Functional Bodybuilding - Marcus Filly

People comment on my social media periodically like, oh man, you just get to train and work out all day. Um I mean that might be the that might be the public perception because I post like four Instagram videos a day of me working out. I'm not sure why people can't make the connections like, okay, he filmed all that on one day and he's like spreading it out over the course of like three days. But I did set up my life in such a way to be able to do the thing that provides me the most inspiration and the most clarity around what I want.

Hey fitness fans, welcome back to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series. I'm your host, Eric Malzone, and we're on episode number 52 where I talk to Marcus Billy. So Marcus is a CrossFit Games athlete, he is a facility owner, he is an online coach, and he also sells online courses. So he has multiple revenue streams. And in my humble opinion, I believe he is exactly what the modern fitness professional looks like. Multiple revenue streams, very balanced, and he's on digital and he's got brick and mortar. So it's a really great conversation. And speaking of modern fitness professionals, if you haven't already, I want you to go check out our private Facebook group. It's called the Modern Fitness Pro. And if you are interested in being part of this conversation of what the future of the industry looks like from technology, digital marketing, best practices, you name it, this is the group you want to be in. So it is by application only. If you are accepted, you'll be part of the conversation with 2,000 fitness professionals from all over the world. And once again, it's called the Modern Fitness Pro on Facebook. So go check it out, please. So Marcus, his gym, Revival Strength in San Rafael, California, that's Northern California. Does a lot of remote coaching as well, not only CrossFit athletes, but general population and people of all ages. And he also has an online course called Functional Bodybuilding, which is really interesting. I actually use a lot of it in my own training, in my old man training program now because it keeps me healthy, keeps me functional, keeps me mobile, and I love it. So it's just a great balance of everything. But the biggest takeaway from Marcus, at least for me, was that like all great strength and conditioning coaches, he loves fitness and he embodies fitness. He can't get enough of it. You know, he has to be training. He talks about this training is the non-negotiable in his life. He has to be doing fitness. And I think that exudes, and people are really attracted to that from a coaching standpoint. And it's just a great discussion. So without further ado, let's get into it. This is Mr. Marcus Philly of Revival Strength and Functional Bodybuilding. Enjoy. Everybody, welcome back to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series today. I have a very special guest, which I say all the time, obviously. Marcus Philly. Marcus, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me on, and I love the I love the concept that you are uh promoting here on the show, for sure.

I appreciate it. I really do. Um so Marcus, I I know a lot about you. Uh, you know, I've been involved in Prospect and OPEX and you know a lot of the similar circles, right, that we swim in. Um but maybe for people who aren't, people are outside of those circles. Tell them who you are, kind of what you do, what you stand for within the industry. A little bit of that.

Sure, absolutely. Um I am um let's see, I started out in the fitness industry when I was pretty young, just doing my uh my own pursuit of fitness and determine, you know, finding for myself what the best way to train uh to feel good, look good, and just build confidence in myself. And um that really started when I was in my early teens, and that carried me all the way through college and post-college years, um, where I was pursuing a degree in molecular science, and uh really had this idea that I wanted to be a uh healthcare professional of some sort. Um so I spent a little bit of time, you know, pursuing traditional Western medicine, um, went to medical school for a year and a half until I decided to change my direction as uh in the healthcare industry to more health and fitness. And so I I I basically got into coaching um as a career path in 2009. And at that point, I um found CrossFit, shortly thereafter, I found OPEX. So these were two kind of you know big bodies in fitness that were uh educating people and getting people excited about training concepts and training methodologies, and so I started a path uh my my career path in which which I have today, which is coaching people in health and fitness around men. Um, and then somewhere along the way I stumbled across competitive CrossFit as a sport, and uh it literally kind of just fell into it. Um, and I became I I got relatively good at it uh and competed at the highest level and had a seven-year career of competing in fitness, uh which I stepped away from for the last couple of years.

And you're being modest, you know, relatively good. What was what were some of your best performances or uh end-of-season performances in CrossFit?

Um CrossFit, my uh I was on an affiliate team that took sixth place at the CrossFit Games. I was uh an individual competitor that finished 12th place in 2016 games, um, had a few top five finishes and events at the CrossFit Games, and uh also played grid, which was a you know a three-year sport that was alive and exciting for a little bit, but it was a team functional fitness league, and uh was on a championship team and in that league. So I had a few uh certainly some highlights along the way.

Awesome. Yeah. Um what sports did you play? I'm curious, before you got into CrossFit. What was your athletic background?

