How Fitness Shapes Our Confidence, Consistency, and Well-Being with Marcus Gates

Angie: It's always fun to see what your guests do, and you put a little rock and roll on on a Monday morning, hello everybody, and welcome to no more Mondays, the show where we believe in three important facts, humans still matter. Mediocrity is expensive, and ownership changes everything. I am your host as always, Angie Callen, and today, we're really leaning into that mediocrity is expensive in many, many ways, because we are talking about something us, something that most of us think we figured out, but we don't follow through on very well, and that is taking care of ourselves today, I am joined by Marcus gates, a fitness coach who, yes, helps people get stronger physically.

But what I am more interested in is what that physical strength leads us to because at the end of the day, it isn't always just about workouts and nutrition. Is it about the discipline, the consistency, the energy and the stamina, all of that focus gives us to show up as an amazing whole person, mind, body and spirit in our world. So get ready, because today we are talking about why we know what we need to do, but don't always do it. So that we can give you a little inspiration to get back to the habits that fuel all of you.

Marcus, welcome to no more Mondays. Thank Unknown: you for having me. What. What a wonderful introduction.

I don't think I need to be here. You just killed it. Angie: Okay, cool. You want to have like, a four second episode and we'll just play rock and roll for the next 27 minutes.

That's perfect. Sounds about good. So Marcus is part of the unconference family. For those of you regular listeners, we kind of have a streak going on, and so we have gotten to sit down human to human, break bread together and chat all about things, from macros to the existential reason for living on this planet, which is why I'm excited to get into this, because I already know a little of your perspective here, and appreciate the fact that fitness and nutrition are a big component of really That kind of full, thriving life, right?

And I feel like, let's start with the fitness piece, though, because that can oftentimes be foundational, right? It's one of those things that nobody is really confused. We all know the basics of it, yet there's still a gap between what we know we should do and what we actually do. Why do you think that gap exists for so many people.

Unknown: Oh, man, because life's not easy, right? Like not life doesn't stop so that you can figure out your health, or so you can figure out a fitness routine. Most people are feel like they need to be perfect. Feel like it needs to be five days a week or none at all.

It's that all or nothing mindset and and some of that is wired as as a child in some way, shape or form, right? And some of it is we were almost, almost top fear against fitness. It could have been your PE teacher as elementary school student. It could have been how your mom and dad talked about fitness and how they felt about it.

They might have talked about it as a punishment, and now you're having to fight through that obstacle just to even be open to making it happen. But I mean, life is hard, and again, it's, it's not easy, right? Even for somebody who loves fitness, I don't always necessarily want to work out. It's more about, why do I need to be working out?

What's it going to give me even just an hour later, once I get done with it, how much better do I feel because of it? Angie: Yeah, it's, it's interesting, because life's hard, but I think that we make it harder, right? And we complicate it when it doesn't have to be. Because how much better do you feel if you just do the thing?

It's starting the thing that is often hard, and you hit on something that I hadn't, I hadn't thought about necessarily in the context of where I thought we might take this conversation. But you know, the that belief system around fitness, movement, food that you acquire as a young person really impacts your perspective on it now. And if you are somebody in their 40s that you grew up in the low fat era, you grew up in the Kate Moss era. And for any of you that met me in person, I ain't looking like Kate Moss.

It doesn't matter how low my macros are, right? And so it gave us, I think, an unhealthy expectation of what we would need to do, what fit looks like, and that idea that it's either you're either perfect or you're not doing it at all. Unknown: Yep, yep, 100% Angie: How do we change that stigma in our heads? Unknown: I mean, that's a there's so many different ways to kind of go about answering that.

I mean, from, from my approach, right? It's continuous conversations, right? It's reflections. It's realizations that somebody has, at least within, like my coaching practice, right?

