Hi guys, I have Anthony Diehl here today. This is a former professional Strongman. He is a coach for men and women all the way from lifestyle phase into people that are wanting to body build, do figure shows, bikini shows, bodybuilding shows. He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to nutrition in the human body. 

When I was reaching out to him and I was asking him to come on to the show, I really wanted to talk about discipline. Because if you look at this motherfucker, you can tell that he is the most disciplined person. You can see it in his physique. You can see it in his content that he puts all over social media. He is disciplined.

Now, he’s also humble. So he had a hard time talking about why he might be more disciplined than the average person. But this episode is really good. We talk about what it takes to be an achiever, to be successful, what it looks to create the life that you want to create. We talk about what it means to do hard things, what actually physiologically happens and emotionally happens inside of your brain when you are doing hard things. Then we go off on a lot of fucking tangents, lots of tangents.

So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. This is my friend Anthony Diehl. He is also known as a Meathead Professor on Instagram. This is episode number 162. I am your host, Becca Pike, and it is time for your weekly dose of Hell Yes Coaching. Let’s go 

Hey, guys. I’m Becca Pike and welcome to The Hell Yes Entrepreneur podcast, the number one show for entrepreneurs looking to create their first six-figure year. If you’ve got the drive and you know how to hustle but you’re not sure where to channel your energy, we’ve got the answers. Let’s dive into today’s show.

Becca: Hello Anthony Diehl. I’m so excited for you to be here. You are someone I follow, someone that I have hung out with in real life, and a coach that I highly admire and respect. So this is really exciting to have you on. 

Anthony: Oh, well, thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Becca: Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do? 

Anthony: Sure. So I am, well first off, I’m a husband. We hit our 15 year wedding anniversary tomorrow.

Becca: Oh shit.

Anthony: It’s awesome. Yeah. I have three kids 11, nine, and almost eight next week. We live out in the country in Pennsylvania, and I am a full-time strength and nutrition coach, former Strongman bodybuilder. Now I just, I’m washed up. So now I dabble in jiu jitsu and lift for fun.

Becca: You are not washed up. But I did, okay, I’m going to be honest with you. I was going through your Instagram today because I to be as up-to-date as possible, and I didn’t know but you had a hospital stint.

Anthony: I did. Yeah.

Becca: What happened? 

Anthony: Okay, so this is two months ago now. So the beginning of April. So I was prepping for a bodybuilding show in Atlanta, which would have taken place two weeks ago. I got an infection in my leg. Now, that actually turned out to be unrelated to the main reason why I was feeling trash. But I chalked it up to hey, this is prep. We’re in the last eight weeks. I’m doing two hours of cardio a day lifting hard, eating almost nothing, right? 

Becca: Yeah.

Anthony: Comparatively. So, and I’m a coach. I have to lead from the front, lead by example. So I’m just in my head. I’m like man I feel garbage but just suck it up. Don’t be a wuss. Just go. I got an infection my leg from an injection called l-carnitine. I’m a polypharmacy. Essentially what happened was I injected poorly into my quad, and the fluid went between the muscle and the fascia. So there was no way for it to absorb. 

Because my body was already kind of compromised from an immune perspective because I was pushing myself so hard, it responded poorly to that. My wife will tell you I kind of self-manage my health. I get my blood work done all the time, but I don’t really go to doctors. I haven’t been to a doctor in 18 years. 

Becca: Yeah, same.

Anthony: Okay. Well when I’m waking her up on Sunday morning going we have to go to the ER now and there’s a football-sized lump on the side of my leg, I mean just excruciating pain. We get there, and they did a bunch of blood work and everything. Turns out I was completely septic.

Becca: Oh shit.

Anthony: Yeah, I was in rhabdomyolysis.

Becca: No. Were you peeing black? 

Anthony: It wasn’t black. It was dark, which I could, you know, now it makes sense. I’m drinking over a gallon a day. I’m like this doesn’t make sense. I drink electrolytes. I’m very conscious of all this. Being in rhabdomyolysis, having this infection, obviously I was in the hospital for about a week. They’re just pumping me full of fluids. So I didn’t end up competing just simply because my family comes first and my health comes first. I’m not trying to die for a plastic trophy. 

So immediately I said hey, we’re going to pull the plug on all the exogenous experimental supplements. Because I’ve always been immensely health focused, but it was as a means to allow me to push my body to the absolute extremes. Now all of a sudden it was hey no. You need to pursue health as an end in itself as in hey so I can be here for my grandkids and great grandkids, hopefully.

Becca: Do you think that if it had been 15 years ago, you would have pushed yourself to death for that plastic trophy?

Anthony: 100%. If it was five years ago.

Becca: Really? 

Anthony: Yeah.

Becca: What’s changed in five years because I have my own perspective around this. But would it be as simple as just saying realizing what’s important, kind of waking up. I was watching a reel that you had made saying that you would kind of bowed down to the god of bodybuilding and powerlifting for so long that you kind of shook yourself out of it in the last five years. Is that right? 

Anthony: Well, yeah, and so I’ll just be perfectly honest. There was a time, one of the reasons we moved back to Pennsylvania is because there was a window of time for about nine months where our marriage almost didn’t make it. Essentially, at the time, I was still working in the corporate world, kind of growing my coaching business, but so obsessed with my identity in Strongman. I was coming up, and I was rising in popularity and kind of getting notoriety in that world. I was getting up every day at 4:00, hitting the gym, getting to work by 7:00, home by 5:30/6:00. 

