Episode #164 Don Saladino on how to become truly fit in your life!

December 12, 2022 Ian Dawson Mackay ALL PODCAST EPISODES, LEVEL UP YOUR HEALTH, TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE 01:01:56 0 Comments

TODAY's GUEST IS Don Saladino!

Today’s guest is Don Saladino!

He is a Coach, Keynote Speaker, & Fitness Entrepreneur Don has coached actors, athletes, & musicians for over 20 years. He opened his first NYC Gym, Drive 495 , in 2005. After operating brick & mortar gyms for 15 years, Don expanded to a global online fitness business. He has developed a reputation for training some of the biggest names in Hollywood for the big screen. Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Annie Hathaway, Sebastian Stan, Liev Schreiber, Hugh Jackman, & David Harbour are among his roster of clients.

He has been tapped as a fitness expert in publications such as Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, & Men’s Fitness. He has also been featured in People, US Weekly, Origins, In Touch, Cosmo, & Shape; and has made appearances doing live fitness demos on The Today Show, Page Six TV, People NOW, E News, & WebMD. He sits on the advisory board of Men’s Health Magazine.

In March 2018 & October 2021, it was his great honor to shoot the cover of the iconic
Muscle & Fitness Magazine.

Don lives in New York with his wife, Mel, and their two children, Amelia and Donny Jr. & their pups Rigatoni & Sambuca.

#DonSaladino #fitness #health #actors# athletes #gyms #bodytransformation #loseweight #gainstrength #becomehappier #becomehealthier #training #workout #marriage #fatherhood #celebrity #yourownjourney #bodybuilding #powerlifting  #superheroes 

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KEY POINTS, Links & Actions

Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on
    • By starting and specializing like Don, and grinding, by putting in the work, you can become a specialist that becomes highly sought after and work with the elite!
    • Your passion can become your career.
    • You can’t change over night, but following a decent plan and putting in the work, you will achieve your dreams and more!
    • “Fitness is freedom with your body … being healthy enough to do what you want to do“
    • True fitness is more than looks, its more about performance over looks, to have the ability to perform in all areas.
    • There is a big difference between working out, and training. One usually is a waste of time while with training, there is a strict plan of attack, with well thought out movements etc, and with a end goal in mind that isn’t just ‘chasing the pump’.
    • Be nice to everyone in the gym, no matter what they are doing, it takes courage to get up off the couch and try and change their life.
    • To start your transformation, you need to look at your starting point and analyse each area from nutrition, to current training etc, and then you can design a program that can cover the relevant milestones on your road to transformation.
    • There is no perfect program, different programs offer different tools to get fit, there is no one best program for all.
    • You evolve, your body evolves, and therefore your attitude to training and your program needs to change too. Things will change.
    • As inspiring as they are, those training montages in movies is not the best way to try and change your life. Repping to failure every set every session is not worth your time and ineffective towards meeting your goals.
    • Do not expect massive changes each day and especially after beginner gains at the start. Focus instead on NSV which are non scale victories, stop caring about the number on the scale, focus on the process of the workout, and nutrition changes and trust in the process and enjoy the benefits that come along as your progress.
    • “Health and Wellness is about feeling good and allowing that process to help you feel good every day” not what it shows on a scale.
    • Do things in moderation. Enjoy treats, just in moderation. Make it part of your lifestyle, fitness should be fine and enjoyable, not a punishment!
    • “If your success is quantified by a number your probably going to fail miserably“
    • What gets measured gets managed. What you monitor allows you to track and see the changes. However, make sure you are tracking the right things, not the changes in a scale but instead look at changes in progress pictures, how you feel, changes in the ability to do the things you want to do in your life etc.
    • Your overuse of food rarely is a sign of you being a weak person, more it is tied into an emotional reaction to food, that you need to work on fixing mentally alongside your training. Aim to get strong physically, mentally and emotionally.
    • A screw up (eg missed session) is a learning experience, it is not a mistake, it is normally built into the plan from your coach to allow for it. Learn from it, what caused it, and look to change that going forward.
    • Training is unique to the person, what one person does will work for them and maybe not for others. Look to others as inspiration rather than copying them and expecting their changes, as it won’t work that way.
    • Focus on improving your sleep and nutrition and you will be amazed at the changes.
    • People expect changes too quickly, real change in life takes time but will change your life rather than a short time fix.
    • Focus on how you are feeling – not the numbers on the scale!
    • Use small incremental successes. Let them pool together and build into one another, so small changes keep building into bigger feelings of success and you will be surprised where you will be at the end of the year.
    • You can change your life without ever needing to go into a gym but making true lifestyle changes.
    • Fitness trends will come and go all the time. The general advice on moving more, aiming to feel better rather than look at a scale, eat bad foods in moderation, look to sleep better and eat well on the whole etc, will never go away as they work!
    • You need to find what motivates you, if it is external like the changes in your body readings, or is it internal like how you feel etc – find what keeps you motivated to track and focus there.
    • Interview your trainers, don’t just take the first one. Look at people who have experience in the style of training you like, or have history of improving people in the way you want to be like and so on. Interview your potential trainers, find the person you have a rapport with, someone you can trust in their process and will listen to what you want, what you enjoy and dislike and adds it to your program, and not just gives you the same program that they give to all.
    • There are many activities, sports and styles of fitness, find that the ones that appeal to you, find a plan that lets you enjoy it and make it a habit, and you will be amazed at how you can change, and enjoy it at the same time!
  • You can find a method of fitness that you can incorporate into your life, that you can do around your commitments, like work, kids etc. There are morning classes, active lunches, short group classes over lunch and so on.
  • Your fitness journey should be part of your life, not your whole life. You need it to adapt as things go wrong, such as having to work late, miss a session etc. It should be something that you have as part of your life, not all you focus on. It should help you become overall happy and successful in your terms, not be the only thing you judge your success in life on.
  • You can encourage others to train, to become fitter etc, but it is their life. You can inspire them and suggest, but fitness is a personal journey, you can’t make someone follow your journey or outlook on life, but you can help them find their path in life.

LEVEL UP Time WITH THIS KEY LESSON!

There is no perfect program, different programs offer different tools to get fit, there is no one best program for all.

You evolve, your body evolves, and therefore your attitude to training and your program needs to change too.

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About the Author
I’m a podcaster who interviews great examples of people to discuss and highlight the methods, hacks, tips and procedures you can use in your own life to help you develop and better your life. I would definitely not consider myself an expert, so to improve, I ask them and action it in my own life! My personal journey has been marked by awkwardness and awesomeness, OCD and ‘OMG’. I have suffered with depression, shyness, unhappiness and lack of focus and motivation so I know what’s it like to feel lost and hopeless. Back then, I wished I had a podcast to listen to and find actual fixes and concrete action steps and not just unobtainable suggestions and promotion of their products but couldn’t find it … so I made my own!

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