Ep 449: An Insider Look into Body Fat Testing and Training Tips With Cody Watkins

Do fitness goals seem complicated and overwhelming?  Curious what happens when you work with a coach 1:1 who simplifies nutrition and fitness for you?  Cody Watkins was an out of shape high schooler who taught himself how to get into shape with powerlifting and bodybuilding.  Even a birth defect that led him to open heart surgery and a come back 11 months after surgery at the age of 30 didn’t stop him.  Seventeen years later Cody has helped over 2000 people achieve better lives through fitness by simplifying their way to success.  In this 2 part series of The Health Fix Podcast, Dr. Jannine Krause interviews Cody Watkins on simplifying and automating fitness so that it’s so much fun it becomes part of your identity.

Resources From The Show: 

• Cody Watkins Fitness on Instagram and Facebook
• DM him: Coach33 if you’re interested in working with him

Our Partners

Podcast Transcript

1:28 Measuring body fat

8:54 – One on one coaching VS group coaching

13:29 – Working with Cody

18:59 – Solutions for traveling

24:22 – Weight fluctuations

29:30 – Mindset matters

33:13 – Small changes yield big results

38:35 – How to work with Cody

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[Intro] Welcome to the Health Fix Podcast, where health junkies get their weekly

fix of tips, tools, and techniques to have limitless energy, sharp minds, and fit

physiques for life.

Hey health junkies! On this episode of the Health Fix Podcast, I have Cody Watkins on again for the

second part of our two-part series here. Let me give you a little background on Cody.

He was an out of shape high schooler who taught himself how to get in the shape

with powerlifting and bodybuilding.

And he has now helped over 2,000 people achieve

better lives through fitness.

And in this episode, he’s going to get into

how he’s testing for body fat, his favorite method,

but he’s also gonna talk about how he trains folks

and what’s happening on the inside.

So he’s kind of pulling back the curtain a little

and showing you a little bit of what it’s like to work with him.

But not only that, one of the best parts of this episode

is that we’re talking about how to make fitness fun

so that you actually incorporate it into your identity.

It becomes part of you and it doesn’t become a chore anymore.

It becomes fun.

So let’s get into the podcast.

JANNINE: I think the biggest question

that folks might be thinking right now, Cody,

is, okay, we talked all about body fat,

we talked all about plateaus and things.

How, like, what’s your favorite go-to

for measuring body fat?

is it caliper? Is it the impedance? The InBody? What is it?

CODY: Yeah, I owned a DEXA scan for four years. I’m a DEXA scan junkie. Like if you can find

a DEXA scan, there’s going to be no body fat measure or more accurate. I have done and tested

just about every form of body fat test. So my top ones are DEXA scan. Then it’s going to be

hydrostatic. Hydrostatic, you got to get in the water in the basket way. So there’s like a three

ish percent fluctuation rate because breathing all your air out under water can be a little bit

of a panic factor, right? So it skews. The bod pods are inaccurate pieces of junk in my opinion.

So I went to there was a clinic that had a bod pod. I had just hydrostatic at 8.2%

body fat literally two days before this. I have vascular across my abs. I’ve been doing this for

years of this one, right? So they get me in. I come out of the bod pod at 14.4%. Right? Now again,

I have vascularity on my abs. I’m like, hey, well, if it’s congruent to itself, like, okay,

then I can use it, at least for tracking, right? I’m like, hey, how does this measure? No one there

could tell me how it works. They tried switching it to like African American setting to see if the

muscularity, the bone density setting would come, it was still 14 point foot, right, on the button.

So then I start to realize it’s basically pre-calibrated to some extent. There’s a, there’s a basal formula

in there, much like with the, the inbodies. They have an algorithm in there based on weight. There’s

there’s essentially a BMI formula built into the scale.

So when you go into it,

it’s you take up X amount of volume per chamber.

Well, if you’re training for hypertrophy,

I take up a lot more space than I typically weigh.

So it reads me a higher percentage because of that.

So like, although it may be accurate-ish to some, it’s not.

So dexahydra on the money or hydro.

Then if we go into inbodies, they can be accurate.

I’ve seen them match my index as can.

If that person is within the weight realm

that it’s calibrated for,

meaning if you’re on the high end or the low end,

it will skew you.

So if I go to do one, for instance,

it’ll put me like 18 to 20% like that.

Because I’m a 245-pound male at 5’10”.

So it automatically thinks, ah, 245 at 5’10”,

he’s got some fat on him.

Now it does have a calibration,

so it’ll put me leaner than say,

That guy who weighs the same as me at my height,

but it still won’t put me anywhere near accurate.

And that’s the problem.

Now, if you’re someone who’s in the weight range,

like one of my former clients,

I don’t want to say her name on here,

but she did, we were doing a show

and she did the InBody

and then she came and immediately did my DEXA scan

’cause I want me to compare her.

And because she was about five, five,

130, 35 pounds getting ready for show,

she was within 0.2% of the DEXA.

but she was in that weight range that the end bodies were good.