It's, it's that constant reflection that we do, and that's a piece of, like, my check in process with clients, and oftentimes they might come to me for body composition goals, right? That's, that's a the kind of bread and butter for why people are kind of showing up and reaching out to me. But ultimately, when we get into the weeds of things, we start uncovering, you know, and pulling back those onion layers of figuring out some of this, either trauma we have with some stuff as a child or as a teen or even in our 20s, or whatever the case is, but, but, yeah, it's honestly.

Through honest and transparent conversations and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, vulnerable enough to be able to have those realizations. Angie: So notice that we kind of just skipped over fitness and went right to Marcus. We're going to talk about psychology, but they're so intertwined, and I love that you actually brought up the fitness thing, because I was having this conversation with a couple CrossFit friends recently. And when you like, when you go to anything that looks like, sounds like, or could even quack like, CrossFit, you get all of the content on social media, which, let's talk about mind bleeps, right?

Anyway, we were talking about the fitness competition thing, and you touched on something that came up in that conversation is that it isn't really there's something deeper than just, I want to have, you know, every stringy muscle shown so I can win the trophy going on there. And I'm curious what you see some of those patterns are, whether it's somebody really vying for, you know, an NPC kind of title, or somebody just trying to be fit. Like, what are some of those patterns that you see are common in the people that you work with.

Unknown: So the people I work with, they're not, they're not extreme athletes, like I don't train bodybuilders that. That's what the metals are on my wall for my own fitness journey, and that mine's a whole separate side of things. We can get into that, of course, as well. Angie: But that is a whole different ball game.

Unknown: Oh, yeah, 100% and that's a that's a level extreme that most people are never going to do, and most people don't really need that. For me, it really served me in my life. Served me with building my brand and whatnot. But that's, that's not who I like working with.

I don't, I don't get Nestle, you know, joy from coaching competitors, and I have before, but I don't get the joy from that, right? I Angie: imagine, for you, it was a little bit like it was forcing discipline, proving yourself right. It was almost like a self a self imposed goal. It just Yeah, we don't always need that extreme version of it in order to get the benefits of something like it.

100% Unknown: those were definitely components of it. The other components were, I was an athlete all my life. Played college baseball. I needed a competitive outlet.

I knew baseball was going to end at some point, and that was my transition into still a competitive outlet I knew would serve me for the rest of my life, just building a strong foundation, being fit, being strong never hurts anybody. It opens more doors and it shuts right and then on the flip side of that, like I grew up smaller, you know, I was, I'm five six, like I knew I wasn't going to grow very tall, but I knew if I was going to try to turn heads when I walked into room and feel like I had a presence, I had to grow a little wider, get a little stronger, be a little leaner, whatever the case is, right?

So mine was kind of those multiple tiers with it. But yeah, those who I serve like they want just a better quality of life, right? Like they haven't enjoyed vacation because they don't like getting dressed to go to the beach, right? So if we can give somebody just that win of just feeling confident and go, go and enjoy life without being tethered by a lack of confidence or gut issues or anything that's holding them back from a health standpoint.

How can we kind of break down those barriers to give them that freedom to to again, live a thriving life Angie: well? And I lovely to me that ties back to something that you said earlier about the perfection thing, and that is to actually make this a substantial life change versus, like, flash in the pan, ie, the fitness version of cold turkey that nobody else can stick with. And so like, for instance, let me just tell you who we're talking to. This guy eats donuts on Easter right?

I appreciate that. And so to me, it's like, how do you actually make this an integrated fitness, fitness and taking care of yourself an integrated aspect of life? Because you know, whether you are a leader, whether you are, you know, running a business or an entrepreneur, there's a certain level of stamina that has to come when you're out like a high achiever, and so that can be that disconnect, right? Unknown: Definitely, Oh, definitely, definitely, 100% and I love that you brought up the the donut post that I just made, you know, the other day, and whatnot, because that is something where most people, they'd be like, Oh, I can't have that.

