Personal Trainer Explains Why Breathing Through Your Nose Changes Everything

Alex Bernier [00:00:00] I decided that I wanted to do either an app or a website. I had all these great ideas, but no clients, or I wasn't training anybody online yet. And so it actually took me two and a half years before I, I got my first international clients, I had to open my own little studio space with local clients. And then I took, took these clients and started the online school of exercise with their videos. And, hi everyone. I am Oliver Crow, a second grade student and

Vance Crowe [00:00:29] An aspiring YouTuber, and you're listening to the Van Scroll podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm glad you're here. Today we talk to kinesiologist and personal trainer, Alex Burner. Alex is a curious character. I found him on Twitter as he was posting all these pictures of him doing exercises with very precise motion, or he would show the muscular skeletal system. And I would be able to see some of these ideas that I've heard my wife talk about, but have never actually seen the diagrams to make it come to life for me. So longtime listeners of the podcast know that my wife is a physical therapist with extremely exacting standards. And so I've always looked at Alex's stuff with a little bit of suspicion, but every time I read and watch what he's doing, I come to the understanding of why I can't put my arms straight up in the air, or why I don't have the flexibility to bend down the way that I used to when I was younger. Alex is a soft-spoken guy, but he has so much to say about how you can introduce yourself to exercise what he does to overcome the voice of resistance. And since he's in Canada, we even talk about why he's excited about what's going on in places like Texas and Florida because it's informing what the citizenry can push back on in the government of Canada. So we're gonna get to this interview in just a moment, but I wanted to let you, the listener, know about a project that I started a few months ago that has exploded with popularity. What I do is people that sign up for a newsletter that I put on our connections page, get a reminder once a week that says, Hey, this is the type of person that you should reach out to and say something about how you got to know them or what you admire about them, or what makes them special.

Vance Crowe [00:02:14] I include an example of a person that I wrote with this similar sort of prompt and I give some writing tips about how to make these sorts of emails easier to write. Now the effect of this has been people have been reaching out to members of their network or people that they've always wanted to reach out to but never had a reason to. And I am getting a flood of positive feedback, people that are so grateful that we're doing this that they say thank you to me all the time. So I wanted to extend that to you, the podcast listener, if you're interested in getting a connections prompt once a week in your email that gives you a person to reach out to, gives you some advice on how to do it, and then somebody that'll be super excited to hear how it goes. I would love if you signed up for the connections email. All you have to do is go to vance crow.com/connections and sign up with your email. And once a week you'll get a prompt that'll get you to start this wonderful activity over the next year. You will be amazed at what will happen to your life. If you can keep finding ways to pump positive energy into your network, you have no idea where it will lead, but I assure you it will be somewhere positive. Alright, without further ado, let's get to my interview with my man, Alex Burner. Alex Burner, welcome to the podcast.

Alex Bernier [00:03:29] Thanks for having me, Vince. I'm happy to be here.

Vance Crowe [00:03:32] You are a prolific twitterer you, you put out these graphics and images of people doing exercise that are so good. I can't even tell you the number of them that I have sent to my wife to be like, Hey, you need to, you need to do this too. How in the world did you get so good at posting imagery on Twitter?

Alex Bernier [00:03:51] Well, I love writing, so Twitter's been the platform for me. I was on Instagram, I was on Facebook, and you know, it wasn't really working out and I just started a Twitter account and just the mix of writing and then finding, you know, a nice image or something that's catchy, just sort of worked out. And then I've just, I saw what worked and I've been building on that ever since.

Vance Crowe [00:04:15] So you are an exercise guy. You really show people how to do movements correctly. And this is really close to my heart because before I turned like 35, it didn't matter how I did exercises. I could do 'em whatever way I wanted, no problem. But then you hit a certain point where anytime you do something even slightly wrong, all of a sudden things start breaking down. So this is an interesting field, like tell me your background. How did you get into doing exercise and how did you become so precise at the movements?

Alex Bernier [00:04:43] Well, I played ice hockey when I was younger, like most Canadian boys. And it's a very physical sport, very fast, especially once you, once you turn 14 years old, you start hitting. And so I didn't have a choice. I was a lankey skinny kid and I really had to hit the gym in order to get bigger and start making the better teams and also not get to destroyed on the ice. So that was my first sort of introduction to working out. But actually thinking back, my father was the first person I ever saw work out as a kid, and I was super young and I remember we were at a hotel and he was training at the hotel gym, and I saw him working out and I was like, I wanna do that too. And I remember ever since wanting to join a gym. So that sort of helped me push into it. And then because of hockey, it gave me that extra purpose. And so I did become a better athlete. I got bigger, I got more muscle mass. And so obviously that sort of keeps you motivated. And then one time I just started training a good friend of mine and he got results too, and I was like, ah, I like that. I really like, I enjoyed it. So I got a personal training certification, then I studied kinesiology in university and started working at a gym, a gym, and have been doing it ever since. Now I'm doing it on my own. But yeah, so working with clients

Vance Crowe [00:06:03] Of my, the world of personal training is, is is the wild west, right? There's all kinds of people out there saying, Hey, I'll give you a certification and this is the right way to do it. And then you've got people going out and trying to set up their own gyms and then doing it inside of health clubs. What do you, what do you know now about being a personal trainer and kind of what that term means to people that you didn't know before you got started?

Alex Bernier [00:06:27] It's such a broad, tough, such a broad job. You know, you could specialize yourself in athletes, people in pain, people that want to get super lean, that wanna look like fitness models. I was very confident when I graduated from school. I thought that I, I knew everything that I needed to know. And then once I started working with real clients, breathing human beings, everything I knew was, you know, out the window and I had to sort of get good at dealing with people. So it's really, and you know, it's kind of a, a cliche to say this, but you're also, you also kind of become their, their therapist. You know, some people spend more time with you than they do with their family or their wives. You know, you see someone five, five hours a week, that's a lot of time that you get to spend with someone. And so it really is about not only knowing what you're talking about, but also being able to express it. And then being able to deal with the individual in front of you who might be depressed, anxious, you know, has all sorts of problems going on. And then when they're in the gym with you, you have to be able to motivate them. And obviously exercise is something that requires a lot of time to generate results. So you gotta keep them motivated for, for a long period of time. And so that's, you know, it, it's not just about training and exercise, it's also about psychology. And it's just been such a, a wild ride in terms of learning because I've had to sort of get good at so many different things, including business, including psychology, including continue my knowledge on the human body and the brain.