At that point Lindsay was still working at UK. She was working the night shift 3:00 to 11:30. So there’d be just weird handoffs between her and I and babysitters or whatever else, and it felt we were essentially single parents who shared a house but we never did anything together. Then Saturdays when I was off and she was off, that’s Strongman Saturday. That’s 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. When I do get home, I’m absolutely wrecked. I just want to sit on the couch and do nothing.

So I’ll be honest, I was not a present father and a husband during those years. We moved back to Pennsylvania because we realized hey, if we don’t get some serious help, our marriage is not going to make it. That was number one to us. So we moved back. We have my parents. My sister lives a mile and a half down the road. So we were able to actually have help with the kids, go out on date nights, most importantly did a year of marriage counseling. Now we’re better than ever.

So when I stopped competing in Strongman and started pursuing bodybuilding, I went into it with a different mindset. Bodybuilding was never my identity. Every young man wants to be Arnold at some point, right? So I just wanted to pursue it. It’d be fun. I like doing hard things. But I never sold myself out to bodybuilding. So when this happened, I was like okay cool. I guess it’s the next phase of life now. 

Also, it didn’t help that back then my business was just starting to grow. I was making you know a quarter, a tenth of what I make now. Now, she doesn’t have to work. So we were just in a different spot then. So moving back here to PA was for the family. So, you’re spot on. You’re spot on. So that’s what shifted. So when this happened, I was in the hospital. I was like okay cool. I guess I’m on to the next phase of life.

Becca: Yeah, you said so much good stuff in there, but there is the sliver of something that you said, which I don’t think it’s talked about enough. I’m so thankful that I’m in my mid-30s as I am continuing to really take off. All of the work that I’ve put in for business is just now happening, even though through my late 20s and early 30s, I was pissed that it wasn’t happening fast enough. But I’m so thankful now. It was almost the universe and God just waited perfectly until I was able and capable.

Where I say this with so much belief and trust. Of course I can’t say for sure because I don’t know exactly what would happen. But I say with 99% certainty that if I were to gain a million followers in the next week or to explode in some capacity, it wouldn’t at all go above where my friends and family and life and the having our house on the property and my husband me as a wife. It wouldn’t go above that. 

But I think that three years ago, it could have. I think that it’s not talked about enough. Everybody’s striving for more followers, more recognition, for their courses to sell, for their coaching to sell. It’s like are you actually ready for that? Are you emotionally ready for that? I wasn’t if it had been five years ago. 

Anthony: Yeah, you’re spot-on. That’s just growth. That’s growth and maturity. My kids are getting older. It hit me. I’m like my goodness. My daughter has been in my house for longer than I have time left with her in my house.

Becca: Yeah.

Anthony: I feel that was yesterday that she was born. I’m like there’s a lot of gray coming in these sideburns. I’m like what is going on here? Time is moving quick. So I think just, I feel great. I’m not old at all. But I’m like hey, this is, I need to start taking certain things more seriously.

Becca: Yeah, I love that. I saw a statistic or something the other day that said that once your child leaves the nest at age 18-ish, you will have spent 95% of all of your time with them already.

Anthony: I know, that’s so great.

Becca: But it’s true. I mean think about it. We have every nook and cranny of our day is with our kids. I mean, they’re everywhere. They’re always at the snack counter and ready to eat and in the kitchen and following you around and in the backyard. At times, you’re just like oh my gosh. They’re all over me. But then it is true that when they leave, I mean, what do you get? Sunday dinners or Thanksgiving dinners? That’s not enough.

Mark and I are putting a lot of effort right now into figuring out how to build a life that magnetizes our grown adult kids to come back to us, to want to use us as babysitting help. A big push for our money is to be capable of taking, I don’t know if you remember this, or I don’t know if you went through this.

But when I was in college, and I was super broke, even after college when I was super broke. I would go home to eat. That’s where food was, right. If there hadn’t been food there, and damn good food because my mom was an awesome cook, I wouldn’t have gone back as much as I did. So we’re asking ourselves how can we have the best food? The most places for the most bodies to fall asleep? How can we have the time and energy to babysit our grandkids all the time? Because I refuse to believe that 95% of my time with my kids is done when they leave. 

Anthony: That’s fantastic you say that. I love that shift. I think it’s a shift in mindset I’m seeing from a lot of people. I live in Amish country. So across the street for me is probably a $800,000 house on, I don’t know, 80 acres. On that property is about three other houses of equal size, and all of them are from the same family. They’re Amish. It’s legacy land. They take care of their own. Like my buddy, Dave, his great grandfather passed it down to his grandfather. They own like the entire other side of that road. 

Becca: That’s what I’m fucking talking about.

Anthony: That’s what I’m saying. The Amish people, we have auctions around here, and they will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking price. They’re thinking legacy. They’re thinking about their great, great grandkids. For me, like that sobering stat of hey, you’ve spent 95% of your time with your kids. Man, when I’m raising my kids, effectively, I’m raising my great grandkids.

