jordan syatt - syatt fitness

Digital Barbell sits down with Coach and Inner Circle Owner Jordan Syatt to talk business, nutrition, fat loss, consistency, and life.

Does your mind go blank when it’s time to go grocery shopping? No clue what to eat that tastes good and is healthy?

You’re in luck! Look below!

Jonathan Fletcher: If you're looking for a world record holding power lifter who's not afraid to eat a big mac every day for a month or drink nothing but coffee for a day in the name of nutrition education you're in luck. Jordan Syatt is our guest today. I found you the same way that probably a lot of people do these days and that is through an Instagram post that you put up that really caught my eye. You actually posted your first picture on Instagram in 2015 and it got exactly 52 likes on it. For the record it was a picture of a can of beer. Here we are eight years later and you've now got over 800 000 followers on Instagram. Typically when you post a video it'll get over a hundred thousand views. Let me ask when you became a coach did you ever think that being a public figure would go along with the territory?

Jordan Syatt: No not at all, it's funny I didn't know what my first Instagram post was so that's that was it I was wondering if it was my old dog but it was the 16-ounce can of beer so that seems about right. I think a lot of people see someone with a big audience and they sort of assume they signed up for that. But not really, it's sort of like anyone who makes a social media account is essentially signing up because I had no idea. I had no clue, I didn't have any expectations, I just did it because everyone else was doing it. It sort of just happened, it's like I had no idea or no expectation at all that that would end up happening. 

Fletcher: Was there ever a point as you're following grew where you or your mindset shifted about the amount of people that were seeing what you posted and how that influenced what you were sharing? I want to come back to social media more but this just kind of popped into my head. 

Syatt: Yeah I mean especially there were a couple moments. One moment was when people started to ask more about my personal life and about my wife. I started having a conversation with her about it because things started to happen where that was never something I worried about before in terms of if I post this picture then people will know which building in New York I live in. Or now we live in Dallas and we never really post much around the building because we don't want landmarks. Things like that that I never would have worried about before. Or the number next to the door in our apartment buildings they know what floor we're on. Then there would be times when people would come up and recognize me in public. I'm always so grateful for and I always say hello and I'm super glad when they do, but you start thinking you're always being watched. You're anonymous so it's like things start to play in your head where it's like I'm relatively a nobody compared to some real big celebrities who can't go anywhere without being seen so I can start to understand why some of these celebrities just go off the grid completely. It can be a little bit nerve wracking just from a safety perspective. You don't know who's crazy out there, what they want to do to you or why so yeah there was a point in time where I’ve had several landmarks I've been like all right I've just gotta be a little bit more cautious of what I'm sharing. 

Fletcher: I think you're so honest and vulnerable in the things that you share that it kind of creates this relationship type feeling with somebody that just follows you online that might break down some of the barriers that might exist and how they would approach somebody that they don't really know.

Syatt: Thank you. I try to be as honest as I can about everything. I don't want to discuss something that I can't be honest about so if I can't be honest about it I won't discuss it. But basically everything I discuss I want to be as open and candid and vulnerable as I can. 

Fletcher: Okay like I said I want to come back to social media but I want to talk about something that I think is really the key to success in just about anything in life. Anybody listening to this probably knows what I'm going to say. Consistency. What does consistency mean to you personally and when you look back what are the things that you've done consistently that you would say have had the biggest impact on where you are now both personally and professionally? 