Um it really it bounced around a bunch of stuff, but really it landed on soccer and golf were like my core sports. Soccer was what I played in college, golf was the passion that I never pursued further. Um, but yeah, those are really my things.

Yeah. Do you still play golf?

I don't. It's uh unfortunately it's a sport that requires uh more time than I have to uh to dedicate right now, but um it's something that I know I'll pick up later on in life when I'm uh uh maybe things slow down a little bit.

Yeah, well when I swing through NordCal, I'll hit you up. I'll put you out there. Great, awesome, awesome. Uh so you know, I'm I'm really excited, not only because uh, you know, I've been a fan of you as an athlete for a long time, um uh but what you're doing with your business and your lifestyle. You know, there's a lot of people out there who are listening who are maybe just gym owners. Um not not I don't mean just gym owners, I mean like all they do is, you know, um their focus primary entire focus is their gym. Uh you've started to span outside of your four walls, right? Um primarily to create a lifestyle. Can you provide people um some insight into how you're doing that?

Well, uh maybe it's worth going back and providing a little uh the background on how it got to where it is today. Um, but I would say, you know, it was seven years, six years ago, seven years ago, I was, as I mentioned, I was competing in the sport of CrossFit, and I was I was looking for coaching to help elevate my skill set so that I could be the one of the most competitive, you know, athletes in the sport. And there wasn't anybody locally that I I trusted to do that. So I sought out a remote coach, somebody who lived in another state. So they lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. That's James Fitzgerald. Um, so I was getting coaching remotely, and I learned how deeply we could he could build a relationship with me as a client through Skype, uh, Zoom, uh internet, email. You know, I mean, I basically had somebody who I felt was my you know support person and didn't even live in the same state, which I was um one of the things I've always done is share very openly what my journey has looked like to, you know, uh my fan base, to people on social media, to people that read my blog, whoever was listening, I was sharing. And I shared a lot about my individual coaching experience with James and the training principles, et cetera, and very openly. And what that ultimately did was it had people reaching out to me for coaching. That they, I'm sure people reached out to James for coaching as a result of seeing what I was going going through. But many people were like, hey, I want you to coach me. And none of them lived near near me. I mean, I owned a gym and I was, you know, coaching crossway classes and getting group members through the through the doors. But people were like, I want to work with you, Marcus. And so I tried my hand at it for a little while, and you know, it was a nice little side business. I mean, my core business was still my gym, but I was developing these great relationships with people from all over the world, and uh it was really just something I I enjoyed doing, and it helped me, you know, enhance my the craft of designing programs and building relationships with people through different mediums like you know, uh, internet, social media, phone, tech text, etc. So fast forward a few years, um that business kept growing, and I kept seeing this, you know, this interest for me in like designing for individuals as opposed to writing group designs for my CrossFit uh gym. And um so the the business kind of went 50-50 for me. I was kind of earning my my living wage, you know, about half from my gym and half from my individual coaching business. And then and then my business, my my group fitness business and my partners and I, we just things kind of went in the direction we just all never wanted it to go, which was that we were gonna separate our business. We just I we we stopped sharing the same vision and core values, and I sold my half of the business uh because that was really the position I was in legally to, you know, with our partnership agreement. So here I was in 2016, just qualified for the CrossFit Games, and I was out of my coat of my CrossFit gym. And so my only revenue source for the next really 12 to 18 months, because that was my uh my non-compete you know buyout agreement, my my only revenue source that I could really work with was online coaching. So I started to really work online coaching individually, and then um and then from there, like you said, I uh I've kind of grown outside the walls of the gym. I I opened, I reopened the gym, uh reopened a training facility, focused on individual design, continued to grow this remote coaching business with other coaches on staff. And then uh additionally, I started to put out I started to put out a templated program that introduced people to you know the training concepts that I've gotten really passionate about over the last two years, which is like functional bodybuilding. People have been purchasing that. Um and somewhere in there, there's also a supplement company that sells uh mostly direct to consumer online. So yeah, you're right, like lots of different um pieces to the puzzle happening.

Yeah, that's incredible. Uh and I love functional bodybuilding, just for the record. I mean, I um you know I don't train um as frequently as I used to, but when I do, uh I go in and I do functional bodybuilding. It just seems to make sense for me. I feel good after, you know, I don't feel broken all the time for sure. So my question for you when it comes to the online coaching, have you purposely or consciously developed like what your ideal client is in that space, or or is people or a certain type of people attracted to you which has dictated that? Give me some insight into who you like to work with or who you who you prefer to work with.