So for a point of take away for your listener here,

if you’re like a 200 plus pound person,

they’ll be useful, but not necessarily accurate

because you’re out of that weight range.

So don’t get married to the numbers, watch the trends, right?

And also with those kind of things,

they can skew drastically on hydration levels.

So if you do one in the morning dehydrated and all that muscle

tissues, 80% fluid. Okay. So it’s going to read you Lee when that lean reads less, it

increases body fat. So always make sure hydrated consistent time of testing. So do not test

at night if you test in the morning, do not test in the morning if you test at night, keep

it consistent. And that’ll give you the most frequent readout when it comes to it. And then

you can use it as a point of reference. But realistically, you can visually gauge this

stuff pretty well. And so like I’ve scanned so many people, seen so many

percents. I can eyeball someone’s person and get it within two percent now.

Like I’ve just seen that many bodies. You know, you start seeing thousands of

people without their shirts. You know what percent start to look like when

you’ve seen tests correalating. But my percentage of lean, if you’re a

lady and you’re sub 15%, you’re going to look, there’s going to be people

questioning like, are you doing a show? Even though you’re not stage ready,

you’re going to look enough, you’re starting to get that response. A guy, if you’re 12% or less,

usually about the same when it comes to that, those are the two variables that you want to

watch, right? Now, visible abs are usually a queue for men. Ladies more of like a flat stomach,

if you start getting out vascularity, like you might be leaning enough, you’re tripping your

menstrual cycle, which is not how the and I am recommending to get just shy of the period of

being a regular when it comes to that. But guys, if you can find a DEXA scan or you can find an

hydrostatic, those would be the two I’d recommend. Never be the bod pod, never would be a recommendation

of mine. Calipers, you have to have a consistent pincher. So if there’s like a trainer at the gym

that can like he’s pinched a million people, he can do the same spot. Cool. Don’t bug out on the

percent. It spits out. Track the millimeters. If the millimeters are going down, you’re good.

It doesn’t regardless of scale, right? Now if you drop 10 pounds on millimeters,

barely removed, yeah, you probably lost a muscle, right? That’s not good. So you can read it just

like data InBody’s are accurate within a certain space. If you are outside that space,

they will be trending correctly, but not necessarily accurate. So use it as kind of a reference point,

not a tell all be all, if you can get about a reading, make sure things were consistent. Don’t beat yourself

up and go on a burger binger, right? Just be like, hey, that could have been about reading.

Let me measure this again in two, three weeks and see where it goes into.

JANNINE: Makes sense. Makes sense. Wow. Lots of info there. And yes, you know, the decks I think I’ve seen,

you know, overall being kind of the most accurate, I’m minding it InBody’s.

CODY: Well, it’s the least invasive, right? So really, you can just lay on a table and

an x-rays over you, right? It takes six minutes and you’re done. And that’s going to give you the

most accurate. Now, if you’re someone who doesn’t want to do any of that, waste measurement with

pictures, it was still my go-to. So if no one ever gains fat while their waste is going down,

right? You would have to have some like freakishly weird storage pattern to pull that one, right?

So if you’re measuring and the scale’s not going down, scales going up, but your waste is down,

you know, a couple inches, ride that up. Your body’s doing exactly what you want to. If you drop

10 pounds and the waste went down a quarter inch, you might want to rethink what you’re doing. And

unless maybe you have no fat left on your midsection, because you’re probably losing muscle, right?

And so that waste and the weight loss should look pretty congruent when it comes to actually

tracking it on a graph. Like I can watch a lot of stuff on my clients too. It’s pretty much

parable on the down. 

JANNINE: Makes sense. Makes sense. So cool. So cool to think that stuff through.

Definitely things that folks need some support and understanding what to do and kind of taking

some of the brain damage off of the individual and having something take over for it and then

you just kind of get in the flow. So I think my next question ends up being, I know you’ve mentioned

before you work, you work with folks online, you work one on one group.

Like what one on one, right?

Like group.

Here’s what I was going to ask you because you said one on one.

Um, does it seem that with one on ones, you can get much more success than in groups?

What’s your opinion on that?

Like what’s your– 

CODY:  Yeah, I’m not, I’m not a fan of group training.

So group training kind of works like this.

if you had a twin sister, identical twin, identical goals, I could group training because

you’re the same person. Now, this isn’t to say that I couldn’t train two people, but what’s going to

happen? So like my wife and I will work out together. Okay. My wife was half my size. Now,

we obviously have different goals, right? But we can still work out together. But my workouts

we’ll get sacrificed to make her workouts better. And since I’m at a point of maintaining,

doesn’t really bother me. So we do the workout where it’s like, I can check as much as I need

to to maintain, but it still has the right intensity volume, everything that we need

to move the needle with her physique, because she’s still got voluminous to check. And so same

thing happens if you’re going in groups. So if I have like a high level achiever, and I got a

like an intro level person, I have to cater that workout one way or the other. And so if I cater

it to the advanced person, this person’s going to fall out. They’re never going to be able to do it.

