Sustainability of a Trainer and The Beautiful Pushup

Hey fitness fans, welcome back. It's Eric Malzone with the Future of Fitness podcast. And this is episode number 22. And I get to talk to Sean Zettlin. So, Sean in the purest form is a fitness entrepreneur. He has run his own personal training business in New York City for nearly 15 years. He's the author of the acclaimed push-up progression book series. It's been featured on Discovery Channel, Health Magazine, and a bunch of other outlets as well. He has really carved out his niche for sure. He's mastered the art of the push-up and how to teach it and explaining all the benefits of this simple and beautiful movement. And he's also been featured in books, magazines, television, radio, uh things like Men's Fitness, Huffington Post, Fitness Professional Online, Condé Nass, Live Strong, Stack, you name it. He's been all over the place and he's very active. And when you hear him talk, uh, you'll probably be like me and be like, I want this guy to train me. Uh he's like most great trainers, he has an ability to take the emotional and life aspects of a client and see how it intertwines with what goes on in the gym and the training. So uh a lot of great tidbits in here, and I hope you really enjoyed it because I really enjoy talking to him. So before we get to it, let's talk about our sponsor, which is the Fitness Marketing Alliance. Yes, full stack digital marketing agency experience is now available to just the fitness industry. So, what does that mean? It is a holistic look at digital marketing from search engine optimization to email marketing to social media to content marketing to pay-per-click advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google AdWords, you name it, it's the ability to take an overall strategy and implement the tactics, which is something that a lot of people in industry are missing. So whether you are a gym owner who is looking to take it to the next level, if you are a fitness professional who now has an online service that you want to scale massively, or you are a lay at larger organization who needs to get the word out, uh that's us. We can help you out. So go to fitnessmarketingalliance.com, schedule a free consultation, and we'll see what we can do for you. So now on to the show, episode number 22, Sean Zettlin. Hey everybody, this is Eric with the Fitness Marketing Alliance, and today I'm talking to Sean Zettlin, and we're gonna get into his story. But uh, Sean, thank you for coming on. Um, you have been referred to me by several people, and I'm uh I'm really excited. We got to catch up a little bit before, and I think this is gonna be a lot of fun. So thank you. Thanks for coming on.

Super honored to be here, Eric. Thank you so much for having me already. Cool.

Tell us your fitness story. What is what has led you up to this point?

Yeah, um, so my journey begins as a young child. My father was a professional bodybuilder, and so growing up, I got to see him look like E-Man, and I did not look like E-Man and wanted to look like him, of course, as as sons would emulate their fathers. And um, we were fortunate enough to have sort of this, you know, uh awesome gym in the basement growing up, and I watched my dad work out, and that kind of was the driving force for me to want to be in fitness. Um, like so many other fitness professionals, I had some you know minor traumas where I was, you know, really bad at sports, I had really bad motor skills growing up, I was born with club feet, um, just like Tom Brady for those in the Boston area. Um, so I had some things to overcome. So I think coupled with that, uh, with that stuff, and then watching my father, it really was no doubt that the fitness uh world was going to be destined for me. So um that all happened. And as I grew up and uh followed my father, he was sort of like a street mechanic, as he likes to say, meaning that he knew all the basics, you know, he knew the deadlift, he knew the squat, he knew uh the push-up. But basically, he didn't know all these other uh instruments to like to work out. And so from there, um in college, I started to get uh even more educated, if you will, and that led me to New York, where I am now.

So where I'm sorry, where did you grow up? Where what part?