Alex Bernier [00:07:59] So it's just, I'm, I'm still a student even though it's been over 10 years. I

Vance Crowe [00:08:03] Think, you know, motivation is one of those things that it, that that's like something you realize about a personal trainer very early on is large part of their job is motivation. But a a big thing that's really difficult for a personal trainer is you've gotta help people not to lie to themselves because it's very easy for somebody to do a really hard workout five days a week and then go home and eat really, really well, except for after eight o'clock when they have some drinks. So they start eating ice cream and they're not really being honest with themselves. And so therefore they can't be honest with you about all these cheating things they're doing. And yet they're still, because they're lying to themselves, the frustration that they're not making gains, that they're not getting the progress. Tell me about the, the deeper inner world of, of motivation. That's harder to see.

Alex Bernier [00:08:49] It's the responsibility is a little asymmetrical in the sense that my, you know, the success of my work with somebody depends on them doing a specific list of things, right? And then, like you said, you know, you start, you have a couple of drinks or have ice cream and, and they're actually pretty honest about it. They'll tell you and almost laugh about it. Or sometimes they might not tell you and and lie to you, but it's, you know, I have to become the person that motivates them to do all these things that they know are wrong for them to do them less or to stop doing them at all if that's what they need. And so it's, you know, that's why I talked about psychology before is I have to really make it mean something to them. But then even then, sometimes the person just doesn't have that inner motivation. And it's, and, and that's one of the biggest challenge that I've faced as a, a personal trainer, an exercise professional, is being able to deal with their, you know, their, all the, the bad habits, so to speak, that they have back home. And, you know, it at the end of the day becomes my responsibility. And if it doesn't work out, then it's my training or it's my, I I didn't, I wasn't able to motivate them. So that's why it's, it's, it's a little difficult to, to juggle that.

Vance Crowe [00:10:02] It's a funny thing because on this podcast we talk about the voice of resistance, right? That voice that what, you know, maybe you go running a couple of times in a row and then the third morning you wake up and you're a little sore and you're like, you know what? You worked out really hard last week. You don't, you don't have to do it this week. Right? But the, the challenge with the voice of resistance for the person that you're training is like, they maybe don't get the results that they want. But for you, if you listen to the voice of resistance, like all of a sudden you won't represent the thing that, that people are coming to you for. Like, do you have a different relationship with the voice of resistance than, than just regular people?

Alex Bernier [00:10:37] Well, it's, it's definitely an extra incentive, right? In the sense that I have to practice what I preach, or most of it at least, because otherwise, you know, people aren't gonna come to me if I look, if I'm hurt and I can't train, and then, you know, I don't look like I, I work out. It's, it's superficial, but people aren't gonna be sort of attracted to my service. And so that's why I, it really, if I don't do it, then it's, it's my livelihood, it's my job that I won't be able to do properly. So it, it definitely is motivating for myself, but also my own experience with exercise, right? I wanna, I wanna get stronger. I wanna, I wanted to fix my sleep back when I was insomniac. And so all these different things have motivated me to fix them. And that sort of creates an energy where it passes off to my, my clients or my students. And you know, they, it's like I said, I practice what I preach because it's mostly 'cause I need it too. I'm also, I'm also a human being and if I don't exercise, if I don't work out, if I don't sleep well, my, everything goes down the toilet. So I have that as a motivation as well.

Vance Crowe [00:11:48] You know, you reminded me of the sleep Twitter thread that you put out. You actually wrote that at the same time that I had finally maybe for three straight weeks, gotten to bed at the same time every day. And it had really been a huge thing. So to see your Twitter thread about how you fought through insomnia really meant a lot to me because I don't think people realize just how difficult it is to get good sleep hygiene, but once you get it, the, the tremendous gift it is to your life, it's, it's better than almost anything else.

Alex Bernier [00:12:16] You never wanna go back.

Vance Crowe [00:12:18] So, so talk about that Twitter thread and kind of your battle with insomnia. 'cause I mean, really you're, it seemed horrible. I don't know what I would've done had I experienced what you went through.

Alex Bernier [00:12:27] Well, just as far as I can remember, as a kid, I had trouble sleeping. I remember going to sleepover at a friend's house and I'd always be the last one to fall asleep. If I fell asleep, sometimes I would just not fall asleep at all. It started getting really bad in high school where, because I guess it was additional stress, I was playing on two different hockey teams, getting my grades up, you know, the whole, the usual stressors for, for a teenager. And then in college, you know, you're, you're partying in college, I was partying maybe four or five nights a week, so it was kind of, I didn't really realize it, but then once I graduated and I started getting personal training clients at six in the morning, then my insomnia became really problematic because it was affecting my performance. Obviously I'm somebody that has to motivate my client, but if I hadn't slept the night before, it's very, very difficult to, to to, to be, to get into that state. And so I took, you know, it took about two and a half to three years, but I, I did, you know, change my nutrition, changed my habits. I did a whole bunch of different things and, and now I, I fall asleep when my head hits the pillow. And that's the best feeling that I've ever gotten in my life. You know, it was just my energy levels, my mood, my, my, my mental acuity. Everything is just topnotch because I'm sleeping well. And so now I I I get sleepy at 8:39 PM at night, you know, and, and I still go out, I still have a social life, but I try to, I try to fall asleep at the same time and I, I always wake up at the same time as well.

Vance Crowe [00:14:00] And so what were the, the habits in particular that you think really push you over the edge to be able to have that? Because I think that thing that you just described, I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow is the dream that many, many people have. They, they would love to be able to do that, but it's, it's like a pipe dream to them.

