Unlocking Your Fitness Potential with Josiah Novak: The Power of Consistency and Self-Belief

Summary

Podcast Summary: Unlocking Your Fitness Potential with Josiah Novak: The Power of Consistency and Self-Belief

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Determined Society with Shawn French
• Host: Shawn French
• Guest: Josiah Novak
• Episode Title: Unlocking Your Fitness Potential with Josiah Novak: The Power of Consistency and Self-Belief
• Release Date: January 20, 2025

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Introduction and Friendship Formation [00:00 - 04:38]

Shawn French welcomes listeners to "The Determined Society" and introduces Josiah Novak, a fitness professional and creator of the 3M system. The hosts discuss how they quickly formed a strong friendship, emphasizing the importance of connecting with like-minded individuals who share similar energy and life trajectories.

Notable Quote:

Shawn French [02:40]: "God, isn't that great? Yeah, those are called divine friendships, man."

Josiah Novak's Mission and "Buy Back Your Time" Episode [04:38 - 09:59]

Shawn shifts the conversation to Josiah's recent episode titled "Buy Back Your Time," recorded on New Year's Day. Josiah elaborates on his company's objectives, focusing on optimizing clients' time through efficient fitness strategies. He underscores that life is fleeting, and individuals deserve to feel healthy, confident, and impactful without wasting precious time on ineffective methods.

Notable Quote:

Josiah Novak [05:06]: "Life moves really fast, and we want to make life count. You weren't put here to be overweight, unhappy, or insecure."

The Importance of Consistency Over Intensity [09:59 - 19:34]

Josiah emphasizes that consistency is the bedrock of success in fitness and other life areas. He critiques the prevalent marketing messages promising quick fixes and faster ways, advocating instead for steady, consistent efforts that build long-term momentum. Shawn resonates with this philosophy, sharing his experiences balancing fatherhood, marriage, and multiple businesses, highlighting the necessity of efficient time management.

Notable Quotes:

Shawn French [12:18]: "Why go into the gym? Make it an hour, you're farting around for 15 minutes with all the fluff."

Josiah Novak [19:34]: "What has always led to success in any area of my life is consistency. That's it."

Training Smart and Avoiding Injuries [19:35 - 35:27]

The discussion delves into Josiah's training philosophy, which prioritizes smart, compound movements over high-volume, isolation exercises. This approach not only builds strength and muscle efficiently but also minimizes the risk of injuries, ensuring sustainability. Josiah shares his personal experiences and critiques mainstream fitness programs that often lead to burnout and frustration.

Notable Quote:

Josiah Novak [13:31]: "I want you to leave the gym feeling better than when you walked in because I know that's a long game."

Mental Discipline and Self-Belief [35:27 - 40:14]

Josiah and Shawn explore the mental aspects of fitness, drawing parallels between physical training and daily productivity. They discuss the internal battle between emotional impulses and logical decisions, advocating for discipline that aligns actions with long-term goals. Josiah introduces the concept of "identity design," encouraging individuals to view themselves as already possessing their desired physique and capabilities.

Notable Quotes:

Shawn French [21:13]: "It's not about look at me, it's about how much discipline can I instill in that very moment."

Josiah Novak [39:35]: "Filter that through a place of love and care for yourself, and you will succeed for eternity."

The Three M's: Movement, Muscle, and Meals [40:14 - 48:37]

Josiah introduces his foundational framework, the 3M system, which comprises Movement, Muscle, and Meals. He explains each pillar in detail:

1. Movement: Encourages adopting a movement-based lifestyle, incorporating walking and other simple activities into daily routines to combat sedentary behavior.

2. Muscle: Focuses on building and maintaining muscle through compound exercises, enhancing metabolic capacity and overall strength without overcomplicating workouts.

3. Meals: Simplifies nutrition by emphasizing the importance of maintaining a calorie and protein range that supports fat burning and muscle maintenance. Josiah advises against fad diets, promoting sustainable eating habits.

Notable Quote:

Josiah Novak [40:51]: "Fitness should be simple. Complications slow down the process. So I don't want anybody feeling like fitness requires a lot of hoops to jump through."

Sustainable Lifestyle Changes and Identity Transformation [48:37 - End]

As the episode wraps up, Josiah and Shawn discuss the transformative power of fitness when approached from a place of self-love rather than shame. Josiah criticizes the exploitative aspects of some fitness and personal development industries that foster trauma and negative self-perception. Instead, he promotes a compassionate approach where individuals treat themselves with care, leading to genuine and lasting transformation.

Shawn emphasizes the importance of internal change, noting that true transformation begins from within. He shares his journey of moving from self-criticism to self-love, exemplifying the internal shifts Josiah advocates.

Notable Quote:

Shawn French [33:04]: "It's all internal. You're working to turn your thermostat up to the point where you deserve this."

Josiah Novak [37:22]: "You can't go out and serve others from an empty vessel."

Closing Remarks and Call to Action [49:15 - 50:20]

Shawn encourages listeners to connect with Josiah through his podcast and social media platforms to further their fitness journeys. He reinforces the message of consistency, self-compassion, and leveraging one's unique strengths to achieve personal goals. The episode concludes with a mutual appreciation for the shared mission of fostering a determined and supportive community.

Notable Quote:

Shawn French [50:20]: "Share this episode with someone that you care about. Until next time, stay determined."

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Key Takeaways:

• Consistency Over Intensity: Sustainable, steady efforts lead to long-term success in fitness and personal development.
• Smart Training: Focus on compound movements to build muscle efficiently while minimizing injury risks.
• Three M's Framework: Implement Movement, Muscle, and Meals as foundational pillars for optimizing fitness and time.
• Mental Discipline: Cultivate self-discipline and self-belief to align actions with long-term goals.
• Identity Transformation: Approach fitness from a place of self-love and care, fostering genuine and lasting change.