And if I cater it to the less intense person, this person’s never going to get a good workout,

right? So they’re either going to have to go on their own and treading crank intensity,

which at that point, I think it kind of defeats the purpose of hiring me as a coach when it comes

to it. Now, the workout portions, right, those can be pretty similar, but the nutrition will very

drastically. So if you’re getting coaching and they’re only doing workouts, yeah, you guys might

get some great workouts that are intense. But if nutrition is 90% of the needle, how much of that

are they leaving on the table in terms of results? And so personally, I’ve never found great success

with it. I don’t want to see how it could be successful to the level to the standard I like

to be successful, right? Well, will it work? Sure. But I like results that drop people’s jaw

to the floor. I don’t like the ones that are like, Oh, yeah, she got a little better shape in six

months. I like the other like, oh my god, you did that in six months? Like, yeah, that’s

way more fun. So to do that, you’ve got to take that individual because the things holding you back

from getting your results are so much different than your friends or, you know, someone of the

different gender or different age, anything like that, that you can’t prioritize both people.

And you’ll see it like this is back when I did personal training at 24-hour fitness,

This would have been what 17, 18 years ago, something like that.

Right, you could watch the stress getting in.

And then you watch group instructors and they walk around holding stopwatch.

Yeah, you’re doing great, Cindy.

Keep it up.

Yep, ten more seconds.

And so they, the group training really relies on a lot more personal perception

of intensity, right?

because that person is now having to push because they’re not getting pushed from coach.

And the plan is going to be discretionary read based on who it’s for. Right. So if you have a way,

yeah, it can be more cost effective. But is it cost effective if it gets you less of a result?

And personally with me, I don’t think so. I would rather spend more money to get the result

than spend less money more time and kind of a result similar to what I would avoid.

JANNINE: It makes sense. It makes sense. Yeah, I wanted to ask that because, you know, a lot of folks are

trending towards group training now and group programs for weight loss and group this and

group that. And it’s one of my things that I’ve tried it. I don’t like it for… CODY: No, the success

rate is really, really low with it. So you’ll get like the one or two rock stars that they’ll be good

anything they do. But for the most part, it’s not a high level of success. And again, it’s just,

it’s kind of like on the value equation. That’s why if you go to a bigger jam that’s running

and group classes, like there’s the one or two ladies

in the front row that are doing really good

and everyone else, you can’t even tell

what they do group classes.

And so that’s where I see group as.

So if you have the ability to do one on one,

you’re really gonna shine with it.

If it’s group, hopefully they have some individual approach

to it where they at least on the nutritional aspect

don’t do some cooking cutter nonsense

and do a little bit deeper dive on that aspect of it

for you guys and then the workouts are a little bit more

kind of grouped in and that can be okay. But if it’s just group like, Hey, here’s a meal plan

group. Hey, here’s a workout. I’m afraid you’re probably going to get more of a bad taste in your

mouth from a poor experience than you do. Well, good results coming out. 

JANNINE: Makes sense. It makes

sense. And so if someone’s working with you, how does it look in terms of when did they meet up with

you? You know, how does how does it work for the nutrition? How does it work for all that?

CODY: So I’m annoying. I’m kind of on them quite a bit.

So the thing I like to think of is when somebody hires me,

they’re not hiring me to figure this stuff out on them.

So I want a million questions that for a treat.

Like if my phone’s not going,

I’m going to be like, hey, does everything make sense?

Because there’s so much nuance that comes with it.

and so many things that you may think are normal that aren’t normal, right? And like,

TMI, but I’ll get clients for like, Hey, what can I do? I haven’t pooped all week. I’m like,

homie, it’s been seven days. Like you didn’t think like one day to tell me this,

you’re like, now we’re in danger condition. Like we got to do a big fix when it comes to this.

Okay. Like, Hey, how do you like drinking Epsom salt? They’re like, what do you mean

drinking Epsom salt? I’m like, read the label. It’s a laxative. Worked really good. And then

we can adjust your magnesium bill so you get a fix, right? Likewise, when people have a little

I eye twitch throughout the day, that’s not something you think to like, oh, hey, but it’s a magnesium

deficiency. So we throw in some magnesium, taurate magnesium, boratate either one, we crank that up,

your your eye twitch will be gone, right? We can have that problem fixed in three minutes, right?

So super, super easy. But again, like if I don’t know this stuff, so sometimes I got to pull out

other times they’ll spit it out, but the communication has to be thorough with it, right? So we’ll do

text communication, right? Through my app and stuff. That’s usually the best means of it. But

But with that, I do zooms with my clients weekly and/or as needed, right?

So like, I, if maybe you schedule a lot of Friday and some things are just

easier to hash out on a call, right?

Like if you’re like, dude, I can’t understand this.

Okay.

Cool.

I’ll leave the record like a screen report and show you through it.

We’ll hop on a quick call and dive in, but I don’t like to leave people to solve

for problems because it doesn’t work out really well.