You know, it's uh I used to think like, okay, there's gonna be some type of client that's gonna pop up that you know, the person that really wants to compete in CrossFit, okay, I'm gonna love, you know, it's gonna become clear who that type of person is. And the reality is that I love working with people who really want to like who have the same passion for the journey of fitness that I brought to my training and my relationship with James. It was it's really that that uh somebody who is truly looking for a guide, a relationship, and is ready to put in the time and the energy that suits a remote coaching relationship for me the best. I, you know, somebody who's like 60% compliant on their Fitbot and like only fills out some of their you know notes and uh misses consultations, like I don't care how much they're paying me, that just doesn't make me feel good as a coach and it doesn't really fulfill me. Um and so I I don't there's you know I don't get enough from it, I don't think they get enough from it. That's not the ideal clientele. That person could literally be somebody who does two workouts a week and their goal is to you know hike the Alps in the summer and they're 65 years old, which I have people like that. And or they could be the person that might actually make the CrossFit games this year. Um, you know, I I I just I don't really I've gotten to a point now where I'm you know my systems and my process and my efficiency around all the elements that go into remote coaching, from consultations to assessments to program design to nutritional protocols is pretty dialed in, you know, where the time investment for each of those examples I just gave is more or less the same. Um I will say that writing designs for you know competitive athletes in the sport of fitness who train multiple times a day, you know, six days a week, um, it's a little bit more time consuming. So I don't I don't see myself you know as being somebody who wants to coach 70 CrossFit regionals, you know, hopefuls, because there's just more design work that actually goes into that. There's actually sitting down and writing, you know, 10 to 12 workouts for 70 people a week versus somebody who trains three times a week or five times a week only. Um and that's just a different that's just a different, I mean, that's a that's a factor of you know, hours and a week.

Yeah. So you mentioned that your your systems and uh you know are pretty pretty honed in, which I believe for sure. Um how long did that take you, like developing those systems to get to where you are now? And and the reason I'm asking is I'm thinking, you know, if I'm someone listening to this, be like, yeah, God, I I really want to, I really want to start a remote coaching practice. Um, you know, how much patience do they need and and what kind of resources did you have at your family? And how did that process unpack?

Um, it started out, I think, like it does for most people, which is extremely inefficient, you know, uh like five clients, and I would literally take all of Sunday to write five designs. And, you know, I would tell my girlfriend at the time, now wife, like, all right, babe, I was just gonna be plugged into the computer all day. And it's like, really? So um, because it wasn't my primary business, I always left it to the weekend, right? And um, but that was back in the days of using email, Google spreadsheets, uh, maybe Excel, you know, um just it was it was difficult. It was, you know, I hard to track people's results, hard to track people's um yeah, progress from week to week, uh, copy and paste feature into new cells and formatting cells. It's just it was slow. And at the beginning, it was about also, you know, most coaches make the mistake of overthinking designs and thinking that it's all about what goes onto the piece of paper when you write A1 and A2 and B and C and D. You know, when in reality, as the years go by and and you ask for like a time frame, you know, seven years since I started writing programs for up for individuals, you know, eight years since I started writing group programs, um, I would say about four or five years into the process, I was at 30 to 40 people and feeling like I could handle that. You know, six years into the process, I was at 50 people, and that was like a you know, my you know, mostly a full-time gig, but I say that when I was training for the CrossFit Games 30 hours a week. So it wasn't a totally a full-time gig. It was like my part-time, you know, job. Um, and then now, you know, eight years later, it's like, you know, I manage a client load between 30 and 40, um, support my coaches, you know, run an on-site business, you know, try and promote and write content for functional bodybuilding, um, you know, have a baby, do a bunch of things. So I can I can handle a lot of other things because I've gotten more efficient. And thanks to things like Fitbot, which is you know the online program or uh the software that really allows you to interface with clients just beautifully with results tracking and program design delivery and messaging, and so no more emails, no more spreadsheets, all that stuff goes through one portal. Um and yeah, and I just have seen at this point probably tens of thousands of designs. I've written tens of thousands of designs, and I know what what works and what doesn't work, and 90% of the time I stick to the stick to the what I know, and 10% of the time I'm being creative and coming up with new stuff. And and that seems to be a good blend for me to you know stay efficient and not be in that place where like newbies in the coaching business start at, which is every day is like creativity. Like I'm gonna write a whole new concept for this person, you know. And last week they did this split, and this week I'm changing everything, and it's like, don't do it, don't do it.