Like, I'm fully cutting out sugars, I'm fully cutting out breads, I'm fully cutting out whatever. And some people from a health issue need, right? They might have to do that for certain medical reasons or dietary, you know, sensitivity, stuff that nature, but for the average person that doesn't have those massive restrictions, they will restrict that way and say, I will never eat this, or I can't have this. And once you say you can't do something, that's all you can think about, and that's all you can crave.

You can only go so long with saying no, we're saying no, we're saying no, and eventually you say yes once, and now opens the floodgates to it, and you're like, Oh, I've already said once. Who cares if I do again today or tomorrow? I'll figure it out on Monday. And that's how we get stuck in that cycle of always starting on on on Mondays.

And that's actually perfect, because no more Mondays, right? Yes, Angie: yes. And I'm a totally a Monday starter. Also, side note, should we talk?

Should we shall we have the therapy session about breaking the Cadbury mini eggs bender? No, let's move on. Unknown: But yeah, so it's that no more Mondays mindset, though, right? It's Hey, if you have a fun meal on Wednesday or you have a celebration, it's just get back on track to.

Next day. It's control, the controllables, and that's what I try to tattoo science, right? Is, is, again, life is not going to stop so that we can figure out our health, whether that's a fitness component, a nutrition component, or a mental health component as well, right? It's we're building it as we fly, and we're doing it while it's messy.

And we're not going to be perfect, and I'm not going to be perfect, even in my bodybuilding prep, I'm not going to be perfect. I'm going to be 99% perfect, right? But that's a whole different level of extreme. We're aiming for consistency.

And one of the metrics that I look for as signs of progress in somebody isn't just what the scale is doing or their progress pictures or their digestion or some of those internal pieces, right? It's if you used to always struggle with you fall apart on Wednesday and say, I'll start again on Monday. If those occurrences become fewer and further between, less severe when you fall off, less mentally, kind of emotionally wrecking to some extent, where then we're just actively sabotaging ourselves because we're so angry or upset.

If we can start minimizing that, reducing the frequency and reducing the severity, in my opinion, that's the biggest amount of progress we can make because we're doing that. Then the body composition, the weight loss, or the gut is like, whatever our goals are, from a health standpoint, will all alleviate if we can do that side of things. Angie: Yeah, and it's, it really isn't complicated, but I'm curious if you feel like people over complicate fitness as a way to avoid doing something that is ultimately very simple.

Unknown: I 100% think so. And again, like, if I told somebody, Hey, go walk for 10 minutes, they'd be like, what's the impact that's going to take or going to make? And my answer to that is, you're not making time for exercise right now that is simply making the time. The win is simply that you just put it on your calendar and said, I'm going to do this, and then you follow through on the 10 minutes.

Is that 10 minutes walking going to change your life, not today, but if that evolves into 20 minutes, into 30 minutes into now I'm showing up at the gym and then, or whatever that looks like, right? Doesn't have to be an actual, traditional gym setting, but as long as you're start making the time that will evolve, you stay consistent with it, because eventually 10 minutes, you're like, oh, 10 minutes. I'm actually enjoying my walk. I'm gonna do 15 a day, and then that turns 20, and then it just snowballs from there.

But most people discredit the small little changes. Right? Small hinges move big doors. So if we just start making those small little changes, and especially if we start stacking them with the Angie: very Unknown: manageable, feasible expectations, then that's how we can really build a ton of momentum.

Right? Angie: Anybody out there who's going to go, they're going to talk about habit stacking. Sorry, we're not talking about the atomic habits version. I actually think the fitness, the fitness, or the movement aspect of habit stacking is where you actually see the difference and it becomes maintainable.

And I think you're, you're what you were saying about, like, if you fall off the wagon on Wednesday, and then you wait all the way until Monday to start again, if you could just make that, okay, wait, I'm not going to fall off until Thursday. Yeah. And then Thursday becomes Friday. You inch yourself there, instead of trying to make these, like, giant, broad scope things.