Syatt: I agree with you, consistency is the most important thing in anything. Whether it's business, relationships,your own health and fitness. You have to find what you can be consistent with and I think the line that I’ve used for years that has hit home with people is: It's more important to be consistent than it is to be rigid. Consistency is more important than rigidity and I remember when I sort of came up with that line- consistency is more important than rigidity. I was looking at research around successful dieters and people who are successful at maintaining a healthy body fat. What the research consistently shows is that dieters who are able to incorporate some of their favorite foods on a regular basis are more consistent than dieters who are more rigid with their dieting. That was actually what the entire study was about, how rigid dieters are actually less successful than flexible dieters. So I realized that plays into all aspects of life if you want to be consistent with something. You can't be too rigid about it because if you're too rigid you're like this tree that will snap. But a tree in the wind will blow back and forth. It has some leniency to it.  You want to be like that and that for me has held true with all aspects whether it's fitness, business or relationships. For me, I mean there have been times in my life where I've just been unbelievably consistent with strength training or powerlifting when I became a world record powerlifter. There have been times when I've been unbelievably consistent with posting on social media which is what allowed me to grow. Lately I’ve been ridiculously consistent with my jiu-jitsu and also with just sort of being present with my wife because that's what I'm focused on now, my family and my own health. I think what's important for me to clarify here is I don't think it's possible to be consistent with every single thing. You can't be consistent with exercise and with sleep and with business and with relationships and with friends. You can't be consistent with all of it. I think you have to pick a couple of things that you want to be consistent with and prioritize those and some people say things like; “well if you're not doing it then it's just not your priority.” Some people get offended when you say that but it's the truth. For example, five years ago my health and fitness was not my priority; It was my business. So if someone said to me; “well you're just not prioritizing your health” I would have been like “you're right, I’m not and that's my choice” I'm not gonna be offended by it. I'm not gonna be like no you don't get it i don't have time. It's like of course I have the time, I'm just prioritizing something else. So whatever you want to be consistent with you choose and that's your decision and you have to live with that.

Fletcher: Yeah man, that’s good you kind of made me think about periodizing anything in your life. Like training, you know we're going to really focus on strength this block and we're going to let our conditioning slide a little bit. Maybe because that's what our priority is at this time but I think and this is something I end up talking with clients a lot with is being honest with yourself about what is that priority and then aligning your expectations of your result up with what you actually have the bandwidth to focus on. It's that disconnect that gets under people's skin and makes them feel like they're failing when their actions don't align with their expectations. Which is really fine, they just need to come to that awareness that I can't do it all right now. 

Syatt: Yeah that's exactly right. I mean if you're trying to do everything you're going to end up doing nothing. So pick one or two things and really go all in on.

Fletcher: Let's try a little exercise. Pretend that you wake up tomorrow and you suddenly have 50 pounds to lose. You have terrible habits and you don't exercise currently. Where are you going to start? 

Syatt: Personally I'd start with walking. That'd be where I begin right from the very beginning. If you had asked me this question five, seven or ten years ago as a coach, my answer would have been different. It would have been more towards nutrition. I’m like alright i'm gonna start getting my nutrition in check because the reality is nutrition is the most important especially when it comes to weight loss. But what I've realized over years of coaching people is if you're talking about someone who's completely sedentary, has terrible habits, odds it's gonna be very difficult for them to just go in out of nowhere and start making nutritional changes for no other reason. You don't really get the benefit of immediate results from nutritional changes. You choose the apple instead of the donut this one time. Cool, awesome, you still want the donut and you don't feel better because you ate the apple. It's not like my body just feels so amazing now, it's like no like you feel like you're restricting yourself and you still want the donut. Whereas when you go on a walk or you do any exercise you get immediate short-term benefits. You get the endorphin release, you feel better about yourself ,you're proud of yourself because you did something you didn't want to do. You actually get physiological benefits that you will adapt to and feel better from. People are more likely to improve their nutrition when they're physically active but when they're not physically active. They're more likely to be like screw it, I'm not going to eat well because what's the point? So if that was me I’d start off with just getting my steps in. Just getting some movement and that would be the first step to then progressing into improved nutrition and sleep habits as well.

Fletcher: One of the things that we have nutrition clients do a lot of times is to watch how much water they're drinking and to start the day with a big glass of water. It's not that there's anything magical about drinking that glass of water but it does the same thing as going out for a walk. You're starting the day with a healthy decision for yourself which has a chance to lead you to making more healthy decisions later in the day. It just snowballs on itself. 

What would you do once the habit of getting the steps in was in place? Would you try to work on your nutrition if you didn't really know anything about healthy habits?

