PODCAST - Why I Always Work With A Fitness Coach to Reach My Goals
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[00:00:00] Welcome to The Athlete with Asthma Show. I'm your host, Johnny Havey, an ultra runner, endurance athlete, and yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer nor run a marathon, let alone 100K ultra, I proved them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned, from breathing techniques to mindset shifts, to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals despite limitations, let's get started.
Today's show, I wanna share with you the importance of working with a fitness coach to reach your goals. Now, as long as I can remember, I have had coaches that have helped me get to the next level. When I was four years old, I had played soccer really [00:01:00] casually for a couple of years, and I also was newly diagnosed with asthma.
So I not only had coaches that coached me at soccer, I had my parents that would coach me, and I would have doctors and other healthcare professionals that had advice that was very helpful to me. Well, as I got older and older and more serious about various sports, including soccer, I enlisted more coaches.
Uh, I went from playing soccer just during the fall to playing soccer in the fall, winter, spring, and going to soccer camp in the summer, where I worked much more closely with coaches to hone my skill and get even better. Well, once I got to college, I stopped playing soccer. I had a knee injury in high school that held me back a little bit from getting to the next level, and I just wasn't putting the time in that I should've in order to play at a college level.
But when I was at college, I played ultimate Frisbee, and we technically had [00:02:00] coaches that were upperclassmen that really coached me to become a much better ultimate Frisbee player. 'Cause I could throw the Frisbee very well. I was throwing Frisbee with my dad since I was very young, and I had the endurance from soccer.
But they helped me bring it all together. Well, once I graduated college, I didn't really work with a coach one-on-one for years. I, as you may know, went and got into Yoga Sculpt and did that for a number of years, did yoga for a number of years, until I enlisted in Yoga Sculpt teacher training. What that did for me is that allowed me to deepen my practice and become even better at yoga.
It also empowered me to teach and lead others at yoga. From there, I-- after I got certified in Yoga Sculpt, I decided that I wanted to get HIIT certified, high-intensity interval training certified. I had just started working for Endorphin. This is back in [00:03:00] 2017, 2018, and I had been a member for a while and decided that I wanted to take my high-intensity interval training to the next level.
So over Matter of days, I earned my HIIT training certification. Well, in addition to wanting to be able to teach HIIT, I wanted to deepen my knowledge of HIIT training. And after I got my HIIT certification, I didn't work with a coach one-on-one until 2024. With that being said, I, since college, have been all about group fitness and being in classes with a teacher, with an instructor that is in charge of moving the entire room, the entire class through a workout program for that day.
And I've made really good friends over the years by attending those classes. One of my friends, Robbie, who I had even hired as a one-on-one or one-on-two coach. Well, after years of having success working with [00:04:00] coaches, I still find my ego gets in the way. And it's not necessarily my ego saying that I'm better and I can do it better.
It's my ego saying that I don't need to invest in a coach 'cause I have the resources I need. I have all the education that I've gotten over the years, earning these certifications, working one-on-one, and then putting the hours and the time in, doing the thing to get good at it. I never really had a coach for riding my bike.
I mean, my dad coached me as a kid, but as a long-distance cycler, I never really worked with someone as a coach. And, you know, I plateaued with finishing 100-mile races, but I didn't really do very good. I just finished them. Well, the same thing when I got into climbing 14ers. I kind of just did it myself. I did it with friends, but we didn't really have a coach.
Well, what I've realized, and especially in 2024, is when you find the right coach, you, your potential [00:05:00] skyrockets. And it's really because when you find the right coach, uh, they're able to take what's already inside of you and multiply it with you. And that's what I want to share with you today. So even though I haven't always had a coach, when I have a specific event in mind or something that I really want to work towards and I really want it, I hire a coach.
I need the guidance. I need someone to push me beyond where I can push myself. And that's my first reason why I invite you to invest in a coach. They should
push you harder than you would push yourself. Now, it is very important that when you work with a coach that your coach knows you. And I don't mean that you have to have a buddy-buddy relationship with them. What I mean is they need to know you. They need to know what potential limitations you may have.
[00:06:00] For me, I'm an athlete with asthma. Asthma is a potential limitation that I have. For me, I have a hole in my heart. Hole in my heart is a potential limitation I may have. It means that I need to keep my heart rate under a specific threshold. For you, it could also be asthma. It could be something else. You need to make sure that your coach knows and understands and agrees to keep you safe in your program.
