Ep 32 - Never Miss with Lewis McFarlane

Lewis Macfarlane is a fitness professional who has been in the industry for almost 10 years. He started his fitness journey as a skateboarder and later realized he wanted to get in shape to attract girls. He started working out and following a workout program written by his older brother. This led him to develop a passion for personal development and fitness. Lewis began documenting his fitness journey on Instagram and started offering online coaching programs. He gained success at a young age and was able to help clients achieve their fitness goals. He eventually entered the fitness industry professionally and continued to grow his business. Hello and welcome to episode number 32 of the Progress Pod and today I'm joined by a very special guest in Lewis Macfarlane. So Lewis has been working in the fitness industry for almost 10 years now. He's worked as an in-person personal trainer, he's had his own facility, he's now running an online coaching program and he's got a lot of value to offer. We'll chat through his story, his lessons, what advice he would give, some tough times that he's overcome, his daily routine and loads more. So there's a lot of value to be had and looking forward to listening back to this conversation. Enjoy. All right Lewis, how's it going mate? Cheers for coming on to the Progress Pod. Take two, let's go. Nah, thank you very much for having me on mate, absolutely buzzing to dive into what we dive into today mate. Excellent mate, so just to kick us off, a wee bit of an intro to you mate, in case the listeners don't know, who is Lewis Macfarlane? So I grew up in North Ayrshire, Largs. I was a skateboarder from probably the ages of like five to sixteen, spent all my time at the skate park, nine hours a day. I'd say that's where I learned discipline and consistency for the first time, just eating shit, jumping over ramps, jumping down sets of stairs and just going again, going again. Back when my body was made of rubber, it's not like that anymore. But yeah, skateboarding all my days, was sponsored when I was growing up, so I had like a wee bit of an in to the community, kind of competed around Scotland and stuff, skateboarding. That was where, like, that was my sport. Never really got on with like football or rugby or tennis or any of the classic sports people would normally do. And yeah, I got to a certain age where I was about sixteen and your values do shift, where you start kind of valuing pussy and you start wanting to get bars and like there wasn't a lot of girls around the skate park for that era. It was more like guys that were either older, smoking fags. I kind of just grew up with like older people, had like my close friends and stuff. But like I got to a point, I was like in this kind of sticky wicket where I was like, oh people, I could see people in my year at school like going out and drinking and partying and like meeting girls and having fun. I was like, I maybe want to try to do that. But I still kept a little bit of the skater side. And I think growing up as well, I was never, you know, one dimensional. I had so many different groups of friends. I was very, like, diverse. You know, I was friends with the Neds, I was friends with the skaters, I was friends with the kind of popular guys. I was kind of just worked my way around different circles and it kind of made me a little bit more kind of diverse with who I am as a person rather than sticking to like one dimension. It was like more open, I would say. And by about 16, I realized I was not in the shape I wanted to be in. I was about 15, I was soft, I was weak, had little man tits, little inverted nipples, a little pot belly. And I just don't like the way I looked, you know, years of skateboarding, I was kind of fat, but I just don't have a physique. And I was like, okay, what do girls value? It was all for girls, you know, it was all that kind of vanity stuff. I was like, okay, I need to get in shape. And at the time, my brother being five years older, he was jacked, you know, he was running, cycling, deadlifting, he had like all the men's health magazines getting delivered every month. I was like seeing them come through and I was like, why does he care about all that? Lo and behold, I was like, worked up the courage, I was like, yo, bro, I need to know how to do this. And so he wrote me out a workout program in the back of a Tony macaroni napkin, like a five day split. And, you know, one summer I just disappeared and I followed that every single day. I stopped, you know, drinking fizzy juice, stopped eating sweets, started eating fruit, bought my first bag of strawberry whey protein. Mom and dad were like, it's fucking steroids, don't do that. And just, just got into like my first journey of personal development, waking up every morning at, you know, five, 5am and, you know, putting on, you know, that, that band, like, or bred your ribbon or something and just had my York weight bench in my bedroom, pull up bar in the doorframe, just blasting music and just, just slaughtering workouts at a young age. I used to remember going home from school as well and doing, you know, setups for the entire episode of style game, like half an hour and then do the whole box set and do like setups and setups and setups for pushups and pushups. Cause I keep looking at myself in the mirror in my room and I was like, I will get there. I will get there. But, you know, that was like the first wee insight to personal development that I started like reading like the Arnold encyclopedia of bodybuilding and learn about macros and nutrition and found guys like Nick, uh, flexible diet and stuff and just really got stuck into it. And, you know, started going through the, the kind of runner of learning, developing, you know, I still had, as you do, when you're kind of growing up, like vices and I still drank at the weekend and I never properly nailed it, but that, that was like the, the first step. And then I started, you know, getting a bit more female attention, started becoming more confident. So I just, uh, feeling better in myself as well, started to kind of like forge one path where I could be someone that I wanted to be someone that I would be proud of. And I think that's what like purpose really is in life, creating the man that you desire and giving them back to the world. And, you know, it was, it was back then. I look back at 10 years now, I've never missed. And it's like, just keep going and going and going with that same routine, the morning process, the wake up time, the workout routine and all of that. And, you know, since then it's been a process of elimination, trying to get rather as many toxic or negative behaviors or vices and my life leading up until now. Brilliant mate. And you can tell that from an early age, as you say, nine hours a day at a skate park, then sit and doing setups for half an hour episodes and stuff. Like you can tell early on that the discipline there and the hard work is there. So no, definitely mate. And obviously now you've spent a long period of time in the fitness. How did you get into the fitness industry from that point? So I left school, not really knowing what to do. I saw a lot of like my friends, you know, I'm going to be a lawyer. I'm going to be a doctor. I'm going to be a dentist. I'm going to be