Alex Bernier [00:14:16] Yeah. The number one thing was, and like I said, I had graduated from university, so I started getting a regular schedule of clients at the gym that I was working at at the time. And so starting at 6:00 AM I was living in the suburbs, so it was about a 30 minute drive to the gym downtown. And so I would've to wake up at, for the first time in my life at 4 30, 5 in the morning to get there and get ready in time. And so that kind of forced me to start going to bed at the same time every night. And, and the second that you start getting a routine, you start teaching your body how to wind down at the end of the day. And so obviously I had to do, you know, cut screens at night. I was taking magnesium as a supplement, which is the anti-stress nutrient I was exercising in the morning, even though I didn't have that much energy, I found that exercising in the morning kept my energy at acceptable levels throughout the day, but then even for a while I would get to bed and then have more energy than I did than I had throughout the whole day. But eventually, you know, as I kept doing these different habits, it just started, I started falling asleep and it was great. But like I said, it took two to three years and it was frustrating at first because I wanted it to work right away, but I just kept going and it eventually fixed itself.

Vance Crowe [00:15:40] Yeah. So I run a network called the Articulate Ventures Network, and each month we choose different experiences to do as a group. So like we did the sober October, which was kind of generic, but really interesting. And I found out from that through my sleep, that if I don't drink alcohol, I feel a lot better. Like it took a little longer to go to sleep at night, but like, if I don't have a couple glasses of wine or you know, some beer or whatever, then it's easier for me to wake up in the morning. But it wasn't until we did this exercise where we were like, alright, everybody, just choose a time that you're going to bed and then do that every single night for 30 days that then all of a sudden you realize like, wait a second, just going to bed at the same time every night, made me feel even better than not having any alcohol in before I went to bed. So it was like a, a huge leap forward and, and like it didn't take that long for it to happen where you start being like, why isn't anybody talking about this? It, it almost seems like, you know, we're colluding against us. And then you think about it like, it really is Netflix, their goal is to make it so you don't go to sleep, right? They want you to stay up and watch television's never gonna sit there and be like, you know, you really should go to bed now. And so you start thinking like, it's not, this is necessarily a conspiracy against you, but everything else is stacked against the attention that you would give it instead of your sleep.

Alex Bernier [00:17:00] Right? Absolutely. And you know, our physiology works in cycles, right? Our circadian rhythms. So by creating this regularity to your day, especially for going to bed, you're sort of regulating your physiological cycles as well, right? No matter what, if you go to bed, unless you're, you are an insomnia like me and you end up having more energy when you try to go to sleep, just relaxing, being in the dark, everything starts to calm down and then eventually you just sink into your sleep.

Vance Crowe [00:17:30] Yeah. You know, the, and I don't know if they have this, if it was in Canada where they would say people should count sheep, you know, jumping over. And I remember that that being like such a silly kind of roll your eyes, but when you think about it from the meditation perspective, to hold your mind on one thing for a hundred counts is nearly impossible. And if you really are focusing on that, it is a form of meditation. I was, I was really surprised at the times because I had a friend one time say, oh, when I don't fall asleep, this is what I do is I count sheep. And I was like, aha, that's crap. But then you try, like actually try and do it and whatever you were, whatever. At least for me, the only thing that keeps me up now is if I'm stressing on something. If I'm like, oh, I can't figure out why that's not working. And I just keep rolling it over in my head. I now I do the accounting sheep thing and it actually genuinely works, which is a funny thing to learn.

Alex Bernier [00:18:22] Well it's like you said meditation, right? You're focusing on one thing. Meditation helped a lot. I only started meditating a bit later after I had to fix my sleep. But what it did is just improve the quality of my sleep significantly. And it's also because mindful meditation is a lot about breathing, right? And breathing is one of the central regulators of your body for every other function. And so by controlling your breathing, you indirectly access these different physiological functions such as attention, such as switching to sleep mode. And so that helped me, I can't even say how much. It's tremendous. It's

Vance Crowe [00:19:01] Hilarious. I remember reading one one of your Twitter threads about breathing, and I remember being like, you became like a dragon to me. I started avoiding your stuff because I was like, I think he's right. I probably do need to work on the breathing, but I think sitting down to work on breathing will be harder than it was for me to learn how to lift weights or how to run. Because it's like, it's 100% the voice of resistance. It's just like, do you really have time to do this? Is breathing really that important? So what's your best pitch? Why, why is, why are breathing exercises important and what did it change in you once you really figured out how to breathe? I mean, everybody knows how to breathe. So why, why do you, why are you doing a Twitter thread on that?

Alex Bernier [00:19:42] Well, because the, the part of the brain that regulates and controls breathing is also the same part of the brain that controls all your other unconscious functions, like heart rate, like attention, posture, all these different things. And so, like I said, by, by breathing, by doing focused breathing, you're stimulating that part of the brain. And so indirectly that part of the brain is gonna be doing a better job at controlling all the other functions, right? Breathing is life, breathing is the central component of our life. So you have to, by doing it, you're getting all these other essential functions to, to sort of work in, in synchrony.

Vance Crowe [00:20:24] And so what was it like, what's the path for somebody to take if they want to really improve the way that they breathe?

Alex Bernier [00:20:30] The first thing I did was to focus on nose breathing during my workouts. So, and, and at first it was so difficult, I would try and then after one set, I'd have to, I'd start panting through my mouth and, and breathing through your nose is a lot better because you do have, have, you have more filters and you get a better oxygen absorption into all your tissues. So by doing it, you, and, and, and it was crazy because I couldn't feel, it was like a ab workout for me trying to contr try to only breathe through my nose after a set. And then after, you know, maybe a few sessions, I was able to, to make it through the whole workout without opening my mouth. And one way that you can do that is to take a sip of water and hold it and only breathe through your nose and you can't breathe through your mouth. 'cause if you do, the water will will come out. So that was the first one I did. And then obviously I started feeling just a lot more, a lot better. Because what you end up doing is you become more focused but without increasing your stress levels. So you, you have that focused feeling, but at the same time you're calm, so your focus is enhanced. And I started re I started researching a lot more, you know, different exercises and, and there's actually a lot of scientific research that's been done on the matter. And that's why I, I was like, okay, that's a good, that's a good Twitter thread.