Resources:

• Josiah Novak's Platforms:
  • Podcast: True Transformation Podcast
  • Instagram: @JosiahFitness
  • YouTube: TrueTransform

Listeners are encouraged to adopt Josiah's 3M system and embrace the principles of consistency, smart training, and self-compassion to unlock their full fitness potential.

Transcript

[Josiah Novak]

Shake, shake, shake. Sinora, shake it all the time.

[Frank's Red Hot]

When you add a shake of Frank's Red Hot, you open a world of better. A world where wings bring out the flavor of game day any day. Where buffalo chicken dip takes any party up a notch. And where any slice of pizza instantly becomes the world's best slice of pizza. At least until the next slice. Bring every bite to life with the perfect blend of flavor and heat. Frank's Red Hot. I put that shit on everything.

[Josiah Novak]

I know. There's like a lot of fun little phrases guys like to throw around out there with fitness. Like it's a marathon, not a sprint, right? It's like it's not a marathon. It's not a race of any kind. It's literally the game of life that we want to stay in for as long as possible. You weren't put on this earth to be overweight, unhappy, or insecure, right? I can picture you at your best. But we're not going to get there by sprinting. We might have periods of time where we speed the game up a little bit because you've built momentum. Yeah, but how do we build momentum? Dude, we're surrounded by messaging and marketing. Marketing that tells us there's a faster way, there's a better way. But what has always led to success in any area of my life is consistency. That's it.

[Unknown Artist]

This one look, 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. No vatana. I'll be working. Just know I'm a go for mine. Cause I earned it. They watch now I know it's time I confirmed it. The whole society Determined determin.

[Shawn French]

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Determined Society. I'm your host, Shawn French. Before I introduce today's amazing guest, please, if this is the first time you're listening or watching this show, hit the subscribe button, hit the follow button and share the show with anybody that you know that's going to get value out of today's guest in conversation. Without further ado, follow our social handles at the Sean French and at the Determined Society for more clips and updates on everything we got going on and checking us out. But today I have an amazing individual. His name is Josiah Novak. He's a fitness professional, creator of the 3M system, and just an overall faith based and amazing dude. In a very short time, I become good friends with him and I'm doing life with him and I'm super excited to be a part of his program, but just more than any. Anything, excited to be his friend. Josiah, welcome to the show, baby.

[Josiah Novak]

I appreciate you, man. Thanks for having me. And the feeling is definitely mutual. We. We. We just skipped over all the small talk and became good friends quick.

[Shawn French]

God, isn't that great? Yeah, those are called divine friendships, man.

[Josiah Novak]

Yeah, it's when two people who have the same. I. I guess you could call it vibration or just the. The same energy level with the same trajectory connect. It's just. You don't. You don't have to play any kind of games. You're just like, hey, brother, we're. We're definitely on the same wavelength, so let's just skip all the. The small talk and jump right into a friendship.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, I loved it. You know, big shout out to my boy, A.J. ackerman. And it's funny how it happened, right? Because he tagged me on one of your posts is like, hey, man, I'm gonna work out twice a day. Are you in? I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm not in. I'm not doing any form of 75 hard ever again. No, I've done it many times, but, you know, it's not the lifestyle that I want to live anymore. But I just started, you know, kind of just diving into you a little bit. I'm like, I like this guy's energy, man. And I asked AJ I'm like, who is this guy? He's like, I don't know. He's just a really cool dude. I dig what he says. He's. He's very cool. I'm like, all right, I'm. I. I think I'm gonna try to be friends with this guy and. And, you know, and that's what's going on in the background of my mind. And then, you know, you. You did a post or something saying your goal in 2025 was to get on 50 shows. And so, by the way, if you're a podcast host and you love good people and you want to send a good message, you need to hit my boy up his. His handles and everything to get a hold of him will be in the show notes. Have him on your show, because I think your audience is really going to get a ton from him, as you'll see as you listen into the rest of this conversation. But, you know, then he tagged me, and he's like, sean Fresh. I'm like, dude, let's do this, man.

[Josiah Novak]

Yeah, you know.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. Soon, though, you're gonna have to Come here.

[Josiah Novak]

In person.

[Shawn French]

We're gonna do it in person.

[Josiah Novak]

I'm always up for in person shows. I prefer that actually. You and I just wanted to make it happen fast. So we did. You know, we'll have a follow up, I'll have you on my show and we can do that one in person or swap episodes again face to face. For sure.

[Shawn French]

He's so much fun, dude. I, you know, off the air, guys, that people are listening, watching. I was talking to Josiah about his most recent episode that he dropped. And you know, I did mention that he' fitness professional. But I want to talk a little bit about your episode that you dropped on Wednesday. I think you recorded it on New Year's day and it was called buy back your time. Why don't you give the audience a little synopsis of where you were going with that and why you felt it was necessary to put that out there.

[Josiah Novak]

