Ask The Expert: Sartre Jean-Gilles - Fitness Behaviour Change Coach

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Michelle Abraham: 00:00:44

Hello, hello Amplifyou family, Michelle Abraham, your hosts here today. And I've got a great ask the expert interview for you today. I've got my friend Sartre Jean Gilles with me today. He's an online personal fitness coach. And before I tell you more about him, let's just say hi, how you doing?

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:01:01

I'm good. Thank you so much for having me.

Michelle Abraham: 00:01:04

You're welcome. So we met few years ago, and this is a long overdue interview. So we met in a networking group last year, and I'm hearing about all the amazing things that he's been up to. But specifically, I wanted to share with our audience. We have a lot of female entrepreneurs who specifically work from home. And that's the search I really focuses on. So let me tell you a little bit more about his background and what he's all about. So he's an online fitness coach who's passionate about working with busy home base female entrepreneurs to form healthy habits and improve their overall fitness. social supports your individual weight loss goals without you having to give up your favorite foods or spend a lot of time exercising. So he graduated from the University of Ottawa with a bachelor's degree of science and honours in Human Kinetics in University of BC with a Master's of health admin. And he is worked in various healthcare related settings, including rehab clinics, hospitals, and his own online fitness and behavior change coaching entreprise enterprise, and what's really cool search I think about what you do is that you're not just a fitness coach, you're not just a personal trainer, you are a combination of many things and many talents. And it really focuses on behavior change, which I find really interesting. My background is also in fitness and nutrition, many moons ago before I had kids. And so I what I love about what you're doing is that you're actually really focusing on the behavior. So maybe you can tell us a little bit about a little bit more about that, and why that's so successful, instead of just focusing on like the foods and then in the in the weeks, right?

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:02:37

Yes, so behavior change, it's a term that you're we're seeing a lot more nowadays. And, and in the because I'm also a kinesiologist. And in the kin space, we're talking about that a lot more nowadays. And behavior change is really helpful, as opposed to personal training, because it really gets into the, you know, and you know, the analogy of feet, amount of teeth, teach them how to fish rather than just give them a fish. So this is teaching the person how to fish? No, I have a 12 week program. And throughout this program, we use different coaching tools, to you know, help, you know, figure out what the person's goals are, what their, what their values are, whom they want us to whom they see themselves as they want to become. And, you know, what are some, you know, what are their strengths? Like, what was one thing, we are one, one coaching tool that we use, called the Five Pillars? And that really breaks down? Like, what have you been successful in, and then what made you successful in that, and then you break it down, and then you figure out what your five major pillars of what has made you successful in life are because once you know that, you can always rely on that. You can always refer to that to then, you know, if you ever have any issues with your, you know, in this context, it's a microcosm, but the context of exercise and nutrition. You know, what made me successful for me is practically one is one of my five pillars just pragmatism and passion. One other one is passion. So, you know, how can I be pragmatic in terms of, of, let's say nutrition? Well, one thing I did, for example, for me is, you know, at the end of the day, like I did a video a couple weeks ago, about so I had ice cream for for dinner. Because for me, it's like well, I mean, it's not what why go over my calories just to have dessert. When once a month or twice a month. I'm just gonna have ice cream for dinner, who cares? It's not the end of the world. That's pragmatic. I'm still going to be healthy. I'm going to top it with some dates and some granola so I get some fiber and it's not the end of the world. I even put in some protein so in my index, my sugar doesn't spike right. So, you know, it's a microcosm this program. It really helps the behavior change really helps the individual to then be able to translate what they've learned to other areas of their lives. Rather than, and not just not just diet and nutrition, but sleep and career. And, you know, it will help you in other areas of your life. It's so it's just again, it's just a microcosm of, of the rest of your life. And so I've had clients who have been with me with personal training, and they they're showing up and whatnot, but they might not have been getting the gains that they wanted. And so one of my clients, he has been doing the fitness, she's on week seven, we just had a session yesterday, we do one hour meetings every week, we just had a session yesterday. And he his goal, his objective goal, because we do objective and procedural goals, objectives lose X amount of pounds. Procedural is I want to be exercising X amount of per week, right? So he had the objective goal of losing 12 pounds in 12 weeks, because about a pound to two pounds per week is healthy, right? He's lost 24 and a half pounds in six weeks. Wow. So he's destroying his physical, it's because of this, because we stack habits on top of one another, on a weekly basis, slowly, and it's about raising the floor, not, it's not so much about the ceiling, right, it's about the floor, what is your worst day gonna look like? Because if you can shore that up, and bring that up a bit, a bit of it, then that is your foundation. And then you might you might have some great days, you'll you will have some great days. But if we can make sure that your your worst days are, are good enough, then you're going to always you're going to succeed. And so one big thing is that we, we look at adding the habits in a way so that, you know, we start off looking big, you know, the analogy of the bucket, you put in the big rocks and the pebbles, right? So we put in, when we start we put in the big rocks, take pictures of your meals, you don't have to do anything else, you have to count calories, you have to get measured right away, take pictures of meals and see how much you improve within a week or two, right?

