Today with us on the Incite Change Podcast is Chevy Philips, a good friend, and colleague of Mauro’s. Chevy is a Mechanical Engineer and IFBB pro athlete who has competed on big stages.
Always leading an active life growing up in martial art and track & field, Chevy started working out in the gym as a skinny teenager focused on becoming bigger.
Chevy moved to Canada in 2009 to pursue his Undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering. He had a pretty active life in college and continued on this path of fitness after school. Engineering has influenced his training style in terms of applying ideas of mechanics and moments to the movement of his body.
Nowadays he’s a pro athlete and fitness trainer. Interestingly, it took him 7 shows over 2 years to win his pro card. Chevy shares a story of how getting laid off from his engineering job pushed him to pursue a career as a fitness trainer.
Nutrition plays a big role in your fitness goals. Whether you’re building fat or building muscle, it has a lot to do with what energy you’re using in the gym. The simple way to understand it is to increase the food you are eating if you want to gain weight and vice versa. “Calories in Calories Out” – that’s the name of the game. Most people try cutting water weight to get a quick win which is not sustainable. Real change doesn’t happen quickly. Quick gains are not sustainable; they are like gambling.
When it comes to training clients, a major thing to look out for is commitment. Chevy advises people to focus on inputs and lifestyle, and output will take care of itself. By focusing on lifestyle inputs to hit your goals, you are more likely to maintain them.Chevy loves to work with clients that want to exercise as a part of life, people who are making changes and see the value of exercise and what effect sleep and nutrition have on them.
One thing to avoid is overloading your clients too soon. Help them enjoy the process and not make it feel like a chore. In doing so, they are more likely to stick with it and achieve their goals. Most times it’s not the aesthetics for them but just the feeling of being able to function, move, and use fitness as a vehicle to a more fulfilled life.
When training, make sure to start with building up with what you can do. Don’t try to get results right from the beginning. Just be consistent and eventually you will see the difference.
Finally, Chevy encourages us to appreciate life, think outside the box, deal with things as they come, and remember it’s never too late to start something. More thinking is wasting time, so take action.
EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:
[01:00] Chevy journey into fitness
[05:00] Chevy talks about his workout schedule and nutrition
[8:00] Quick results are not sustainable
[09:00] Chevy’s approach to client relationship
[11:30] Bodybuilding and Life balance
[15:00] Biomechanics of training
[17:00] Sports discipline and daily life
[18:30] Fitness and the pandemic
[21:00] Chevy on future of fitness
[24:00] Chevy last words
LINKS AND BOOKS MENTIONED
Iron Bull Strength equipment for home gyms and workouts
QUOTES:
“One time I’ll just say that it’s never too late to start anything …time is like perspective. just do it, if you are thinking about doing it you wasting time”
“I think moving forward people will appreciate the gym and fitness more. they took it for granted and going to make use of it”
“Are you ready for the commitment because it’s more of lifestyle, forget about goal and do what you got to do every single day in day out then your goals will be accomplished”
“Everyone thinks they can do something until it’s time to do something”