And I'll, I'll give you, this is actually, I think, a personal story I maybe have never shared here, because we don't talk about fitness enough directly. Even though physical activity and outdoor stuff is huge part of my life, I wasn't always able to do it. And so I, you know, I have struggled with, I am a short little thing, and I have struggled with, you know, weight my, my whole life, and even though I've always been, like, active, I played sports when I was younger, my fitness journey has very much been stacking, right?

And I got to a point where I finally was fit enough to start doing the next level of, like, outdoor activities. Did that happen overnight? Actually? No.

It took about probably five years to get to the point that I was like, hmm, I think I'm ready to get on a mountain bike at age 42.8 after a very big failed attempt 13 years earlier. Right? And so you can also, like, really, put yourself into an exciting and advantageous position.

If you do control it, you can control and focus on consistency over that, like zero or one situation of I'm either doing it or I'm not doing it. Unknown: Yeah, yeah. 100% it's just, it's just making the choice to just start right and then, and then just keep that, that party going. And I think a lot of people, they wait till they're motivated, and they totally rely on motivation.

And the biggest flaws in people is relying on that motivation. Don't get wrong. It's amazing. When we have it, we wake up and we're just feel ready to go conquer the day.

That's an incredible feeling, but it's fleeting, and it's going to ebb and flow, and it's not always going to be there. So if you only show up on the days you actually feel like showing up, then you're never going to go, right? If you don't like going to the gym, you're never going to go, if you're waiting on this motivation, and if you do, that's why you showed up once and didn't show it showed up against the next three months or three years, right? So it's just a matter of, what breeds more motivation is action, right?

Is simply just taking the action, and as soon as you think of something like, I'm a huge fan of like act, act with urgency, as soon as you think about it, right? So if you think I should go do the dishes. Right? Instead of pushing off to tomorrow, just go knock it out.

And you're like, hey, that took me two minutes. I would have, I would have spent 10 minutes just stressing about how I'm going to go do it instead, if I go act. So if we just act with some urgency and just do things instead of procrastinating it, then it becomes less of a it doesn't weigh us down, right? So Angie: glad you.

You brought the word to the party. Procrastination. Procrastination, people, okay, get ready. This could be earth shattering for some of you.

Procrastination is not a time management problem. It is a psychological one, and you just gave the perfect example of you will create more anxiety for yourself in the 10 minutes trying to decide if you should do the dishes than in the seven minutes of doing them. And if the same thing comes to this fitness thing, because if I tie back to a piece of, you know, my journey, I used to have a really hard time. I kind of did the motivation thing right, and I had a hard time being consistent and self motivated to consistently be active, like if I didn't have a place to go where a bunch of friends were going to ask me if I had ask me if I didn't show up, I wasn't going to a gym.

And now I can get myself to actually go downstairs and throw on some kettle bells at 6pm occasionally, that is like a drastic mentality shift that did take time to get there, but I never would have had I not allowed, you know, had I had I not leaned into motivation more so than just like that consistency. And so here's where I want to go from here, because I love what you talked about around like the take actions, right? The confidence that we build through the fitness and the physical totally bleeds over.

And we started this conversation from a fitness angle, which is obviously a big focus, but we were also talking beforehand about how, like, how we treat our fitness and our physical body is oftentimes an indicator of how we look at our overall self worth. And so I want to talk to you. I want to talk a little bit more about, like, how this bleeds over, and how this goes into kind of, like, our overall well being. Unknown: Yeah, that sounds great.

Let's do it Angie: cool. So what's your perspective on that? So, like the, let's say that what is the link between? So if we, if we talk about whole mind, body, spirit, what do you see as the link between physical and nutritional, self care and overall self worth, well being and mental health?

Unknown: I think that the two words that come to mind right off the bat when you ask that, are you take pride in yourself and you respect yourself when you're doing those things, then that bleeds into other aspects of life, if I'm showing up for my physical health, if I'm being proactive with my physical health and that and that, when I say physical health, I also mean nutrition. Like, are you? Are you doing what you need to do to be proactive for your health this week. Are you planning ahead?