Vance Crowe [00:21:53] And have you walked some, any of your clients up this path of breathing? Like have you gotten anybody to be like, yeah, let's do a whole workout where all we do is breathe through our nose?

Alex Bernier [00:22:02] Yeah, a few. Yeah. What, and and I, I talk about breathing to, to most of my clients too. Like I said, it's just a central component to not just health, but performance. So, and, and by breathing through your nose, you get better core activation when you're doing, let's say squats or chin up. So it is just, it enhances and they feel it too. So it, it helps them get motivated to sort of sit down and do the specific breathing exercises on their own.

Vance Crowe [00:22:31] Man, I'm just sitting here trying to breathe through my nose and I keep thinking like, I don't know, I don't know how much longer I could do this. I'm gonna, I'm gonna black out. But it really does get better. Better as you go.

Alex Bernier [00:22:42] Yeah. Well it, it's more, you get more activity of the dia frying. So right now it's just when it's when you breathe through your mouth, you're breathing through your neck, your trapped your, your chest. So it's a lot more, it's a lot tighter. Breathing through your nose is a lot deeper and you're getting more diaphragm, which is your main breathing muscle. So it's like training, it's like training your biceps, but for breathing.

Vance Crowe [00:23:04] Oh man, you're exactly right. I'm sitting here doing this. And you're exactly right. It actually pulls your body in different ways. So that's one of the things I love about your stuff, man, because I, I find that most of Twitter, what I am there is for intellectual stimulation. You know, I want to be, I either want to be challenged in some way where somebody says something intellectually offensive where I'm like, no, that can't be right. And then as I think about it more, I'm improved or that I see something and I, and I think like, why does this work? Or why is this person putting this forward? And I see that your stuff has that really honed down to a very fine art that you're always spotting things that my initial reaction is either no, Alex, I don't wanna do that. Or it's one of, is that right? That can't be right. No, that can't be right. So is it, are these just like thoughts in your head that you have to put these Twitter down, or do you actually spend real time sitting down thinking about, what am I gonna put out there?

Alex Bernier [00:24:05] A bit of both. Obviously I have the sort of main topics in my head, but I'm still learning about the body, about the brain, about the nervous system and everything. And so by, by writing tweets and by writing threads, it helps me sort of synthesize what I'm learning. So a lot of times if I'm posting about a certain topic, it's because I've been either researching it or trying a new exercise or whatever. And then I put it together as a, either a post or a thread and then I try to find the right image for it.

Vance Crowe [00:24:34] Yeah, I think your imagery is really what's high quality. So my wife is a physical therapist and I would put her in the category of being among the best in the world. She was an aerospace engineer and just, you know, very top of her class. And so I'm hyper critical of what other people put out. And I, I can't, I'm not good enough to judge your level, but I can say that the things you put out there are like, Hey, he's right. I had to learn how to hold my abs as I ran so my hips didn't drop. And like, oh, he's totally right. I actually can't lift my arm up above my head and lift it into a straight line. Like, you really have hammered on these things. And I mean, it, it actually makes me quite excited 'cause I think you are doing what my wife's field needs to do and I'm just glad somebody's putting this stuff out there.

Alex Bernier [00:25:21] Right, right. For sure. It's, and it's so different, you know, each individual is so unique, right? That the, the problems that you run into teaching these basic things are just, it's never the same. The path is never the same for specific people. So it's always a challenge to, okay, how am I gonna get this person to do what I want them to do?

Vance Crowe [00:25:45] So you are in Canada right now, and as far as I can tell, Canada is treating COVID lockdowns almost completely differently in the US things are opening up more and more every day. It's almost as though it, it, not that it never happened, but that the residual effects are coming off very quickly. What's going on where you're at right now?

Alex Bernier [00:26:06] It's, I mean, you know, it's the US Canada,

Vance Crowe [00:26:09] Where are you for, for people that don't know Canada geography very well. Where, where are you right now?

Alex Bernier [00:26:14] I'm in Montreal. Quebec. Quebec is the French speaking province of Canada. And we are right above Vermont, New York, Maine. And so yeah, that's where we are. And you know, it's just, we're socialist country and I don't know if that's why the leaders have, have, you know, taken a, have gotten thirsty with their powers. But, you know, I'm very grateful that the, the United States are doing what they're doing because now they've lost a lot of their backing. You know, there's a lot of people here, despite the fact that we are a lot, our measures are a lot stricter. More and more people are, are starting to not rebel, but, you know, protest. And you can tell that the, the leaders are struggling with that and that they've lost their, their upper edge. So we're probably, and you know, this is all thanks to to places like Florida and Texas that are showing us that it doesn't have to be the way that our, our current leaders are, are telling us.

Vance Crowe [00:27:13] You know, you said something, I don't think I've ever heard anybody say this before that, that Canada is a socialist country. Is that an official position or is that like your assessment of where they're at?

Alex Bernier [00:27:25] It's democratic socialism, so it's not like Venezuela or any of those places, but we pay 50% taxes on, on our, on our salary. And it's, there's a lot of similarities with, with communist countries and, but it's just technically more acceptable, I guess. It's, it's like a, it's like one level under the bad, the really bad stuff. Wow. More like, you know, kind of like Sweden, Finland, places like that.

Vance Crowe [00:27:54] So, I mean, Quebec is an interesting place too. I mean, you, like, one of the very first things you said was it's the French speaking part of the country, right? It's been a place that's been able to preserve a culture outside of the other parts of Canada because of its strict enforcement of the language. And so what makes this the place that you call home?

Alex Bernier [00:28:13] Well, it's where I was born. Other than that I've, you know, I've been, I lived in, in Dubai for a year and a half. We started, I worked for a startup there for, I started, we started a gym over there in athletic center. You started, and so I've been a

Vance Crowe [00:28:31] Gym in Dubai.

Alex Bernier [00:28:32] I wasn't, I was the first, I was the first employee there.

Vance Crowe [00:28:36] Okay.