I’m raising my grandchildren because my son is going to, even if he doesn’t agree with everything, he’s going to pattern a lot of his life after me. That’s a big rebuke. But also I think we grew up in an era of you grow up, you go to college, you leave the nest, and you go abroad and you explore. You kind of, you need to get space from your family. People are beginning to realize like no, actually you should come back. 

I mean, Lindsay and I were talking the other day, I was talking with my cousin, Michael. I was like how cool would it be if we all went in and bought like 500 acres and had multiple houses on it? Like we farmed part of it and we, you know.

Becca: So I was telling you this before the show, but I didn’t tell you this part. So the acreage that’s out on Lake Harrington, there’s about 160 acres on Harrington. It’s been passed down through the generations of Mark’s family. We are talking about how like we, I mean, we’re not just talking about it. Like Mark’s dad is now at the point of going to lawyers and getting this all drawn out and stuff because this is all family land. 

Mark’s dad has seven children, and all seven have like wives and spouses and then kids. We want to figure out how we can take all of this acreage, and first and foremost, give all seven kids like five to seven acres. Then surrounding those acres, our kids get to have houses. Then figuring out a way in which we can plot out the land. I know it would be guesstimating how many kids our kids might have, but guesstimating and plotting out land so that their kids would be able to have houses.

We’re not going to force anyone to live out there. It’s not going to be a pressure thing, but could you imagine growing up, getting married, and having a plot of land with your name on it? It’s like whenever you’re ready, it’s here. Not only is it here, but you’re surrounded by your aunts, your uncles, your cousins, your sisters, your brothers, your grandparents, all of us having chickens, cows, pigs, all of the things, donkeys. That’s my biggest dream of my life right now is donkeys. We’re all in the same 160 acres. 

Anthony: Yeah. I think ever since COVID. COVID was a hard time in a lot of ways. So I almost feel like it just pulled the wool off a lot of people’s eyes on a lot of things and shifted paradigms. This is one of those where people are starting to understand the importance of community. That as much as I value social media, it’s an amazing, amazing tool. That’s not real community. 

Becca: No, it’s not.

Anthony: That is not real community. Like I’m thankful for it. Like it’s effective for people that I actually know in real life. Like I used to get into Facebook debates all the time when I was younger. 

Becca: You would. I could see it. 

Anthony: I did. I like, oh, the amount of number of hours that I wasted, it’s just nauseating. My rule now is I will only engage in a respectful debate on social media with people that I know and know well. They know how to read me because you can’t read tone in text. 

So the guy who was the best man in my wedding, I mean, we’re best friends. We have some pretty significant disagreements and stuff. So he and I’ll go round and round, but we both know and love each other. Like there’s no doubt in either of our minds that there’s any kind of animus. If I don’t know you, I’m just not going to debate. I’ll just be like, cool story, bro.

Becca: I loved your reel today. You said it was like this article that was like if you start lifting heavy weights, you might become right-winged or something. You were like yeah because right-wing takes work ethic and the people that work out have work ethic. I was like, yep, there it is. 

Anthony: I mean, yeah. I was like, come on. Anyways. 

Becca: Oh, I wanted to tell you this. This is super random, but I got on testosterone five days ago, six days ago. So let me tell you the backstory. So I wanted to get my hormones checked anyway. I’m decently young to be going through any type of like perimenopause or anything like that. But I had my blood work done about a year ago, and I was told by someone I love and trust that’s more on the cutting edge of medicine that my testosterone was really high for a woman. Good job, pat on the back. You’re killing it. 

So at the time, this was a year ago, my progesterone, my estrogen, everything rock solid. I have been not feeling good for months. I can’t describe it because I still look like I’m achieving. I still look like I’m doing all of these things, but inside I felt like I was running on empty. I didn’t have the energy to do. The best way I can describe it was like someone took the volume of my life and just kind of like turned it down, you know? 

Anthony: Sure.

Becca: I was like this just isn’t me. But I kept mixing it up with grief because I lost my mom about nine months ago. I thought well, maybe this is grief. I don’t know. But then months would go by, and I’m like is this still grief? Like when does grief end? Like when does that stop? 

Then finally, about a month ago, I was like this can’t be grief. This is something else. So I went and got my testosterone levels checked. Guess what my number was? 

Anthony: 0.1, 0.2.

Becca: It was 10.

Anthony: Wow. Where’d you get it done? Did you get it at Wild Health, Optimize U? 

Becca: It’s not Wild Health or Optimize U. I love both of those places. That’s awesome that you’re so connected. It was someone that Wild Health told me to go to. 

Anthony: Okay.

Becca: Anyway, he’s well-respected by the Wild Health crew.

Anthony: Fantastic. Wow. So I wonder though, I mean, grief is real. I wonder if between that and just the stress of I know you enjoy what you do. I’m just wondering if maybe your cortisol levels were through the roof and that was impacting things. It very well could. 

Becca: Well, I think, so I’ve been doing what I do for a long time. I’m not saying it doesn’t stress me out because it stresses me the fuck out sometimes. But my testosterone levels and everything were so good just a year ago. The only thing that I think shifted so big was the loss of mom. 