In the ethers 100%, man. So my company, True Transformation, we have a couple really clear objectives that we want to help everybody who walks through our door virtually or in person, achieve. And I think it all starts with understanding the time that we have here, right? The time that we're given on Earth, if you want to use that term, there's a couple thoughts around it. One is life moves really fast. And so we want to make life count. And that's our tagline, life moves fast, make it count. The other thing is I truly believe that you were not put here as a man or if you're listening and you're a woman, you weren't put here to suffer through life feeling out of shape, unhealthy, low energy, despising yourself, feeling lack of confidence. I truly believe you were put here to feel your best. It's obviously going to require some work, but the amount of time that we're given is not infinite. Now, I'm a faith based guy and I think that there is forever waiting past our time here on this earth. But while we're here, it's my mission to help you make an impact. So in order to do that, we have to level up the quality of the time that we have here. And there's a few things that we have to unpack from that mission. And number one is how do we get more time, right? Because one of the biggest things I hear from guys when it comes to their health, their body, their fitness is I just don't have the time. You know, I'm a dad. You know, I personally, I have two boys, I coach all their sports, I'm involved in everything they do. Then, of course, I'm married. And there's date night, which I'm going on tonight, right? Then there's social life. My wife is a total social butterfly, and I'm more of an introvert, like to work, like to do stuff at home, but I got to get out there and mingle and do all that. So it's like all of a sudden, I look at my calendar, I'm like, wow, you know, going to the 75 hard comment, I don't have time for 75 hard. Right? Like, who does really long term? But at the end of the day, I want to have time. And the time that I do have, I want it to be super high quality. So how do we get more time and how do we improve the quality of our time? How do we do that through fitness? Well, I think there's a number of ways. And so that episode Buy Back youk Time is part of a theme that we have in place for our clients this year. It's like, how do we optimize everything you do? So we save you time, right? You don't waste any time. We don't want you wasting time doing things that don't work, trying to research, trying to build your own plans, trying to do all this stuff yourself when you, you know, could be looking at wasting hours and hours and hours of time over the. Over the long haul. Also in the future, the time that you get back, how do we improve the quality of that time? So there's a lot of different layers to this, but it all starts with looking at what actually works with fitness. What are you doing now that you don't need to be doing, right? Like, what is your current situation like? Let's completely optimize everything you do. So an easy example that, you know, I know you've, you've mentioned a couple times now that you're working with me that we're trying to implement is your meal strategy, right? I don't want you having to waste four hours a week meal prepping. I don't want you to have to think about tracking every calorie, measuring out everything that you eat, spending time portioning six meals a day from the scale to the Tupperware. And all of a sudden, you look at your time and you're like, holy crap, dude, this has taken up a solid six, eight hours of my week. Your time is super valuable. So when we start to look at the measurables and say, man, how much time can we save doing things the right way with fitness and then by getting in shape, the time that I do have is way higher quality. I'm more efficient, I have more energy. And now I'm crystal clear from a mental, spiritual, physical health standpoint. So it just feels like I'm basically getting more out of the time that I have and I'm getting more time through doing things the efficient way, the smart way. Right. No longer following all the bro science guys who want to push extremes. I know that all stuff, all that stuff sounds awesome in some cases, right? It's like, oh, that's the magical pill. I should eat six meals a day or I should cut all my carbs and walk twice a day, lift twice a day. That's going to get me there faster, when in fact it's probably not going to get you there much faster, if faster at all. And it's going to cut into your time, right. And it's going to frustrate you because on the back end you're going to lose all the hard work. Think you wasted all the time, which in some aspects you did. So then we have to redo, unpack, unlearn, relearn. It just takes up so much valuable asset, right? Which is the most valuable asset that we have, which is our time.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, I. Dude, honestly man, like the one thing that struck me in that episode and all the things that you're saying I'm resonating with because as a father of three and a husband, I have the show, I have a couple other businesses, time is of massive value for me and I don't want it to be spent in the damn kitchen. I'm sorry, I just don't, I don't want it to be spent in a gym. Although I do find it productive for me to wake up at 4. You know, I don't like to wake up at 4, but I just know that time wise, if I get it done, then I have the rest of the day to do whatever it is I need to do. But the one thing that I felt was really helpful, and I don't think many fitness experts go into it in a great detail like you did. And I know you're my friend and people are saying like, dude, you're just stroking because it's your boy. Yes and no. Okay. Because you said something very impactful within the first 10 minutes. Why go into the gym? Make it an hour, you're farting around for 15 minutes with all the fluff, doing isolation exercises that probably aren't going to get you to what you need to do to make you More lean and strong, which is those compound movements. And so as I'm going through the workout today, I'm thinking, well, know that I'm reflecting on. I'm like, okay, he had me do this bench exercise. He had me do the, the bulletproof shoulders, which is multiple movements, right? He had me do the back, he had me do some more shoulders. All were compound movements that were working more than one muscle group at a time. So it was much more efficient getting, you know, the overall strength and the overall leanness over time as it compounds. That was a very good point. And it's not talked about enough. People talk about more volume, more volume. And in fact, I'm going to say this, but first, form is famous for that. Like, I got hurt doing some of their programs because it's like it was literally 10 exercises a workout. Like in an intermediate level. I'm like, the volume here is just ridiculous. I don't even understand how I got through the four weeks. But then like, you know, I ended up getting hurt, man.

[Josiah Novak]

Sure. Yeah. I think a lot of what you see online, unfortunately, is created by guys who have. And once again, I hope this doesn't come across like we're badmouthing anybody because.

[Shawn French]

No, I'm not. It's, it's a.

[Josiah Novak]

Tensions are good, right? Like, I, I, I'm blessed to have had a lot of hands on, in person, real life, working with guys like you in the gym for years, man, like my entire first, let's call it, 10 plus years, had at least half of my business in person, training, real life. People in the gym, from walks of life that are similar to ours, they just want to, at the end of the day, knock out a couple things. They want to look good. Right? Like, let's just get that out there. I, I love looking good, dude. I want to look awesome in a shirt and awesome without a shirt on. Also don't want to get hurt because injuries suck. Even if you're not an athlete, injuries just sucked. We are athletes, we got to provide for the family. So I joke around with guys all the time who say, well, I don't get paid to work out. You know, I'm not an athlete. I said, what happens if you get hurt and you can't work? Oh, well, yeah, okay. I guess I do kind of get paid to stay healthy, right?