Alex Bernier [00:28:36] First trainer that was with the, the, with the owners. So, and so, you know, I got to see Dubai is like an accelerated version of, you know, in terms of business, there's just so much money out there that things happen a lot faster than they do, let's say here in, in Canada. So I, I got to live in, in that kind of environment. And then I came back home because, you know, I had to, I wanted to be with my family and I was helping all these people over there, but I wasn't helping the people closest to me. And so I wanted to, to be there for everyone. And, you know, it's, it's my home, but I'm, I I would definitely, I I love to travel and I always have. So I'm, and the fact that my, my business now, the online school of exercise can be done from anywhere. And I've, I've lived that over the last year. I have no problem with being, you know, six months there or another six months there. And then, but always keeping, you know, it's really, it's family that, that keeps me here instead of my, my family and my, my close friends are, are all here.

Vance Crowe [00:29:35] I wanna get to the online school of exercise, but I, before we leave the Dubai concept, like were people coming in in regular sports workout or were you dealing with people in, you know, like chic shake outfits and, and having to put away their robes and, and things like that. Before they started working out,

Alex Bernier [00:29:52] We had a lot of expat clients. So I had American clients, British from all over the world. But then we did have some, some local clients and they come in their, you know, their white, their white suit and then they change, they get changed in normal fitness clothes. And we had one, one woman that, that would train with us and then she would have a, she, her head was covered and, but she would, she would be in like a, a training, you know, a training outfit, a training variation of their burka. So,

Vance Crowe [00:30:23] So when you came back to the US or not to Canada, sorry, what is that? When you started the online school of exercise?

Alex Bernier [00:30:30] Yeah, well it didn't work out with the, with the startup. So I came home, you know, I went there expecting I'm gonna live there for the rest of my life, make tons of money in Dubai. And then it didn't work out. And I came home a year and a half later and I was like, you know what, I, I could, I wanna start my own company now. I saw how it was done and I also saw what it was like to open a gym, which had been my original career path, my, my, my dream sort to speak that, okay, I wanna own my own gym. But then I saw what it was like to open a gym and I just saw how many other gyms there were and what the competition was like. And you know, back then social media fitness was starting, this was like early 2010, and I decided that I wanted to do either an app or a website. I had all these great ideas but no clients or I wasn't training anybody online yet. And so it actually took me two and a half years before I, I got my first international clients, I had to open my own little studio space with local clients. And then I took, took these clients and started the online school of exercise with their videos. And, you know, the concept of it, of them being able to get a program from me through my website is what started it all. And then eventually, you know, through Twitter, I made my first client from New York and now I have clients in India, Europe, all over the map. It's, it's great.

Vance Crowe [00:31:51] So let's talk about what an online school of exercise is there. 'cause I think a lot of people picture a PA personal trainer as somebody that's like, come on, come on, lift it, go, go, go. Are you doing that with them?

Alex Bernier [00:32:02] Some of them and, and I'm not, that's just not my style really. But some of them pay for live sessions, right. But the online platform allows me to tailor a service that is, you know, based on their budget, based on their needs. I get a lot more flexibility than say, having to my own place and then having people come to me. So it's, some people use live sessions and some people, some clients I've never spoken to by voice. It's just all done by email and sometimes you don't hear about them for a bit and you're wondering how they're doing. And then a month later it's like, oh, I love the, I love the workout, I've gotten great results. And then just every month it's a new workout. So it's just, I have a lot more flexibility to create a service that is suited for the person.

Vance Crowe [00:32:52] So tell me about the type of person that decides they want to do an online, you know, coach, like, in the way that you are.

Alex Bernier [00:33:00] It's a lot of, I'd say people from 25 to, I have clients that are about in their, in their mid forties, fifties, a little, a little older. And a lot of people who, they want to get in shape, they wanna start, they're either hurt and they, they know they wanna, they know they have to exercise, but they can't 'cause they're hurt. So, and then there's pe, there's students, there's, there's people that are already good at working out, but that they're, that are stuck somewhere. They, they've reached a plateau. And so I help 'em with that. And it's just a, it's a pretty wide range of, of students

Vance Crowe [00:33:34] And then like, they have the same re response rate as when you're in a regular gym. Sometimes people keep showing up for more, sometimes they don't like what's the, what's the feel like of what you're doing? Since everything is remote,

Alex Bernier [00:33:48] You get a lot of the same issues that you have with real personal training, but you, you have people that, that, you know, catch on and they love it and, and they just, I'm able to keep them longer than if I had been selling them, you know, big packages in my gym so to speak. Because now they're, they're, they're taking like a, not a watered down program, but they're taking a a or a, they're taking a course with me that is, you know, it doesn't have to be three meetings a week for six months. We only speak once a month. And then it's, so it's, they, they have to pay a little less money, they get to pay a little less money, but then because of that, they're able to stay for a year with me. And that's, in terms of personal training or getting results, you, you'd rather keep someone for a year than having someone, you know, pay a lot of money for one month and then just disappear off the map?

Vance Crowe [00:34:40] Yeah, exercise is far more about consistency than it is about intensity. So people will get far further and they will, they will be a walking billboard for you if they are, if they've stayed in for a year as opposed to just doing one really hard month,

Alex Bernier [00:34:54] Even one, even three years. I'd say three to five years is a realistic timeframe to get the results that you want out of the gym. And, and not a lot of people talk about that, right? Social media fitness is 90 days, 30 days, all these, these short challenges. And then people get hyped up and they expect, you know, they follow people that have been training for 20 years, 15 years and who are marketing diets or exercise plans and whatever, and they look like fitness models. And so people sign on to different programs expecting to look like that after one month. And it's just, it doesn't make sense. You, you know, you have to train for at least three to five years before you start really getting some, some excellent results. And of course there's always a small percentage of people that will get really fast results, right? But for most people, what, and that's why I called it the school of exercises because it's like, you wanna finish high school, you wanna finish university, it takes time, you need the, you know, you need three, three to five years. I've had clients that have been there for, for eight years.

