Fixing a Broken Health & Fitness Industry [Podcast Series]
[:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Darian Parker
Dr. Parker is the Co-Owner of Epic Leisure Management, a longtime fitness professional and part of the health & fitness industry.
[1:53] Dr. D’s Social Network Podcast
“Yeah, so my podcast, Dr. D’s Social Network, it's all about creating my own network of very like minded people doing very different things in the world. And generally storytelling that is action based, so not only telling stories, but ways that you can get involved with those people on the podcast to make a difference and whatever topic that is for that. So I focus primarily not on one area of life that people are living, but on a wide variety of topics that there's no limitations, pretty much. I will talk about anything that is engaging and exciting.”
[4:32] Connection to the health & fitness industry
“And I remember my dad saying, make sure you do something that...make your hobby your job, do something that you just really love like that you'll actually enjoy your work as an adult. And I thought that's good, that's good advice, you know. And so, I always loved to exercise. But more than anything, I loved creating meaningful relationships with other people. And I felt that exercise was a great way to accomplish that.”
[7:43] Exercise and habit formation
“And that hopefully, that you're creating good habits and systems that help you to be accountable to those things. And if that system is a person, like myself, a trainer. Hopefully you have a good personal trainer, or someone who is an authority in that field, who is a good human being, is showing up regularly with you, bringing a positive light to the environment and cheering you on. But when it gets down to it, the actual work part is just not that fun.”
[10:58] Accountability in exercise
“I think in exercise, you should have an exercise companion. Whether they're working with you or not working out with you or not. Someone who is keeping you on the straight and narrow, being accountable.”
[14:18] Improving fitness performance.
“But if you want to get better or walk faster. You want to actually improve your cardiovascular endurance to a higher level. That walk has to get harder. It just has to.”
[19:22] Goal setting
“A lot of clients or people, they're in it for weight loss. Like, I want to lose weight. I'm like, why do you want to lose weight? If you can't explain that to me, then you have no idea why you're doing this. And why weight loss? There's something deeper, if it's just weight loss. There's a huge psychological component to that.”
[22:00] Getting to the why
“Explain it to me, tell me why. If you can't explain your own reasoning for doing something, it's not a good reason. What's the reason if you can't define the reason why you're doing something? Why are you doing it?”
[22:22] The benefits of online personal training
“So how I convey things, demonstrate them my words, my feelings, is totally accomplishable through a live online format, which is what I do for that. You're also providing a huge amount of positivity for clients, consumers, because you're taking away drive times, you're decreasing their...they don't have to get childcare generally anymore because they can be at home. Much more efficient, time wise, for the service provider, you can stack clients, one on top of each other, you don't have to drive to other places if you're not working at a facility. So time is the great equalizer...”
[23:58] Fitness and technology
“If you alleviate as many friction points for both sides of the equation, then you're going to be much happier doing those things. That's what technology does, in general, it tries to solve problems of the human condition. How can we schedule better? How could we be more efficient at work? How can we communicate quicker and all these things. And I think fitness and technology can work together to be very powerful.”
[25:36] Fixing a broken health & fitness industry
“I think the industry was broken before COVID. I think it was extremely broken. And I mean, you got to think about an industry where 15 to 18% of the population exercises regularly and that hasn't changed in 30 years. What are we doing that that hasn't changed? So to say that the fitness industry was amazing before that, is a huge lie. The industry has been broken.”
“But as long as the people who run our industry are not willing to consolidate and become one larger body and have more rigorous standards, the industry will continue to not provide a way that 30,40, 50% of people start becoming more active.”
[28:53] Connecting with others
“Connection is what you make of it. If your connection version is to just get your point across and try to be right and push your agenda on very controversial things, you may get a lot of attention, but you're going to feel very lonely. Question is, do you want to be famous and recognized and controversial? Or do you want to have a good life connected to a lot of people that probably will get you no viral activity online, you will not be popular, you will not be trending, but you'll be rich in quality relationships. What do you want? You make the choice.”