Are you laying out your gym clothes? Are you meal prepping? Are you grocery shopping in enough time? Most people are entering every Monday in total survival mode.

They said they're going to start on Monday, but they're entering in survival mode, and then it's just the same cycle they get stuck in, which Angie: means that it's Tuesday, but Tuesday is not Monday, so they can't start yet exactly, Unknown: exactly, and so it's a matter of being proactive. But like I said, it's the self respect and that, that pride that one takes themselves if I'm doing what I said I would do, and not because I necessarily want to, but because I know I need to, and because I know that I want the benefits that it will bring me.

I know that that's undeniable. We all know the benefits that will come from that. It's just a matter of, are we going to do the work to really see the benefits actually roll in? So yeah, I would say pride and self respect are, are some links that happen with that.

Angie: I think that's very, that is a very, very app. That's an apt summary. Because the other thing I want to bring to the table here is this idea that like you get what you focus on. And so if you don't focus on your overall health, you're going to leave it up to chance or someone else.

Unknown: Yep, yep, 100% you know where the mind goes, the body flows, right? And so we want to be careful of the words we say to ourselves as well. I'm huge on, you know, I was an elementary school PE teacher as well, and I would hear the kids and how they would talk about health and fitness or eating, right? And they would oftentimes share what their parents said about it, right, whether that was intentional, unintentional, whatever.

And so it's just wild that, you know, how parents even talk about health and fitness or whatever would usually dictate their child's kind of thoughts around it, and we all do that to ourselves. Right? The stories we tell ourselves, Angie: whether Unknown: they're they're actually accurate and correct or not, they become accurate and correct because that's the story we're telling ourselves. If we constantly just reaffirm I hate exercising, and again, it doesn't have to be with weights.

It could be hiking, it could be mountain biking, it could be surfing. Doesn't matter, but if we talk about a negative context, then it's always going to feel like a punishment, right? Angie: So Unknown: it's just all these little pieces to just rewire our brains. Angie: Yeah, we talk a lot about belief systems here, and it's an inch this is an interesting, really specific concept to bring to the conversation, and you.

Because, because of those belief systems that we build as as young people and oftentimes carry forward without ever really looking and evaluating. And I'm curious, and I'm actually asking this question for parents out there, what are some of those narratives that you see happening at a young age that we should be conscious of as older people and adults not to pass on, Unknown: yeah. And so I also have a toddler home as well. And so I'm pretty Angie: which I actually was going to add to the fact that, by the way, like walk the walk, talk the talk, because this guy's got a three year old.

He takes golfing regularly. So Unknown: this so between that and then, and then, you know, I taught preschool for a couple years, alongside Elementary School PE for about seven years and so, yeah, lots of experience with kids before my own. But like, something I'm always cognizant of, especially around the nutrition setting, is I'm never going to say, like, if my wife offers me a bite of something, I'm not going to say, Oh, I don't like that. I'm going to give it a try, just because I want to reaffirm that.

Right. What I was going to talk about with my clients as well, especially those with children, is, envision your child all of a sudden being 30 years old. What life do you want them to lead? Do you want with fitness?

Do you want them to be fearful of going to a gym? Do you want them to be fearful of going to the beach because they don't feel confident enough in their in their bodies, or whatever it is? Right? Do you want them to struggle with constant binge eating or stress eating, because we have unregulated emotions like picture of that is that the story that you want to you want to see from your child when they actually become an adult.

And 99.9% of parents, or if not 100% would say that's definitely not what I want. Okay? Then why are we emulating that?

That's exactly what you're teaching, right? You're going to tell them do it differently, but they're only going to do what you do. We all as children? I'm sure you could say the same.