I know that as we get more into it, usually the touch points become less frequent.

Usually every couple of weeks when it comes to that and then communicating

more through text.

But basically it is individual to the clone because some people need a little bit more

nurtured, right?

And other people are like, I got this man, I’m like, I’m like a machine.

And so once we have that in, but I do everything when it comes to it.

So because again, the point of you hiring me isn’t for me to write down three

numbers on a piece of paper and go, Oh, here’s your nutrition plan.

Like that’s bullshit.

Like that’s not a plan.

You wrote down three numbers based arbitrarily on nothing.

And that’s not going to get some other goals.

So I have a little bit of homework for the people.

have them walk out their food for one or two days, I like to see what normal is. So I’ll usually get

yesterday and the day we’re talking because after we talk right, they automatically clean it up,

they’re chicken rice, broccoli and all that stuff in there, right? I want to see like the tequito,

the tequila, right? I want to see all the stuff that you shouldn’t have that’s in there. And so

then I have an idea of what normal is. So then I can go through and put together a custom meal

plan based on their eating habits, their food prep, and his lifestyle. So now they know every meal,

what to eat, every meal has macros beyond that, I’ll do food swap sheets and they’re more than

and welcome to switch macros if they don’t understand it.

Cool. All they have to be like is like, hey, dude,

I’m day three turkey sandwich.

And if I have to eat one more bite, I’m gonna yack.

Cool. What sounds good to you?

And then I can start putting together food swaps

that work more with that.

We can keep it as simple or as complicated as they like, right?

So I got some people that are, oh, I love to cook.

Cool. What food you can actually cook in there.

I gotta be like, dude, I want a Costco list.

Like you said you don’t cook them. I guess I do.

So I can set a cheat sheet to Costco

where we have all the pre-made meals there

that are a healthy, they got organic type ones,

high protein, low calorie.

So now all you gotta do is put something on the microwave

for three minutes and have a dinner for the family.

So you’re not going out to eat,

but also didn’t overly consume time, right?

So you wanna keep this stuff simple and have it be working.

So once we go through that,

then we do a dive into the obviously

the weight training structure of it,

’cause that’s the next component.

I need to make sure that it’s functional

for what your goal is and your schedule, right?

So if you’re working on zero times a week,

you’re like, “Cody, I can train six.”

Cool, we’ll start with three, right?

I don’t listen to you.

I listened to what the results need and the reason you hired me

isn’t because you necessarily know what you’re doing.

It’s because you need help figuring it.

So I will, cool, if six is really what you want,

we will get to that, but we will never start there.

Let’s ramp this up.

Then we’ll make sure we’re doing everything right there

when it comes to the training.

So tracking reps, tracking weight,

rating intensity of the workouts.

I can see all that data.

My system will sync up to Apple Watch Fitbit, any of that stuff.

So I can see all the steps to sleep, the heart rate.

So I can see food, log, strength, everything,

in graphs and charts, I get notifications

of people miss workouts.

So I can be like, “Hey, I see something missing here

“so I can be extra creepy.”

And then that’s where the coaching comes in,

making sure we have the touch points,

the check in communication.

So I have data on what your experience is like so far.

So when I do this stuff, I have a 90% success rate

with clients.

So it’s like, I can pick a name out of a hot

and it works out really, really good.

You know, there’s about 10% I haven’t fixed,

but it’s usually because they’re not doing what I told them,

right?

Not because they’re doing what they say,

but I do have money back guarantee on this, right?

So like if anyone comes in,

I’ll right, you check back if it doesn’t work, right?

It’s provided you did 80% of what I tell you.

JANNINE: Yeah, yeah.

I mean, that makes sense.

That makes sense.

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All right, let’s get back to the podcast.

JANNINE: And even for like, you know, one of the biggest things

I get in terms of questions is like,

is Cody, you know, able to help folks

who travel a lot from work?

CODY: Oh yeah 

JANNINE: And things like that.

You know, is he able to manage, you know,

figuring that out folks?

CODY: Well, so with this too, I think people overcomplicate

what traveling actually is, right?

So all it is is that you need convenient foods,

whether they’re packable or to eat.

So cool, like what does every airport have?

they all have fast food restaurants.

So if you had a list of six different meals

you could do for lunch and an airport

that you could get a KFC, Chick-fil-A, Burger King, McDonald’s,

now is it the healthiest?

No, but if it hits our numbers,

we’re not gonna come out [inaudible], right?

So we have kind of like the o shit strategy in there

for those situations.

Hotel gyms, cool.

We got gyms in most of them.

And all people have to do is so like,

I can put them together generally,

but really what I like to do is when people travel,

I’ll have them do a video.

as soon as they get to the hotel,

just snap a few pictures with the equipment.

And then I’ll build the workout out specific to that.

So then they don’t have an excuse, right?

It’s built for that specific gym, right?

Cool.

Now they can knock that out, get done.

Now we have that taken care of.

So we have those worst case scenario.