Yeah, and that was me. You know, I got to a point where I had um, I think at the tops, I had 23 individual design remote coaching clients, as you recall. Uh every week I felt like I had to come up with a whole new thing. And all my Sunday, right? All my Sunday was just spent creating new templates. And it was uh and finally something clicked. I'm like, wait a minute, like it worked last week. Why don't I just tweak it a little bit and it'll work again? And then we'll look at the bigger plan. So it's a uh yeah, it's it's definitely a journey. And uh when you and I spoke a few weeks ago preparing for this interview, there was really um, you have a very clear message, you know, for for the the fitness industry and um you know, is movement and training um have been a a path for you to just self-exploration, right? And I found the same thing, you know. Um not only do my deepest my deepest thoughts happen when I'm on the trail or things like that, but just you know, um pushing comfort zones, which then kind of go into other aspects of your life, which expand your your your uncomfort zones, I should say. Right. So tell me about what what are your feelings on that? What do you want the industry to to know?

Um well I gosh, I I'll try, I'll tie it back, I'll try to tie it back to like the the the big picture what we were trying to discuss today, but um, you know, I I'll get like people ask people comment on my social media periodically like, oh man, you just get to train and work out all day. And um I say, you know, I mean that might be the that might be the public perception because I post like four Instagram videos a day of me working out, which I I'm not sure why people can't make the connections like okay, he filmed all that on one day and he's like spreading it out over the course of like preaching. So yes, I take rest days, I don't train all day. Um, but I did set up my life in such a way to be able to do the thing that provides me the most inspiration and the most clarity around what I want. And you know, my training is a non-negotiable in my day-to-day uh schedule. If I don't get it, then the whole business falls down. Every part of it just about. And so I I will be training and pursuing fitness uh because it it's a foundation to my life before I ever had a business, and it's and it's certainly a foundation to my current life with a business and with a family. Um so making room for that, making sure I have I'm sticking to that thing that I know is the it's the engine or it's the fuel that drives the engine, right? Um and that might be something that you know I I would encourage people to find for themselves. Like it's not training for everybody, you know, it might be something else that gets them inspired and fired up to go into the gym and to coach clients and to write designs. Like, you know, one of our coaches here, her her boyfriend, is a personal trainer and he puts in crazy hours on the floor, but he does it and he does a good job of it, and he's really successful at it. And he gets the hell out of the gym and he goes and plays golf, and he goes and he rides his bike, and he goes and he skis. And he does that with passion, and he does it like it's non negotiable for him, and it just keeps driving him through all of the other stuff. And I might, I might, I mean, it's not the lifestyle I Want I don't necessarily want to be, you know, on the floor 40 hours a week doing PT sessions or 35 hours a week, whatever it is, but he has found a rhythm to make it work. And then the what it affords him in terms of uh hours to do the things that he really likes to do, he is stoked. And so um, yeah, this was this was certainly over the years my path to continuing to find ways to literally go out onto that floor and play with all those cool toys that I have sitting out there in the gym and and then turn it into something that's gonna change somebody else's life, or you know, give somebody just a little bit of inspiration to, you know, look better, move better, train harder, you know, or just be a better person, coach, whatever it is that they're doing.

Yeah. Yeah, you know, the question that comes to mind when I hear you talk, and it resonates, absolutely resonates with me too, is now that you know you're not training for the CrossFit games or you've you take in years off, you know, in the past, we mentioned that during a previous conversation. You know, without that structure in place, um you know, what's it like for you to pursue fitness? Is is there is there end goals in mind, or is it simply like getting the repetitions in? What is what is that pursuit? What is it in Marcus's mind that that drives that?