Vance Crowe [00:35:54] I think this is exactly right. I mean, the biggest improvement that I had from lifting and I started a long time ago was range of motion and my ability to move in my everyday life. Like if somebody had told me, Hey, the thing that you're gonna want when you're about 40 years old is the ability to, you know, bend down or be able to squat down and pick up your child or play with her without going, oh, but that was not something that could have been done in three months. I, I had to improve hip range, ankle range, how strong my knees were, whether I lifted myself up from my quads. And really, when you think about it, the whole benefit of be, of being a lifter or somebody that knows how to exercise is your ability to do everyday exer activities. Not, it's not the ability to exercise better, it's the ability to live better. And I think that you're exactly right. Like that three, four year timeline seems about right to me.

Alex Bernier [00:36:47] Yeah, even more, right? I've been training for, I've been training myself for, for 20 years now and I'm still learning and I still have some, some challenges and I'm still, I still have some weaknesses that I need to fix. So you have to look at it as a long-term project or else, or else you're gonna get super excited. You're gonna want very fast short-term results. But then once you don't get those results right, you're gonna, you're gonna lose motivation and then, and just give up. So if you start your exercise process thinking, okay, I'm in this for the long run, I'm gonna expect at least three to five years, it just changes your whole perspective,

Vance Crowe [00:37:25] I think. So I I one time just said it was gonna run 500 miles and you get a lot more humble about how many miles, how many miles is a good run when you're like, Hey, I gotta get this whole thing done. It doesn't do me any good to go run 50 today and then have to walk for three months. Like, it's a lot better to try and do it in a, in a regulated pace. But I think you're right, people like no one has that conversation about how long it takes. And if you went to a personal trainer at a gym and said, yeah, you know, what's the time horizon? They're gonna give you a 60, 90, whatever they think, you know, can hold your attention. But the reality is, is yeah, it's years.

Alex Bernier [00:38:02] Yeah. So

Vance Crowe [00:38:03] What do you think of this big movement that I'm seeing going on all around me? I'm in my, nearly my forties and I've started seeing a lot of guys starting to take tea and whether they're doing it with going into a doctor's office and getting a shot or rubbing creams on them or whatever. What, like, I remember when I was a kid, they told us that all this stuff was going to, you know, end in hell and damnation if you do it. Is that still the case? Is it still dangerous to take tea or is this something we've transcended?

Alex Bernier [00:38:33] Well, it's, it's a very complex topic and I'm, I'm always a proponent of, you know, developing, being able to keep your hormones and everything at optimal levels through food, through lifestyle. And, but a lot of people don't necessarily have that, the motivation. And so for a lot of, and you know, it does in a lot of cases improve the quality of their lives. So we might to say that they shouldn't be doing it, but it's just, but then you kind of become dependent on, on the, the treatment to get it. And you know, there, there are plenty of people in their forties and fifties that, that are able to live a high quality of life without having to get the injections or the, the, the creams or whatever. You know, they do it through food, they do it through sleep. But again, some, most people don't, they don't really care. They don't wanna sleep. It's just, they'll take the easier route.

Vance Crowe [00:39:26] And do you know of like, so the people I talk to that are doing it now are like, yeah, the side effects, we pretty much got them under control. Is that true? Has there been enough like bodybuilders and people doing that? Like, I was always into the impression that you would eventually grow breasts and lose all your hair. But I mean, like, I also, you know, when I was in the DARE program in, in middle school, I thought if you smoked one joint, you were dead on the street and you'd be homeless and like, so I don't know what to believe here.

Alex Bernier [00:39:55] Yeah. Well again, I'm, I'm in the same, but I know people who, who are taking, who are taking anabolic steroids. I know I, I've had some clients who took Testo testosterone later in life and they're still doing all right. The, they like, they, it's like you, they said that the side effects were controlled. So again, who am I to, to judge that decision? Only time will tell what really happens. I don't know anybody personally that's died from it that's gotten, you know, all the heart attacks or whatever. But I can't say, I can't say that there aren't bad side effects either, because I'm sure some people have done it and, and have gotten horrible outcomes from it.

Vance Crowe [00:40:38] I think this is gonna grow tremendously in the next couple of years. And I, and like the photo that you always see on Twitter is the Jeff Bezos when he is like a little nerd guy and he doesn't have good posture and then the next time he looks like Mr. Clean walking off a helicopter or something and you're like, whoa, what did that guy do? Yeah,

Alex Bernier [00:40:57] Well he has access to the best. Yeah,

Vance Crowe [00:40:59] Certainly. So talk to me about what you think the future of, of exercise is. What is, what are changes that are coming down the pipeline that you think, you know, right now not many people are doing, but they will be in the future?

Alex Bernier [00:41:14] Well, home gyms are gonna be a big thing and are already, are. Over the last year, you know, a lot of my clients had to adapt their situation where they were training in a gym and then all of a sudden all the gyms were closed. So they had to start equipping their, their homes and figure out the space. You know, all some of my clients live in small apartments, others have plenty of space for a home gym. So a lot more people are gonna be equipping either their garage or their, whatever, a room in their house for, you know, the, the, just in case something like that happens again. And that's something that COVID triggered. So a lot more people will be training from home. Virtual reality will probably be a thing. I mean, I'm, I'm starting to look into it because, you know what, if I can be with the client, what if I'm, I can be with my client in Missouri or, or California or India, but then also see how they're moving and be able to show them through virtual reality. So for me, that's going to be a big thing.

Vance Crowe [00:42:10] Yeah, I think VR is probably several years away from that being the, the case. But I think you're right about it. Like, so what I did for a couple of months during COVID was I'd work out my regular Monday through through Thursday, then Friday I would do a virtual reality exercise. So I would take a different program and, and do it. So whether it was a boxing one or a running one, and I, I think that VR is not yet there with the exercise. Like it's just like too cumbersome or too something. But there's no doubt in my mind that it will be far, far easier to get people to strap on their headset and go do a boxing match or a kickboxing match or, you know, some, some other activity that normally they would have to drag themselves to doing in front of like a two dimensional tv. So I definitely see where that is. And, and as far as like training and exercise, being able to see a person like you being able to watch how their movement is going. Like is that ankle coming up off the ground? You know, is that heel, is that really stable? I think that's gonna be a game changer for you guys.