Michelle Abraham: 00:07:39

People take pictures. Yeah, someone's watching.

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:07:44

Give people the option of I give people the option of counting their calories if they want. But they don't have to do that, if they don't want to. It's a great tool to have, you know, later on. And it's not something that they should be doing for ever. But it's it's a good option to have to kind of look at understand the concept of calories, that along with your portion sizes, knowing what your portions are, what they should be, it will really help you to dial in. Because the nutrition is really important. You know, you cannot run, you cannot outrun a bad diet, right. So it's really important to really shore that up. So yeah, that's basically the structure of the behavior change program.

Michelle Abraham: 00:08:30

That's cool. I like what I love about it is that you're adding things you're not taking away things. Which is like, like you said, you're you're raising the floor, that's gonna have so much more success. And one of the things that I was thinking about as we were, as I was preparing for this interview is that, you know, I think our listeners are gonna really appreciate that because the way that you're positioning, the behavior change can be so effective also in their business and also in their, you know, families and parenting and all the things that I think once you learn that skill, so it's a skill that you're learning that that you can be applied to all sorts of different areas in your life and that improvement in the Wellness Department then goes over to all the other departments in your in your role too. Do you see that happening with your clients?

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:09:18

Yes, well, my my tagline is happy, healthy, healthy habits at home. And so I want people I mean, you can see my gym here like the floor, big thick mat. That's my personal most important piece of equipment you can ever have in your house. That alone. That alone will get you in shape if you use it properly. And so the floor is just a big thick mat. So I want people to be able to it's not just about that but also being able to get organized at home, have homeless up home base, especially during this pandemic. A lot of people have started the new businesses and their their home based on Two printers now, home should I mean a lot of people I know I, I understand that you want to get out, and you want to, you want to go to the gym like some people are like that. That's great. But I think people should have options, right. And a good option to have is to get is to have a plan of attack, so that you can get some work, some exercise some physical activity in at home. Even today, like I wasn't up for workout, per se. So what I did, I just did a post yesterday about getting up, you have to get up every 90 seconds. No, I'm sorry, every every tune every 20 minutes for 90 seconds, right? Because your blood sugar track all your blood scores start to actually get affected by 20 minutes. So what was that what was what I did today was I just did like two minutes of kettlebell swings every 20 minutes while I was working. And lo and behold, I've gotten 20 to 25 minutes of exercise in vigorous exercise throughout the day, while getting my work in. So tricks like that, I think are very crucial for people to have, especially as you're, you're starting your business working as an entrepreneur at home. Those are things that I like to teach. And that's my I'm really trying to help the entrepreneur.

Michelle Abraham: 00:11:26

Hey, yeah, I was laughing because when I was working from home, so working from home after having a brick and mortar business is fantastic and be working from home so good. Not only not that, I realized that like, every time I was avoiding writing an email or avoiding something, I would walk into my kitchen and, and find other dishes to do or something to eat. And I was like that kitchen was a terrible thing to close over my desk. So that became that became a really bad habit when I was going into the kitchen as avoidance of things that need to get done.

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:12:05

Yeah, it's very important that you know, you can associate the rooms positively. Mm hmm. You know, one thing I don't do is I do not eat outside of the kitchen. I only eat at the kitchen table. So I don't associate any of the rest of the house with with eating or snacking. That's been very helpful for me. And then like I said, like, a few times here and there. I'm going to have ice cream for just for dinner. I don't have because I never have dessert. Or or, or because I like people to focus in on three meals, nine inch plates, like it was 1945 like, proper portions. But yeah, if you want some chips, take yours because about a quarter of the plate should usually be starch, dry starch. So put it put it put some chips on there on your plate. You know, you we don't have to be so red lights. So regimented to the x. But if we're structured,

Michelle Abraham: 00:13:08

yeah, that way, you have the flexibility and the structure, right?

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:13:12

Yeah, I think that is a very good angle to take.

Michelle Abraham: 00:13:16

Absolutely. And that carries over to your business to you, if you have that structure. It's funny because a lot of us go into that business to have that freedom, right freedom of time, and then all of a sudden, you realize that you have less freedom of time than you ever had before. Because you don't have that structure anymore. And so building the workouts in the in the nutrition and with that structure to you must be super helpful.

