Fit Rich Life

Newsletter #37

Weekly Tips, Tools & Strategies to Alchemize your Fitness, Money & Life
Newsletter Archive

"Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to the result."
—Bob Proctor, Author & Speaker

Greetings Fit Rich Fam!

I am transitioning my podcast production process so the next episode will be out within about a week, but rest assured plenty more episodes to come. On that note here are two oldies but goodies that you may have missed:

(1) Enter The Dragon - Episode One that started it all. It's embarrassing for me to listen to this episode at this point because I've grown so much as a podcaster, but I'm forever grateful that I finally kicked off this 10-year dream.
(2) Upgrades 1.0 - This was my first experiment with bringing past guests back on to cover all of our recent Upgrades to Fitness, Money, Life, Mindset & more. We had a blast & provided tons of actionable takeaways for anyone looking to level up.

Without further ado, let's proactively build your Fit Rich Life.

This is your weekly dose of actionable tips, tools & strategies to take your Fitness, Money, and Life to the Next Level.

FITNESS: Fix your shoulders by hanging.

Back in college (2002-2006) I tore some of the muscles that connect between the pectoral & shoulder area on the right side of my body.

It was most likely the subscapularis region which is essentially a major part of your rotator cuff.

I never got it formally diagnosed so I am theorizing here, but for months I could barely chest press on that side of my body.

It also caused a lot of aggravation in my right bicep.

Since that injury, I've had to do regular weekly preventative maintenance to keep it in good working order.

One of the rehab protocols I've found most helpful is hanging from a pull-up bar or gymnastic rings.

I do a combination of two-arm and alternating one-arm hangs.

For two-arm hanging, I'll just hang for 30-120 seconds for 2-3 sets.

For one-arm hanging I'll start with both arms on the bar/rings then release one hand and lower it to touch the side of my leg (same leg as the arm that is NOT holding the bar/ring) then raise my free hand back up to grasp the bar/ring and then repeat on the other side.

I repeat this for 5-10 reps and will perform 2-3 working sets of alternating 1-arm hangs.

I've found that as long as I do this 2-3 times a week my shoulders feel amazing. They stay pain-free & strong af which empowers me to press and pull without re-injury.

If you're unable to dead-hang from a bar with one or both hands you can modify these two exercises by using a bar or rings that is either close enough to the ground that your feet can touch or use a step-up box so you can consciously adjust the load with your legs/feet against the ground or step-box.

If you have shoulder pain I highly recommend you try implementing this rehab protocol into your weekly routine. It may be the thing you've needed to get your shoulders back into shape.


MONEY: Should you invest if you have credit card debt?

This is a common question I get from coaching clients and my answer may surprise you as it differs from what many so-called personal finance experts would recommend.

Most personal finance experts strongly recommend paying off all high interest-bearing debt before investing.

I view investing like a muscle that must be consciously & proactively built and the sooner you start the sooner you are going to be financially jacked.

When so-called money experts say you must forego all investing until your high-interest debt is paid off I liken that to saying that you must fix your diet before you start exercising.

The truth is that if you want to get in great shape you need to both upgrade your diet and partake in a weekly exercise regimen.

In my opinion, it's the same if you want to get in great financial shape. You need to aggressively pay off all high-interest debt while simultaneously building your investing muscles.

Here is how I have my coaching clients with high-interest debt approach it:

(1) I have them set up automatic weekly investing at any amount they can afford, even if it's only $10-$25 per week.
(2) I simultaneously have them crush their high-interest debt as fast as possible by paying down as much debt as possible every month.

The challenge with investing is that most people never get started so they never learn how to do it and they never build up the identity of being an investor.

Every single one of my coaching clients becomes an investor ASAP.

I teach them how & what to invest in.

Then over the months, they start to realize that they are investors as their investments increase.

This is a major mindset upgrade.

Through automated investing, they consciously start to see themselves as investors and this mindset/identity works wonders for their money-confidence, which then leads them to crush their debt even faster so they can plow even more money into their investments.

Just like fitness, money is 80% mindset and 20% tactics, tools & strategies.

To recap, if you want to get financially jacked you must clean up your diet by cleaning up your spending habits and paying down high interest while you simultaneously exercise your financial muscles through investing & proactively managing your money.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

The second best time is today.