You don’t start losing muscle,

even if you have a weak office,

as long as the nutrition’s in check.

Things like three weeks to start dumping tissue.

So the traveling is actually easy

when you break it down to the blocks.

I think most people just look at it like it’s so much,

but like you can get protein bars to their floor.

you can pack protein powder through the airport.

So like when I travel, I do like six meals a day

of protein shakes, right?

So I literally look like a chocolate protein drug dealer,

going through the air, like half my bag and Ziplocs,

right? They got a bomb test that sometimes

and all that stuff, but it’s super, super doable.

And like if you know the hotel you’re going to,

you can call them and be like, hey, my name’s Steve,

I have a reservation on whatever, 315,

can I Amazon this to the hotel

you hold it for me. And you can Amazon it to the address of the hotel and have whatever,

from your proteins waiting for you, why to travel, right? So it’s just being preemptive

with it rather than, you know, you got to be responsive, not reactive. And so when we have a

plan and play, we can, we can have responses rather than reactions. And that’s where you can keep

results going to matter what, because I would say probably 20% of people will work with travel,

right? So, and so you have to have a solution, you can’t just go, well, no fitness this week,

I’m off, I’m off, I’m off, I’m off traveling, right?

Like that will never run.

So we got to have solutions that are work for those situations.

And once you have those in play,

I think it’s a lot simpler than people think

once they actually put it in the machine.

JANNINE: Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

I mean, I’m probably out of my house

at least two, two weeks out of each month with travel.

CODY: Yeah.

JANNINE: While I wish that I had more, you know,

weight situation and, you know,

to work with and at least the Smith machine

in a hotel sometimes it doesn’t happen.

But I feel like I’ve done okay, but that is somewhat where I also kind of wonder like, what else we do.

So,

CODY: Another thing to do, you can do with that though, if you’re someone who does travel frequent, grab like one of the TRX trainers.

And they’ll fold up in your bag about this bag.

And worst case, you can put it in the door jam of your hotel room and do some workouts with there to get some resistance training.

Best case.

Okay, you get down to the gym.

And if you have a Smith machine or a cable tower, you can attach it on there.

Now you can do all the weights, TRX stuff and cable work.

And you can do a full bad house workout, just what that right there.

And so again, it’s more, you got to be more solutions oriented when it comes to this stuff.

And think, how can I not, oh, I can’t do this.

And once you do that, that’s that shift and this stuff goes so much smoother once we do

that.

JANNINE: Absolutely.

I agree.

I’ve rigged together some crazy stuff.

And I’m just looking, I don’t have them in here, my bands.

Those are all another thing that are easy to travel with.

And you know, you can rock that.

CODY: Well, and the other thing too, from this perspective,

remember like nutrition’s 90% of our level.

So I think people overemphasize the workout.

So if you miss a workout, like you’re not traveling

super frequent, it’s like once every two or three months,

you’re gonna be gone for like a week or so.

Cool.

Not a big deal.

going to set you back, right?

Just mind the food.

Now, if you’re someone like you and it’s like, OK, two weeks

every month, yeah, that’s going to be hard to make progress

if you don’t have a solution in there.

So that’s where you want to plug and play a strategy that’s

going to work rather than panic about it, right?

The people that are infrequently traveling

like four days a week here and there, just mind your food,

right?

As long as you do that.

And then if you have social outings, company outings,

do what I call protein backloading.

So basically, just the protein for all your other meals.

So you save those calories for dinner.

So even if you go above and beyond at the restaurant,

you’re not gonna look like some weirdo

green chicken rice and broccoli to the dinner table, right?

From your work colleagues, you look normal

and just be mindful of your choices, right?

Like note, cheesecake is like a thousand calories slice,

maybe opt out of dessert and just do a bigger steak,

fries, potatoes, but since you saved those calories earlier,

even if you did go above and beyond,

how to fast 35 hundred calories.

So unless you ate like 5,500 calories

that you’re worked in or you’re not gonna put on a pound.

So you will be okay if you break it down to the basics.

JANNINE: Oh my God.

Yeah, it’s so funny.

And I think for a lot of people it’s inflammation weight,

you know, the seed oils, the whatever they might be,

might irritate them at the restaurant.

And that’s where they’re like,

Oh my God, I, you know, I ate out once and I gained eight pounds.

(laughs)

CODY: Yeah, no, gaining fat actually takes a lot more

than people think.

Now fluctuating weight, that’s a different animal.

And so anytime you get a quick fluctuation,

Like I said, you could have slept less, got something that digested, wrong.

Maybe your bowel movements are a little bit slower.

Your water intake was low.

Any of those things can make you hang on the fluid.

And so, you know, get your water intake back up and give it two or three days.

You’re going to feel like you have to pee 65 more times.

Cool.

The water weight’s coming off.

Now we know that scale should be back down.

That’s when you peek at it, make sure it’s back to like your range where you

like to see it.

JANNINE: Oh man.

So, I mean, so much stuff that it’s funny how we get in our heads and it’s funny

have you like instantly or like, oh my God, it’s this.