So I grew up in northern Delaware, which is about 20 minutes south of Philadelphia. Um and it is a state. We are the first state, I'm proud to say. Um people are like, is that Maryland? I'm like, no, that is actually Delaware. Uh it's a real state. Um and it was a great place to grow up. I I had uh awesome memories there. And at the time I I graduated with the University of Delaware, and at the time upon graduation, my brother was already in New York, and he was looking for a roommate, and he was in law school, so it was perfect. And my brother and I are best friends, so all the stores sort of aligned, if you will. And I originally came to New York, I knew I wouldn't do something with fitness, but I also have this writing background, I also have an acting background, so I thought I'd sort of try to combine all three if if if if possible. And I was helping um a buddy of mine at the local gym where I live here in Brooklyn Heights and just showing them a few things. And I wasn't even certified at this point. I just had moved to New York and again just knew the basics from what my dad had taught me. And the fitness manager happened to see me there. And long story short, he was like, Oh, you know, you seem to know what you're doing. I was like, Well, to be honest, I'm not really certified. I'm just, you know, showing my my buddy what I know from my father showed me, and he's like, Oh, you're interested in a job. And I thought, well, if I'm gonna do the writing thing, if I'm gonna do the acting thing, it's sort of less cliche to be a personal trainer as opposed to a waiter. So maybe I'll try to do both if I can. Um and so I sort of was juggling both for for maybe about three and a half years. I mean, almost four years actually. So it was uh it was a trial to see which direction my life would take me. But in the end, um, you know, acting was great, and writing is absolutely fantastic as well, and I still do write, but personal training and fitness was the world for me.

Have those skills from acting uh translated into training people at all?

Oh my god, absolutely. You know, it's funny, I um shout out to Idea Fitness because I just written an article from them about this and uh with Ron Halverson. And so the truth is that yes, and it's not what made people may think because it becomes it becomes super genuine when you're dealing with all these different people. I mean, of course you have to care, and if you don't care, then you need to leave the industry, of course. That goes without saying. But um dealing with with certain clients, especially here in the New York area, you know, you have one client who's the you know, maybe type A Wall Street guy, and then you may have somebody who's the stay-at-home housewife who's shy. And so for me, the acting background really helped me to relate to different types of people. And I I have felt if you make a client feel super comfortable, I mean, that's I mean, yes, you could be the most knowledgeable personal tree in the world, you could absolutely know how the body works, but if your client is not comfortable with you, you're not gonna get very far. And so my acting background has helped me sort of relate to different personalities, uh, whether they're type B or whether they're type B. Uh, and that's been very helpful into kind of getting to their why and breaking down layers and barriers and having a more emotional response with the client.

Yeah, that's really interesting. I mean, there's so much focus in the fitness industry on the knowledge that you have as a trainer, right? The physiology, anatomy, kinesiology, all those things.

But yeah.

That's I and I can't put a percentage on it, but I'm gonna say that's like 20% of what we do as trainers on a day-to-day basis. Mostly it's our interpersonal relationships, it's showing that we care. It's uh, you know, it's it's all those little intangible things that go into getting um something out of people and then giving it back. Uh, so that's that's interesting. It's everyone has a diverse background. So I'm gonna ask you a question because to most people, this is gonna sound like a really simple question, but when I ask you, it's gonna be a very in-depth question. Tell me about the push-up. Okay.

Okay. Uh that's a great question. Um, so for me, the push-up was one of those exercises growing up that was very difficult. And I didn't know what the neutral spine was. I mean, I had a very fine seventh grade, you know, high school and all these different teachers growing up who were who were great at what they did, but they don't think they taught the push-up correctly. And I struggled with it. And so being a personal trainer and starting off at like one of those big box gyms, and now I'm fortunate enough to run my own company here in New York. But before then, sort of being in the gym atmosphere and the lifestyle and seeing the push-up along with the squat and other exercises performed incorrectly, I thought, okay, you know, I really want to reinvent this. I mean, a personal hero of mine is Jack Elaine, and you know, his fingertip push-ups are incredible. So I started basically researching the push-up, understanding the science even more, um, and then and then basically reinventing it and using the core as a driving force, and not just the lower back and the stomach muscles, I mean the entire spine. Uh, and so for me, it became almost very personal with this is an exercise that I struggled with when I was 13, 14. But now I have this opportunity to basically reinvent it and make it my own and not only help myself, but help all these other people. Um, and then so from there it kind of led to writing a few articles and contributing to different websites, to me realizing I have so much to say about the push-up, and I can't just say it in like, you know, 500 words. So that led to basically a push-up book series, uh, which led to my mentor as well, Doug Holt, saying, Listen, this is not only great for your clients and and for the everyday man and woman, but this is great for other personal trainers and other physical therapists to get their books on, to get their hands on. And so fortunate enough to have a continued education source um with ISSA and with National Academy of Sports Medicine to educate other personal trainers so they can take my course and earn push up, earn credits for learning the push-up, but learning it the correct way, learning how to progress it the correct way. So I feel very fortunate these days and I've sort of made it my own. So it started off as a personal journey and now it's led into this bigger than than life experience that I never thought would be possible.