Thing is we either grew up to be just like our parents, whether we want to or not, or we exactly Angie: not Unknown: want that we in spite of them, we complete opposite direction. Anybody wants to hear that their child's going to go opposite in spite of them, unless they just are living a very unhealthy life, and they know it, but they don't care about making a difference or making a change. So, yeah, I think, I think that's what it is, right? Is just lead by example with that.

And if you want, if you would love them, to be confident and like a superhero, then become that superhero for them and do it for yourself too. You also get Angie: it. And Unknown: now they're not going to have to grow up and become 30 years old and say, Hey, Marcus, I need help, because I didn't learn this when I was a kid. You know, Angie: modeled behavior is a powerful thing, and it isn't only for who you're modeling for.

It can oftentimes be a great example for yourself. Yeah, Unknown: yeah, and you're going to get the benefit from it. And oftentimes, when you start taking care of yourself, and I'm sure anybody who's ever started making lifestyle changes, they see that that domino effect it has, and the lives they touch with it, or the people they inspire, whether they know it or not, they're inspiring them, even if you don't have kids at home, your co workers, your friends, your families, if you're making more of a concerted effort to take care of yourself, and then you're seeing results because of it.

You're a more vibrant person, a more thriving person, right? That bleeds out into other people, and then you're now, now the impact spreads. And you might not have gotten it to change anybody else's life, but it happens because you change your life, and that's a healthy benefit to it, right? Angie: Absolutely.

And just think about, you know, the the energy, it's such a full full circle, right? Like the energy that you have to be able to do more, to impact more, to work better, more efficiently, and all of it just becomes this really, really beautiful cycle and and I think it's just so interesting, because the I want to go back to what you said about, like the stacking, and it does really build confidence. Because my book scary good discovering life beyond the Sunday scaries that I actually did not just pull up and show, which I usually do if you've read it.

You know this, if you have not read it, teaser, go read it. But chapter 11 is all about building confidence through action, and that chapter was one of the ones that I wrote just as much for myself as I did for everyone else, because in the real time of writing the book, I realized that's what I was doing, and for me, it was pushing myself physically built confidence in other areas of life, and I literally did not realize that's what was going on until I wrote about it. However, learning to, you know, learning to ski after snowboarding for 20 years at 41 right?

You prove to yourself that you can still maybe bounce a tiny bit, but that you can overcome something that is physically but also mentally hard, same with mountain biking or being able to hike further. And it's so interesting how each physical milestone I would unlock gave me some sort of overall confidence to do things in other areas of life. And that's what I feel like people are missing out on 100% Unknown: I think that's as a coach, those are my favorite message I get from clients.

Yes, the physical transformations are amazing, and that's easily postable, like on social media for marketing purposes, stuff that nature. And it is nice to see that, but it's the other change that happened with it. It's the people that they thrived at. Work, because now they have energy, they have confidence, they they put themselves out there more, and now they're getting promotions, or they're leaving their business to go start the or leaving their their job to go start the business that they've wanted to because now they have the confidence, the energy, that be like they accomplish one thing, what's the next thing?

Or it's, I mean, right now, I can think of somebody who just messaged me earlier this week, who's going on dates after dropping 100 pounds like a year ago, he was not asking people on dates. He was not putting himself out there. But now, whether those dates happen or not, or they follow through to be anything amazing, the fact he's putting himself out there is an amazing feat, and that wouldn't have happened if he hadn't started showing up with the basic pillars of health in his life and really making those daily concerted investments in it.

And then again, he had 100 pounds to lose, right? And in order to get into a healthy spot. And so that debts, that's not going to happen overnight. It was a it was an evolution of time.

And the gym was not something he loved, you know, year and a half ago, when first started together, but now it's something he looks forward to. And now he's like, I just hit my fourth straight week. Straight week of five workouts in a week like, now he's looking forward to that, but that's bleeding into his career, his relationships, things that nature. And that's one of, you know, hundreds of different stories like that, but I think that's my favorite.