CODY: Yeah.

JANNINE: Ah, so fun.

CODY: Well, and it’s pictures too, ’cause I, you know,

I have, I work with some coaches in this industry too,

because like you said, it’s like coaching yourself

was challenging.

JANNINE: Yeah.

CODY: And so, well, she’ll do some filming and stuff with me too.

She’s actually semi-local to my area,

but, you know, she put like her starting picture,

not with me, but she started on her fitness journey up

to like the new muscular build, right?

And she’s like, I finally see it now.

And I’m like, that’s like the moment, right?

Like that’s like a coach’s best moment

because we’re trying to tell you this the whole time.

And you, you know, and then one day you’re like,

oh my God, I do look good.

I’m like, there it is.

That’s what we’ve been shooting for, right?

But it’s a great moment when it actually happens, right?

It just, I wish that one would happen a little bit more, right?

When people finally see the fruits of their labor, you know?

JANNINE: Yeah, no, it’s hard, it’s hard.

I mean, I had to aha moment just now

when I came back from the Caymans

when we took some pictures of me in a swimsuit

and normally I’m like, no, right now I’m still, you know.

CODY: I’m bloated, I just ate whatever the excuse is.

JANNINE: I’m bloated, I just ate, I’ve had drinks.

CODY: Yeah.

JANNINE: You know, and I was like, huh.

I’m actually gonna post this on Instagram.

I’m not bad.

I’m like, this isn’t, this is cool.

And like, I don’t know if I even mentioned this on the podcast.

Like I’m coming back from being very burnt out with my business and like literally letting

myself kind of go because I was trying to take care of everything else.

And so seeing that I was like, wow.

All right.

I’m getting back.

CODY: You get buried in the weeds, right?

And then other things start to slip, you know, and you got to put it all together because

like you can be hyper successful at everything else.

If you don’t have your, your, your health and you don’t love the body, your end, there’s

a problem with that situation.

One of your key pillars is missing and there’s not a solid foundation that’s not there.

JANNINE: Yeah.

And it’s crazy, you know, how for a lot of women, this is something that will kind of

catch up to us and especially women who have been active and fit their whole life and still

kind of maintain a level of fitness, but they decrease the intensity they’re trying to sneak

again workouts, you know, and then diet goes to shit because

Devin ate all day and they’re like, Oh crap, I better eat

something. That’s– 

CODY: Yeah, we’re getting up the metabolism like that.

And then the other thing too, especially if they’re like

parents, it’s the snacking on the kids foods, right? Like, a

handful for thee and a handful for me. And then you’re like, no,

I hardly ate today. I’m like, you made six handfuls of goldfish

since you’ve been babysitting.

So there’s little things to watch for.

And I think that conversation is one to have with yourself about just being

brutally honest, because we will delete things out of our head that actually

happens. So we feel good.

And the thing is, I do want everyone to feel good, but more so I want you all

not to feel good.

And you’re like, well, what the hell, what do you mean?

But discomfort is a state of growth.

And so if you change your situation to feel comfortable,

but you’re not actually comfortable,

you just change a situation.

Like, okay, you’ve got fatter friends

because you felt uncomfortable around fit people.

Did that actually make you better?

No, it didn’t.

So let’s get uncomfortable with the fact

you don’t like where you’re at.

So then we can do something about it,

to take initiative, take ownership, to actually do it.

So there’s two ways to have the tallest building in the city,

right?

You can destroy everyone else’s,

or you can build yours up bigger, right?

(laughs)

And there’s only one path that’s got good morals to it, right?

And so building yours bigger, it takes work, right?

So instead of maybe looking at people

that are doing better, like, well, Cindy over there,

she got– Joe works so she could just be a stay-at-home mom.

I have to work and be a mom and do this.

Cool, but guess who’s gonna own it more

when they get there?

Like you put so much more work in

than her by the time you get there.

Like you’ll be much more proud of the body

when you actually get to it, right?

So don’t look at it like an excuse.

Look at it like change the perspective.

I’m like, okay, I can conquer this.

And that goes a long ways when it comes to this stuff.

JANNINE: Absolutely.

Absolutely.

What you said, what you think, you know,

your attitude is incredibly important.

CODY: There’s a study that you can Google it or pull it out,

but it’s called mindset matters.

And they did it for weight loss.

And I’ll paraphrase the numbers.

But they took a group of like hotel cleaners like maids

and they took half the group and they told them,

Hey, what you do fits the national exercise accreditation for being healthy and they took the other half and didn’t tell me

the group that they told them that they’re basically their daily activities was healthy and it was enough exercise

They lost like six pounds over the next 12 weeks versus the group that didn’t tell anything was zero

So you can say causation or correlation

But what it was was maybe they started being more mindful. So like well

From already this healthy maybe I’ll have an apple instead of a cookie, right?

Maybe it was just a little change, but regardless, it worked.

So if you’re sitting there going in, telling yourself,

“You can’t, it doesn’t work.