an accountant. I didn't really do well academically in school. I was actually told I was one of the worst pupils in school. I was written on a little bit of like paper and I went to like the headteacher's office and I was in a like a list of five people. I was like, fuck, I can't believe I'm on a list with these guys. You know, the ones that would like, you know, sell cigarettes at lunchtime and, you know, never go to class. When I showed up to class, I was a generally nice guy, but I just was a cause I wasn't really confident. I wanted attention. I think I was a bit more of a class clown. So I didn't really know what I wanted to do when I left school. And I kind of looked at what I had and like capitalizing my strengths. I was like, yeah, I think I'm just going to work out for a living. And then that kind of opened the door to, you know, getting into like a HND course of sports and exercise science where I'd done that for a year and then left and just started working in the fitness industry straight away. Before that, like I started building my Instagram up, you know, road to a thousand followers kind of thing, like started from really grassroots, just posting like physique update photos and talking about a few things, training videos. And, you know, I used to even call myself Genghis Khan on Instagram because like I was what I was wanting to hide behind. I didn't want to be Lewis McFarlane. I want it to be this kind of like alter ego, this different character. So I made this kind of like Instagram, like a fake Instagram fitness and just started documenting my process where I had like really long hair, big man bun was kind of like that edgy techno kind of kid that had abs. I just keep pushing that and people would like reach out for plans, nutrition. I remember I used to sell eight weeks for $49.99, 12 weeks for $59.99 or 16 weeks for $79.99, which is a big package. I remember like accruing my first, you know, a thousand pounds through online coaching at like 17 and selling these kind of PDF programs that I'd write and they were super bespoke, man. Like I'd put so much, like someone came in and I would restart the process again, right? Everything all out for a scratch, like this whole big thing for them. So it wasn't just like a generic template getting sent in? So for every macro, I used to fade it. So it would be like everything detailed for the entire process. And I'd be like, here's your blueprint, go follow it. Let me know at the end when you, and people would re-sign. And I started getting these results at a really young age, you know, guys getting ripped abs, you know, post-pregnant women dropping like three stone, like big results without even contacting the client for the entire process. And if they like, it was up to them, if they dropped me a message saying, can I change broccoli for spinach? I'd be like, aye. And then I'd re-change the entire plan and re-send it to them again. And if it was like just updating or making a new thing, I just send it to them. So there's always updates happening and things going on and, you know, being quite entrepreneurial in that space. Even back in school, I used to like, you know, shoplift from school, shoplift from shops on the way to school, like Mentos, cans of Coke, Red Bull, all this stuff, and like sell it to people so I could buy pairs of shoes for skateboard and stuff. Like I've always been, I feel like I've always done things like this. And I was like, no way this will work forever and ever. And, you know, that was the kind of first bridge from, you know, helping people transform their life through something that I was doing. I was like, holy shit, I can maybe do this. So I got a job through the council as a fitness instructor and built my name up through North Ayrshire working in like every single gym in the county. You know, whether it be West Kilbride and Ross and Irvin, which was the main branch, it became like one of the main gym instructors at the new big gym in Irvin that used to be the Magnum became the Portal and stuff like that. And just, you know, bumped a lot of shoulders, made a lot of friends. Even some of the people I knew from back then are now clients now, you know, because I've just followed my journey over the entire time and it's just mad. And then I eventually came up to Glasgow and I was like, I'm going to really go for this, you know, came up to Glasgow and I was like 20 years old, maybe 21, moved in with a couple of close mates at the time and, you know, started working at a gym called Snap Fitness, which was a big wake up call, you know, because young guy in the big city, no client base. I didn't really look the part. Like, see, when you come to Glasgow, like it's not a small town, you know, like all the, you know, what a classic PT looks like in Glasgow, you know, like the kind of, it's like a morphsuit, the black Nike brand new spanking morphsuit, the hat, the like perfect Turkish beard trim. Like I was up against those guys that were jacked and tanned and like, oh, that's like older. They had like 50 clients and I was starting with nothing. And then I remember the gym gave me this like oversized uniform, like for Snap Fitness. And they're like, go around, you know, JP Morgan or, you know, all these big branches and try market yourself. I was like, bro, you've given me like, fuck, like you've given, you've given like Dobby a fucking dressing gown here. I look like a fool and you know, I had to do flyer and just felt super out of my comfort zone. And even for that time, you know, smoking a lot of weed and stuff, I kind of lost a lot of confidence in myself because when you smoke, you go kind of insular and I was in my own head a lot and my home environment wasn't that good at the time, staying with the guys I was staying with. And yeah, it was just a bit mad and eventually found, I actually got referred to work at a gym called train mind, body, soul for a guy called Johnny and CJ. They run us over in the South side, really good kind of small boutique, high touch kind of personal training studio. And they kind of took me under their wing and mentored me to get started in like proper coaching, group coaching. And I worked out of that gym relentlessly and built my client base up through that. And, uh, they kind of referred me clients, you know, trusted me to do that, you know, took professional photos of me, like help me out to market myself, brand myself, gave me like well fed t-shirts and clothing. I was like, this is, this is cool. So I became part of their brand and, you know, I still, still, still work for North Ayrshire council doing, you know, coaching and fitness instruction and classes and stuff. And then a woman that Johnny knew said she, she had a gym that I could have. And, you know, I've just got, took this gym and started paying for this gym that was in an industrial state. So I owned a gym in Glasgow. No, that was back in North Ayrshire. So I started working at train mind body and down in North Ayrshire. I used to do, you know, 6am, 5, 5am till 11am in Glasgow drive to North Ayrshire and do like one o'clock to eight o'clock at night PT. And I just got so busy, so busy. And for years, maybe three, four years done about, you know, 11 or 12 sessions a day, every day, Saturday, Sunday, every like Monday to Sunday, Monday to Sunday, very little time off and just