I was like, hey, I want to get off this boat because I'm getting out of the military in like a month after I get back from the deployment. Let me leave on the early debt to kind of set up shop and try and open a gym.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

And I convinced him to let me out early.

[Shawn French]

Wow.

[Kyle]

And I did. I came back. But then I stumbled upon Honor Song. And I was like, ah, dang it. Like, it was very similar to what I wrote up. I even have it. I have. I've never even shown it.

[Alvin Lavitan]

I think you showed it.

[Kyle]

But yeah. And then, then what he said, it kind of just spiraled into that. But yeah, I'm super grateful for the opportunity for this.

[Shawn French]

That.

[Alvin Lavitan]

That's.

[Shawn French]

That's incredible. That is determination, right?

[Alvin Lavitan]

It's been fun.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, dude, That, I mean, like, that's just a testament to what he. How he trusts you as well. Right? Like, came to him like, hey, dude, show me the playbook, man. Like, what do I do?

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

And then you took action. And I think that's one of the things that a lot of people get stuck on and looking at you guys. Right. And for the people that aren't Taking action on, you know, advice that you're getting from people. I think you're squandering an amazing opportunity. Yeah.

[Kyle]

I think you can only do so much. You can only control so much. Like the things that you can control are living significantly below your means.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

To stack cash and then be opportunistic and then you have to be able to capitalize on opportunity with capital money.

[Shawn French]

Exactly.

[Kyle]

So like I, again, he was the most successful guy I knew the time. So I'm like, cool, let me just leech on this dude and see what happens. And that's pretty much what I did.

[Shawn French]

It's amazing. Here you are, here are partners, you know, you know, years later. It's amazing. It's amazing.

[Kyle]

So.

[Shawn French]

Well, dude, guys, thank you so much for coming on. I, I loved learning about your guys partnership and the journey and, and the vision of this place. And got to tell you, dude, it's been a fun time being here and not a bad way to spend a Friday night.

[Kyle]

Appreciate it, man.

[Alvin Lavitan]

No, we do appreciate it. It's always very humbling when I use that word often. But you know, when we compete in this business, it's against these 5, 10, $15 million facilities. Not cheap. I mean, it cost us a million or two or something like that, but you know, yeah, nothing as grand as these other places. When members and people will talk about us and you know, would rather have a membership here. It's very humbling to sit here and go, man, we know you've got options, but you're here.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Alvin Lavitan]

So we're doing something right.

[Shawn French]

So you're doing something right. You're retaining them and, and giving them the value. Yeah, I think that's, that's definitely why they're here. So I appreciate you guys. Hey, thank you all so much for listening and watching. Please share the show with someone you know, love and trust that needs to hear this episode. For someone that is shooting for something that they have to work really, really hard for and delay that gratification maybe two, maybe three, maybe five years. Have them listen to their story and hey, until next time, guys, stay determined.

[Luck]

Sharp French. What up? This luck. I let the pain inspire me. I put my all in. Everything I'm doing up until it's done, I mean for the entirety. I put it in. No baton. I'll be working. Just know I'm a go for mine. Cause I earned it. They watched and I know it's time I confirmed it the whole society determined.

[Shawn French]

This episode is brought to you by Universal Pictures. Today's the day From Universal Pictures and Blumhouse come a storm of terror. From the director of the Shallows. The Woman in the Yard. Don't let her in. Where does she come from? What does she want? When will she leave? The Woman in the Yard in theaters now.