My schedule’s too busy,” et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Maybe you’re one of the high points of resistance

actually achieving your goals.

And if you looked at it like,

“Yeah, I can actually do this.

Imagine what doors were open for you moving forward.”

JANNINE: So huge.

(laughs)

CODY: I send that study out to people if they start getting a little in a funk.

Oh, you know, but I’ve seen it working with so many people.

Like you’ll watch the negativity crank up.

JANNINE: Yeah.

CODY: And you’ll watch the scale stop.

And I literally have to have them start journaling, writing,

start found writing goals now because they will halt their fat loss,

whether it’s indirectly or directly.

It’s causation or correlation, but maybe you think that you can’t lose weight.

So you’re suddenly sabotaging yourself throughout the day and you don’t know

Or maybe you’re setting everything in quarters of lovers getting high.

You’re just not optimizing the body by doing so.

So it’s never going to hurt to think like, yeah, I can definitely do this.

Yeah, I can definitely do or start with my way.

It’s going to feel like you’re BSing yourself from your first start telling yourself that,

right?

It’s not going to feel honest, but you do it long enough.

Your brain’s eventually going to give it as a day.

Shannon will not shut up about reaching this goal.

Like, dude, maybe we just got to reach the goal and shut her up because she’s really annoying.

Like every day pushing this down my throat and she don’t weigh 150.

She wants 70 right now and it’s really annoying.

Her saying, I weigh 150.

And then the brain’s like, okay, yeah, well,

let’s just get her a little closer and shut her up, right?

And then all of a sudden you start getting there, right?

So that’s like the mental conondrum people go through

when it comes to this, but you gotta conquer them, right?

Once you do that, all this other stuff gets a lot easier.

JANNINE: So huge, so huge.

Oh my goodness, so many things, Cody, so many things.

But the mind is a huge one.

And I’m glad that you mentioned that.

I’m glad you work with folks on that

because they do see the same thing

when folks start telling themselves,

and I’m never gonna lose it.

Or they sit down in the chair crossing me,

and they’re like,

I’ve never been able to lose weight ever in this and that.

And it’s like, well,

that may be your number one problem.

CODY: Yeah, well, in the other thing too,

like you’ll see it a lot on consults.

So you’ll say like,

so what would all have you tried to lose weight?

And they go, I’ve tried everything.

Okay, cool.

But then if I actually start breaking down,

they’ve tried like, yeah, one thing for three days.

Right?

They haven’t actually tried anything with substance

And because the things that they thought

to try were so extreme, right?

So again, if they would go out and order a diet coke

instead of a coke and they lose two pounds a week,

do you think that’s really that hard to do?

Probably not, right?

But for most people would give them such a big win

they could find motivation to keep moving forward.

JANNINE: Right, absolutely.

CODY: But the little things are often neglected

when it comes to this.

JANNINE: It’s true, it’s true and over.

And that’s what really got me when we first had

our first podcast interview is always like,

yeah, it’s the little things in it.

And we do overlook a lot of that.

And we do try to strive to be like so perfect

on everything and don’t think about the little upgrades.

CODY: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And then once you put those in,

that’s where you get the biggest outputs

to the small inputs.

So it’s like the most reward comes

from the littlest key lovers movement.

And if you can do that,

like it’s really hard to lose

when it feels like you’re not working to get the result.

Like if you just walked into work and they’re like,

hey, here’s a bonus.

You’re not gonna be like, whoa, I didn’t earn this.

So like if you could get that out of your fitness,

you’re like, all right.

Like I guess I could keep doing this fitness stuff.

That doesn’t feel too bad.

Like, okay, cool.

And that’s the kind of stuff you have to stack for guys.

And if you can do that,

like you will find a level of success

you have never dreamt though

because it doesn’t feel like work.

And that’s the name of the game.

JANNINE: Absolutely, absolutely.

Gosh, well–

CODY: I don’t get, I don’t wake up and think,

oh, how can I be fit today?

(laughs)

Okay, I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do this,

I’m gonna do this, right?

That’s it, it’s thoughtless at this point,

it’s just automation.

So it doesn’t matter at this point, right?

JANNINE: It’s so part of your identity,

like this is what, the other things I do,

this is what I do.

CODY: Yep, and it comes from your, right?

And that’s the strongest force in human nature, right?

So like you said, if they sit in the chair

and they identify as someone who can’t lose weight,

well, the body and the brain are gonna go to everything

they possibly can to not lose weight.

So you can’t build the strength around

the thing opposing the goal that you wanna get to.

You have to do it in reverse, right?

And so it starts with, obviously you,

and if you’re coming into a place or on a console,

like you probably are somewhere where you’re at least

taking the first step to do some before yourself, right?

So kudos, good to you.

Most are good for you.

Most people don’t even take that step, right?

They’ll sit there and linger,

watch on Instagram for a couple of years, right?

It’s like, man, you would just talk to me six months ago

when he started creeping, like, man, imagine how we look

right now. They’re like, yeah, I’m gonna.