Is exactly what you're saying, the confidence that taking pride in ourselves and showing up for ourselves, you know, bleeds into other aspects of life. Angie: Hashtag, why we coach and you actually maybe just started answering this question without knowing it. But I would love to give everybody out there just a few suggestions on, what can we start doing to prioritize our overall well being, whether it's fitness, whether it's nutrition, right? Some things that we can do to prioritize ourselves so we can show up better across the board.

What are some practical tools and tips? Unknown: Okay, so the first thing that comes to mind is think about, I'm sure anybody listening to this is somewhat productive in the workspace, whether it's their own business or career, whatever, right? And I'm sure that most of them have some sort of a to do list, a calendar, some sort of system that keeps them organized to show up and not miss appointments, to show up and not miss meetings, or, you know, phone calls with the clients, or whatever the case is, whatever your system is, add your health to that same system.

If you're not missing a doctor's appointment, or if you're not missing a meeting with your boss, then whatever your system was to not miss that, put your workouts into that same system, put your grocery shopping or your meal prep. How can we systematize some of those things? And I think that as a baseline is what I always strive for all clients to be able to build, is, let's build a system that doesn't just work for you during the the easy season. Hey, work is slower.

I'm going to build a system for this. No, because then as soon as soon as you get to the hard season, you're not built for that. Your system does not, you know, work for that. So my advice, I think, is to build a system that serves you on the hardest season, and if you can have a healthy baseline during the worst weeks of your year, then the best weeks be amazing and feel absolutely no, restriction, right?

It's going to be foot on the gas pedal and just going full tilt. But then the harder weeks, you're no longer falling off and having to start over. You're just treading water, maintaining continuity where you can, how you can, and then that eradicates the always feeling like you're having to start over and stay in second cycle for decades, often for a lot of people. So I think it's building that system, and in terms of the actual, you know, specifics there, that's individualized, right?

Like some people are going to be, I like cooking. That's never a struggle, but it is the exercise, or whatever. But I think again, folding it into the system that already other aspects of life, that's a baseline piece. Angie: Yeah, it becomes a priority, right?

So when we say, what are some things you can prioritize. Prioritize it? Yes, and I've even seen, I've like, I'll give you an example. I've seen people that I know work with Marcus, and they will have their little social media posts of a nice yellow pad of paper, and it has like 30 boxes on it, and every day they're checking one off.

And it's just a movement goal. It's not even necessarily, I went did a really hard workout today. It's just, I moved my body. Unknown: I made time for this, right?

I Angie: made time for it. Unknown: Yeah, yeah, exactly 100% it's exactly that. It's just, it's just get started wherever your current baseline is. Let's just look to evolve that 1% each week.

But you mentioned the word priorities, and it's almost like a trigger word for me, because somebody says, Oh, I'm going to prioritize my health. Prioritize my health. But then, but then, why is the health piece of it at the bottom of the list it? Why Angie: was it never, not a priority, Unknown: exactly.

And it's a may do, right? It's, it's where, like, I always recommend, hey, front load your work week with, ideally, your workouts. If you want to get three workouts in, bust out the first one as early as you can in the week, so that it's not Thursday or Friday, and you're like, Well, I guess I gotta be. I gotta finish perfect and go the next three days front load it, because then it's not weighing you down.

You don't feel like you're behind. Same thing with, hey, get ahead on your water intake. If we're trying to drink a gallon of water, or 90 ounces, or whatever our baseline goal is, don't start doing that at 6pm start at the. Angie: Also, because you're not going to sleep very well, oh god, there's another conversation we can have.

But also, you're not going to sleep very Unknown: well. That's where I think again, like it's just a matter of just making time for these various things, like the pillars of health are, are going to be, you know, nutrition, fitness, sleep, stress management. Those are kind of the main four ones. Obviously, some sort of reflection, so that we can reflect on those four buckets social would be there.