hustled man, just hustling coaching clients, no niche, no understanding, just any Tom, Dick or Harry I'd coach you, you know, and I ran this blueprint with these clients and done the online thing, selling the Instagram plans and, you know, started making a name for myself. And it's been really slow growth. Like I've been in the game for like coming up 10 years now, I say, and it's just been really slow, consistent, trickling growth. And I wouldn't change it for the world. Like I've made a lot of impact and I've helped a lot of people. But, you know, if you look back now, you would have done things differently, but you know, hindsight is a beautiful thing. A big part of the process, which changed, I think my trajectory was becoming like a lot more serious. I remember I was on a call, if you know the guy, Mark Coles, like a mentor, I like paid for a call with him. Like I was like, he's a guy that I've listened to his podcast. Like it was like impact mastery or something back then, the podcast. And I remember speaking to him and Acosta on the phone and it was like, Lewis, what the fuck is Genghis Khan? And I'm like, it's my fitness. So where do you go? It's kind of like, you know, Joe Delaney, Shred Bundy. It's like, how the fuck is Sharon down the road 42 of two kids going to want to put their money or trust in a guy called Genghis Khan to help them with their fat loss. And I was like, good point, mate. What should it be? And he was like, you're a coach, aren't you? And I'm like, yeah, what's your name? I was like, Lewis McFarland. He's like, it's Lewis McFarland coaching. Like just make it simple. And I was like, so I just changed from there. And then you started doing the professional headshots and the smiling, the arms cross pose. And I just, I just started doing shit, man. I just started like following breadcrumbs of those that were, you know, either better than me doing more than me and, you know, packing different bits of fruits from different bits of different trees to try like mold myself into who I thought I needed to be for the industry. And, you know, trial and error has got me to where I'm at now. Amazing, mate. And where you're at now, only coaching only on online coaching, only like the way we kind of roll before coaching. It's like I'm going to front end like Marco helps me. He was like my first full time member of staff who does a lot of the coaching and touch points for the clients that we run, like a lot of events through the community. And I'm also like, I look at my clients as like my bros, like, you know, I created my own fucking group of friends. Yeah, they may pay me and I may coach them, but they're my guys. And I'll just message like five of them randomly in a group chat on a Wednesday night and say, boys, chest day in 45 minutes. So I had extreme gym and they're like, fuck you head over. Now just link up with like five or six clients randomly off the cuff and just, we'll just bro down and get a chest session and get a pump and physique updates and, uh, just have a bit of a laugh and build up many community. Like those are micro communities because, you know, I just meet clients where they're at, man. And some guys want to bump shoulders, the shoulder, some guys want to be just on the wrong path, like one wolf and stuff. I get that. Like personally, I don't really value community that much. Like I don't, um, I'd rather just do my thing. Yeah. Everyone's different. Everyone's different. Um, my program as well, all online, but I actually do enjoy the, the in-person element. Yeah. We do regular meetups. Like, like you say, like you're doing small mini meetups, like at least every month you're trying to meet up with the community. Like I do value that, but it's again, everybody's completely different. Um, but yeah, probably made in terms of, so as you say, in nearly 10 years inside the industry, even though you've done a lot, you've went from coaching and training people for council gyms, the smaller boutique gyms, you've then went fully online. Like you've spent a long period of time working seven days a week, 12 hours a day. Like was that any turning points, any points where you're like, right, something needs to change or like any turning points to get you to where you are just now in terms of the online side of things. There was like one, I say one of the biggest pivotal moments for me was during the lockdown, um, during COVID-19 where I was the only gym that people knew that was open. They could trust me because it was on like an industrial estate. So I continued working like a dog through COVID. Like I was doing like 12 sessions a day still when everyone was fucking broke out their arse hadn't even had a fucking clue what to do. I was stacking clients and like hammering it. Um, and also doing like zoom classes, zoom PT, I was working loads, man, busier than I probably am now. I think I had like something like 75 clients at the time back then, you know, um, and I used to even run a thing called like Sunday stretch, which I had a hundred members on. It was a zoom class and every, you know, Sunday people would join me in my living room. I'd plug the TV in soon, zoom up and take them for an hour of mobility, you know, and like see what people want and need during that time. And it was really bad. I definitely worked myself into the ground and, you know, kind of behind closed doors. I was a raging stoner as well, though, like that, that is one kind of shadow I had that carry for a long time. I was like, I was loving this double life, you know, in front of my clients. I was just kind of happy good to go PT guy, but behind closed doors, I was like high as a motherfucker all the time. Like I'd smoke in the morning, smoke in the afternoon, smoke at night. Um, it was definitely a massive crutch. It just helped me disconnect. I was just so tired and it was the only way I could deal with my emotions. I can, I think, and, uh, you know, there was one day after working relentlessly hard for a long period of time, I do not wait when you're waking up and you're fatigued and you're tired, you're burned out. And I was driving down to my gym in North Ayrshire and I fell asleep at the wheel, the driving on the motorway, like, you know, 60, I think maybe 70 miles an hour and, you know, head on collision crashed nearly put somebody else, um, could have killed someone else, could have called others, could have killed myself. My car completely flipped, um, like literally right off completely destroyed it. I woke up there in a ditch, people from ambulance pulling me out. Um, you know, I had no clue what was going on. It's fucking scared for my life, but I was like, at least I had my life, but I was covered in, you know, like always a silver light. And I guess I was covered in, you know, all this like fluid and I was like, what the fuck is that? Is that blood? Am I bleeding? But it was just loads of empty cans of monster and coffee cups that had stored up in my car that was all over me was covered in all this like fluid. And then I, the guys from the ambulance, so you stay put. And I, I, I just ran and I ran over to the other car that I'd crashed into. And the guy was like, fine. I just hugged him and I broke down in tears, man. Like, I'm so happy you can go back to your family tonight. Um, I'm so sorry. And after that, I had like a little bit of a