Yeah, and it's interesting too. I'll just personal anecdotes and all that. My my first coaching opportunity to get in front of people or train people was at Jack Lane's grandes gym in San Francisco. So and he showed up. Jack Lane showed up for the uh the grand opening and amazing. It was it was awesome.

Legend.

Yeah, total legend. And yeah, speaking of another legend was was Dan John. And when I I yeah, his um he was the first one who I you know, I've been doing push-ups all my life from from every S sport I ever played to just general fitness, and he was the first one who looked like he took two looks at my my push-up. He's like, that's bad. Maybe spread my fingers, maybe keep the skin down, keep the elbows in tight, all these things. And I was like, there's a lot that goes. There's a lot going on. Yeah. Totally. So it's it's that's really cool. I I suggest people go check out what you're doing with that. So appreciate you know, from now we're talking about you know, the X's and O of of coaching from how to do a push-up properly, but how is that expanding into personal relationships with people, you know, the emotional aspect of what you do and all that?

Yeah, thank you for asking that question. This is something I'm really passionate about these days, and so especially what's going on in the world, and and not to not to dive deep into that realm, but everybody has some sort of trauma. I mean, everybody's battling something. I mean, I always say to everybody, including my clients, it doesn't cost anything to be nice to people. And I feel very honored that when a client says to me, you know, you're the best part of my day, you know, my day is very stressful, and they list the things that make them stressful, I mean to me, and it's very sad. And so I I want to challenge people to whatever it is bothering them emotionally, to let it out physically. Because I like to always think that if the mind and the body are not connected, you're not gonna go very far. And the mind always gives up way before the body does. So when we're all making fitness goals, let's say, it's very important to commit emotionally first. And so whether it's you want to gain five pounds or lose five pounds, you know, five want to gain five pounds of muscle, obviously, it doesn't matter. You have to commit emotionally first. And so with the push-up, um, it's it's it's automatically an icon of strength. Right? When we think of the push-up, we think of Jack Lane, like we mentioned, we think of Rocky, right? I mean, it's a symbol. And you're you think about the act of that, the actual push-up, right? You know, you're in that push-up position, you're you're pushing your body away from the floor. And so if you can connect to the trauma that's upsetting you, and it doesn't have to be anything that's super wild, it could be, of course, but it could just be the day-to-day stresses as well. But if you if you can connect to your mind before we even lower yourself down, and before you even push yourself up, you know, the act of pushing yourself up, you know, you're pushing down your problems. It doesn't mean you're getting it doesn't mean you're getting rid of them, and it doesn't mean that you're it doesn't mean that you're not allowing them to flow through you, but you're but you're you're getting into control now. You're obtaining the control of the problem. Uh, you're regaining that power, if you will, because the push-up again is such a powerful movement. And so as you lower down, I always tell clients, especially recently, you know, think about the think about the trauma that's upsetting you, think about the stresses that that's upsetting you, go down, you pause at the very bottom. We can go into the mechanics later of everything about elbow positioning and and spine positioning, but think about the problem and then you're pushing away, you're pushing that problem down. You're pushing that problem down. You're not ready, you're not getting rid of it, and you're not, you're not, you know, you're not forgetting about it, but you're regaining the control of the problem. And again, the problem could be stresses, like I keep mentioning, or everyday everyday trauma or past trauma, whatever it is. But that emotional connection is so important. Um, it will only empower you more. And it's, I think a lot of times, especially now in the news, you know, we we don't want to talk about certain things, whether whether it's you know, female equality or or whatever it is. I don't want to get super political, but but you know what I'm sort of going with here. And I think it's very important to not run away from these problems, but to stand tall and to confront them and to realize that you can overcome them.