Syatt: So if it's me or I'm working with a client at this point who's struggling I'm gonna have a conversation with them to just figure out what they think is gonna be most beneficial. It's going to be different for everyone. If I'm working with a client who hates vegetables I'm not going to force them to eat vegetables at the beginning. I'm not going to go against the grain and try to push them into something. If I have a client who is fine with vegetables they just have an issue elsewhere with their nutrition then it might be, let's try and get a salad in every day. But let's say I have a client who absolutely despises vegetables or let's say it's me. I'm over 50 pounds, I've got my steps in, now what I'll probably start focusing on is what can I add to my nutrition rather than taking it out? Rather than saying no more this or no more of that, we're like how about we add some protein in? Ideally I want you to have some protein source in every meal for breakfast. It could be eggs, it could be greek yogurt, it could be cottage cheese. But start focusing on prioritizing protein at those meals. I would say you can eat whatever you want but you have to get at least one protein source in these meals and that way progressively adding it in bit by bit different things they can improve on. So it would probably be steps, then adding in protein. 

Fletcher: It’s amazing how much more buy-in you can get out of somebody when you start by telling them what to add in versus what to subtract. The coaches have Jedi mind tricks really going on the fact that you suggest they have one or two high protein snacks per day. Well they're not going to go have their less nutritious snack in addition to those probably even though you didn't tell them not to eat it. 

Syatt: It just works itself out, now they don't feel like they're being restricted now. It's just like oh they chose not to have it because they're not hungry anymore. 

Fletcher: Let's not give away all the trade secrets though. Can we talk about business a little bit? 

Syatt: Let's do it

Fletcher: So you and Mike run the fitness business mentorship that helps coaches grow their businesses and you guys have an awesome podcast cleverly named How to Become a Personal Trainer. How rewarding has it been to help other coaches grow their impact in addition to your own?

Syatt: It's been remarkable. It's funny because I attribute a lot of the success of my clients and people who follow me to people like Alan Aragon and Martin Burkin and Lyle Mcdonald. People who I learned from and it's cool now to see it from their perspective where I have coaches who are helping 40,50 60, 70, 80, 100 coaching clients who are saying literally all of them are benefiting because of the things I've learned from you. It’s sort of my way of being able to get more reach and help more people. I can only help so many people if I'm the only coach but if i can help coaches become a better coach I'm also helping everyone that they help.

Fletcher: Is there any common thread as you kind of think about your business mentor clients who are the most successful? Is there any kind of common thread that runs through those people that any coaches listening to this can benefit from the most important ones?

Syatt: Consistency. It really is, it's just it's the key as you know. There's no common thread in terms of it's not like they're all jacked or shredded. They're not nor am I. It's not like they're all super funny and putting on wigs or anything like I do.  It's not like they're all world record lifters or stepping on stage bodybuilders or physique competitors. They're just unbelievably consistent with putting out content that helps people. The thing that I see with coaches is that coaches are the first ones to tell their clients to be consistent with eating your fruits and vegetables, be consistent with eating your protein, be consistent with your steps, and be consistent with your workouts. But then a coach will post four times on social media and all of a sudden they are like well why aren't I getting clients? Because you posted four times in the last week. Keep going for six more months and then see what happens. But as soon as they don't get as many likes as they think they should get on one post they quit. Posting on social media is the equivalent of your clients eating their fruits and vegetables.

Fletcher: Who even knew that being on social media would have such a large impact on this whole conversation that we're having? Let's dig into it a little bit more. Even with our small and loyal following that we have, sometimes Blakely and I feel pressure and anxiety about what to post. Both material wise and then where do we draw the line between posting about our business and sharing parts of our personal life. I'm assuming that's just been kind of a constant evolution for you over the years.

Syatt: Yeah it's a constant learning process toeing the line with what you're comfortable with and figuring out what you want to share and what you don't want to share. For me the fitness stuff has always been the easiest part. Whatever questions people ask me I make content about. That's why I love q and a's so much because I will answer whatever you ask in a very detailed response. Anytime I haven't been doing much feed posting lately just because I haven't even really wanted to but if I really wanted to grow my account I would do more feed posting. I would literally answer the exact same questions that people ask in q and a's or my clients ask me. I’ll just answer that, and the reality is you're going to get the same questions over and over and over again. If you scroll down my page you're going to see the same post done in different ways over and over again because people have the same questions. That’s what being a coach is; you have one specialty or maybe a couple of specialties and you answer the same questions over and over. So posting the content that's helpful it's very repetitive, but that’s what it is. Look at what teachers do, they teach the same thing every year. They have the same lesson plan that they go through every single year. They give out the same tests every single year and they grade the same stuff year over year over year. Look at what nurses and doctors do. They see the same symptoms over and over again and occasionally they'll come across one that they don't see on a regular basis. But they take your blood pressure,do the pulse oximeter. You do the same things over and over again. When you become a specialist in something it becomes repetitive and until recently that was what life was. You started work as a young teenager at whatever it is you were going to do. You did that forever and now people want to change their careers because it's so repetitive. But the reality is that's what we're made to do. That's what life is- you find something that you're good at and you specialize in and you go all in on it. In terms of fitness content you post the stuff that helps people who are going to be answering the same questions over and over again. As for the personal stuff I think the Pareto principle 80:2. It really holds true. 80% of your content should be fitness and helpful and then 20% of your content can be more about you and your personal life. You give people just enough so they feel like they know you better.