kind of mental breakdown, I would say. Um, yeah. And like, I remember my mom and dad came and pulled up and they came to see me and stuff after all. And they were like, oh, that's asking all these questions. I was like, dad, can you drop me off at my gym? I've got clients. And they were like, no motherfucker. Like you have to fucking chill. You have to chill. Like you're shaking, strung out, man. You look so tired. You're like, you're so like emaciated. I was so like, so ripped at the time. So lean. I was like, fuck. And I, what did I do? Went home and got high, you know, went back to mom and dad's got high. Cause it was the only thing I knew how to deal with it. Um, but that was a big wake up call. And then from there, they kind of like something triggered in my brain. Cause I didn't really take action from that. You know, I didn't really change. I kind of just like took a few days to get myself like, right. Um, and then went back and started doing it all over again, you know, and there was a, there was a point maybe two weeks later, I keep doing it and I keep finding myself going deeper and deeper in this dark kind of depressive hole. Um, and I remember, you know, from how you say to look at it and we had it all, you know, beautiful girlfriend, good friend I was living with as well. At the same time, I wasn't together in this beautiful flat balcony and all of that. It was summer. I remember just standing in the balcony one night, like, yeah, I'm just going to kill myself. I'm just going to fucking throw myself off this and you know, it'll be fucking over, you know, it'll be gone. It'll be done. But I speak about that now because it's a, you know, it's a scar, not a wound. You know, I don't feel weird speaking about it, but it was quite a dark time in my life. And then, you know, after that, I kind of went, I remember my friend came through and he's like, you're not, you're not going to smoke that all yourself. Are you? Cause he thought I was just in the balcony smoking a joint and he was, he stopped me doing it just because he interrupted that train of thought. And I was like, why do you think that was? He just came through cause he obviously wanted a joint. Yeah. Why do you think you felt that way? Despite having me, I felt that I felt so full of guilt and shame. And I felt like if this is a life I'd created for myself and this is how what being a maid PT or a maid coach does, like doesn't look like and work like that all, I wasn't for it. You know, I was not for the shit and I just felt like I'd created a cage for myself that I couldn't escape. And then, you know, weeks went by, months went by, you started, I started kind of getting better. Like my kind of my relationship deteriorated off the back. I just like pushed everyone away. Um, cause I was just in a dark place, man. I wasn't like a nice person to be around. I could put a friendly face on, but I just wasn't like a good guy to a good partner, a good friend. I was just dark, you know, I was just down, dim and gloom, very contracted and had a lot of guilt and shame and anger, you know, really angry all the time and kind of try to break up with my partner who's now my fiance and stuff like that. I pushed everyone away and eventually, you know, like sold up shop and just ended up moving back in with my mom and dad, you know, and I remember they just moved and I was sitting back there like had to take time off from coaching, don't have a bird and was falling out with like really close friends. I was just sitting in a single bed and the fucking like room that I grew up in was like looking around at like old toys I had and I was like, I guess we're back at the start, man. Fuck. And then luckily my brother, my brother was like a big saving grace for me at that time. Cause again, the lockdown, he had, he moved back up to Scotland from London. He was a musician and he started loving back at mom and dad's and just felt nice to have my brother back, you know, and me and him, you know, those deep philosophical chats, those adventures you'd go on the long walks training together. I felt like I got someone back that kind of got me and he really helped pull me out a dark place. And you know, I decided to stop smoking the weed and looking after myself and got my nutrition, right. Got my training back in. Right. Um, and I remember one day sitting with Amy, like our house having a catch up, you know, it's like when you break up with a bird, you don't fully fuck, you can't get away, what true love is, right? Despite what someone may feel in the moment is how persistent the other person is. I think that's what true love really is when somebody just doesn't fucking hold back and keep going for you no matter what. So I must've had some positive traits around me that I didn't want to believe I did. And I remember I'd stopped smoking weed for the first time in like five years, six years, seven years, even. How did you, how did you, how did you manage those like 12 days, seven days a week? Obviously it came to a point, obviously where you hit that burnout and had that accident and stuff. But until that, like, how did you manage that alongside smoking that much? I was a super high function stoner. Yeah. Super high function. Cause I knew if like, cause I'd wake up, I'd do my more like, I'd eat my food, I'd have a joint and I'd be like, right, I'm numb for the day. And I'd go and graft all day. Did the clients, could the clients tell that? No, no idea. Cause that's all they knew me for. Like they thought that was my state. They thought it was this kind of like chill yogi, strength coach. Um, but yeah, it kind of caught up on me. I remember sitting with Amy and I was like, is this, is this how it should feel? She's like, what do you mean? I was like, I just feel really connected to you right now. Um, she's like, yes, stupid. That's what I've always felt. It was like for the first time, cause I'd actually taken time to stop smoking weed and clear my head properly and breathe. I was like, Holy fuck, I've got emotions. I've not felt these since it was fucking Christmas when I was 11 like Jesus. And that was a big, that was like this kind of, um, season of transformation for me mentally and physically. But I finally got my mind and body right again to, you know, assess things differently from a more kind of adult standpoint, a more kind of productive standpoint that I was able to start like moving forward without continuing to fall back into these, these dark kind of holes. Brilliant, mate. That's good. And from there I take it. Did you start reducing the, the, the one-to-ones, reducing that side of things and, and moving to where you are now? Yes and no. Um, continue working at, you know, I joined my first mentorship, um, which was like a authority network, which was great, super trans, like a really transformative thing for me. I'd never had a thing like that. I never had a, had a vehicle, never had a mentor properly. Um, I know that they taught me how to market and how to sell and how to get a one-to-one to go to group coaching, how to go from group to online. So I just followed the process, the blueprint, started joining my one-to-ones together into group, started doing group to online and they just slowly started taking the steps to, to build my online program out properly. And, you know, I remember I didn't have an