When mom died, there was a solid like 30 days before she died of extremely high cortisol, like us running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to take care of her, realizing that she was dying and all that stuff. That’s what he said. He was like, he said, “During that 30 days, you were in overdrive. Then the days after the passing, complete dump of emotions.” He said, but on top of that, my guess is that your habits kind of broke. You weren’t sleeping as well. You weren’t working out as much. it just compacted and compacted and compacted.

Anthony: That’s what it makes sense. That sounds like it to me. If I’ve never said it to you directly, sorry about your mom. I’m coming up on two years this summer since my mom passed.

Becca: Wow, I’m sorry. 

Anthony: Yeah. It’s weird because when mom passed, I actually I preached the sermon at her funeral. I kept it together really well for my family. Like I thought I would be sobbing that day and everything else. I was so strong. It was two days later. Like we took pictures for Ellie’s first day of school, and I just instinctively went to text it to mom. 

Becca: Yes. That has happened to me so many times. 

Anthony: That’s when I broke. It’s the little things where you’re like, or you get a piece of good news. Like I achieved some benchmark. I want to tell mom. It’s like oh, she’s not there.

Becca: That’s funny that you said that. I wonder if there’s some tie between moms and high achievers. My brother is also a super high achiever. So am I. The number one thing that he talks about is I can’t share my good news with mom. It’s like there is something about sharing. No matter what it is. So-and-so, you know, my daughter got straight A’s or I did something in my business or whatever, you want to share it with your mom. She’s not on the other end of the text message.

Anthony: Right. Because they’re the ones that have poured and invested in you your entire life and pushed you and kind of developed who you are. So then you just kind of want to I don’t want to brag, but I wanted to show her like hey, I’m doing it kind of thing. Look at your granddaughter, these things. 

Becca: I still talk to my mom out loud all the time. I think I’m just turning into an old crazy lady. I remember my mom talking to her mom out loud and me being like okay. All right. Now I’m like dah, dah, dah.

Anthony: My kids make fun of me because I mean I’m only 37, but I feel like I have this old man spirit. Because my idea of a good, I’m a morning person. I am useless after like 8:30 at night. I’m in bed and I’m up at like the same way. My idea of a good time is like post dinner, I’m sitting on my front porch with a book and a good cigar occasionally. 

Becca: Oh, yeah. 

Anthony: Occasionally, watching that since the hospital, but like, that’s my idea of a good time is front porch rocking chair and a book. 

Becca: Yeah, no, I get it. My kids make fun of me because my favorite thing to do is stare out my window. I literally I have this chair in my, we call it the reading room because it’s like a second living room. But it has these massive windows, and they look out over a field. I swear to you, I can sit there and look out the window and like watch the squirrels. I don’t know. It’s like my brain just kind of like turns off. Everything’s good. Everything’s chill. Like I have all my thoughts come through. My kids are like well, mom’s staring out her window again. She’s fucking lost it. They probably think.

Anthony: I tell you what, that’s a good thing that you do that. We need to do more of it. I think I know I’m terrible at this. We’re always connected. Because I’m always trying to do it, I feel like I live on my computer or my phone. I have a very hard time. My wife yells at me all the time. I have a hard time relaxing, like truly disconnecting because my wheels are always spinning. 

Becca: Do you ever just like have edibles? Do you smoke weed? 

Anthony: For me, I don’t anymore because I’m not going to lie. I’m the worst. I will get the munchies. 

Becca: Yeah. 

Anthony: I can’t control my diet. Like I will absolutely destroy a takeout Chinese place and a box of cereal. 

Becca: You have to shut it down. That’s the only way that I can do it is it is before I have my edible, I have a heart to heart with myself. I’m like this isn’t, we’re not doing this. This is shut down. Door is closed, and it works. I don’t know. 

Anthony: Yeah. I don’t know. Maybe I just lack with this or something. But it’s I used to use that on a bulk when my calories were crazy high and I just wasn’t hungry. I was supposed to eat all this food. Back when I was competing in Strongman, I had to have like a thousand grams of carbs the day before my event days training. I would literally take an edible.

Becca: Are you serious? Like an actual thousand? 

Anthony: No, an actual thousand. I believe that.

Becca: That is a full-time fucking job. 

Anthony: Yeah, it is, 100%. I would have, like at 7:00 at night, let’s say I was going to train at 10:00 the next morning. I would end my day. I go take an edible and like three hours later, two hours later, I would eat like an entire box of like Coco Pebbles, Fruity Pebbles. 

Becca: Man, that sounds amazing, but I know it’s not. I know it’s not. Every time I think about somebody just bulking up, like really bulking. I’m like oh, they just get to eat Fruity Pebbles and ice cream, but it’s not fun. After like the first bowl of Fruity Pebbles, it’s not fun anymore. 

Anthony: No, I tell people all the time, the pain of eating to grow. Back then, that was Strongman. So we weren’t as health conscious. We were just, the end goal was maximum performance. From a bodybuilding perspective, eating to grow is infinitely more painful than the diet phase because you’re trying to stay lean. I remember times where I’d be at the end of the night, this giant plate of egg whites with like hot sauce on it and a bowl of oatmeal and just trying to shove it down. You feel like you’ve constantly walk around feeling like you just walked out of a buffet, horrible. I hate that feeling. 

Becca: But also like the amount of discipline it takes to do that. I mean, nobody can see you on this. Hopefully everybody goes and looks at you on Instagram. Like you’re a fucking Meathead Professor is what you are.