Oh, it's incredible. Can you give us, do you have maybe an anonymous you know, example that you can use of of you know how you've how you've taken that mindset and put it into who you're coaching, who you're training?

Yeah, um, so without saying names, I think, especially because uh it's in the news lately with female equality, when we think of something like the push-up, you know, we think of men, right? I mean, not the stereotype, of course, but a lot of people think about, you know, again, Rocky, you know, we're not talking about females here, or we're talking about Jack Elaine, that obviously not female, but when I think about my female clients versus my male clients, and I say this jokingly, but also there's a lot of truth, they could certainly give my male clients a run for their money. But at the same time, they want to be just as strong. You know, this this this idea of feeling strong, especially for a female, whether it's wanting to protect yourself physically or emotionally, you know, from it could be from a man, it could be from another female, of course. But the idea of feeling strong is so empowering for everyone. And I have one particular female that I just adore, that I've been so honored to train for so many years now, and she's opened up and she's talked about her trauma when it's come to men. And so the idea of wanting to feel strong, the idea of wanting to be able to protect herself. And so, what better exercise to get her strong would be the push-up, because as we know, works so many other muscle groups. But again, the idea of pushing your problem down, confronting your problem, then rising up from that problem, right? Right? So for her, it's it's it's been such an amazing story. We started off where she could barely do one push-up, and I don't necessarily start my clients on the pole push-up to the knees. I don't believe in girl push-ups, I even hate that term. Um, now that I'm a proud father of a daughter, I'm even more of a feminist than I'm than than ever could be. But I start them basically with a shoulder plank, just develop proper core muscles, core stabilization muscles, and then of course we get into the core movement muscles, but transverse abdominis and so forth, internal obliques. Um, but for this particular client, she could only do barely one. I mean, it wasn't even one. It was maybe moving halfway down, if that, and then the core sort of suffered, the you know, the spine wasn't correct. Now, recently, she's done 45 push-ups. It's been unbelievable. And yes, we've been working together for some time. It certainly didn't happen overnight, but the satisfaction, the joy is certainly why you wake up in the morning to see such a thing. And now she feels so empowered. Now she walks with incredible confidence. Now she walks with incredible posture, which is another awesome thing that push-ups provide. And she's in control, which is the main thing, you know. And with trauma, you know, I always like to talk about, you know, you don't get rid of trauma, you lower the volume, so to speak, on trauma, right? Whether it's been super severe or not. But for this particular client, I don't we don't expect the trauma to fully go away. But what we want to, the goal is is to limit it, right? To not have it so loud in her ear. Um, she's in control now, and she's done things physically that she never thought possible. And of course, we all know that translates into this emotional empowerment where it, you know, it just in every aspect of her life. So that in itself is such a great story.

Yeah, that's great. Thanks for sharing that, Sean. I I think you know, when you talk about trauma or grief and all these things that happen in people's lives, because it touches on everybody. If it hasn't touched you yet, it will. Yeah.

Yeah.

It's gonna come down. And uh, you know, it's like background noise, it's just always there, right? Yeah, yeah. We continually, you know, do the stuff to turn down the volume. And I think you know, nowadays, mindfulness is such a big topic, right? And everyone talk about meditation. We want to talk about this, but there's it, you don't have to sit there in this formal repose and and meditate and try to think of nothing, which is impossible, by the way. And you know, a physical movement can be your meditation, that can be your mindfulness. Absolutely. For me, it is personally. I know if I'm you know, if I need to shift my my mentality or my mindset, you know, quick 20-minute run, or you know, just push-ups and sit-ups, something like that. So it's it's really a cool aspect that um I think as a trainer, if you're if you're not paying attention to that with your clients, you're losing, you're missing a whole opportunity, a huge opportunity to help people. And uh, I know one of the reasons I love talking to fitness pros is because that's what they love to do is just help people. Right. Um, let me shift a little bit. You you're everywhere, right? Like you've you've written multiple books, you've contributed to multiple books, do you contribute to magazines, online magazines, shows? How do you do it? How do you do all of it? Like, what does your average day look like? Yeah.