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josiah Novak]

So you gotta train smart. And then of course, you know, they want to live a longer period of time. You know, they want their life span to increase and the quality of life to go up. So anyway, I'VE had all that experience. So when we build programming, it's based off of that. A lot of what you see online are guys who think, man, because I look a certain way, I can just tell guys to do whatever. And the general direction most programs go is more is better. Yeah, right. Because when you write a big program that feels really hard and people can't complete it or they feel like they're struggling through it, in some instances, you're playing on a little bit of insecurity, right? Where you're like, I'm not at the level yet. All right, I'll work my way through it. I don't play that game. I want you to leave the gym feeling better than when you walked in, because I know that's a long game. It's never ending, right? Yeah. So we also have to unpack. If we're talking about the training side. A lot of guys have had injuries doing stuff in the gym that they don't want to revert back to. They don't want to go back to doing the bench press, the squats, the deadlifts, because they're like, man, that one time I did it a couple years back, man, my shoulder popped or my knee buckled and I. I twisted my lower back, and now I just, I don't want to go back there. So they then start to gravitate to the isolation cable stuff, the fancy stuff that doesn't hurt. They're like, oh, that this is cool. I can do a one arm chest cable fly with 20 pounds and I get a little pump and it feels cool. Right? Not necessarily the worst maneuver because you don't want to get hurt, but if there's a way to train with compound lifts like we do, in a safe spot, right, With. With machines with dumbbells and positions, body positions that prevent injury and still get you stronger, still hit multiple muscle groups at the same time. So you're in and out of the gym in 45 minutes, no more than an hour, a few times a week, and you're getting stronger progressively, right? Overloading the body, man, you win, right? Because you're also avoiding injuries and you feel more confident in your ability to hit the gym and train with some intensity. So it all kind of comes down to just basic principles and understanding that the non sexy, boring stuff works. You can make it sexier by simply progressing and looking in the mirror and going, dang, like, yeah, I'm making gains, right? That's the sexy part. So, yeah, to your point, man, I mean, that, that is something in, in the Training space that I guess just doesn't get talked about enough because I don't know, maybe it's just doesn't feel as sexy as talking about all the fancy, you know, volume based metrics that people chase.

[Shawn French]

You said something that was parallel to life in every single way possible, man. The sexiness is in the boring or the mundane or it was something of that, in that, in that realm, right? And we seem to think when we're going for something, whether it's in business or fitness or even in our relationships with our spouses, right? Because we go through seasons where we have to come back from things and we think if we do more, it's better if we do more, do more, do more, do more. But really what's going to win is those consistent things on a daily basis that compound into building that relationship back up or the relationship with yourself for your business or your body or, or, or. And I just think that it needs to be highlighted more than the hustle culture, right? Because we want things that are sustainable, whatever facet of life we're talking about. Because if it's not sustainable and you cannot do it consistently, then who cares if you did it for a month three months ago, it's irrelevant. Like, babe, I bought you flowers 17 times in October, but you feel neglected ever since. How does that make any sense? Right?

[Josiah Novak]

Sure. Yeah, it's funny you say that. I actually have a story from a friend who did that. Oh God. I remember a guy, I was a younger guy, I name names, but he was dating someone close to our family and he said, I'm gonna buy her flowers every day, man. Like, that's just my habit. I said, brother, like, is that sustainable? We're no longer together. That's the long story short. But yeah, like, but here's, here's the flip side of that, right? I'm a married guy, been married for almost 11 years. And we do one date a week. And it's not always a date night. Sometimes it's a day date, sometimes it's grabbing coffee in the morning. We try to be really consistent. But you have kids, you have a life, you have work or whatever. Sometimes things move around, but once a week, right? It's not every day. Some nights we're separate and doing separate things, but we have that one anchor in our week, right? And here's the thing that consistency compounds over time. So with training, you know, I know there's like a lot of fun little phrases guys like to throw around out there with fitness, like it's a marathon Not a sprint, Right. It's like, it's not a marathon. It's like, it's not a race of any kind. It's literally the game of life that we want to stay in for as long as possible. Yeah, I said it earlier. You know, we stand by the mantra that you weren't put on this earth to be overweight, unhappy, unhealthy, and not confident or insecure. Right? And that's not me telling you you suck if you're not in shape. It's just saying, like, I totally believe in you, dude. Like, I can look at any guy, doesn't matter what shape, size or whatever, and be like, I can picture you at your best, right? So trust me, I got that vision in my head. Let me transfer it to you. But we're not going to get there by sprinting. We might have periods of time where we speed the game up a little bit because you've built momentum.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Josiah Novak]

How do we build momentum, dude? Well, we build momentum from, like you just said, you nailed it. Consistency, right? If I can go to the gym inconsistently six times a week, that does me no good. If after six weeks, I'm out of the game because I got burnt out, I hurt myself, I got tendonitis or whatever, right? Like, 75 hard. Matt, I love Andy. He's been on my show a long time ago. I think he's a great human being. But I don't agree with 75 hard because it's not something guys can do consistently. So every year I see the same guys going, yep, it's that time of year again. I'm gonna get in shape with 75 hard. And then six months later, it's like, I'm out of shape. I need to do 75 hard again. Same thing with Keto. It's like, I'm gonna do keto. It's almost summertime, and I'm like, brother, what if you just live lean year round? What if. What if being in shape didn't feel hard anymore? Like, just picture the impossible games that you are thinking are totally out of your reach, but they're there if we're willing to play the game of life, right? Not the race, the marathon, the sprint or whatever. But that's just the world we live in, brother. Like, yeah, we're surrounded by messaging and marketing that tells us there's a faster way, there's a better way. Same with business, man. Like, there's just always the next thing. But what has always led to success in any area of my life is consistency. That's it.

[Shawn French]

You know, it's it it. And I do these things every morning, right when I'm sitting there in the parking lot of the gym. I write these things out, you read them. And it in every single morning. Like, I don't want to be in that parking lot.

[Josiah Novak]

Isn't that amazing?