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:13:39

I think it is I think people would really It's crucial. Because you are your business, if you're an entrepreneur, like literally your body is the business in so many ways. And so you have to look at it that way and take care of it. Because if it breaks down yeah, you might have it insured, but, you know, you're the solopreneur probably or the entrepreneur you like the business doesn't run and and there's ways that like I say, my my workday was more productive today because I did my workout like I said every 20 minutes I just swing the swung the kettlebell for for two minutes, right. It's all it's all part of it all we have to look at it. It's part of it's not Oh, I'm gonna have to take two minutes out and no, it's you're you're strengthening yourself you know if you properly you're nourishing yourself you're gonna be more alert. So it's all part of the business to actually run your

Michelle Abraham: 00:14:39

and when people are sharing with you that I had a little bit of a unexpected break between my calls and I ran down to the lake for a swim and I did a few laps around the swimming pool around the lake here and just coming back to that after like so much better. I feel it was hot and grow I was in like earlier like in here, the summertime and just that like whole, like movement for, you know, a few minutes and away from the desk and that little break was so helpful.

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:15:13

Absolutely. I envy you, that is so cool that you were able to do that in the middle. Towards the end of your day. I'll let the audience know that. There's also core like think about it. Every, like I mentioned 20 minutes, your Bloods, your blood readings like the insulin Luckies, the blood sugar levels in the triglyceride levels will go up. Also think about how 20 minutes they state they say that that is our attention span. Assuming being just 20 minutes. Yeah, those are correlated, the body's telling us to get up and move.

Michelle Abraham: 00:15:50

Yeah, yeah. But imagine so if we get up and move into them going to the snack in the kitchen, that would be really helpful.

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:15:57

Hey, my take your mind off and think about that, instead of, you know, going going or having an extra 100 calories or whatever, you're burnt off 50 100 calories doing something. So

Michelle Abraham: 00:16:08

yeah, that's great. You mentioned earlier outcome goals and procedural goals, just for our listeners, can you just distinguish, again, between the two of those that those that you focus on in your program?

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:16:20

Yeah, so we focus on both week to week two, we usually do that to the goal setting, week one or two. So what it is, so outcome goals is, so you know, X amount of pounds, I want to lose by this time, that is I want the outcome to be I want to lose this amount of weight. While procedural goals are, I want to be for example, in a yoga class per once per week, I want to be lifting weights twice per week. That's because that's the procedure to the I want to be able to, you know, I want to be able to try on my old pair of pants that I you know, procedure, feeling good in it, I want it to fit, that's more of an outcome. So yeah, that was those, that's the difference. And when

Michelle Abraham: 00:17:07

you typically pick one of each, then for the goals for your program,

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:17:11

you pick one of each, and then some, you know, some of my clients, they're like, I don't really, I'm not really there in terms of X amount of pounds. I've had clients, they're not even necessarily, quote unquote, you know, within the, you know, they're not, they're not overweight, but they're still in my program, because they know that they even if you might not be quote unquote, an overweight, you still should be active. Right? So for them, it was it's been more procedural. For other people, it's been more outcome. So this flexibility, right, in what we're focusing in on throughout the 12 weeks,

Michelle Abraham: 00:17:48

yeah, and what I love about what you're doing, too, is, like we mentioned earlier, it's not just personal training, you've got the Kinesiology background, too. So for our listeners like that kinesiology coming from a background with a similar background as you that's an important piece that a lot of people don't get so can you just share with our listeners like the difference between a personal trainer and a Kinesiology? Just?

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:18:11

Yeah, so can you share with us his university level trained Exercise Scientist, right? So we have schooling in, it's the study of human movement, right? That's what it means. So it's, it's also sports physiology, you know, biomechanics, biomechanics, motor learning. So physiology is, you know, like, X, the hormones and the systems of the body and stuff. You know, Biomechanics is how the body moves. motor learning is how it learns to move, and of course, anatomy. All of that together, sociology of sport and exercise, the determinants of health. So all of that is what I've learned in my schooling, as a kinesiologist. And, yeah, having that that empirical knowledge is definitely worth having. And so they will know my clients are asking me certain questions, I'm definitely confident in answering the button, the majority of them or I would know where to look.

Michelle Abraham: 00:19:17

For sure. And then the difference between that and just adding a personal trainer. I mean, it's nice that you have both of those for personal trainers more focused on the movements and the exercises that you're doing. Not necessarily the science behind it, right.