online program, but I remember selling people into an online program and just building it like I'd done back grassroots, like the way I started with all these, uh, PDFs and templates and links and videos. And I think sometimes you can, like you can collaborate over something too long. You can be like, right, should I start it now? Is this right? Is this right? Sometimes you just need to dive right in and then go right. Okay. Adjust it as you go. Cause if you're waiting for that perfect time to go into something, then it's not going to happen. You're never going to feel ready for it. So I think like doing what you've done there, let's just get into it. Let's just do it and work out as we go. Sometimes that's just the way, the way that it was mad. Like one weekend after I joined the end, you know, I dropped fucking like seven grand or something on this program. I was like, Whoa, I'm in over my head here. I was watching all of these like Phil Graham content. So like videos on videos on the members lab and watching all this stuff. And I was like, Amy, like said to Amy, I was like, we need to build something this weekend. So me and Amy sat one weekend and built an online coaching program at her house and just fucking went for it, man. It was, went for it, marketed it, showed it, called it the physique mentorship. And I remember I've got a voice note, saving my phone, like a voice memo that I sent to myself. I was like, you've got it loose. You've done it. It's the physique mentorship. You're going to charge this for it. This is what it's going to do. This is the, and I listened to it the other day. I was at a walk. I was like, fuck, that was only like three years ago, two years ago or something. And I'm like, wow, what an amazing amount of growth to have made in that, that kind of short period of time. But yeah, I may just jumped and built the parachute and the way down and some clients left, some clients stayed, but you know, I managed to pull off. Yeah. Don't know how I've even got one client share a ritual warden. She's been with me from the start. She's like, you know, six years, seven years, a client. Yeah. Not many people can say that is mad. And then in terms of 10 years, obviously through that journey, just going to ask you a couple of different ones. So firstly, you've made a lot of progress business-wise. You've made a lot of progress. Also physique wise, physique wise, what's been your biggest lesson? Obviously it's quite a weird question, but what's your biggest lesson from that journey from your improvements from being skinny, fat skateboarder to where you're at now, what's been your biggest lesson in terms of improving them, getting to that sort of peak physique level. Sorry, there's so much nuance. I would, I would probably say if there was one kind of golden nugget is literally just consistency. Yeah. Like you've probably heard it from every other motivational guy out there, consistency, consistency, consistency, but even through all the ups and downs and lefts and rights, I've never missed a workout in 10 years. I've never trained less than five days a week in 10 years. Yeah. I can't get much more consistent in that meeting. The results are shown and that's it. And like, I still look at myself and like I could be so much better, but like for any of those guys out there, you know, do it for a fucking 10 years and you can talk, you know, they're like complaining about not getting results after a month, one, two, three, or four, 10 fucking years. Give it a shot. Five plus days a week, hard training. Then, then you understand that like nothing good comes easy or fast. Yeah. Too many people looking for quick fixes. So it's just all because everything's so quick now, everything you can, you can do, you can order things, you can get things delivered straight away. You go into a cafe, a restaurant, food comes straight away. Like people just want things quickly. Too many people nowadays, I think are just not willing to put in the work. It's not, it's obviously, it's not really a big selling point. I don't like doing this for 10 years. No worries. But it's like, you need to put in the reps. Instagrafication is the enemy. The instagrafication you get from getting a pump is nice, but it'll fade. But like every time you get a pump, you look at yourself, you're like, this is what it could be. You see yourself a bit more jacked, a bit tighter, skin's tighter, looking more vascular. Like to me, that is fucking everything. Like all, I think as a man, all you have is your words. As a man, all you have is your process. And if your process of becoming better relies on you having a kind of blueprint in place, which forces you to train daily, you can always chase these mini pumps and elevate your state, elevate your energy. And I don't even fucking do it for the physical result anymore. Like I do it to feel a certain way. That's why I have the wake up time. That's why I have the training split and schedule I run. That's why I do the cardio and conditioning workouts the way I do them. Because it's like, there's better people out there with me a lot. You're really fucking fat. You run fast, man. Like not in my, not in my life. I could do that. Like maybe I could, but I don't want to. But I do, I do what I do because it makes me feel that certain way. And it's something I can sustain. Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. I think having that shift is something that I kind of shifted recently, not recently, maybe over the last couple of years, but shifting from that, just focusing on the aesthetics, focusing on the looking to saying, actually, let's flip this to how I feel and perform. And I think that's like a massive shift. Like you hit that, like you end up looking better by not focusing on it. You're focusing on performing, eating well, feeling well, and it just like the results come with it. So that's been a massive shift for me. And I know you've kind of trained like that as well. And so talk to me, talk to me about that. You'll talk about the routine you never miss. Like you're somebody I'm similar to this. You've got solid routines, habits in place. Talk to me about your daily routine, mate. You've got a crazy morning routine. Talk me through a day in the life of Lewis. Day in the life of Lewis. So maybe, maybe a quote to kick something off here. One thing I'll say, like I love my life based off quotes. You know, it sounds a bit cheesy, but like Marcus Aurelius, you know, the Daily Stoic, all these things like I've collated like these, like a list of quotes that I truly live by, you know, things like discipline will set you free. The world is not how it is. It's how you are. Like all a man has as his word, things like this, and obviously never miss again. Like I fucking see it myself. Never miss again. Every day. That's the first alarm goes. That's all I hear in my head. Never miss. It's almost like you're angry at yourself. If you miss, you know, you can get through that bit that gets me out of bed. And the kind of like, when you have these quotes, you don't rely on motivation or discipline. You rely on your word. Yeah. You know, that's, that's the first thing. But daily routine for me is, is, is pretty fucking regimented. It's pretty militant. It's wake up at, you know, 345, 4am straight, wash my face, take a piss. We end straight away, straight