Yeah, I've gotten this question a few times lately. I mean, what's funny is that before I ever started competing, I had this similar drive, this same drive to just be better, you know, to explore my my limits, you know, and what was capable within the context of my current life and what I had on my plate. So right now it's you know, with a business, with a baby, with a relationship, with you know, clients, what can I, what can I make room for and how far can I push myself? And I I just you know, I maybe it's uh maybe I'm a little like hard headed in in that I just I won't let go of the dream of like I could still I could still qualify for the CrossFit games. Like I'm gonna keep training in case next year is my year and I want to do it, you know. Um or hey, I'm 33, I'll be 35 in two years. Like that's masters. I'm gonna win that, you know, or whatever. Like um, so I I kind of keep but I only say the comp competitive like you know goals sit there because it's been a measure of the same thing that I was trying to pursue before CrossFit was a sport, which is how could I best, how can I run the fastest, lift the most, you know, swim the farthest and jump the highest. Like I just I did that stuff before I found CrossFit. I literally, you know, biked the big loop up in the Oakland Hills, you know, three times a week. I would sprint at the track, I would lift weights with my buddy, and I was trying to be lean. So I was like, okay, I'm trying to do all of these different things. And then someone told me you could go and race doing all this stuff. Like, I was like, oh, let's try that. So those are those those continue to be my motivators. Um and then, you know, and then in addition to that, it's just seeing the people that come and train here and the people I train around. I mean, it's a huge reason why, you know, to me, having an on-site business as well as an online business is so critical because the online business is great, but it's you I just can't touch and feel those people. Whereas here, I got to work out with Jim and Janelle this morning, and Janelle was doing box squats, and we were laughing about her using the word doo-doo when she was talking to her players at the basketball game last night, and I'm over there running on the true form, and we're just like, I just that fires me up to be around people training. Um, and I will uh I don't care whether it's goblet squats and banded walks, and I'm doing cleaning jerks, it just motivates me.

Awesome. I love that. Yeah, that's uh God, it just fires me up. So where do you see Marcus and your business and uh everything in like two years? Where do you see that going? What's the direction that you're going in?

I want to see our on-site business continue to grow so that we can impact the local, you know, community even even more so than we do today. I mean, I'm uh this is my hometown or home county, it's where I grew up. Um and I want to see that happen for the uh for the success and the growth of our of our coaches that we have here. Um I also I also see our online business continuing to grow and then really just functional bodybuilding, um, you know, growing as a education source or like a thought, again, more thought-leading leadership, uh continuing to expand people's ideas of training concepts, and um, and then me having more time to, you know, in a week sit down and actually write uh content, be creative, uh, put out educational products, training guides, things like that that can really impact people, and and then that turns into uh, you know, potentially um an opportunity to do some traveling and education for for people around the world where I can be in front of an audience and I don't know, get back to you know, inspiring through teaching. I mean, I loved group fitness teaching because there was like an energy that I got from being in front of people and and and sharing something that I was passionate about. It was not sustainable, uh, so that's why I don't do that anymore. But I think that I could get back to that in a way that is sustainable through education of uh you know, training principles and and functional bodybuilding.

Yeah, I love it. So, where where do people find you? What's the best place for for this energy?

I mean, uh really the two businesses are revival strength, so revival-strength.com. Um, really good idea to get on our email list there. We have we're sending out tons of content all the time on functional bodybuilding uh training tips, um, you know, free workout programs. Uh also functional bodybuilding.net is a standalone website where we host uh a couple courses and more courses to come. Um and then, you know, on social media, Marcus Philly, Instagram is is the uh place where I put up most of my content, and then functional.bodybuilding, which is uh another Instagram handle, and there's a long um exercise library for people to go and see what the movements look like and experiment and uh yeah, maybe get inspired to to change up their training a bit.

Awesome. Well, Marcus, thank you. Thank you for uh what you do for your local community. Thank you, what you do for the fitness community. Appreciate it. And uh I know you and I will be in touch. Thanks for coming on the show. I appreciate it. It's glad to I'm always glad to have a platform to share the message. Awesome. Talk to you soon. Yeah, you bet. Hey fitness fans, don't leave yet. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and I want to personally thank you for your support and listening to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series. If you have a few minutes, I would greatly appreciate it if you went to iTunes and gave us a favorable rating. Uh, as well as go to our YouTube channel and subscribe there. That'd be fantastic. If you know of anybody who'd be a great fit for the show as a guest, please hit me up at Eric at fitnessmarketingalliance.com. That's Eric with the C. Also, I have three questions for you. Number one, are you a fitness professional who's been in the industry for over seven years? Question number two, do you have an online revenue stream or multiple online revenue streams? Question number three, are you ready to break loose from your local market and take advantage of all of the opportunity out there in the online world? If you are, I want you to go to fitnessmarketingalliance.com forward slash mastermind. This will lead you to our level up mastermind group and all the information that you need to know. This is a group for high level thinkers within the industry who are ready to break free. So go check it out. It's fitnessmarketingalliance.com forward slash mastermind. Let us know if you have any questions. Thank you again for listening. I greatly appreciate your support. We'll keep it up from our end as well.