[Shawn French]

I mean, it's truly. And it's something you say today. It's like, I don't feel like working out today, so I'm going to work out today. I don't feel like doing this, so I'm going to do that. It's not about, look at me, it's about how much discipline can I instill in that very moment, Right? Because when that alarm clock goes off, no matter. I don't care if you have it set for 6 or 7am Guys, I'm not. For those of you listening, I'm not saying you have to get up at 4am like me. I'm saying if you have to get up at 4am like me because of everything you have going on, then when the alarm goes off and you don't get up, you're. You're showing lack of discipline at that very moment. And I have been there like very recently. I'm only on track since December 3rd here. So I'm not sitting here up on my soapbox. I know I have to stay vigilant every single day and aware because I don't want to fall back into that. So please don't. I don't want you to feel like I'm coming from. Like, I have it all figured out, because I don't. I'm figuring it all out. But if you set it for four, you set it for six or seven or eight or whatever it is. Your schedule is the man get. I need you to get up and do that thing because if you, if you do that one thing, then the next right thing is going to be much easier for you to choose. Right? It's like when you go out to a restaurant, like I did before, right before here, before we recorded, I got mixed greens and double chicken. That's it. But if I didn't wake up at 4am and I didn't follow the plan and the process and have discipline throughout the whole first part of my day, I might have said, well, what's wrong with that BLT on a croissant. And maybe there's nothing wrong with it.

[Josiah Novak]

Yeah, maybe.

[Shawn French]

But. But is it, but is it what I feel like I need to do right then? So, you know, then we dive into the discipline and process and strategy. And I think that is so important in fitness. But if you can execute it in fitness, what are your thoughts on. On your daily productivity in work, in your marriage or. Or anything else?

[Josiah Novak]

Yeah, man. Dude, it's. You said it so perfectly. And I'm right there with you, bro. Like, just because I'm some fitness coach guy who whatever, you know, gets guys in shape or helps lead guys to where they want to be, doesn't mean I'm immune to. I call and I don't curse, but I'm gonna use a word. So enter the inner. Okay. That's what I call it. Right. There's a version of me that doesn't want to do everything I know I need to do. And. And it's really loud right before I make the breakthrough. Right. That's just how it all is. So. So like your scenario with the double chicken or the croissant, only you know what's in alignment with what you want, right? You know, I don't know. I can tell you what I think you should do, but there could be a time where that double BLT or whatever is. Is what you need, right?

[Shawn French]

Yeah, it's going down.

[Josiah Novak]

There is a. Yeah, there's a. There's a portion of your life that should be set aside for enjoyment when it makes sense. Most of the time, though, I get to the gym. You know, first of all, the. The heaviest weight you'll lift is that door that you push open, right. To get into the gym. Yeah, that's number one. The exercises. The hardest exercise is the one where you bend over, tie your shoes, you get your shorts on, your pants or whatever, and you go drive to the gym or wherever you go. And that's. It's almost like we're just training our brain to embrace the uncomfortable in a small portion of our day, to start our day with working out. That's why I love working out in the morning. But then it leads to that overwhelming sense of self belief and confidence when you walk out of the gym.

[Shawn French]

Come on, dude.

[Josiah Novak]

Because there's no better feeling, man. This is why I tell guys, chase that feeling, that feeling of accomplishment. Because, dude, like, I don't care if you're the leanest guy on earth. I don't care if you're the most Jack on earth. None of that matters to me. What matters is that you're in alignment with who you are, are supposed to be. Yeah. And you'll believe in yourself. Single day you'll have that moment. Doesn't matter if the world's Burning down the news tells you everything's falling apart. There's drones flying all over your house, what, whatever's going on, right, you know, it doesn't matter. And, and then, dude, like, I'll tell you man, that like, this is something I'm experiencing now. So this is happening in real time. I'll speak to the dads real quick. Like ourselves, right? We, we have children that, for me, they're entering the phase where they're, they're starting to become very aware of everything. They're calling me out, right? It's my 10 year old especially. He's my, he's my twin. And so there's something about the interactions we have with people, not just our children, of course, but I'm using the children as an example. There's something about the interactions we have when we've done what we said we're going to do, whether they know it or not. You know, they don't always see me go work out, they don't see me do the meals, whatever, but when I'm interacting with them, there's something about the energy there that's different. When you've done what you said you're going to do versus open, man, you're open, you're in alignment, right? You're, you're, you're, you're high integrity is there with yourself. And you know, so the, the short of it is the short answer to, you know what gets me over that, like, I don't want to go work out, but I'm gonna go work out. And so I'm not a jerk because I, I'm gonna treat myself the way I'm supposed to treat myself by honoring my commitments. Even if it's a 10 minute workout, bro. Like, I don't care if I gotta go do 10 minutes and that's the best I can do, then that's what I'm gonna do. But then the rest of my day, when I have a podcast with Sean, when I have a text with my clients, I'm not sitting there going, man, I'm such an idiot. I skipped my workout. Oh man, I'm such a loser, right? I'm like, dude, I did my commitments. I'm not perfect, but I did my commitments. And now I'm able to show up in the other arenas that we play in feeling that overwhelming sense of accomplishment and self belief. It's so simple. Yeah, but it's powerful, bro.

[Shawn French]

It's less anxiety there, man. You know what I mean? I think a lot of things that we deal with on A daily basis, whether we're a husband or a wife or just a human being.

[Josiah Novak]

Right.

[Shawn French]

If you're not any one of those other two titles is when we struggle to do the things that we know we need to do in order to get us to where we need to go, it's going to help us get better. When we sacrifice and negotiate with ourselves and don't do them, we're mad at ourselves. We're mad at ourselves all day. Then the fight with your spouse comes. Then the fight with your kid comes. Then the thing that the grocery clerk said actually wouldn't have made you mad, but it didn't. It ruined your day because you're so mentally whacked out right now because you can't even control your own decisions.

[Josiah Novak]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Like, that's truly what happens. And what, what I found over the last month is that my response levels different. Like, you know, what was it yesterday? My wife and I were, we're joking around and sometimes we have the most hysterical banter, like in public places where like the servers are just like, like I had some sashimi last night and the server was probably like, what's going on? Like, but everything becomes more playful because I'm in alignment with me. Like I'm taking care of my side of the street, so I don't have anything weighing my, my mind down. And I'm present in that moment and happy because I know I'm making another right decision. And then she, and then we just laugh and we have a great time. You know, I mean, that's, that's, that's what I want.