into getting my clothes put on from the night, you know, laid out from the night before they're on. Look at my diary quickly, kind of get a visual overlook of what my day will look and feel like. And I just say, I will have a good fucking day today. I just kind of, I know it's a bit cheesy, but I just tell myself I'm going to have a fucking good day. And I've got my wee walking treadmill and I set that up. I get my rock, which is like a 20 kilo weight vest. I have that to the side. I get my supplementation, right? So that's always L-carnitine, vitamin C, pink Himalayan sea salt, and a half scoop of pre-workout straight to the dome in the morning. And I make my black coffee with my Shilajit. I have that as well. I hydrate and caffeinate whilst I'm reading 10 pages of a book. And then once that's done, I'll look at WhatsApp, look at Instagram, make sure there's nothing urgent to get back to, put the phone down again, put my earphones in and listen to like a motivational podcast or one of my favorite speakers or authors or something like a all biology or something and get on that treadmill thing and do like a 20, 30 minute kind of steady pace walk with the 20 kilo rock on. And that really accumulates a lot of energy and steps take the rock off. If you really like caffeines in my system, super hydrate salts in my system, you know, I'm ready. And I do like, you know, 50 squats, 50 pushups, tonic the body. And then I go straight to the gym, you know, and then, you know, get up to the gym. I sat in the car park. How long does that process take when you get the gym for 6am doors open and if it was open earlier, I'd probably go earlier. That's why I do like a mini workout in the morning. Um, but set in the gym car park and usually put out my first back content because I feel very like elevated at that moment of time, like inspiring the content I put in the morning is never really like hits. Well, like a lot of people don't really like or engage with it because it is literally just like my morning musings, like my thoughts, what I'm thinking is always quite like, it's almost quite a colleague post. It's never motivation. It's never like exciting. It's just like, this is my thoughts, motherfucker. Listen to it. And it's a fire that I, cause I sat in the car park and that's like, what's in my mind getting the gym and you know, whatever the work is for the day, I just know that I'm never in the gym longer than, you know, hour 15. It's just get a 45 minute bodybuilding session and done, whether it be a push or pull of our legs and then finish with like half an hour, 40 minutes conditioning of just like breathing heavy, burning calories, moving the body, sweating and you know, go get a physique update in the toilets of the gym. Look at my body, say, yep, cool. You're in a good spot up the road. Uh, shower change, get the first meal of the day. Then probably about, let's say about 8am in the morning till about one first big work block. Very, very deep work. So doing, you know, heavy tasks, urgent tasks, things that need moved and pushed along with the business. And then it's like comms, communication, check-ins, touch points, building, we sell the things that just always need to be done. Clearing the crumbs off the carpet in a sense of like just loose shit that business owners have to deal with. And then, you know, come about 6pm unless anyone's booked in for like an acquisition call, a consult call or something. I like to start winding the boat down, man, get a nice dinner in, debrief the day with Amy. Um, by that time all target standards, business, personal has all been done, man. So by about half seven, I'm on the couch, had a dinner, watching some random shit on telly that Amy's put on. And I'm just like slowly fading. Yeah. What time do you get to bed then, mate? It's 3.45 to four. It's early, man. My alarm's set for 4.45 and people are like, man, you got up so early, but 3.45's a new level, mate. What time do you go to bed? Eight o'clock. In bed for eight, whether it's after like a shower, um, just brush, brush the teeth, shower, lie in bed, always stick the AirPods in, say goodnight to Amy. And I'll just listen to like, you know, Mark Bell's power podcast or a modern wisdom and just drift to sleep, mate. Yeah. Are you, are you strict with phone, mate? Like, so say you've got bedtime at eight, is your phone off with like, obviously you're not only in business, you're both running, you're getting client messages quite a lot. Are you kind of strict with that boundary? Very, very strict with the boundaries, man. That's something I've had to learn massively over the years, but you know, come 48, half past seven, unless I'm in like a pumped up state, I ain't getting back to no one. That's the tomorrow thing. I remember I had a mentor say this once, but there's nothing life or death in a fitness business. Yeah. If someone's messaging you at eight at night, they can definitely wait till eight in the morning. Yeah. People aren't people like, I don't care what people say, but a lot of people are actually not bad. Like we get it. They probably just have something in their mind that they want to get off their chest. They can wait fucking $12 to get a response. Your response is going to be better at that time as well, but you may end up having a response at that time instead of a proper response in the morning. Like I got really angry at myself the other day because I was like winding down. My client messaged me something when I was meant to be winding down and it was like, Hey mate, where's, where's the call link for this thing? And I was like, bro, it was Mark to put it in the chat. Like, keep your eyes fucking peeled. And then I sent it and I was like, why are you missing? I said to her, I was like, why are you even messaging me about it? I said that to her and I was like, well, I thought I'd just ask my coach if he knew. And I was like, fuck, I let him down. Cause I was like, I was like frustrated that I'm asking a question and I projected my rage on him. And I just messaged him straight off the back. Cause the thing is he would guilt and shame. Anytime you project something on something that is as an internal reflection on your state. So I stepped back and I was like, right, that wasn't a cool. So I'm actually saying, by the way, bro, sorry, I messaged you off the cuff there. And I was in a triggered state because of X, Y, Z and the boiler wasn't working. And I went and had fucking ran a bath and went into it. It was fucking cold. So that pissed me off. But I got back to him incorrectly and I apologize for it. It's all cool now. But, uh, yeah. When you break those boundaries, man, you don't just help the client. You fuck the client over and you fuck yourself over. Yeah. Cause that pissed me off. And I went to bed angry. Yeah. No, it's a big one. They, it's just something that I think a lot, a lot of us need to work on. Like we, oh no, I got a monthly group call the other day. Can I ask everyone like what's, where's the kind of biggest area of struggle right now? Like between sort of boundaries with your phone, sleep, nutrition, training, and majority of people's like screen time, phone, picking up a phone. And it's, it's hard, but it's like, you do need to try and get strict rules. Like it's just, if you're constantly picking up the phone, especially in a