It's sometimes tough to balance and then you know there's this pressure where you're at the point now where you don't feel like you can take a week off of posting. Blakely and I feel this pressure sometimes if we don't post something we're going to lose people or people are going to stop looking for us. Or that we're going to stop showing into people's feed. I’m sure your mentor clients feel that same pressure sometimes.

Syatt: Absolutely yeah and I even still feel that way even though I don't need to do as much posting anymore I still get that same feeling like I gotta post. I haven't posted in a little while. I don't want to become irrelevant, which frankly is a valid concern. In a world of social media you've got to stay relevant. I don't think it's as hard to stay relevant as people think though. It’s just showing up, it doesn't have to be a perfectly edited video. It doesn't have to be the most incredible thing, it just has to be there and show them that you care and that you're there to help no matter what. That's where I think people get too overwhelmed with this. Thinking it's got to look perfect and it's got to be the best piece of content. You just have to be there.

Fletcher:I got to bring this into the final cut pro yeah no you don't at all. I use the Instagram story on my phone. A lot of your content I think hits home with people because of the stuff that you focus on which are the common problems and common things that people run into. And because it's all relatable and shareable. After watching your ted talk that you did earlier I think it was at the end of last year. Hearing your own personal story makes sense why you're passionate about these certain topics that you keep talking about. I’ll put a link to the ted talk in the notes for this episode because it's definitely worth watching. Thinking 10, 20, 30 years down the road, when it comes to your impact and what you're known for, what do you want people to say? Like Jordan Syatt was the guy that…insert here

Syatt: Oh man I think different people are going to give different responses but I think probably the general consensus would be Jordan Syatt taught me how to incorporate fitness into my life rather than trying to incorporate my life into fitness. And taught me how to have a healthier relationship with food and a healthy relationship with exercise so that I could live a long healthy happy life without it becoming an obsession or without letting it control every waking moment. And if they say he made me laugh along the way, that's fantastic too. The thing for me is you know I see clients and just people in general go to their daughter's birthday party and they feel guilty about having pizza. Or they go to a social event or they go to the super bowl party and they get worried that they're ruining all their progress because they god forbid had a chicken wing. So many people are not enjoying their lives out of a fear of getting fat or out of a fear of ruining their progress. When you're 90 years old and lying on your deathbed you're not going to be like oh God I'm really glad that I didn't have that extra chicken wing at paul's super bowl party. You're not going to be thinking that but you will probably regret all of the time you spent worrying about things that were ridiculous to worry about in the first place. There are many reasons why we worry about them whether it's because of society and media and culture and our own internal dialogue. The reality is regardless of the reason we still do worry about it. So my goal and my job is to try and get you to stop worrying about it and just do what you need to do to live the longest healthiest happiest life you can while still enjoying it.

Fletcher: I think one of the ways you're so good at connecting with people is you're really good at making analogies. Where did you learn to get so good at making analogies? Was that your time working with Gary or were you born with that? 

Syatt: I was in special education growing up and I had a lot of trouble with our education system. I did not do well at it at all. The way that the teaching methods were they didn't help me at all and so in order for me to remember things I had to come up with analogies. That’s how I would remember and how I would pass my exams and tests. Coming up with these analogies to help me remember okay so this is and this is this. l just practiced it growing up and I think that is what carried over into me making better analogies. I didn't realize how important it would be until I read a book called Made to Stick which is by Chip and Dan Heath. It’s an amazing book and that book helped me understand how important skill analogies are in terms of relating with people and helping them understand something in a way that relates very personally to them. I would always do it but I didn't really start bringing it into my content until I read that book and then it completely changed my life in terms of being able to reach more and more people.