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:19:30

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And yeah, it's been great to, you know, work with my clients on that level, too, as a personal trainer, learning the, you know, working with them over this, you know, over the internet, I've got I've had clients in Cairo. I've had clients in Melbourne, Australia and Raleigh, North Carolina and Baja Mae, Mexico. So it's been it's been great to learn how to work through the screen with my client. against, and to give them an effective workout. And to train them accordingly, right? It's been very fun. And yeah, that coupled in with to my business with the behavior change, the behavior change, there's a synergy there with, especially with one of my clients right now he's doing both, and it is the synergy that is unbelievable. Not unbelievable, but it's, it's amazing. I'd say it's believable, I have to believe in it. But it's, it's amazing. So, yeah, it's, it's cool that, you know, during the, the pandemic, you know, this space, people are feeling more comfortable in this space, especially entrepreneurs, because they're like, Okay, well, like I have to start my business, I have to work on my business, I don't necessarily want to go to the gym, well, here I am. If you have a nice open space, like I do, and if you know, doing calisthenic workouts, movements without any necessarily any equipment, much equipment, you know, there's, there's different types of this closed chain and open chain. So close chain is one of the end of your, the limb is not moving. So like let's say a push up is a closed chain, you're moving your center of mass, the your head is fixed onto the floor, right? Or a pull up, or chin up is close chain, while a lat pulldown is open chain. When you're doing more closed chain movements. What happens is your body's going to be strengthening, you know, like think of Marines, right? They're big, but they're not the strongest, they're not huge, right? Right. So but it's not going to get bulky. While if you stimulate the body, if you want to, if you want to add mass, that's when you do more open chain, that's when you do benchpress that's when you do leg press at the gym, right? So yeah, I've been focusing we've been focusing in on on closed chain, and you can hit every part of the body without one piece of equipment. That's what people need to know is that I don't necessarily need to break the bank was, you know, all this equipment, a Bowflex or whatever. I mean, they're great, but you don't need that right away. You need to work on the floor and work on moving your body.

Michelle Abraham: 00:22:16

And the good thing is you can take it with you wherever you go, right? Your body wherever you go. Yeah, exactly. And I think for our entrepreneurs that are working from home, is a really great solution. And it's interesting, because I'm sure, over the last few years years during the pandemic, a lot of your colleagues and a lot of the people in your industry in space, have just closed up shop and given up where I feel like you've really emerged in like a new area. Maybe you were doing this before, but I feel like you've really hit on something that's super important in for more people that are now working online, like you're able to then also work out online and have clients all over the world. Yeah,

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:22:57

it's amazing. It's, it's, I think people really need to realize that again, I am my body, I need to take care of it. And here's a great solution. I mean, the internet connections are better than ever nowadays. And there's just a lot of people out here wanting to help, especially with COVID. People need to really take care of themselves. Like it's, it's it's a big eye opener for people. Over the past two years,

Michelle Abraham: 00:23:26

yeah, I've heard of so many people that have started having health issues that they never thought they would have. And just that lack of movement and lack of you know, going to their normal routines over the last two years is really messed up a lot of people. So it's time to get more serious about it and get more, get more grounded. And like you said, it's it's going to trickle down into your business. And I think for us entrepreneurs, especially the women, we have so little time, especially the ones that families to have so little time as it is, but to really turn the importance back into if I'm not working at my desk, my family suffering plus my business is suffering. So therefore this needs to be the priority.

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:24:07

Absolutely. Yes, mothers, you know, you have to put in that single parents have to prepare in some general have to know figure it out. You can definitely you know that one thing is you if you want to get something done, you ask a busy person and these people are so efficient that they would I think that once they know how to prioritize that it's important. They'll find the time there is time. And it doesn't have to be that much to get the workout in. It's it's personal training. Yeah,

Michelle Abraham: 00:24:41

that's structure you're talking about. I think it's really helpful for people for sure. Yeah. So how can our clients our listeners find out more about working with you and if it will do this is pique someone's interest and like, oh my gosh, set me up. This sounds amazing. aware of where do you want them to go?

Sartre Jean Gilles: 00:24:56

Yeah. sjg@sjgfit.com sjg@sjgfit.com is my email sjgfit.com is my website. But it's parked on WordPress right now. But sjg@sjgfit.com, send me an email and we can chat from there. I'll give you our chat for hour, I'll give you a consultation. And then we can take it from there.

Michelle Abraham: 00:25:18

Perfect. That sounds good. Such This is so great. So helpful, I think for entrepreneurs listening today, and all those podcasters that are now finding themselves sitting on their butt for way too long. Keep your episode short guy so you can get up and move every 20 minutes. Or get up and do some squats while you're in the middle of your app. Your app is so awesome already. So thanks so much. Have a great day and podcasters our FIU podcasts or listeners please do other get some movement going on and reach out to sites if you need some help. Alright, take care.