Alex Bernier [00:43:17] Yeah, of course. And I, and I'm already kind of doing that through Zoom, right, where I can see exactly what's, you know, what's not working or what, which muscle isn't activating, but virtual reality will just bring another dimension. Maybe they'll have some sort of suit on and I'll be able to see, okay, really see which muscles aren't working and, and it's just, it's gonna be a, a space where the client and I can be sort of facing each other in this, you know, face-to-face, but not through a computer. It's gonna be through the, the, you know, the, the the virtual reality environment.

Vance Crowe [00:43:50] Yeah. I mean, and there's so much that can be done, like you were saying right on Zoom, right? Somebody recycling and you can look at their position and how their head is and where their arms are on their bike and is that what's causing all their pain? There's just a lot. And we really went through a phase change with COVID. 'cause there were a lot of people that were like, I'm sure I could do that, but I don't really know how and I don't wanna mess around with it. Now. That's not even a part of people's thoughts. They've used it so much that it's ubiquitous in their lives. Hmm.

Alex Bernier [00:44:17] And no, I definitely, it became a big part of my, my regular life and at first I had no idea how it was gonna work out. I thought it was gonna be a little weird not being with a person, but then there's just so much more that I don't need to be there to, for May, maybe 95% of what I have to teach. So it just worked out real really fine. And I just, you know, through the chat, I send instruction videos so they can they can see what I want. Exactly. And it's been, it's been great.

Vance Crowe [00:44:47] And so what is your exercise routine like?

Alex Bernier [00:44:51] I do a lot. I'm into Olympic weightlifting now, so it's brought a little more of a sport aspect to it where I have, but it's an individual sport unlike hockey, which is, you know, you have teammates now, it's me, it's me against me. And so everything I do revolves around increasing the weight for the different Olympic lifts. And so I do that about maybe four or five times a week. And it's fun. It's, you know, I was into bodybuilding and I, I still do love it and I still have bodybuilding components into my, my routine, but I do a lot more snatches and, and power cleans and stuff like that.

Vance Crowe [00:45:31] So if a guy like you, you know, you have all your movements down correctly and you're working on them and do you still hate leg day?

Alex Bernier [00:45:40] No, I love it, but my legs are, my legs are, are the strongest, my strongest body parts. Yeah. But I don't, I don't hate any, any workout days really.

Vance Crowe [00:45:50] It's always, well, you must see people that hate leg day and, and have like a a Why is that? Why, why is it that people have such a strong aversion to leg day?

Alex Bernier [00:46:00] Few people train them, right? And they're such big muscles that when they do train them, they feel it. You know, the, the, the glutes, the quads, the hamstrings, they're just big powerful muscles that for a lot of people who sit all day long, these muscles get even weaker over time. And so, you know, the moment that they train them through a full range of motion, they're gonna feel it had a client that felt it for five days after, after the workout. But once they do get stronger, then they start to love it a bit more. Because, you know, if your legs are stronger, life becomes a lot easier, everything in life is easier and you just feel it in the way that you stand. Or when you walk, you have a more powerful stride. And so they kind of get over that, that initial hatred for, for leg day. But it's always, you know, a lot of leg movements involve the upper body as well and the abs. And so you don't just get, you don't get sore from your legs, you get sore everywhere else. And so you get that extra level of soreness maybe that that's what causes them to say that they hate it.

Vance Crowe [00:47:03] Yeah. My sense is that the, along with everything you've said is that legs are such a mental thing because like, I at least do not use them properly, right? Like, I'll bend my hips in some weird way or I'll arch my back, or I'll, I'll do some weird thing. And so it's way, way less mentally taxing for me just to be doing curls or doing, you know, where I'm just lifting something above my head. Whereas when you're going, going down to do a squat, you're like, all right, hold my abs now, keep my hips in now, don't let my heels come off. And so I would imagine that eventually after several years, you're probably able to integrate all those things without so much mental brain power. But that's the hardest part for me.

Alex Bernier [00:47:43] Of course, there's a lot more coordination going on for movements like squats and, and dead lifts. But you have to do it. You have to, it's so important because especially as you get older, mobility becomes a big thing, right? And, and by strengthening your legs, you make sure that for the next 10, 20 years, you're gonna be walking or you're gonna be walking properly or walking, you know, the weaker your legs are, the the harder it is to walk and to to move. And so you, you become lazier by default because you're not gonna want to take that long walk or that hike, you know, to, to, to stay active because your legs are so weak that you won't even get there. So by, by training your legs, by strengthening your legs. And I work with a lot of, you know, people in their forties and fifties where they've never trained their legs before and now they're in pain. And by, by strengthening their legs, they actually fix a lot of their issues. It's just the only problem that they had was that their legs couldn't support their upper body anymore. So it's just, it's crucial.

Vance Crowe [00:48:43] Yeah. And you must also see a lot of people with things like really short hamstrings and the ways that you sit in your chair. So for all the people that right now are sitting and listening to you and they're gonna be sitting all day, what do they not realize about what that does to their body and, and when they're trying to do regular movements?

Alex Bernier [00:49:00] Well, you're suffocating your two of your most powerful muscles, the glutes and the hamstrings, right? Because, so you're sitting on the chair, not only are you crushing the muscles against the, against the chair, but you're also just removing it from your whole system, right? So our brains are lazy. We always look for the path of least resistance. When you're supported by a chair, you don't need your hamstrings and your glutes anymore. And so what ends up happening is they just sort of, and I say disconnected because when I, when I assess people, it's almost as if those muscles weren't part of their body anymore. And you sort of have to sort of reconnect it through movement. And so, you know, the more you sit, the more your, your muscles become numb, so to speak. And, and not only do you get weaker, but you know, you lose your, your, your hips most important support. And it just, you know, you might get away with it for when you're thirties, even maybe in your mid, mid forties, but at some point it's gonna catch up to you.

Vance Crowe [00:50:01] Yeah. You always pay for the cheating that you do. Like the way that I sit in my chair and like, if I'm not finding a way to actually sit down on the, on the bone in, in the proper way, it just never works. So how would you, if you were going to just be chatting with somebody to see like, hey, this is what I would test to see how flexible I am, or, you know, how flexible should people be? How much mobility should they have if they're in their forties or fifties, and how would they know?