[Josiah Novak]

Right.

[Shawn French]

And so for me, that's how things start manifesting in my life. When I'm making the good decisions, they all my interactions, to your point, become very free.

[Josiah Novak]

Yeah, you, you just feel like your true self. You know, there's, there's two brains that we have a little ongoing battle happening inside our head. Right. We think we have a brain. It's really two portions of the brain. One is the large in charge side, which is actually the emotional side. And then we have the logical brain, which is, if you can picture a pretty vivid scenario, you have the logical brain sitting in the backseat of a car going 100 miles an hour down the highway. And the driver is a out of control, pissed off elephant. That's your emotional brain. Right. So how do we get that crazy emotional brain under control? Right. Well, we have to get the emotional brain to feel like it's under, like, like it's making logical decisions.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Josiah Novak]

And that we're Leading it towards what it wants emotionally. So what do we want when it comes to food? Well, emotionally, we want to relieve stress. We want a portion of our day to just be a free tasting good. Don't gotta say no to all the good stuff because I've been saying yes to everybody all day and I'm just pissed off. Right. So I'm gonna pound a bunch of drinks and appetizers and just let loose. Right. So the trick is, well, what if we can get that same emotional feeling high by doing the right thing?

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Josiah Novak]

You know, and so when we have these little pockets throughout our day, the morning being a, you know, probably the, arguably the biggest one where we have a chance to give our emotional brain a win, well, then the emotional brain starts to go, okay, the logical thing kind of worked out. Yeah, right. Like, I don't want to go to the gym, dude. I want to sleep in, man. Like, I work hard. I need that extra hour of sleep. Right. We make decisions emotionally, we justify with logic. Yeah. Logically, maybe you do need a little extra sleep sometimes. But today's not that day. Today you got to go to the gym today you got to get up, you got to go do chest and shoulders and triceps or whatever. But emotionally, we walk out of that gym and we go, wow, man, I needed that. I needed that. So then when we go and have emotional conversations with our spouse, playful dating, you know, scenarios, or our kids are having a. A moment. Right. As all kids do, and you have to control your emotions. Well, you just did control your emotions earlier today or all day making the right decisions. So sometimes it's a subconscious way of operation that we don't even realize is happening because we're controlling our emotional brain so much through our fitness. Yeah, right. These are things that a lot of people don't want to talk about because it sounds very woo woo, Right? It's like, oh, what are you talking about, bro? It's just macros and lift some, lift some weights and do your steps. It's like, yeah, but how is that restructuring your identity? How is that changing how you operate?

[Shawn French]

Yeah, and it's never about that.

[Josiah Novak]

Right.

[Shawn French]

You know, like anybody that has ever gone on a transform, transformational journey will tell you that it starts from within. It's not about the macros, it's not about the weights, it's not about the steps. It's what you have to do internally to turn your thermostat up to the point where, like, you sit there. I deserve this. Like, I deserve to see what Sean French looks like at 12. Body fat. I haven't seen it since college. Let's put some muscle on, let's shed some fat and see what you look like naked. Like, that's what everybody's shooting for. And I love how you're unapologetically about it. Like, everything gets better when you look better naked.

[Josiah Novak]

100.

[Shawn French]

Like, I mean, like, you can sit there in a marriage and if you're not happy with your body, you're gonna be self conscious, even in front of your spouse.

[Josiah Novak]

Yeah, even.

[Shawn French]

You're not immune to that. So to me, it's more about, like, even now. I'm nowhere near what I want to be, but I'm feeling much better about it because I'm making those decisions and I'm like, I know I look a little bit better now, right? Because if I can visually see it, not my worst critic, but if I look in the morning, I'm like, okay, this is, this is starting to get better. Right?

[Josiah Novak]

Sure.

[Shawn French]

And, and, but, but that's an internal thing. And it sounds visual, it sounds external, but it's really not. It is a core belief at that point. And you're starting to. I'm starting to rewire everything in my mind. And quite honestly, it's the first time I've ever done it consciously. Straight up, dude. Straight up. It's the first time I've ever done it consistently without shame. Because that's another thing. Like, I've been on this journey. It's like I would start to get in, in, in shape, out of shame, hating myself.

[Josiah Novak]

Right?

[Shawn French]

But now it's like, no, no, no. I love myself so much. I want to see how much longer you can be on this earth for your children. I want to be that old, you know, 90 year old that that's holding my great grandkids. You know, I want all these things. And, you know, so for me, it's like, all right, we're pushing this envelope now, right? And this is all internal. It's all it is, right? And even before, even when I was playing baseball, I mean, that was half a lifetime ago when I played at Louisiana State University. I did it because I was told to. Like, I did it, I did it. I look good and I play and I was in shape because I knew if I didn't, I didn't have a place. It wasn't because it was my own decision. Right? And I think that's a lot of things, too, that former athletes, as they get out, I know you help a lot of former athletes like myself get Back in that peak condition. But, you know, when you're not performing like that any longer, it's very hard to get in that zone.

[Josiah Novak]

You said something there, man. Well, you said a few things that are so incredibly powerful, one of which is the source of our transformation, Right?

[Unknown Artist]

Where.