Anthony: There’s a story behind that name. I’ll tell you in a bit.

Becca: There is so much discipline that goes into it. So you’re obviously disciplined to get to have gotten to where you are. But where do you think that comes from? Why are you more disciplined than the next person? 

Anthony: I don’t know that I am more disciplined than the next person. Simply, I know people might fight that. So I was obese at college. I lost all the weight. I really, to this day, people will ask me what was it for you that just snapped? I don’t know. I went away to college, and I gained like the freshman 50.

It was spring semester. I stepped on the scale. A bunch of my buddies were cutting weight for wrestling. I just wanted to see what it was. The last I knew I was 220. I stepped the scale and I was like 265. But I’m talking about 265, can’t do a pushup. It was just mind blowing to me. It was like unacceptable. 

The next morning I walked into the gym and I said I’m going to run as many laps as I can. I made it six laps around the gym before like dying of asthma attack. So I said okay, cool. I don’t know anything about fitness or nutrition. I’m going to add a lap every single day. Then I’m just going to eat meat and vegetables. I lost 90 pounds in about nine months.

Becca: Damn. Damn.

Anthony: Yeah. So again, not the way that I would necessarily advise everybody to do it. I didn’t know anything about that back then.

Becca: But that’s what your brain could hold at the time. Like your capacity was run an extra lap, eat vegetables. 

Anthony: Yes. Vegetables and meat. Just get after it. I wasn’t anti-carb. I didn’t know to be anti-carb. I’m not anti-carb now. I just was like meat and veggies are good. I’ll just run all the time. I’m a very competitive person, and I have to be very careful about hobbies that I get involved. I don’t dabble. I’m a bad dabbler. 

Like I went bow fishing one time, and I told my cousin I could never do this again. He was like why? I was like this is awesome. I’m going to go buy a boat next week. Like that’s the problem. This was so fun. I’m going to go spend $30,000 on a boat and all the equipment. So I got into it, and I just fell in love with it. 

I realized I was the kind of chunky kid all growing up. When I started lifting weights, I realized hey, there’s a double-edged sword to my bill. That is I do have to be careful because I can gain fat pretty easily, but I can also get big and strong pretty easily too. I remember I was benching over 300 pounds inside of my first year of lifting. Most guys will chase that number for years. I was sitting at four reps inside of a year, and I didn’t know anybody. I just was showing up and lifting. 

Moved to Lexington after we got married. Friend invited me to start Strongman, and I did my first competition and just I got hooked. How I got deep into the nutrition space was my middle son was diagnosed with autism. So we went down every single rabbit hole we could on health and nutrition for him, for his sake. 

Becca: I remember us, sorry to interrupt you. But I remember being really impressed, you and I sat down at Whole Foods, which is a fucking joke on this podcast now. Every time I have a guest on, I’m always like that time we sat down at Whole Foods, and I get these DMs that are like do you only go to Whole Foods? The answer is yes, that’s the only place I go. 

But you and I sat down at Whole Foods, and you told me all about your endeavors going into the nutrition with your son and the autism. I think I had just watched all these documentaries on autism and like different diets and stuff and just super admirable. 

Anthony: Yeah. Yeah. But what I discovered along the way was we just changed our diet wholesale for him because it was really inconvenient for Lindsay to be making special meals for Hadman and the rest of us just eating like normal. 

So when I really started paying attention to the quality of my diet, that was the only variable that changed, my strength and performance went through the roof. So then the light bulb started to go on. Oh hey, nutrition actually matters for performance too. That was around the time, that was mid-2000s. So it was like 2009, 10, 11-ish. I’m sitting there thinking, at the time powerlifters are all big, huge kind of overweight dudes that can lift a house, but they’re going to have an asthma attack checking their mail. These kind of guys. 

But at the time you started to see guys like Dan Green come on the scene who were just shredded bodybuilders, or powerlifters rather, that look like they could be bodybuilders. You started to see these people focusing more on diet and nutrition for performance. Like me, I don’t dabble. So I just went down the rabbit hole of everything. I’m still going down those rabbit holes. I think I remember when we were at Whole Foods was when I was reading Ben Greenfield’s Boundless book. 

Becca: Yeah. I love that book. It’s behind me right now. Yeah.

Anthony: Excellent. I’m always going down rabbit holes. I’m in this big diabetes rabbit hole right now. 

Becca: What a fun rabbit hole. Like type 2 diabetes? 

Anthony: It’s a great rabbit hole. 

Becca: What are you reading about? 

Anthony: Yeah. So I’m reading this book by Dr. Bernstein, who’s the leading expert on diabetes type one and type two, which are different scenarios altogether. My demographic has shifted over the years. So I used to work exclusively with athletes. As I’ve grown and gotten older and my interests have changed, my demographic has shifted as well. So now I would say of my clients, 70% are lifestyle clients. 

I love my athletes. Don’t get me wrong. I coach a lot of bodybuilders, strongmen, but I get a lot of joy out of helping people get off of the statins and the SSRIs and the PPIs and be able to have a positive outlook for their future and know that they can most likely be here for their grandkids and great-grandkids. So I work with a lot of type two diabetics.

Becca: That’s awesome. You also work with Courtney Milam, my girl. 