Fletcher: That’s awesome. Do you have any other book recommendations either for your clients who are struggling with having a healthy relationship with food or books that your business mentor clients should read?

Syatt: For health and fitness I have a book coming out June 6th. If you want to pre-order that on amazon you can get it. In terms of actually developing a healthy relationship with food I don't know of any text that's probably going to be better than that one it's called Eat it Furry. It allows you to enjoy your favorite foods without feeling guilty about it so that would definitely be the book that I would recommend for fitness and health. For business I would definitely say Made to Stick is always the number one. Also there's another one by the same authors the Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath is a tremendous book. I think everyone should read that no matter whether you're into fitness or business. The Power of Moments is one of those things where when you read that book you'll understand why Disney does so well. You'll understand why these big companies will always have a place in your heart no matter what and why they do so well. They draw so many people to them and you can use it in a way that has the same impact on a smaller scale. I use the Power of Moments all the time within my content in my comments. Chip and Dan Heath are tremendous authors. They have another book called Decisive Tremendous as well. They're two of my favorite authors but I think Made to Stick and the Power of Moments are probably two of the most important books. 

Fletcher: You moved to Texas from New York last year. Almost a year now, a year in April. We're down south of Austin so we're not too far from you. We have a ton of clients here in Texas. So let's do a quick over or underrated about a few Texas things. Over or underrated for texas- no state income tax.

Syatt: Underrated. When I told my tax guy that I was moving to Texas he was like good move especially going from New York. I am very happy about it.

Fletcher: I knew that was going to be the answer. Over or underrated:

Whataburger

Syatt: I would say underrated. I actually really enjoyed it. I don't like in-and-out burgers. Everyone I talk to, especially people in california are like it's the best but I don't get it. So if I'm comparing In and Out to Whataburger I think Whataburger wins.

Fletcher: Do you think maybe some of the stuff with In and Out is kind of the moments type stuff, how they have the secret menu and there's this mystique about it when the burger's really just kind of a burger?

Syatt: Correct that's a hundred percent correct. You get all these people talking about the underground menu, the double animal style underground that my grandma knows about and everyone knows. But that's exactly right it's like somebody said by the time your uncle tells you to buy bitcoin it's too late. 

Fletcher: That's the truth. 

Over or underrated: Bucee’’s gas stations?

Syatt: I still haven't been to one. It’s been the most Texas cliche thing to imagine when I got here. Everyone's like you got to go to Bucee’’s. I’m like what's Bucee’’s? 

Fletcher: Just tell people from up north that it's like wawa because everybody up in Pennsylvania loves wawa.

Syatt: That’s the thing I never understood the whole thing about Wawa either. It seems like Bucee’s would be cooler though because apparently it's huge. When people talk about it's this huge gas station and you can go get beaver nuggets. I’m like I don't know what any of that is but it's ridiculous. They got 300 places you can pee like I just need one I don't need 300.

Fletcher: Okay last question- On a little more serious note. Everybody goes through a period where they want to quit. Whether they're one of your mentees, whether your clients, my clients whatever. They just want to go back to the way that they were because it was easier. There was some comfort in that. What do you say to that person at that moment? I call it the dip where they want to quit. 