(laughing)

So,

JANNINE: Oh.

CODY: No, no, any of you creeping, we can just send a message,

right? Like we don’t always know you’re there.

Like, but there is help.

JANNINE: There is, and I mean, you make fitness so much fun.

And like I started off, you know, the podcast of, you know,

just having fun and playing around on Instagram and the memes.

I mean, we just gotta lighten up a little bit with this

and just have fun and make it be part of our identity

and make it tailored to us and what’s fun to us.

CODY: Oh yeah, cool.

You’ll see it up in the gym.

There’s so many like bodybuilders.

They go up there to try to be as pissed off as they can

while they’re training.

I’m like, man, like you’re so angry right now.

And I’ll say this like, I’ll have fun in between sets, right?

For like that, for that 15 seconds

I gotta move the weight around.

I gotta put on my serious face.

but past that it’s not time to be angry, you know?

JANNINE: When you see the guys like doing boxing moves

to like, you know, chop themselves up

and you’re like, really?

CODY: Oh, they got the hood on to headphones in they’re all–

(laughing)

– Like man, you’re gonna, you’re gonna,

you’re gonna blows a vein in that head

and you’re so angry right now.

I’m like, you gotta take it two steps down, Tiger.

You’re like, yeah, be intense for the lift, but yeesh.

(laughing)

JANNINE: You’re scaring everybody.

Your energy is scaring me.

CODY: Yeah, that’s very dark, right?

So, but yeah, there’s just different ways to do it.

But when people finally put it all together, right,

and they start seeing progress,

that’s where the beauty is at.

Because I think it is much simpler than people think.

It’s not easy, but it’s simple.

And if it can be simple inputs, anyone can do it, right?

But it’s just having it broke down for you

where it’s just bite by bite, so you’re not choking on it.

That’s really where coaches are gonna shine

to help you reach your goal.

Because there’s so much information out there.

you’re gonna, you’re gonna start choking on keto,

choking on carnivore, choking on intermittent fasting,

your choke on the first thing comes,

your way because there’s so much to it.

Versus somebody else is like, have a diet Coke.

But I need to do more.

I’m like, if that’s getting you two pounds a week

of fat loss, I do not think you need to do more yet.

(laughs)

JANNINE: Step one, yep, we just jump over,

you see, I think we just think that fitness has to be hard.

I think that’s because that’s what we’ve, you know,

CODY: Well, it helps the narrative though,

because if we convince ourselves it has to be hard,

it’s easy to say, well, it’s hard, that’s why I’m fit.

And so it justifies where your current state of life is.

And that doesn’t mean it’s right,

because really fitness, like I work out three hours a week.

You know, like that’s not a lot of time.

And so, and my meal,

’cause like I drink most of my food.

So like I don’t even spend that much time eating, prepping,

like everything’s pretty made from Costco, right?

Like I cook like two meals a week.

So like my total time consumption for being fit is

seven hours, including chewing time, you know,

it’s not super lengthy.

And so I don’t think it takes as much work as people think.

Now it will take more work to get there,

but maintenance when you do this stuff right

is so unbelievably easy

that you will wish you still had a goal.

(laughing)

JANNINE: Wow.

So inspiring.

So inspiring.

I think a lot of folks will be like,

“Sign me up, sign me up.”

So let’s tell folks how they hook up with you.

How do you, how does it work?

What do they do?

CODY: If you’re someone who’s interested,

DM me on Instagram.

So just DM me, coach 33,

if you’re interested in getting started or,

and we’re not gonna push it under throw, right?

Let’s make sure you’re a fit for what I do.

And if we are cool, I’ll go through everything with you.

But like I said, if you’re out there, you’re feeling stuck.

There’s a path to success, right?

So you send me Coach 33 on Instagram,

Facebook at Cody Watkins Fitness.

Pretty easy to find on there.

I can call Brother Path for Success.

Basically when I bring someone on,

we go through a console call that’s free.

If what I do is a fit, I’d love to have you on board.

If not, you’re going to learn everything about what we would do to start you out.

So you’re going to come out with some good information regardless.

And we shake hands on the internet and part of ways friends, right?

I’m not pushing anything down anyone’s throat.

I only want people on my team that want to be there.

And if you’re not someone who wants to be there, I’m not going to force you to slide your card.

Right?

That’s not for me.

JANNINE: Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Oh my goodness.

All right.

So we’re going to put that in to the podcast notes.

of course, folks, on how you can reach Cody on Instagram

and it’s Coach 33, correct?

I got that.

All right, DMing Coach 33, we’ll write that down.

Good stuff here.

I’m sure I’m gonna find more topics over time to chat with you

’cause it’s just so much fun to hash out all these things.

And as the questions come in,

I will throw somewhere your way

and we’ll bring you back on here in a little bit

and just keep helping folks find their fitness.

CODY: Absolutely, sounds great.

[Outro] Hey fellow health junkie, thanks for listening to the Health Fix podcast.

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