Um get all this done. Well, you're so kind to say. I mean, it's definitely more of a challenge job that I'm a father, certainly blessed to be one new dad, um, little baby girl who's six weeks old. But before that, I have sort of this, and I joke about I have sort of this Alexander Hamilton mentality that's you know very, very popular these days, you know, that the musical, which is basically it's this driving force. It's the idea of wanting to just basically challenge myself and wanting to continuously get better. And so Doug Holt and I always sort of joke about this of, you know, you know, we we you know setting these goals and try to basically you know get them done with the next day, which is not always possible, of course, but I think for me it's only competing with myself and nobody else, right? So what I I like to tend to say that I'm very organized and I I I kind of go old school with this. So, yes, thankfully, you know, we have I'm talking to you on a MacBook, and I actually have an iPhone, of course, but I have this journal where I literally write things down, and it's what an old concept, right? But for me, it's very helpful. And the idea of like crossing off something on this list is very this the satisfaction I get is incredible. Um so I make a goal list and I break it down month to month, and I make it, and I have a month-to-month goal list, and I have a six-month and I have a 12-month. So basically, where I like to see myself in a year. And I break it down in different categories, right? So it could be an article, it could be a book, it could be a TV show or internet show or podcast such as this. And then then then kind of saying to myself, okay, like then, you know, what what are the most important things of this? What am I what am I trying to reach? Like who am I trying to reach? What is the what is the underlying message of it all? And I think now that I'm sort of into shifting more into emotional fitness, of course, that's a passion of mine. Childhood DC is a passion of mine. Um, but I want to look back, you know, when I'm I had my grandfather just passed away, he was 99 years old.

Wow.

And I and that was just amazing. And we were still hoping he'd make it to 100, but in 99 he had his mind to the very end. And I want to think of myself, hopefully I can be in my 90s or even 100, but I want to think back that I did the most I could in this life. You know, I want to think of it as I didn't waste life, in other words. I I want to think of it as I really want to leave a legacy. And I that's sort of the Hamilton connection comes to comes into play, where it's not only just kind of doing you know, X, Y, and Z throughout the day. I want to leave a legacy of I help this person, I help that person. And it's, you know, not even, I mean, yes, fame is great and finances and money is fantastic, but it's not about that. It's about, and it's gonna sound cliche, but it's God's honest truth in my soul. It's about reaching as many people as I can to helping them. Because I, you know, I I know what it's like to be picked last in gym class, I know what it's like to, you know, to have the club feet, you know. Um, when you feel strong, you feel empowered, you know. And when I tell my story, my clients are like, oh, not you, like, come on, that happened to you, please. But I'm like, no, it did happen to me. And I feel like I I feel very blessed to live a fantastic life in New York. Yes, I made that life for myself. Nobody gave it to me. You know, I had to create this life for me, but I want to be able to get back that way. And so if I had that opportunity to reach all these people through a book or through a magazine or a podcast or internet TV shows such as this, then I know I did something right. And so to tie it back into acting, that feeling that I got when I was on stage and I was proving to myself that I could do it, but more importantly, I got the applause of someone I didn't know. That's great. But now I get the applause of somebody I do know, and that's even better. So that's again validation of why I'm so happy I made the shift.

Awesome. That's really interesting. And when you look at like where you want to be in a year, do there any things that you like, do you boil it down to like simple actions that you know if you do on a daily or weekly basis that will get you there? And if you if you do, which we guess you do.