Anthony: I do. Yeah.

Becca: I love watching her. She took home first place, yeah?

Anthony: She did. 

Becca: Damn.

Anthony: She did an excellent job. She is one of my hardest workers, never complained about anything. I know she was miserable because I know what I was making her do and not eat. 

Becca: Listen, Courtney is a beast. Courtney, if you’re listening to this, first of all, you’re a skank because you are the reason that I could not excel in basketball in high school because there were two of us in the five position at high school basketball, me and Courtney Milam. Let me tell you who had more mental fortitude. It was Courtney all the way. So we would get paired up down at the box, at the low center five, and her ass, and I’m not weak. Okay. I’m like a strong ass woman. 

I would get paired up with her every single day for four fucking years. She would box me out like I was a teeny little baby. She would dominate the shit out of me. At the time I was like a good basketball player. Let me tell you something. She ended up becoming like one of the top people in the state. I knew back then like Courtney Milam is like of a different breed of humans. So the fact that she took home first place, none of that surprises me. I mean, she’s a beast. 

Anthony: She is a beast. She did a fantastic job. I was very proud of her. She gets to go on vacation this week and kind of let loose a little bit. We’re in the middle of the reverse diet phase, which I think is honestly harder than prepping for the show. 

Becca: Yeah. That’s interesting. So obviously she’s succeeding, and you kind of went down this rabbit hole of  are you actually more disciplined or not disciplined? But when you’re looking at clients coming in, are there any markers to you that you’re like this person’s going to be more disciplined? This person’s going to be less disciplined? Like what are you seeing characteristic wise with your clients that are kind of telling you what it’s going to be like with them? 

Anthony: That’s a great question.  Actually. So the longer that I’ve coached, and I have kind of streamlined my process for reading through who I’m going to work with and not. As the business excelled, I’m able to be a bit more selective. So I will always do video calls like this first with them to get to know them, kind of hear that. 

For me, it’s the telltale signs of hey, does this person constantly complain, blame their life circumstances, or are they bringing solutions to the table? What have they tried before? What are they involved in outside of life too? Like I love when, I’m kind of skeptical, I won’t lie, when I get some younger people. I’m like all right, do they have the work ethic? Do they have the grit? Do they know what’s going to be involved here? So I love when people are involved in multiple extracurricular activities. It shows me that they’re not doing just the bare minimum in life.

Becca: Yeah. 

Anthony: They’re kind of, they’re driven. Does this person take personal responsibility? Are they coachable? Those sorts of things. 

Becca: Do you find that the people that this is like their first journey with fitness tend to be more successful or less successful because they didn’t know what they were getting into? I ask this question and position it this way because I noticed that the people that have been in business for a long time that come to me for business coaching are often the hardest ones to break. 

The ones that are like I don’t really have any goals. I don’t really know. Honestly, those are kind of like my gold nuggets because they can get excited over a hundred dollars. They get excited over their first thousand dollars. That’s the exact recipe that I need them to have. I need them to get excited at every teeny milestone.

Versus when I have someone that is like I made five thousand, but I wanted it to be ten. That’s the person that is harder to break. So I wonder what it looks like for you.

Anthony: Well, that’s tough because I always tailor my coaching to where that person’s at. People will reach out to me and say hey, man, what does your coaching look like? I will say I have no idea because I don’t know you. I have a broad set of principles that I operate under, but it really depends. I’m going to meet you where you’re at.

I’m not going to coach Courtney in the same way as I’m going to coach a woman who’s a hundred pounds overweight and has PCOS and an eating disorder. That’s a totally different ballgame. I’m going to probably baby that person at first. A lot of times with people like that, I will say hey, here’s where you are. Here’s where you want to be. This is the gap. 

Here’s all the things we need to do to close that gap, but we can’t focus on all of them. I’m going to give you a little bit of autonomy. Which one would you like to tackle first? I don’t even care. It could be your protein intake. It could be a step goal. It could be drinking a certain amount of water. It could be prioritizing sleep. I don’t expect you to do all of them at the same time. You’ll quit. You’ll burn out. But which one do you want to focus on? 

Courtney comes to me and says hey, I want to compete in this bodybuilding show. Hey, here’s breakfast, 100 grams of this, 200 grams of this. Get on it. Don’t miss. Do your cardio. Very different ball games. So, yeah. I’m just looking for people who are coachable and willing to learn. I don’t know if that really answers your question just because I tailor my coaching to where they’re at at the time, and I try to bring them along. 

Becca: Yeah. What do you think is like okay, if you were to take your top four most disciplined, most driven clients that you’ve ever worked with, what’s their mindset? 

Anthony: They have a clear vision of what they want.

Becca: Yeah. 

Anthony: Or they have a clear understanding that they don’t know what they don’t know. 

Becca: Yes. That’s my answer. I’m stealing that one. That’s it.

Anthony: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Because sometimes they think they know what they want, but they’re smart enough to defer to me because.

Becca: That’s coachable. They’re coachable, is what you’re saying. 

Anthony: Right. Because how many people come to you and say well, what I’d like to do is I want to get big and strong and add some muscle. Also I want to lose fat at the same time. I’m like oh, good luck. If you’re 15 and you’ve never trained, we can do that for a couple of years. But no, you can’t. Those are competing goals. So there’s a lot of education that goes into that. 