Syatt: Have you ever read the book called The Dip? If anyone hasn't read that I strongly recommend it. I read it in like 45 minutes. It's a really quick read. it's a great book, I believe it was Seth Godin who wrote it. I am actually glad you said that because I think what people expect to hear is: don't quit. In our world quitters never win and winners never quit. But that's not accurate.The people who win the most are actually the best quitters. This is basically outlining the dip. This is the book so you don't even need to read it after I say this. It’s basically just saying the people who are the best at what they do would try something. They would go into this little dip period and they would give it a certain amount of time and after that amount of time they now know okay is this worth me investing a significant amount of time in or not? If we're talking about your health, that's not something worth quitting because you only have one body. You only get really one chance at health so this is something that's not worth quitting. But if we're talking about a relationship with someone, Where you get past that first initial lust phase but then they start to do things that you're questioning their moral value or their integrity. It’s like okay cool is what they just did or the behavior they just exhibited something that you're willing to work on? Or is that something that is not worth it? It could be with a business opportunity. Where it's like maybe you're going in for a job interview or maybe you're trying to build your own business on social media. So you are gonna post two times a day every single day on social media. The first three months are going to be really really difficult but after those first three months you can decide if it is worth it for me to keep going. Maybe you went from zero followers to a thousand, or two hundred followers. To me that seems like pretty damn incredible growth in the three month time so you should probably keep going with it. Or maybe you went from zero followers to four followers you're like you know what this isn't worth it for me anymore so I'm gonna switch to something else. Or I'm gonna keep going because this is worth it to me. Either way you have to really listen to your gut and decide what's gonna be the best for you. I think what has to be important here is an objective analysis in which someone might go from zero to twelve hundred and then think that they're not making progress because they're comparing to someone with a hundred thousand followers. But if you went from zero to twelve hundred in three months and you think that's not good progress you're out of your mind. If you quit on that you might be quitting on a multi-million dollar business because you're not patient enough. So you have to be really objective with it and say you know what, I went from this to this in three months and let's see what goes on in another three months. Give it another three months and then see what happens. The reality is there's no right or wrong in terms of quitting or not quitting. It’s not like quitting is inherently bad and it's not like continuing on is inherently good. You really do have to listen to your gut and try and make the best decision objectively as you can. It’s being able to identify through awareness. 

Fletcher: I think you and Mike have talked about this on the podcast- you don't keep going with something just because you already sunk a bunch of whatever into it. You've got to be able to step outside of yourself and look at it objectively and then you know. Like how you talked about it on the health side. Everybody gets to that point where let's say fat loss is the goal. You've picked a lot of the low hanging fruit, you've gotten a lot of results from that and now the motivation that got you started is starting to wane off. That's the point where I use the analogy of like you've been rolling down this hill in a car and you get to the bottom. There's something beyond this bottom of the hill but you might have to actually get out behind the car and push it up the hill for a little bit to get out of the dip before you can start coasting.

I like that. Most people get to the bottom of that dip when they see the difficult hill in front of them and they roll back down into the bottom eventually so it's about you relying on some amount of discipline and willpower in those times. Just on the fitness side, not the business side. 

Syatt: You start posting and you start getting good feedback from the people that you know and you know people who are already in your circle. But then you're not reaching anyone new and so now this is the dip where you've got to get behind the car and push it. People who have no idea who you are, they've never seen you, they don't, they don't know you from adam. They don't do anything about you but getting that car going and getting behind it and pushing it up the rest of that hill to get past that initial difficult phase is going to be super challenging but it's also going to be worth it.

Fletcher: I want to ask if you have anything else you want to promote other than the book which I'm super excited to hear about. I knew it was in the works but I didn't know it was that close and that's available for pre-order now

Syatt: It’s available on amazon. eat it and I'm usually not one to promote anything but teed it up nicely for that one in terms of improving your relationship with food so I had to say that. No nothing else to promote. 

Fletcher: It's hard enough to write a blog article so I have mad respect for writing a book.

Syatt: It was a brutal brutal process and it's funny if it was just writing a book that'd be one thing but writing a book with a publisher and with an editor that's a different thing.I didn't understand and I don't think I'm ever going to do it again. Props to people who do three ,four, five book deals. It's just a mess to do it and not to mention doing everything else with your current job and everything on top of that. It is a lot to do and coordinate with everybody involved. There are so many pieces involved in writing a book with a publisher it's unbelievable. I think this is a one and done type thing for me.

Fletcher: You say that now but we'll see you might have a business book in you who knows.

Syatt: Well if they offer the right amount of money then i'll take it but if they it's not the right amount i'm doing i'm not doing it well

Fletcher: I’ll definitely put a link to the pre-order in the notes for this along with your instagram account of course and your website. You also have the business mentorship which is open for enrollment now.

Syatt: yeah open 24/7

Fletcher: Exactly, alright  man well I really appreciate your time enjoy the rest of your day 

Syatt: Likewise man, thank you so much