Yes. Yeah, I uh the biggest tool for me is I go back to the journaling. It's you know, especially I don't mean it doesn't matter if you live in York City or wherever you live. I mean, everybody has stresses, everybody has things they need to do, and it's distractions are everywhere. It's easy to have a lazy day, it's easy for everyday life to get distracting. Um, but for me, journaling really keeps me honest, Eric. I mean, it really keeps me honest of set of my goals. And so, you know, if I have it, if there if there's an issue like you alluded to earlier, you know, going for a run or doing push ups, you know, the act of moving is very hard. Helpful. But if working out sometimes isn't enough or I can't work out depending on the day, then the journaling really keeps me honest of my goals. And as I said earlier, you know, making sure that I I commit myself because it's a commitment for me as well. And I don't want to let anybody down either. And so I want to make sure that, you know, okay, so I got an email from somebody who one of the best compliments I've ever gotten was an e from my second book, uh, the push-up push uh push-up aggression series second book, a pastor uh who lives in a rural community where he can't get to a gym. He's got multiple children, his life is very stressful. Um, he basically said to me, This is an opportunity for me to bond with one of my sons. This is an opportunity for me because I can't go to the gym. My son needs to work out, he needs to exercise. We know about the obesity epidemic in children. He's like, your book has given me a tool, an outlet to bond with my son. And we're both doing something because I need to lose weight, also. That to me is still one of the best compliments I've ever gotten. And this is an individual I didn't know. Uh, you know, he's not in the New York City area. I mean, yes, I trained people over Skype and Zoom and so forth and FaceTime, but this is somebody I did not know who reached out to me personally. And man, did that not uh uh energize me for months, you know. So I think it's when I when I start to kind of get off track, again we get it, we all have lazy days, you know, we all have days where again distractions come into play, but I think about those compliments and that validation that steers me right back. Awesome.

Yeah, you uh you seem to be really uh you take advantage of public relations PR, right? What how do you do you have any tips or tricks for fitness professionals that are listening about how to get more coverage out of um out of the media? And how how yeah, how do you do that?

Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, I started the first thing I ever did uh when it came to writing and and and trying to develop PR for myself was there was a website called Boomer Living. And my father had just had, unfortunately, a bypass, um, he had a quadruple bypass and uh super fit, you know. So just for everyone to realize you can be in not to go off course here, you can be in incredible shape. I mean, my dad still has a six-pack and he's 72 and his biceps are 19 inches and his body fat is 10%, it's crazy. But lousy genetics can can still hurt you. So unfortunately, he had this bypass. Um I you know, our whole family was very rocked and shocked. And I reached out to a website at the time called Boomer Living, and I wanted to collaborate with them. I wanted to write an article for them about how people can rehab, you know, post bihab bypass surgery. And I wrote this article, I pitched it to them, they accepted it. And then from there, Facebook at the time, you know, this is back in 2005. So Facebook at the time was still fairly new, you know, and uh same thing with like all social media outlets. It wasn't like it is now. Um, but so because I contributed, I put it on Facebook, and then I realized, you know, one thing, you know, certainly can lead to another. So that spawned me reaching out to other publications that do accept freelance writers, um, going to workshops. Because so one of the things I want to stress is, you know, early on when I wanted to get my my dad showed me the basics, as I alluded to earlier, but I knew early on, like, yes, I I can relate to different people's personalities through my acting background, but I need to be educated. You know, it's so crucial, it's super important. So I got as educated as I possibly could through NASAM and ISSA, but there are so many other great organizations as we know. Um, but I kept taking workshops and you get familiar with different people in the industry, as you mentioned, Dan John and so forth. So I give shout-outs to people. I mean, certainly team up with people if there's if the if there's a younger fitness professional that they look up to that they think is amazing. I mean, I've shared plenty of stuff with people that inspire me still. Uh, it doesn't hurt to share an article or something that inspired you. If they wrote an article, they wrote a book that's in very inspirational to you. My advice is to share it on your social media platforms. Um, you don't necessarily have to team up with somebody if you're so if you're so new and you don't have necessarily have your own voice yet. But if there's somebody that inspires you, certainly share their work. Um if you have something to say, absolutely try to freelance somewhere. And there are plenty of publications that certainly do, whether it's over the internet or it's a hard copy. Um, those would be the two steps that I certainly would take early on if I was a younger fitness professional and still as a veteran.

Awesome. Yeah, those are huge tips. Uh Sean, how are you, you know, with all the different social media platforms and I'm sure you do a lot of other things, but how are you now leveraging technology to amplify your business?

