Alex Bernier; Personal trainer on motivation, how your muscles work, and Canada's intense lockdown

About this episode

Alex Bernier, a Montreal-based kinesiologist and personal trainer who built an audience through precise anatomical exercise graphics on Twitter (@mythoughtfood), joined Vance for a conversation spanning the psychology of motivation, breathing mechanics, and Quebec's pandemic politics. Bernier traces his path from teenage hockey player to personal trainer to founder of "The Online School of Exercise," a remote coaching model he built after an unsuccessful stint opening a gym in Dubai. Much of the conversation dwells on the deeper, less visible dimensions of fitness coaching: the asymmetric responsibility trainers feel for client outcomes despite depending entirely on client honesty and follow-through, his own multi-year battle with insomnia and the habit changes (fixed sleep schedule, magnesium, morning exercise, meditation) that resolved it, and an extended breakdown of nasal breathing and diaphragmatic mechanics as an underrated performance and health lever. He pushes back hard on social-media fitness culture's 30/90-day transformation promises, arguing real results take three to five years and reframing his business as a "school" rather than a quick-fix service. The episode closes with Bernier's account of pandemic life in Quebec — which he characterizes as a "democratic socialist" system with 50% income tax rates — describing local lockdown fatigue and crediting looser US state policies (Texas, Florida) with weakening Canadian officials' political cover for continued restrictions, alongside forward-looking speculation about home gyms, testosterone therapy normalization, and virtual reality as the next frontier in remote coaching.

“The first thing I did was to focus on nose breathing during my workouts... it was like an ab workout for me trying to only breathe through my nose after a set... you get more diaphragm, which is your main breathing muscle. So it's like training your biceps, but for breathing.”

“Social media fitness is 90 days, 30 days, all these short challenges... you have to train for at least three to five years before you start really getting some excellent results... I called it the school of exercise because it's like, you wanna finish high school, you wanna finish university, it takes time.”

“We're a socialist country and I don't know if that's why the leaders have gotten thirsty with their powers... this is all thanks to places like Florida and Texas that are showing us that it doesn't have to be the way that our current leaders are telling us.”

Key moments

• ~10-16%: The trainer's asymmetric responsibility — depending on client honesty about diet/habits while bearing blame for lack of results; introduces "voice of resistance" framing.
• ~19-27%: Bernier's multi-year insomnia recovery — fixed sleep schedule from a 4:30am gym commute, magnesium, morning exercise, eventual "head hits the pillow" outcome.
• ~30-35%: Deep dive on nasal/diaphragmatic breathing mechanics and how he personally adopted and taught it.
• ~41-46%: Quebec/Canada COVID lockdown politics — "socialist country," 50% tax rates, and crediting Texas/Florida reopening with undermining Canadian officials' restriction rationale.
• ~59-63%: Critique of social-media fitness culture's unrealistic 30/90-day transformation promises versus the real three-to-five-year timeline.
• ~76-79%: Testosterone therapy normalization discussion, referencing the Jeff Bezos physical transformation as cultural touchstone.
• ~91-95%: Client transformation anecdotes — a father regaining the ability to lift his son, and a formerly ill, "gray-tinted" client regaining visible vitality within months.

Notable quotes

“It's like training your biceps, but for breathing.”

“You have to train for at least three to five years before you start really getting some excellent results... social media fitness is 90 days, 30 days.”

“We're a socialist country and I don't know if that's why the leaders have gotten thirsty with their powers.”

“He was walking super slowly, almost green, gray tint... two, three months later he was unrecognizable. He had a glow to himself.”