Alex Bernier [00:50:29] That's a good question. There's no, I mean, you know, obviously you have some people that are super mobile. You don't need to get to that level. You just need, I'd say a good metric is you should be able to sit comfortably in a deep squat position. That's probably the basic hip mobility, just overall mobility that you need. So can you stay at the bottom of the squat and stay there for a minute? You know, a lot of people can't, a lot of people, they can't even get into that bottom deep squat. Or once they do, it's very uncomfortable and they start twitching and they, they have to, they have some of them fall over or almost fall over. And so that's when you know that there's a, there that a critical point where their hips are gonna be super tight very soon.

Vance Crowe [00:51:11] Oh, that's a really good one. That's, that's actually something I'll try as soon as we get done here to see how flexible I am. That's, that's pretty good.

Alex Bernier [00:51:17] Yeah. And I've seen so many different things happen when people try to, to hold the position. It's, but you know, once they do get better and once they do get more comfortable, just overall they feel much better.

Vance Crowe [00:51:30] So if somebody was saying, Hey, I've decided I wanna start trying to make some changes in my life. I don't need to be a hundred pounds lighter, I just wanna lose 20 pounds and I just wanna feel better, what's the path that they should get on to to try and make that a reality?

Alex Bernier [00:51:45] Start with walks, regular walks, see if you can do, you know, three times, 20 minutes in a week. Right. Just a simple walk around your neighborhood if you can. So not everybody can do it necessarily, but, and then if you're able to, you know, to, to maintain that habit, if you're able to get it three times a week, then you can start thinking about exercise. But a walk in itself is very refreshing for the mind, it's very good for the body. It's a very good basic movement. And so it's a good place to start, just see, okay, can I, can I go on three walks during my week at least? And then if you get that, then okay, then can I do a short workout before my walks? And then you sort of just add and add until, you know, you're able to do three to five times, one hour in a week of, of actual exercise. And then on top of that you walk because the two go so well together.

Vance Crowe [00:52:38] Yeah. I loved your tweets about going for a walk and how much that does for your brain. Like that's a hundred percent for me, I'm always feeling like, oh, I gotta just sit here and grind through work. And if I were just to like, go leash up my dog and go for a walk, I'll be able to solve that complicated problem in a matter of a few minutes. But you just like, it's hard. It's like the voice of resistance saying like, nah, you're fine. Just keep working, you'll figure it out.

Alex Bernier [00:53:02] Oh, for sure. Again, it's, it's, everybody's gonna be different and there's the whole psychological aspect to it, but starting with something like a walk is probably the easiest, the easiest le the least stressful way of doing it.

Vance Crowe [00:53:19] And so tell me about people that you've trained, what has changed about their lives now that they've, they've done a lot of exercise and they've been able to master this.

Alex Bernier [00:53:28] Well, one of the first feedback that I ever got as a young personal trainer was my client told me that he was able to pick up his son and hold him in the air, which is something that he had a shoulder and neck problem. And so we strengthened all these different scapular muscles in his back. And he told me, you know, a few days later, he is like, I, I'm able to pick up my son up now. And it was, you know, two weeks of work that we had done. And he is like, it just kind of hit me like, wow, like I was able to do that for the person. And then, you know, obviously it's you, you help them fix their sleep, you help them feel like they're 20 years old again. That, that's something that someone's told me just by the way that they, they move, you make their lives a lot easier. You increase their confidence, their, their whole aura energy changes. I was training this, this man who was seven years old and he was, he had been beaten up by life. He had cancer, heart attacks, all sorts of different things. And he had never exercised before. And he started, and when he first came into my, my studio, he was walking, you know, super slowly, super almost green, gray tint, you know. And two, three months later he was unrecognizable. He had a glow to himself. He was walking, you know, he had sunglasses and he was happy. And so just, it, it, it fixes so many different systems that the gains that you make in the gym or or through exercise will radiate into other parts of your life. Whether it's work, whether it's your mood, whether it's, you know, your, your personal relations.

Alex Bernier [00:55:04] And so it's, it's always, you know, the feedback is the best part.

Vance Crowe [00:55:08] Yeah. I think that you don't realize if you've stopped exercising. 'cause I was in my, I don't know, probably from 23 till 33, maybe even longer, I didn't exercise at all. And you eventually hit this point where it's your baseline. You think like, I am not capable of feeling better than this. Like it's just, it's not possible. I'm just, I'm just tired or I'm just da da da da. And then once you start exercising you realize like, oh my gosh, I don't ever wanna go back. And it doesn't mean that you don't have backslides. Everybody does. You have a kid, you have holidays, you have things that happen, but like once you know that your baseline is not feeling crappy or sore all the time, it's, it's, it becomes, I I wish it was an addiction, but it's not because that would mean that it was easy. But it definitely is something where you, you know, what you're missing when it's not there now.

Alex Bernier [00:55:59] And a lot of times I'll, I'll work with someone and then they stop for whatever reason, but then they come back, you know, a few months, even a few years later and they're like, I gotta start again. Because they've felt what it's like you said, they felt good for the first time in a long time and, but then they stop and they, they go back to that feeling. But because they have that reference point, now they know that it's possible not to feel like that. And so it, it begins the, the process of, of being consistent. But like I said, it could take many years for some people to get there.

Vance Crowe [00:56:30] Well, if people wanted to learn more about the online school of exercise, where would they go?

Alex Bernier [00:56:36] The online school of exercise.com and my Twitter feed at my thought food.

Vance Crowe [00:56:43] My thought food man, that is one of the great Twitter feeds. I love it. I hope you just keep going to me. It's like a gift you're giving the universe by putting that stuff out there. I really enjoy your Twitter feed.

Alex Bernier [00:56:55] I appreciate it. Thank you.

Vance Crowe [00:56:56] Well, Alex Bruer, thank you so much for, for coming on the podcast. I really appreciate you taking the time. Hope things go okay up there in Socialist Canada for you.

Alex Bernier [00:57:06] We'll be good. We'll be all right. But thank you for having me. It was a great chatting with you Vince.