Yeah, um, it's it's hard to be a jack of all trades. So uh to the younger fitness professional, I mean, certainly get help. That would be my first suggestion. Secondly, I would say master one. So, I mean, I had, you know, just like everybody else, I wanted to be on every single social media platform and kill it. Um, it's exhausting, it's tiresome, it's what works on one social media outcome doesn't work on the other. So, how you present yourself on Twitter won't obviously work on Instagram and so forth. So, my suggestion would be you know, be the king of one. Whether if you love Instagram and you love pictures and you have some things to say, that might be your benefit. I mean, again, each platform provides something different. Um, for me personally, I've had different success on Facebook and and um and Instagram. I mean, I definitely use Twitter for a while, but I've sort of honestly haven't been as active on Twitter just because I've been trying to do more work on Instagram and Facebook personally. But I would certainly suggest getting help if you if if that's not an option, whether it's finances or time, then concentrate on one. Absolutely concentrate on one. And if they all speak differently, and so Facebook and and Instagram are great for videos. And if you're you're if you're somebody who's not shy in front of the camera, and something to say, that's great. Um, if you're somebody who is kind of shy and maybe can talk in a few sentences, then clearly Twitter is an avenue for you. Uh or if you're and and you're the sharing kind, maybe your voice isn't there quite yet. But again, there are fitness professionals like Dan John and other people that you look up to, share the work on Twitter, certainly share it on Facebook as well. Um, so I would say be the king of one for sure and get help if necessary.

Yeah, that's great advice because it it's overwhelming. It is so many different things. Yeah, you know, I I still haven't, I'm, you know, we do digital marketing. I still haven't touched Snapchat because I totally me neither. Yeah.

I am I agree.

You know, it's uh I know my nephews and nieces are on it. Uh yes, mine too. Yep. And it's uh yeah, it can be totally overwhelming because there's something coming out every day. We just talked about with somebody next door, right? Nextdoor.com. Right. That's an easy one, really. If you're just you know if you're listening now and you're fit pro, go on and at least just register your business on there and claim your business because that could be something in two, three years where there's you know, I know people are focusing just on next door and they're getting a lot of clients locally just from that. And uh, I think that's great advice because if if you try to scatter it too thin, then you're just not gonna be just gonna be ineffective at all. But um how do you see technology changing the fitness industry? You know, because future of fitness, that's what we're talking about. How do you see technology changing the fitness industry in the next five years?

I think it's a great question. I think now more than ever, online training is is gonna continue to be the rage. Uh, you see it plenty of times where where at the beginning it was sort of you know taboo on how it would even work, and if you can't cue somebody physically uh or you don't know somebody. But now I think with everybody so glued to their iPhones, as we know, and and I think what I read recently was somebody the average person, if you send a text message to somebody, the average person reads it within five minutes. That's the average. So I certainly believe it. Um I know personally for my business, I've seen an influx of online training. I I think what happens is because we're so socially media connected now, you can live in Minnesota and you could have a trainer in Philadelphia, and it just works. So I think between that and apps for sure, I mean I think for a while apps were dead, now apps are sort of coming back. Um people need, I think in the long run, for somebody who hasn't worked with a personal trainer, they they want to be told what to do, and I say that in a healthy way, of course, they want to be guided. And now more than ever, it doesn't happen to be physical anymore. You can reach anybody anywhere. Um, I know I've had people reach out to me in Japan and China before about training, which is awesome. Um, so you know, uh getting past the time difference and the time change, you know, I'm certainly not opposed to it and honored to do it. So I think online training is is absolutely going to take over more than ever. And I think apps will certainly make a comeback, in my opinion.

Yeah, it's interesting. I've I've I've had the I'm I'm noticing trends, right? First of all, uh people successful in the fitness business, um, many of them have written books. Yes. So try to come up with your book. I just figured out what I'm gonna do. You got it. The other thing is great.

That's what you could call it.

Yeah.

