How Personality Shapes Fitness Success
Article Round-Up: 6.22.25
Enjoy this week’s curated round-up of articles, videos, and more from the web to help you live a healthier, happier life.
Updates: A Men’s-Focused Group Driven by a Single Idea
Next weekend we’re hosting our Men’s Fitness Challenge. This month, we’re taking it to the beach for our Beach Bash series.
Let me get you up to speed on the purpose of the Men’s Fitness Challenge:
I’ve begun to see a growing trend of not just loneliness, but also men feeling lost in establishing their identity.
From a noticeable lack in good male role models, combined with the echo chamber of online personalities that do more harm than good, I wanted to create a space where men of all ages can be surrounded by others for support, encouragement, and guidance.
I partnered with Outpost Jersey Shore, a local gym in my town to host a men’s-focused community group to serve this purpose.
We’re driven by a single idea:
“Being a good man isn’t about being the most man. It’s about being the best man we can be.”
But we knew we couldn’t just host an event and shout, “Hey men! Come talk about your feelings and insecurities!”
Instead, we’re taking the Ted Lasso Approach: Slow, steady, gradual.
First, we center the events around something men can rally behind proudly. (i.e. let’s lift a million pounds in an hour.)
As members get comfortable and start to know each other a little better, we are transitioning the events in two ways:
First, we are changing the context of the events. All of our events have been hosted at the Outpost gym. Our next event, we’re hosting down on the beach. Same workout focus, different environment.
Second, our next phase will be changing the content of the events. We always want fitness to be a pillar of this community group, but we also want to open the door for the vulnerable conversations that are necessary to truly help our members thrive.
The goal is to build a future where we host events that are workout-focused, AND also have events that are conversation-focused.
I believe if we do this correctly, we can create a series of events that help men live better. Not just for themselves, but for others in their life too.
Next week is our first attempt at moving the event outside of the gym.
We will also, for the first time, offer coffee after our group workout to give everyone a reason to stick around afterward. (Who doesn’t love free coffee?)
Stay tuned for more updates…
(And if you’re curious to learn more about the events, reply to this email.)
Featured Thoughts:
How Losing 100lbs HURT my coaching career.
Takeaway: After losing a significant amount of weight, my identity shifted. I kept wanting to do and achieve more.
A 5k turned into a marathon. Lifting weights turned into competing in bodybuilding. Traveling turned into skydiving, scuba diving, and cliff jumping.
My transformation story began to fall flat because I wasn’t relatable anymore.
I made myself the exception. The anomaly. The special case that regular people couldn’t accomplish.
In so doing, I had created a new barrier for the very people I most wanted to help.
These days, I try to do things differently. I am still set on doing and achieving more, but I aim to show my humanity too.
To constantly remind others that I am not the exception.
That I am just an average person who made a decision to do things differently.
And you, too, are one decision away from doing things differently.
Published This Week:
Not All Friendships Are Created Equal
Takeaway: Some people treat friendship as sacred. Only a special, chosen few can earn the title.
Others view friendship as a spectrum, with varying degrees of closeness and purpose behind the relationship.
There is value in both perspectives. Check out this article to learn more about how you categorize your friends.
How Personality Shapes Fitness Success Over 50 [podcast]
Takeaway: In this interview, I talk with host Jay Croft about leveraging personality information to better serve men and women over 50 to improve their health.
I share a little about my story, and how we use psychology to implement health behavior change at any age.
(Also available on all podcast platforms.)