The Human Systems Engineer™

It was the Fall of 2016, I stood in the lobby of my apartment in Irvine, California. As my coffee was brewing, Kristin looked at me and my TBP outfit and guessed correctly. “I should probably hire a trainer.” She smirked, pocking her tummy. People say this a lot to me. Most times, they’re not serious, so I took a wif of my freshly brewed coffee and smiled. Kristen then casually mentioned that her house burned down in the recent round of fires. I was shocked, not by the fire, but by her...

When Sonny walked into a room, everyone smiled. He was the president of a massive storage service. He radiated positivity. His vibe just made you feel completely alive. Well... almost always. At the gym, his workouts absolutely crushed him. He kicked serious @$$. It was an incredibly intense sight to witness. He and his trainer had these epic sweat sessions. When they dropped a heavy weight, the sound reverberated throughout the entire building. You could literally feel the floor shake. Sonny...

I remember the day Loss Prevention walked into my 24 Hour Fitness club in Westminster, CA. I wasn't worried at first... I was the General Manager. Usually, they just wanted to look at the books. But this time was different. They told me not to log in. My alarm bells went off immediately. This was weird. I started replaying my last seven years. I worked 70-plus hours a week. I worked my way up from a humble trainer to managing a staff of over 40. We were bringing in close to a million dollars...

Hey Reader, Last week, I was trying to put my son Jagger in his car seat. He fights it sometimes, and I just needed him to cooperate. So I told him, "Hey, I'll take you to the big park." He smiled a huge smile and repeated, "Big park!" I looked right at him and said, "Yeah." I instantly felt terrible. I felt even worse when I drove him straight to the kids club at Lifetime Fitness instead. Rats... I try my best not to lie in my everyday life. But it made me think about the blatant lies we...

I remember that morning vividly... I was supposed to work... deep work. I needed to move the needle and grow the business. But my son Jagger decided it would be a different kind of day. Courtney was getting ready to take him to the kids club. She needed to work on her Forensic Tales podcast. She's a little behind from our Vegas trip, and I also needed to catch up. But ever since we got back, Jagger's been glued to me. He was yelling at a ridiculously high pitch. It escalated into constant...

Those rusty weights literally saved my life. It pulled me out of the darkness and gave me a new purpose. I gave up engineering to become a fitness trainer. Since that Christmas in 1999, I've spent 22 years helping high-performers. I've finished 7 Ironmans, not with motivation, but with a reliable system. I know how frustrating it is when you're putting in the 60-hour weeks at work, but your body is failing you at home. You're tired of feeling soft. You're sick of the 3:00 PM brain fog. You're...

After losing my brother, I was completely broken... School, studies, and electric circuits lost all their meaning. I was numbing the pain with Carl's Jr. and alcohol every single day. Then, right before his funeral, I walked into the garage to get away from everyone. I stumbled upon his weight set in the corner. The metal plates were freezing cold. I put on his weightlifting gloves. I desperately wanted to punish myself. I started lifting his heavy weights to hurt as much as physically...

We just got back from Las Vegas. Jagger stayed home with Mama Sofia, so it was just Courtney and me. She was featured at CrimeCon for her true-crime podcast, Forensic Tales. I stepped back from the loud casino floor to watch her smile at her booth. She was glowing. She was finally living her "Champagne Dream". It was completely surreal to witness. Courtney made her dream come true! Seeing her shine took me back to the exact moment my own business dream came true. But the contrast also dragged...

Hey Reader, On Saturday, we talked about how my client Colleen used her Body Throttle to finally cool down her internal engine. But knowing how to use it is only half the battle. You've got to actually apply it when the pressure is on. We didn't just tell her to "try and relax." We built a rigid system, tying her physical reset switch to the exact, high-stress triggers in her daily routine. If a client demanded a massive change on a Friday afternoon... she used that spike of anger as her...