Um the other thing is, you know, there's I think there's certain professions that are certain aspects of fitness that I was just talking to Coach Bob Tacano that don't work well remotely, right? Yeah. It's hard to teach Olympic weightlifting. You can, it's done. People do it all the time. Sure, sure. To touch and cue and do things like that. Yeah. There's other things that are, you know, if you're doing online nutrition coaching or um, you know, if the the people you're dealing with are fairly uh basic in in the type of movements that you are constructing for them and the programs, highly effective. Um, you know, so there's certain areas you have to look at what you're doing, but the online is is I mean, if you want to get your voice out and be infinitely scalable in your business, yeah, holy cow, it's a huge world of opportunity out there. And that's what we're seeing, especially with the clients that we help now, is you know, scaling them seemingly infinitely. And it's uh it's a huge opportunity. And there's so many different tools to leverage that technology. I mean, between, you know, um Fitbot is one where you can do online that we had on here. Uh there's a duff, there's a ton of different tools. So I would tell people, you know, really start investigating what it is that you know, who who in your specific niche of fitness is is doing online and then find out exactly how they're doing it. And that's great advice. Yeah, coach me. Make me so Sean, where do you see where do you see Zetlin fitness in the next two years? And then what's your do you have a plan on how you want to get there?

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so I think for me right now, um, I'm writing another book. Um so I'm almost in the in the in the cues of trying to being um writing two at the at the same time, which is kind of exhausting and and and also empowering. Um so I do want to do another push-up series. Um I did a push-up challenge with Health Magazine two years ago that I'm so proud to say reached thousands of people, and it was just so successful. So now I'm sort of in this whole challenge. I think challenges are such a great thing for people. I think it sets a goal. I think it sets a very, very small goal for people where it's not a long-term goal, it's a doable goal. Um, so one of the books that I'm writing is basically a set of challenges, uh, which I think will be very great. I'm very excited about that. And then I've written books about child obesity. Um, I'm going back to that, and then also working with people who stand a lot. So basically, like trying to help people who their jobs are are not necessarily manual labor, but people who who stand consistently, um, people who have lower back problems. Um, there are plenty of jobs where people just stand all day and don't have the proper core strength. Um so anyway, those those three things are in the mix right now, which I'm very excited about. Um and and to be honest with you, uh reaching the largest audience I can through mental wellness, super passionate about that, like I kept saying in this interview. So I think between those two things, and um, I had written a children's book last year um that was about child obesity, which I'm very, very excited about. So between child obesity, push-up challenges, um helping people who stand for their jobs, and that's sort of a basic premise, but I'm very excited about that. And the emotional fitness, so tying that all together. So sort of a lot on my plate, which I'm very excited about, and then super just so honored to train the clients that I personally train and to and to train the personal trainers that I trained uh through in the NSM and ISSA. So um, yeah, there's a lot going on, but I'm I'm very excited about all of it. So trying to balance everything as much as possible.

That's awesome. You are definitely doing the work, there's no doubt. And uh, you know, they say that we've heard it a thousand times that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And I think that comes across very uh authentically with you, and I have appreciate that. Feel that almost immediately. So thank you, sir. I appreciate that. Yeah, Sean, thanks for coming on, man. This is really um this is really uh great talk. And uh how do people get a hold of you, by the way?

Uh sure, man. Um, so it's very easy. They can go to my website, Zetlin Fitness. So I'll just spell it out, Z-E-T-L-I-N fitness.com. And then um on Facebook and Instagram and even Twitter, it's all Zetlin Fitness, so nice and neat. And then if they want to email me, it's info at ZetlinFitness.com. Awesome. Well, thank you.

Sean, we'll uh we'll probably have you out again, I would imagine.

Man, it's been an honor. Thank you so much for the time.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Future of Fitness podcast and webinar series. Uh, we're working really hard here to keep great content coming out, and we'd like to express our gratitude by offering you a free seven-day marketing crash course. So you can claim it. If you go to fitnessmarketingalliance.com forward slash free gift f R-E-E-T-I-F-T, and you enter the promo code FitMARK F I T M A R K, you can claim it that way. So you can text the phone number 8056195550 and you text the word FitMark F I T N A R K. So thank you for keep listening. Go claim that offer it's a ton of value. And if you ever want to get a hold of me, or if you have suggestions for guests topics, or anything else, or if you just want to ask a question, uh I always respond. You can reach me at Eric E R I T at fitnessmarketingallides.com and keep listening. We have a lot more coming down the pipe, and we'll make sure that we're keeping value great for you guys. And farewell till next time.