[Josiah Novak]

Where is it coming from? Shame is a big one, man. Like, I see so many guys get shamed online, you know, publicly. In fact, guys pay thousands of dollars to be shamed, right. And be told that they're worthless and that they suck and all this stuff. At the end of the day, hey, that. That might end up working for you for a short period of time. What I would encourage anybody listening to think about is exactly what you said. Changing the source of your inspiration. For me and the guys I work with, we call it identity design. I would argue you're already the dude who has the body fat percentage, has the lean physique that he wants. You're already that guy. You just need more time. Yeah, right? We talk about buying back your time. You just need to live, you know, in alignment with who you truly are for longer periods of time, and the results will show up. But doing it from a place of love and care for yourself, you know, you can't go out and serve others from an empty vessel. You know, if I go get in shape, right? Think about the downstream effect from this. Like, I sat there and I thought about this the other day. I was like, man, like, I love a lot of dudes in the fitness industry. I love a lot of dudes in the personal development industry. They're good dudes. They got a crap ton a trauma, and all they're doing is taking their trauma and they're going out and providing traumatic experiences for guys, beating them into the ground physically, in some cases, saying this is the only way, you know, pain and you. You gotta break yourself and do all this stuff. Then those guys go out, they get in a little bit of better shape, and then they go out and they pass this on to their children. Like, we're gonna go out and we're gonna, you know, do these torturous things because that's the only way. So then you create this hatred.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Josiah Novak]

Of the process. Dude, when I stopped doing that crap, when I said, okay, I don't need to beat myself to death to get in better shape. Why am I doing that anyway? You know what? Wanna know why? Because I grew up in a very physically abusive home, I thought discipline meant getting my ass kicked. That's what I thought discipline meant. Discipline is actually filling up Your tank with the right things, of course, starts with your messaging. I read the Bible, you know, instead of going and watching porn on the Internet. Right? Like, I know it's easy to do that. Trust me, I'm not immune to it. But I gotta fill up my tank with the right things. I fill up my tank, I give myself fuel. Mental fuel, spiritual fuel, physical fuel. I show myself some compassion and some care. Not through lies. Not saying it's okay to be overweight. Not saying, dude, it's fine. Eat that cheeseburger. Eat those fries. No, because that stuff makes me feel like crap. That stuff takes away quality of my life. That stuff makes me a poor father in a lot of cases. Right? I don't want that. I perform terribly in the bedroom when I eat like crap, right? That's not love, dude. That's myself. Like a. Like a. Like a jackass, right? But not. I don't. I don't take care of myself from a place of shame. I go, dude, I want to look in the mirror and be proud of who I am. You know, I want to show up in rooms, speak to a group of guys, and pour into these dudes. I don't want to go in there and make them feel lower than. Than an ant or like crap. Because they're not ripped and shredded yet. No, they just haven't figured out. They've also a lot of. A lot of guys like yourself and people who we interact with, man, there's some badass dudes, they just don't have the badass physique because they haven't applied their badass traits to that part of their life yet.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Josiah Novak]

Pour into those dudes. Next thing you know, you got a guy who's like a loving, caring, compassionate, happy person who's calm in the face of adversity versus the guys you see online who are angry and they're fighting the haters and, like, flip, you know, it's like, guys like, come on, man, you're not fooling anybody. You got trauma, bro. Right?

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Josiah Novak]

Just because you're jacked and shredded in on, you know, all sorts of hormones, which I love hormones. They're awesome. But like, dude, filter that through a place of love and care for yourself, and you will succeed for eternity, brother. Right? You will live a life that you could only ever have imagined through health and fitness because you did it from a place of love and care. Trust me, this stuff isn't easy, right? Like, we all have trauma. We all have a story. But this is what I see happening. And I think to your point, consciously realizing that is so huge, man. Like, like, what would the, what would I do or tell someone to do that I truly cared about? Well, why don't I do that for myself?

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josiah Novak]

You know?

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Josiah Novak]

I tell my son, go do 75 hard, bro. I'd be like, hey, man, let's just clean up the nutrition. Let's get a quick pump in. Let's go for a walk in the sun. Let's get a little extra hour of sleep. Go to bed a little earlier. You still got to get up early, but let's just go to bed earlier. Like, bro, treat yourself like you would the person you love the most.

[Shawn French]

Love it, man. Love it. Before we end the show, man, I want you to talk about the three M's. It's a big pillar of your, of your program and how you lead me and your other clients. Talk to the audience about what the three M's are and how you implement it.

[Josiah Novak]