Becca: Do you have a style of coaching that’s, I know that you said that it’s different. So you’ve got some people that you might baby a little bit more and others that you don’t. Are you more of a, here’s the facts, these are your grams, and this is what I want you doing? Or are you talking with them? Do you like motivate them? 

Anthony: I try to motivate them, but I’ve also learned that they have to have a why that they’re doing this for. I can’t care more than they care. So I used to think that it was noble of me to care more for their success than they care. That was causing me to burn out. 

So now I will say hey, I will always meet your level of investment. I’m available. I will answer any question that you ask Monday through Friday. I’m 24 hours, Monday through Friday. I have a system. Ask as many questions as you want. I want people to learn. So people that succeed the most communicate with me the most. 

I have a couple of guys, I have this one guy, and if he’s listening to this, we’ve talked about this. He’ll laugh. He’s on the spectrum. It reminds me of my son sometimes. He does everything I say to a T. Like sometimes I need to get him to loosen up. Like it’s your birthday, please go eat cake. 

Becca: Yeah, you have to type it into his notes. 

Anthony: Correct. I have to direct him. You must eat a piece of cake, send a picture. He’s been with me for like six years. His transformation is wild. He competed in his first bodybuilding show, nationally, which is nuts. But he doesn’t talk to me ever outside of check-in day. I don’t question it because he does everything to the T. He checks in same time every week, like for six straight years. So that’s a rarity. 

Becca: God bless those people. 

Anthony: Yeah, I know. Some of my clients I’m talking to every day, and some clients require more of me. So I will flex my style. My principles stay the same, but I’ll flex my style person to person, depending on who I’m coaching. Coaching is all about relationship. So I’ve developed, for some of these people, I’ve been coaching them for years. So it’s so much more organic. They do the formal check-in, they submit the pictures and all of that, but our dialogue back and forth is a lot more organic. I love that, but it takes time to build that trust. 

Becca: Yeah, it does. It takes a relationship. Honestly, the way that I see it is clients often have, they want more check-in in the beginning until they get into the flow of how to run through your program and how to do this and how to do that. Then it also takes a while to become more organic and to just kind of relax. 

It’s something that I’ve noticed. I’ll have one-on-one clients, and they come in, and they’re just coming hot. I’ve got this question, this question, this question. Then it’s like we’ll be three to four sessions in, and they think something’s wrong that they don’t have a question. Or they’re like oh no, I didn’t come fully prepared. I’m like let’s just take a breath. Let’s just do the six months together. You know what I mean? Let’s just do a year together. Let’s relax into this. 

It takes a minute for people to understand that what coaching is, is truly just a relationship, a mentoring. It’s a conversation. It goes on for years. It’s not something you have to squeeze into your hour. A lot of times I have this conversation with people in the beginning when they want to work with me one-on-one. I’m like listen, are you wanting to do this for the long-term? Or basically are you coming in and just saying, I’m laying down this money. I need five answers, and I’m the fuck out? Because that’s not someone I want to work with anymore. 

Anthony: Right, right. 

Becca: Yeah. No, I love that. What kind of advice would you give to I’m going to ask you. This is a very broad question, but I want to know what your answer is. You work with people, and you guys do hard things. You are doing bodybuilding shows. You are doing Strongman competitions. 

Some of your clients are not, of course. They are doing their lifestyle, but it is still hard to them. Especially people with type two diabetes might be even more hard. I don’t know. Everyone listening to this is doing something hard in their business, in their health, in their wealth. What advice do you have when it comes to just doing hard ass things? 

Anthony: Right feelings always follow right actions. Like motivation’s fine. I love motivation. I’m not one of these. I love David Goggins, but I’m not just one of these scream curse words at you and tell you you’re a pussy and just try harder and discipline. That’s true. Do it. When motivation comes, ride that wave as long as you’ve got it. But if you only rely on motivation, that’s so fleeting, and it’s so fickle. So just do it. I promise you. You won’t regret doing the hard thing when it’s done. 

I didn’t want to go to jiu jitsu the other day. I’m so tired. My wife woke me up from a nap on my couch and was like hey, you got to leave in like 10 minutes. Then I never leave the gym regretting it. Had some great rolls, learned some fun stuff, hung out with my friends. Do the hard thing. You never regret doing the hard thing when it’s over. You often always regret not doing the hard thing, but you skip it. Just commit to it. The right feelings will follow the right actions.

Becca: Yeah. It’s so true. The gratitude that follows the result that happens. Then it’s a momentum effect too. It’s like you might not feel it. You might not want to go. But somewhere down the line when you’re doing your jiu jitsu, and you’ve learned all of your things, and it’s flowing easier and everything feels more simple and it feels more fun, then you’re thankful for all the days that you did it.

Anthony: One of the things I loved about bodybuilding, it was so hard that it kind of gave me this confidence. It’s like well, anything else that arises in life wasn’t as miserable as that. I’m good to go. So when you do really hard things though, you get the serotonin release and the happy feeling chemicals of satisfaction but it’s not fleeting. Here’s the problem. You binge on the pack of Oreos. You do get a serotonin release, but it’s only while you’re binging. Then comes the regret, and you feel like a pile of shit. Why’d I do that again? 