I mean, there's multiple other pillars, right? But those are kind of the main ones that I'm going to be focusing on. And if we can start putting, you know, pouring into those cups a little bit more and more, then again, it's just this momentum that continues to build, and you feel better each time you're making the daily investments. And that facilitates more of that.

Angie: All right? So if somebody out there is, if somebody out there needs to help with a little momentum, how do they find you and all the amazing things you do to support people Unknown: Wonderful? Well, reach out to Angie. That's one option, and she can pass it and connect us, but otherwise, thriving lives, fitness, calm, thriving lives, fitness on Instagram.

You can also find me on LinkedIn as well. I'm the most, most busy on Instagram and Facebook. Angie: Yes, very active on Instagram, and you can find him through all of my connections. And obviously we'll add this stuff in the show notes, because to me, everybody, I want you to know, this is super important.

And while we don't talk about fitness and nutrition on here regularly and like overtly, you'll hear me talk about like being physically active and doing things that get me tuned out of technology or disconnected and spend time with myself in the outdoors. And it's this is a really important aspect of overall performance. And like you said, Marcus, there's all these pillars of overall well being in our lives. But I like to attest that if you're not taking care of the physical vessel that you were given to do purposeful, meaningful work and connect with people in the world, you haven't done the foundational thing that's going to help you sleep well, manage stress, do work well, connect with others, build community, and all of the other things that stem from the foundation that is your physical well being Unknown: and you're And you're lessening the impact that you can be making.

And in my opinion, I see that as almost a way more selfish decision. You could make a greater impact on your loved ones, your friends, your family, or just other people out in the world, if you're taking better care of yourself, so stop Angie: being, start Unknown: taking care of yourself. Angie: How's that for some shame to end the episode? No, I'm just kidding, but it is true in a way, right?

Like, yeah, you're, you're keeping yourself from others, and that's like no way for anybody to live. And it's, and as we mentioned earlier, it really isn't complicated. It's very simple, really, if you allow it to Unknown: be, yeah, yeah. So I would say, you know, pick a couple small actions and then just, just commit to it, and then wake up tomorrow and make the same commitment, and then wake up the next day.

And then eventually that stuff becomes automatic, and then you're ready to go for the next Angie: addition to it. Yep. And since tomorrow is Tuesday, you can also prove that you could start a new habit when it is not Monday. So we don't need Mondays to start all of these things.

See, I am right. No more Mondays. Marcus, this is awesome. I love it.

As we close things out, I always like to give everybody a little last pearl of wisdom. And so this is kind of already in here, but we're going to make make you pull it out anyway, when we think about the world and there's so much changing, how do we humans stay human while navigating whatever is to come? Unknown: Repeat that. Sorry, I wasn't prepared for the question.

Angie: You totally zoned out on me. Didn't you see, by the way, live, live and unedited here, what is your number one tip on how humans can stay human, no matter what the world throws at us, Unknown: oh, uh, connect with one another, whatever that looks Angie: like. Humans still matter. People.

Humans don't matter. Mediocrity is expensive, and it starts with your physical health. So don't leave that to chance, and taking ownership of it will actually change everything. See that thing I read at the beginning actually has applicability to the conversations that we have here on no more Mondays.

Marcus gates, thank you for being part of the No More Mondays movement. Unknown: Thanks for the opportunity. Angie: There you have it. Everybody a conversation about fitness and how that aligns with your overall well being and ability to impact this world.

Thank you again, Marcus gates, for joining us today. For all of you out there, if you need some inspiration or you need some actual help prioritizing your health, reach out to Marcus. His info is in the show notes, and if this conversation hit home, share it with somebody else who needs to hear it, because this is the kind of stuff that Marcus and I are out here to do to make sure you are the impactful human on purpose that we know you can be as always. Thank you for being part of the No More Mondays movement, and until next time here, here is to Holy cow, I can't even talk.

Here's to fewer Sunday scaries and no more Mondays. Marcus, we did it. We did it. See you next week, everybody.

You.