Dude. Yeah, for sure. No gatekeeping here, guys. Like, this is. This is the foundation to what we do. So I'll hold nothing back. At the end of the day, I think fitness should be simple. That's something I think goes for anything in your life that you're really aiming for total greatness and accomplishment. Complications slow down the process. So I don't want anybody feeling like fitness requires a lot of hoops to jump through and obstacles to overcome at times. I know looking at your fitness goals feels like you're at the bottom of Mount Everest looking up, going, I can't even see the, how am I going to get up there? Right? Well, this is how you do it. You have a very simple system that allows for repetition and consistency. The 3M system is where we find that. And the first part of that is called movement. And it's really simple, man. Like, you need to adopt a movement based lifestyle and you don't have to do the peloton, you don't have to do the step mill, unless of course, you want to and you enjoy that and you have the time for it and it's something you get pleasure out of. But most guys that I work with, like Sean, you know, dude, at the end of the day, our two legs are a cardio machine. You know, we try to incorporate walking when possible. If I was having a meeting with Sean and it wasn't a podcast, I didn't need to be focused and super locked in. And we're just having a quick chat, I might pull out my walking pad and just knock out a couple thousand steps over a 30 minute period while I'm talking to him, right? If we were in person and we were talking business and we wanted to just chat, I'd say, why don't we just go grab a quick walk and talk while we're, while we're strolling along, right? My wife and I, tonight, we're going on a date night. The first thing we're doing, she's got to do a little bit of shopping. So we're gonna go to the mall. I'm gonna go knock out like 3,000 steps, bro. Walking around for 45 minutes, right? So movement is pillar number one. Most people don't realize how sedentary they truly are, how much movement you need to do, how we get it done, that's dependent on your schedule, your life, your goals, right? That's where we get accustomed with it. But you can experiment and just start walking more. That's number one. So easiest pillar in my eyes is movement. Number two is muscle. Now, everybody needs muscle. I don't care if you're a 99 year old grandfather or a 25 year old dude who wants to impress chicks at the beach, right? You need muscle. So muscle is what's going to elevate your metabolic capacity. So when you carry more muscle, when you have more on your frame, your body burns more calories. Not to mention when you lose body fat, you want to look good, right? So you got to carry some muscle. We're not talking about cartoonish superhero Hulk status. Even though, man, if that's your thing, like, dude, I'm not going to stop. But it's really hard. So, you know, good luck with it. It's, you know, muscle is, is looked at in some cases as like, I don't want too much of it. Dude, you don't, you don't have to worry about that, right? Like, you typically carry the leaner you look, right? So muscle though, is not something that needs to be done every day, right? The muscle pillar needs to be checked off with. Like we talked about earlier, smart training. Three to four times a week, sometimes less. If that's all you got time for, sometimes more. If you are addicted to the gym, which is totally cool, but done in a smart way that prevents injury, that builds strength and muscle maintenance or addition over time, okay? Focusing mostly on movements that allow you to train more than one muscle group in one exercise, using machines, using dumbbells, using safe ways to accomplish the same goal, right? That's pillar number two. Second easiest pillar in my opinion. Third, and arguably the hardest pillar. Just because we're surrounded by it 24,7 is meals our food strategy. You know, you think about how often we eat, even if we only ate twice a day, well, that's easily more, you know, double what we do workout wise, right? I mean, nobody goes to the gym. I would say, who has? Who's got a normal schedule twice a day? So we're just eating more than we're training. So naturally there's going to be more opportunities for us to screw up. And I'd say they're more than anything else. There's so many theories around nutrition that it can be really confusing for guys. Like, oh, do I cut my carbs? Am I allowed to eat after six? Do I fast? What's this testosterone diet? What's this carnivore diet? What's this? You know, it's endless, bro, I'm gonna give you hack right now. This is no, no gatekeeping whatsoever. There's only two things. And you can look this up. You can, you know, figure it out on your own if you want. But trust me, I've worked with thousands of guys, so I know it's true. There's two things you gotta master. Your calorie range and your protein range. Those two things, and what I mean by range is we gotta be in what I call it the bumper lanes with calories and protein. We gotta have a certain amount of calories that we need to eat just to live. And we don't want to go above a certain amount so that our body stays in fat burning mode. Right? Calorie devastating is a scientific term. Protein is the most important nutrient in the body. So we gotta get enough protein. You don't need to go crazy. You know, we're not talking buying your own cow and, and chickens and like, just eating chicken and, you know, steak around. Unless once again, that's your thing, I'm not gonna stop you. But protein needs to be managed. There's easy ways to do this without having to track all your calories. You know, the right coach and the right system will set that all up for you. But once you figure it out, man, it's on autopilot, right? So you get those three pillars dialed in, your movement muscle, you're eating right amount of calories and the right amount of protein or within range, right? You don't have to be the same every day. You'd be surprised at how quickly your body changes. And not to mention how hard it is to lose all your progress if you stick to that script long term, right? Because, man, it's three simple things, all right? I gotta move certain amount, gotta lift a few days a week, gotta stay within range of my calories 80 to 90% of the time. Then I can get away with a little bit of the fun stuff here and there. It's like, I don't know, it feels kind of like what I was doing before, except just slightly, slightly tighter. And all of a sudden, I'm getting way more results. Yeah, right. Because that's the truth, bro. Like, most people don't realize they're on the edge of maintenance pretty much all the time, right? They're, like, slightly above maintenance in terms of adding weight. So they just add a little bit every year, right? And they look back and they're like, crap, man. I gained another four pounds this year. Not a lot of weight, but over the course of 10 years, that's £40 exactly. But the flip side of that. So this is the famous phrase. You are the problem, but you're also the solution, which is awesome. You go, all right, I have this little problem here, but if I just provide a slight solution, all of a sudden I'm dipping in the other direction. And then the results are starting to spiral because you're consistently just a little bit better than maintenance, and that elevates the results very fast. Right? So on the surface, people are like, why do people pay for coaching if it's so simple? Well, because ultimately, you're not paying for the information that I just gave. You're paying for the implementation, you're paying for the accountability. You're paying for the tweaks and the structure and the customization and all that fun stuff. Right? But, man, that is the framework that has helped. I don't even know. I mean, thousands of guys at this point. But speaking from experience, I hate complicated stuff. I hate stuff that makes me feel like, man, I gotta change everything about my life. I gotta eat around the clock, you know? Yeah, none of that works long term, so let's just keep it simple and sexy, dude. Like, that's it.

[Shawn French]

Love it, man. Dude, audience, I hope you got so much out of today. You need to hit my boy up. Hey, real quick, where can they find you? I put in the notes, but go ahead and tell them.

[Josiah Novak]

Well, I have my own podcast. It's called the True Transformation Podcast. Outside of that, if you're on social media, there's two main platforms that we consistently put out new information. That's Instagram at Josiah Fitness and YouTube. If you go to YouTube.com TrueTransform, we put out one or two high High quality information videos per week on how to transform your life permanently using fitness. But yeah, no, I appreciate you having me on, man. And I'm looking forward to having you on my show as well. So we can talk shop about self improvement, your journey, and all the things you help people with as well.

[Shawn French]

Dude, I can't wait, man. I can't wait to go on this journey with you, Jack. To have you in the network as well and building your show and getting your show out to many, many more people so they can learn from you. So again, man, thank you so much. Audience. Whatever you guys got out of today, just understand that there is support here. Reach out to my friend, you know, at Josiah Fitness and he can help you along the way. And look, you know, the other thing that I need you guys to understand is if you are moving towards something and you are doing the best you can and you're implementing something daily, then I need you guys to give yourself some grace. Literally give yourself some grace and just understand that we're all trying to figure things out. You may be so good in an area that I struggle in. So you have a gift. So give your gift to somebody else so somebody can give their gift to you and get you on track. So without further ado, thank you guys so much. Share this episode with someone that you care about. Until next time, stay determined.

[Unknown Artist]

Sir French, what up? This one 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 time I'll be working Just know I'mma go for mine cause I earned it they watch and I know it's time I confirmed it the whole society determined determine.