Now, any coach you work with, there's gonna be a disclaimer. If you ever wanna work with me, I have a disclaimer. I'm not a healthcare professional. I coach based on my experience. Therefore, there's still risk that you will be taking on working with a coach, working with anyone. But you need to make sure that your coach understands where you are, who you are, what limitations you may have, so that when they push you They're still keeping you safe.
This is what happened back in [00:07:00] 2024 when I hired my coach Caitlin as my 100K ultramarathon coach. She knew everything I was going through. I, at the time, had a lot of uncertainty with my health. She knew all of it. I made sure that she did, and she truly cared about keeping me safe. She also knew that she could push me still, but she did it in a safe way, ultimately resulting in me winning my 100K ultra.
Well, since then, I've taken some time off really racing seriously. I had an ego moment and went and tried to do a race by myself and found that it wasn't for me and that I didn't have the right plan. Well, now in 2026, I have my eye towards a new goal, towards podiuming and making the podium at HYROX, hybrid fitness racing.
[00:08:00] And I know the importance of having a coach, which is why I've started to really work with one of the owners of Endorphin in Denver, Scott. Scott and Gina both own Endorphin South Broadway. If you're looking for someone to coach you with HYROX, they are the right people to do it. Like, one of the things that Gin does together is travels and goes to these events all over the country.
We have multiple classes per week where we go through and we actually do HYROX workouts or HYROX-focused workouts. And Scott and Gina themselves have competed in multiple HYROX events, singles, doubles, mixed doubles, relay. So when I was looking for a HYROX coach, I knew that Scott was who I wanted to work with.
And yes, I've known Scott for about a decade, and I've always known that he pushes everyone to be the best that they can be. He also is very objective, [00:09:00] and this is extremely important with a coach. I just did my second HYROX simulation a little over a week ago, and it went well. I finished in 69 minutes.
Now I've been following my YouTube channel and podcast. You know that I have my goals and my sights on a faster time than 69 minutes. I was really happy with having the starting point and having enough time before my first HYROX event to change things. Well, I think I was a little more optimistic than Scott was.
After my HYROX solo sim, I sat down with Scott and we talked about it and I asked him I said, "What do you think the chances of me podiuming at Hyrox Denver are?" And he straight up told me, "You have a lot of work to do, and you're in a age bracket that is very competitive. But if you take Hyrox seriously, just like you've taken Ultra and other things in your life seriously, [00:10:00] you could potentially cut your time by four or five minutes and potentially compete."
Well, I took this to heart, and I really looked at this as, wow, I wanna work with someone who can objectively tell me this. Because especially with fitness, especially with after winning my 100-kilometer Ultra in 95-degree heat, I sometimes think that I'm invincible. I sometimes think that I'm in a little better shape than I actually am.
And yes, I'm in very good shape, and I'm one of the strongest Hyrox athletes at our gym, but hearing this from Scott and him being objective just showed me this is the kind of coach that I want. I need someone that can call me out on my crap, and that can help me get to the next level by pushing my ego aside.
Well, after I had this conversation with Scott, I knew that I needed to work differently. I knew that I needed to take it seriously without putting a bunch [00:11:00] more hours in, but really just elevating my mentality around Hyrox. And I wasn't expecting Scott to really do anything for me. He's already ... Him and Jeanne have already done so much for me, having me as a teacher on and off for the last decade at Endorphin, and just, they're just some of the most supportive, community-focused people I've ever met.
But I did know that even if this was the only coaching I was gonna get from Scott, that this was gonna help me get to the next level. So I started putting a plan together, and I'm like, you know what? I'll share it with Scott. So I shared it with Scott. We went back and forth, and I think he started to really look at, hey, Johnny cares, and if Johnny cares, I am going to show some care with this as well, 'cause I believe in Johnny.
I at least think Scott does. Hope you do, brother. Well, fast-forward a week later, and I went to Scott's Hyrox track club Saturday morning, and I [00:12:00] didn't just show up. I showed out. I didn't just do what was required of me. I did what was required of my goal And, uh, Scott saw this and he pushed me and kept pushing me and asking more of me, checking in with me, 'cause I even told him that I was starting to cramp up.