The same goes for your investing.

LIFE: The difference between professional accountability & accountability from friends, family & unpaid mentors (aka why you haven’t achieved your dreams yet).
If you want to undergo significant rapid growth, radical positive transformation & achieve your biggest goals you have to have skin in the game.

When I was younger I did not understand this.

I thought that I was smart enough & driven enough to figure things out on my own or with the help of friends, family & unpaid mentors.

What I didn’t realize back then was that my biggest blocker was my own inability to hold myself truly accountable to do the things I said I wanted to do.

With myself, friends, family & unpaid mentors it was all too easy to make excuses for not doing what I said I wanted to do as there were no repercussions other than not achieving my goals.

For way too many years than I’d like to admit, I put off taking any real action towards my biggest goals.

After doing a bunch of research via books, online content, talks with friends, family & unpaid mentors I had a good idea of what I needed to do to achieve my goals.

But then I’d get busy with my day job & other run-of-the-mill life obligations (family, fitness, household chores, etc) and put off taking the action I had identified as the next steps towards making progress on my goals.

I'd tell myself, "I'll do it tomorrow."

Tomorrow would become next week.

Next week would become next month.

The next month would become the next quarter.

The next quarter would become the next year.

You get the picture.

Fucking years would go by and I still wouldn't be any further along on my biggest dreams and goals.

This led to years of procrastination along with a lot of self-flagellation.

Now let me contrast this with having skin in the game via professional accountability (via paid coaching).

When I invested my own money in my dreams & goals via professional accountability everything changed for me.

I was NOT going to tell my coach that I was going to do something and then show up to our next 1-1 with excuses.

When you have skin in the game you kick your excuses to the curb and get after it.

When I paid for coaching and professional accountability you bet your ass that I was going to get my money's worth and take massive amounts of action.

There's something incredibly powerful when your own money is on the line.

If I did get blocked or come up short my coach would be there to support me AND help me overcome the obstacles with solutions & improved strategy that would radically reduce my time and effort.

Professional accountability led me to launch my Fit Rich Life Podcast in only 4-months after trying (and failing) to do it on my own for 10 years.

I'm dead serious.

My wife can tell you that I talked about starting my own podcast for 10-fucking-years.  

Every year I said this would be the year.

Then I'd spend the whole year making excuses.

Thankfully, my wife got seriously fed up with all my talking and lamenting about not living up to my own dream.

She encouraged me to work with a Breakthrough Coach and thank god I actually listened to her.

Working with my Breakthrough Coach empowered me to get out of my own way.

Every 1-1 coaching session I would show up with results OR work through the blockers that came up.

My coach held me accountable to timelines paired with action.

This made all the difference.

With professional accountability, I finally delivered on that long-held dream of podcasting and I'm up to 64 episodes.

I repeated the same thing with my Fitness, Money, and Life Coaching practice.

I paid for professional accountability to NOT self-sabotage or procrastinate.

This resulted in me easily hitting Six Figures in my coaching business in the first year.

Even better than the money was making a huge impact in the lives of others and finally doing the work I'd dreamed about doing since I read Tony Robbin's "Awaken The Giant Within" when I was a teenager.

KEY TAKEAWAY: If you haven't achieved your biggest dreams or goals yet, quit bullshitting yourself with accountability provided by friends, family & unpaid mentors. It's too easy to make an excuse when you have no real skin in the game. Instead, make the best investment that you will ever make (investing in yourself and your dreams) and get professional accountability to bring your deepest dreams alive faster than you ever imagined.


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I am sending you all lots of Energy & plenty of Dragon Magic!

Your Fitness, Money & Life Coach,

Justin David Carl

Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. I run a custom-tailored 1-1 & group mastermind coaching program that will empower you to achieve your dream body, master your money & live your best life. Yup, it's a proven Fitness, Money and Life Coaching Program unlike anything else out there. You can book a free consultation with me here or just drop me a note on Instagram to find a time to connect.

2. If you work in an office introduce me to whoever handles your office snacks, catering & employee experience to take your work wellbeing to the next level. I'm a founding member of Garten, a tech-empowered employee experience & wellbeing platform that top companies utilize to power their most important asset (their people). Email me at >>justin@garten.co<< to set up a meeting.