row, like say it could be late at night. We're responding, but they want to respond and everything like that. And it's just sleep quality getting ruined, like loads of different things. So I think trying to be strict with us, any, any tips around that me or around yours, do you have, do not disturb have various different things or you just kind of like phone out the room down. That's it. So don't get me wrong though. Like there's some days which happen infrequently where I'm just pegging all day. You're like super high octane. I'll do anything. I'll work longer than anyone. I'll do more than anyone. I'll fucking, you know, if I'm out at 11 at night, blasting crazy voice notes, like they've only asked for like a simple question and I give them the full run down. Can I love it? I think somewhat I tend to do on, even on calls with clients sometimes it's like, you know, even for the client, as much as they are for me, I fucking love serving people properly. Like when you're in that flow state, I love that shit. But yeah, boundaries with the phone, my phone, like I've got this kind of timer on it. So apps, there's like a lock on them until 8am in the morning and the 8pm at night, the law goes on again. So you have to click on it, refresh the app, press one minute, 15 minutes or turn it off for the day. So it's like you're putting barriers. Yeah. I'll put a bit of friction on me, but a friction man. And the thing is like when you click on it and it says one, if you say one minute, you literally go on it a minute and it closes it again. If you click it again, it's just annoying. So I just don't mind. Um, and it's like that dopamine detox kind of vibe. Like if you can have these boundaries in place and the thing is for me at the end of the day, I'm done with the phone. Yeah. I can't be fucked. Yeah. Like you've been up for 60 hours. I have seven. This is the thing with people. It's like they're just not tired enough. Yeah. If you wake up fucking angry at your position that you're in because you're not where you want to be. And if you go to bed at night, so fucking done and because you've put in the gas to get to that, but you've worked so hard and you're like, I can't. Yeah. I just need that. I need this rescue. So many people wake up in the morning and they just want more time in bed. Why don't you go to bed early at night and enjoy the time in bed then? Yeah. Like that's the way I look at it. Definitely. I'm the exact same as that exact same. And obviously we've talked a good bit there, me about where you've been lessons, things like that. Just for the listeners. We've got advice me. So I'll ask a couple of points here, mate, for somebody who's, this can be somebody either may already be kind of meant fitness journey. They could be just starting a fitness journey, but they're not where they want to be fitness wise. Biggest piece of advice you're giving them on that. No, if you're not where you want to be right now, just have a long fucking hard look at yourself and ask yourself, what do you value? Right. But ask yourself, do you even value what you value? Right. See when you, I say, I used to say to myself, I value my health and fitness, but then I wouldn't do things that made my health and fitness of value. I'd smoke, drink, I'd take drugs, binge eat, stay up too late. Do you actually value that? Yeah. It was super out of alignment with myself. So if you're kind of whatever, whatever point you're at in your fitness journey, get very clear on your values. You don't know how to do that. Type in online, how to work out your values. And there's most likely a Dr. John Demartini list or a Tony Robbins list on how to unpack your values. It will take you half an hour, write yourself a little bit of a layer and get clear on that. But I think just the biggest factor in like allowing this result to now take place. We'll just come down to just discipline straight up, man. Like motivation is very short lived. Willpower is very short lived. They'll get you at the car park, but we'll get to the destination, you know? So you need to really be disciplined with certain kind of, I don't know, certain laundry list of non-negotiables, things that now need to be done every single day that you don't miss on. Because it's just a compounding effect. Like the hydration has to be dialed in. The movement daily. Don't care if it's 7K steps, 10K or 20K. If you say you're going to do it, promise yourself you're going to do it, you fucking do it. If you're going to train, you're going to train. Don't say you're going to train seven days and only make two because that's just going to overwhelm you and piss you off. Say you're going to train three times and if you can do more, fuck yeah. You've overdone it. You've went above and beyond. I love that. Find a nutrition protocol that's going to work for you and whether it be a certain selection of meals that you have, you know, for breakfast, there should probably only be three meals that you eat on rotation. Same for lunch. Same for dinner. Not on the weekend. Have a wee bit of what you fancy. But like you want to fucking distill things down into the most cookie cutter basics that any idiot could fucking follow. And that's how I coach as well. Like I make things idiot proof to the point that it's like, fuck, is that what I'm missing? Overcomplicating, overcomplicating things just overwhelm. End up not doing it. Let's just make things as straightforward as possible. Yeah, it may be boring to some people, but that's just going to get you the result. Probably one big thing though, like people love to overcomplicate the process because they're scared of doing the simple work. People want to see that there's a new science study published that because of their phenotype or their blood type, and it turns out they're a dolphin and they should only wake up at eight o'clock rather than six. Like, fuck that. Like, if you look at phenotypes, genotypes, all that kind of shit, people will find anything. It's like, yeah, but I'm a bear, so I need longer in bed. It's like, I'm a squirrel, so I need it. It's like all this mad shit. That's the stuff I used to look at as well. Like it's stupid, stupid shit. People will overcomplicate the simplest of processes to avoid doing the hard work. Yeah, 100% agree, mate. Solid, solid advice. And then also, so you've made amazing progress physique fitness wise, also business wise. So probably got a good few business owners that listen to the podcast as well. So over that 10 year stretch of business, biggest piece of advice to somebody who maybe as a business owner or wants to dive in and start their own business. Hmm. I think the business is just an extension of me and the business is only done as good as I'm doing personally, you know, so personal standards is absolutely everything. Like we all know the business owner that has a fucked relationship, maybe he's divorced, maybe he drinks too much, has all these vices, might have millions in the bank, but only validates himself based upon his watch. He's actually just a fucking fat sleaze. You know, if you truly want to be happy in your business, happy in your body, happy in your mind comes down to your personal standards and what you now hold yourself to. And if you've got great personal standards of your body and the food you eat and you've got that discipline, you can be