Becca: Yeah.

Anthony: But the beautiful thing about doing the hard things is you don’t have the feelings of regret that follow either.

Becca: Yeah.

Anthony: So it just keeps propelling you forward.

Becca: It makes you unfuckwithable. Not to bring the convo down, but I swear this is how I felt when I lost my mom. I feel now because I lost my mom that that was the hardest shit that could have ever happened. I’m  fuck with me. I dare you. There is nothing can break me now. I’ve been through that. You can’t mess with that. You can’t mess with a girl that lost her mom. So I completely agree with that. I love that you said that.

Anthony: Yeah. I think it’s important for people, if you’re listening to this, the hardest thing you’ve ever been through is the hardest thing you’ve ever been through. So you don’t know another degree of hard, and that’s okay. But voluntarily putting yourself through hardship is like the next level of achieving like new levels of awakening of what you actually can do. 

Becca: Yeah. 

Anthony: It’s almost becomes addicting. Like this is weird, but I almost like the challenge of doing hard things just because I know it’s going to suck, but I know I’m going to feel good afterwards. It’s going to lead to like some other opportunity or breakthrough. So I’m like all right, let’s do this. 

Becca: Yeah. I think that’s in all of the achievers out there. They’re like let’s do something hard. I’m too comfortable. We’re just going to try new things. We’re going to make it hard. 

Anthony: Right. I would also say too that it’s courageous to do hard things, but here’s the cool part. People often think that oh, well that person, they’re just brave. They’re brave and willing to take that risk. I’m not brave. No, they probably actually fear more than you do because bravery or courage is just the inverse of fear. So it’s being terrified and doing it anyways. So you can’t ever truly no fear until you’re willing to confront it and walk forward in bravery. So that person understands fear greater than you ever will. 

Becca: Yes. Listen, I have so many women that come to me, and they’re like your podcast and your live events and the way you show up, like you’re just so courageous. I’m like yeah, I just cried in the bathroom because I was so scared. Like fuck you. Like I’m terrified.

Anthony: Yes. Yes. I’m telling my kids this all the time. Like guys, it is totally okay to want to quit. So my son is seven. He’ll be eight next week. My daughter’s 11, and I’m trying to get them into health and fitness, which they’re into it. Greshy’s always like dad, does this have protein? Like no, that’s a carb son. He’s gotten it down now. 

But they want to do more stuff with me. So they do jiu jitsu with me. Greshy’s come into boxing lessons with me. Well, I got the kids running. My daughter ran two miles with me the other day, and my son ran one and I pushed both of them. Greshy’s thick. So running a mile for him. The first time was like he wanted to die at half a mile. I’m just encouraging him. Hey guys, it’s totally okay to want to quit. Just don’t. 

Becca: Yeah.

Anthony: Just don’t. 

Becca: Yeah.

Anthony: Because you see daddy’s truck way over there. We’re going to run all the way to daddy’s truck, and you’re not going to stop, and you’re going to be okay. Greshy gets to the truck, and he literally just falls in the grass, and he like starts crying. But we get home later that night, and he’s  dad, I’m so glad you made me do that. I would have felt like a loser if you if you’d let me quit. 

Becca: I love that. Yeah. I tell my kids too you can even complain, like just let it out. Just say something. They’re like this sucks. I’m like yeah, say it. That’s fine. I don’t care, but we’re doing it. Yeah. We do the same thing. I love that. Man, we’re just raising some bomb-ass next generation. Look at us. 

Anthony: That’s right. Yes. I’m trying to make my kids better than me. 

Becca: On our chicken farms. 

Anthony: Yes. 

Becca: Seriously, pig farms and donkeys, of course. All right. Thank you so much. 

Anthony: I got to know really fast though, what’s the donkey? 

Becca: I don’t know. They’re cute. I want one. They’re so fucking cute. Listen, do yourself a favor and get on Instagram and follow some sort of donkey account. There’s a million. There are a lot of videos of donkeys just being cute as shit. 

Anthony: We’re raising the cow this year for the kids. We’ve got them involved in 4-H.

Becca: Nice. 

Anthony: So, I’m going to raise a cow. I’m sure your husband knows all about kune-kune good pigs, but that’s what we have because they’re a little bit friendlier. 

Becca: Yeah. Mark wants to farm the pigs and the cattle and the chickens. He’s like well, why a donkey? What does it serve? I’m like it doesn’t serve anything. It’s going to stomp around our yard, and I’m going to take pictures of it. He’s like okay. 

Anthony: That’s awesome.

Becca: Oh man. All right. Thank you so much for coming on, Anthony. You are a fucking treat. Where can people find you if they want to work with you? 

Anthony: Yeah. So I am Meathead Professor on Instagram. The story behind that really quickly is I do teach one high school logic course per week at a classical school that my daughter goes to. The kids found my Instagram, and they were like you’re such a Meathead. You need to change your handle because you’re a professor. So they did this whole poll thing, and that’s what they came up with.

Becca: That’s amazing.

Anthony: So this is born out of my students. So Instagram at Meathead Professor. I am on Twitter or X, whatever you call it, Coach Anthony D, and then Anthony Diehl on Facebook. 

Becca: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on, and we should have you back soon.

Anthony: I would love to. Thanks for having me. 

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