I showed him the workout plan I did over the past week, and, uh, he checked in to see, "Hey, I know you said you were cramping. How are you feeling now?" I'm like, "No, cramp's gone." And that's what he... And that's when he told me to stop doing what I was doing, to pick up the 85-pound sandbag, do 50 meters of lunges, and then he said that he was gonna time me running one kilometer.
And he said that I needed to do it in under four minutes and 10 seconds, otherwise I was gonna have to do it again. This is an hour and 20 minutes into this group HYROX workout, and he had already been coaching me on wall balls and [00:13:00] lunges and really pushing me throughout the training. But he told me, "Johnny, if you wanna take this seriously, we need to figure out what your baseline is on tired legs.
We've been crushing our legs today in this workout, and if you want to do what you said you wanted to do, which is get close to that 60-minute HYROX time, you need to run a sub 4:10 kilometer." I said, "Yes, sir," grabbed the bag, did the lunges, and then started sprinting. And I had no idea how I was doing. I knew my legs were dead.
I had already, throughout the week, done a lot more running at higher speeds, at sub-six-minute mile pace, working on the HYROX stations that I really struggled with in the sim. Been putting a lot of work in since the simulation. Well, halfway through, Scott told me that I was on pace, and, uh, it was really cool because he told everyone else, "Once Johnny finishes this lap, if he finishes it in under 4:10, we're done with [00:14:00] training today."
So everyone was rooting for me. Well, ultimately, I finished it in f- three minutes and 54 seconds. I had no idea. I knew that I had finished it in under 4:10 because I heard the countdown. I didn't know I'd finished it in three minutes and 54 seconds. This was amazing, 'cause my legs were on fire. Number three, they should encourage and empower you This is so important because yes, Scott was very objective with me.
He was just being a realist. He's done many HYROX events, and he's won many HYROX events, and he knows what it takes, and he knew that you can't just show up at HYROX and not take it seriously. So when he put me through this and he was rooting for me and getting everyone else to root for me to hit this time, [00:15:00] I knew with his help, the community's help, my fiance's help, that I have a chance at competing and podiuming at HYROX Denver.
And really, this is where the last two pieces of a great coach come into play, and this is what's really developed since. So now we're looking at how do we optimize my pace and my energy? And it's so cool. I didn't even know that these were options, and that's the great thing about working with a coach.
They should help you get faster. Amazing, right? Or get better at the thing. And I'm not just saying pushing you harder than you would push yourself. I'm saying when you work with a coach that has the experience, this is how it was when I was working with Caitlin when I was running my 100-kilometer race.
She knew exactly what we needed to do to [00:16:00] win the race, and one of those things was to keep my body temperature cool by putting ice behind my neck, by making sure that I had ice everywhere, that I was covered in ice, that every aid station I would cover myself in ice. I didn't see anyone else doing this.
It was just me. That I needed to chug pickle juice. All these things helped me get faster. Same thing. Scott has been telling me, "Here's how you need to do burpees in order to not only be fast, but conserve energy." He's teaching me that the best place to cut time is to make sure that you never stop running.
So not just running during the run, but running when you're getting to the run, running when you're getting to the other stations. So when you work with a coach, they should be able to give you tips, tips that you may never think of. This is invaluable. And number five, they [00:17:00] should take the thinking, not all of it, and stress out of training.
And I don't mean like training stress, 'cause obviously you're putting stress on your body. I mean, you shouldn't have to worry about are you doing the right things. Because when you work with a coach that's getting the most out of you, they're giving you what you need to be successful. You just need to do the things, get your mind right, and you will be successful.
Now, I've created my three pillars of healthy living guide. One of the three pillars is accountability, and it may be the most underrated pillar of the three. You have movement, tracking, and accountability. Well, without accountability, everything else can fall on the wayside. But I created this guide to really help you live a happier and healthier life.
I built this guide based on my journey of losing 40 pounds in three [00:18:00] months and, uh, ultimately working towards becoming an elite athlete. And you can grab your free copy of the guide at athletewithasthma.com/healthy-living-guide, or click on the link in the YouTube description or the show notes to grab your free copy.
I'll see you in the next episode
Thanks for tuning in to The Athlete With Asthma show. I hope today's episode inspired you to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your health and wellness journey isn't about perfection, it's about progress. So I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals. And if you found something helpful here, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share the podcast with others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself and redefining what's possible