disciplined with business. And I've noticed that massively, like the same way I've got a workout routine, I've got like a business routine, you know, everything from like on-boarding to off-boarding, everything from programming to systems, everything from nutrition to mindset, like there's a system for it in the way I operate and run things to remove the guesswork and the friction, to let the client have an easy journey and to allow me to have an easy coaching process so I can do it at scale. And that's the same way I do it with my physique. Like it takes a lot of time of trial and error, but the routines in which you have with your body is the same as your business. You need to have those push and pull weeks, those on and off. You have to have your deloads. You have to have your kind of awareness over peak state times. Like as a business owner, when are you at your peak state to actually engage with clients? When are you at peak state to create content? When are you at peak state to market? All of this kind of stuff, because in life we go through like, you know, cycles of expansion and contraction. So see if I'm having a bad day, you're probably having a bad day as well, right? And it is only going to last as long as it lasts until an expansion state happens and everyone feels good again. So when you're in a bit of a downer, just be like, cool, I'm not in an ability right now to think my way out of a feeling problem. Just let this fucking emotion pass, then get back to the real thing that needs to happen. Because I think a lot of people try to iron fist their way through really tough weeks or tough months of business. When in reality, all they need is a fucking better workout and a good quality meal to elevate themselves. And then five leads come in. They're like, fuck, where did that come from? Literally just so always stay in that high frequency state just by operating from your own personal values. And the business kind of does take care of itself. I don't have this mad 10 year vision of my business. I'm just like, all I've got is today and tomorrow. Yeah, then just roll with that. I definitely agree, mate, in terms of your own personal standards and flowing into your business and what else you do. Not even just business. It's like if you are not looking after yourself, your health, your standards at the floor, like you're not going to be able to operate in any areas, business, family, like, like it's just not going to happen. So I think like people might think, oh, like selfish spending, spend too much time in yourself and stuff. But I think if you're actually operating at high level, then everyone else is going to get the best version of you, mate. So it's definitely got to look there first. Massively, man. There was a point I was 10 kilos heavier than I am now. Only train three times a week and I chocolate like every day. Yeah. And I fucking was so unconfident and my business. Yeah. Like a bit of an imposter drank in the weekends like hard like takeaways and stuff. I just feel like a fraud, man. Yeah. You know, and people see that leaders lead because they have to. But to be a fucking leader, you have to step into that character. And that means being better than the person that you're leading. We've got an example that we need to read from front, as you say. Yes. And yeah, make some great piece of advice on terms of where you're at at the moment. What's the what's the next goals? Maybe you're at terms of yourself, personal fitness goals, business goals. Where are we at making what we're looking to do just now? So personally, I'm going to wrap up a little bit, get shredded going into the kind of first chunk of this year. Me and my clients are doing a photo shoot. That's something we run every year. And I was like, fuck, I would jump on and, you know, lead by example. Yeah. Diet diet hard with you guys. I want to really push running performance this year. I've run into a bit of an issue. I've got bursitis, which is like a swell and inflammation problem. So I'm trying to work on ways to fix or sort that because I want to try to run a hundred K this year. I want to just like that day, just my goal, just head out one morning, backpack and just fucking not stop and just go for it. Do it for charity or something, make some cash. And so that's the two kind of big fitness goals. A whole year around standards anyway, but things in that bit more, it's like, that's where the real fun is. And kind of professionally relationship wise, like we're going to be trying to set up the business in Dubai. That's going to be a big move. And so we have to start all the fucking documents and shit for that massive movement. More from the tax perspective, like turns out you'll need to be there once every six months as well. I don't see myself, I'm not the by guy. Yeah. Like put me in Dubai. I'll probably stand out like a sore thumb. Yeah. Um, but me and maybe do plan on like spending a lot of the next five years in like Bali and, uh, Australia over that side of the world, just going between those two places. Well, so obviously the by being a checkpoint hammer that for five years, come back and then, you know, sell it down a wee bit more. I also want to grow the team, get more coaches on under me, probably going to make the next chess move this year with the next coach coming in. Um, you could get me off or out of a job full time. She'll be coming on board over the next couple of months as well. So like, there's a lot, there's a lot of moving parts, um, over these next six to 12 months, a lot of pressure, but you stick to my fucking word. We'll pull it off, man. Yeah. Second times, mate, second times. And like you say, mate, for on top of personal standards like you are, um, then it's going to, it's going to happen into it. So excellent. And in terms of where, where you're at, like where can people find you make link up with you on, uh, guys on Instagram, Lewis McFarland coaching, or you can find us at the peak performance project Instagram as well. Also have YouTube, just Lewis McFarland coaching, Facebook, Lewis McFarland coaching. And, uh, we've got a few other wee things getting launched going into this year as well. So keep your eyes peeled guys. It's going to be sick. Um, but yeah, just my name we've coached at the end, mate. Classmate. Excellent. It's been insightful chat. Um, anything else you want to add before we, before we finish up, mate. Love it. Love it. Love your life by quotes. The easiest thing I could say, it removes all the thinking. It's like, see if you have a quote that fucking hits you and you look at it every day, it overwrites everything you feel. So you just become a man that does not mess. It's been a game changer for me this year. It just really has. Um, it just really has. Cause no matter what, just never, never mess. If you say you're going to do something, fucking do it. I'd say I'm the best Lewis I've ever been. I've been in a studio post, you know, being there like I think three times with me and he's probably seen three different versions of me. Yeah. Like seriously, I can see that every time I've stepped in here, I've been a different guy, um, slowly evolving, slowly evolving, but yeah, definitely the best place I've ever been. Superb mate. Brilliant. We can, we can end on that, maybe. Thanks a lot for coming on, mate. Yes, mate. Sick.