w/ Niki Linkov @niki.linkov on Instagram and NikiLinkov89 on Facebook, Head Coach of Fitness Momentum

Gian: Hey everyone. My name’s Gian Hernandez. I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam in the Amsterdam’s School of Communication Research. The guest for today’s podcast, critical Beings is someone I’ve personally worked with on my own fitness journey. He is a personal trainer and influencer and head coach at Fitness Momentum and online fitness program. Please join me and welcoming Niki Linkov. Hey, Niki.

Niki: Hey guys, so happy to be here. I guess, uh, some exciting stuff we’re gonna be talking about today. But I guess you have your own plan, so I’ll let you get started and then

Gian:  Yeah, no worries.

Niki: we can start to let conversation going.

Gian: Yeah, and it’s, it’s really a conversation, so, you know, obviously if we derive, if we kind of derivate from things or if we go in a different direction, I’m, I’m more than happy to have that. If you wanna ask me questions, I’m super down. But I just cut. Yeah. Is there, first of all, is there anything that you would like to add to this introduction? Is there anything else that you want to center about what you do and your work and your life?

Niki: Gotcha. Maybe I can give a little bit of  more of a background about myself, how it all started, where I’m right now. How I got here. Yeah. I’m gonna keep it quick. I’ve started training when I was 14. I’m 34 right now, but there’s been a lot of highs and lows. And I’ve gone through like working with all kinds of different trainers, different guys. Fitness for me was a hobby for a huge portion of my life. Then eventually I started working with a coach, Mario Tomic. So, basically that was the connection between us, the two of us as you know, and a hobby transferred into me getting certified, getting a little bit more invest in terms of fitness. Started helping my coach at the time. Mario, we still work together with him. And long story short, we have a separate program, which I’m the head coach of Fitness Momentum, and we’re focusing on helping guys in their 30s for the most part, 35 plus people who are either, I would say in the position that they’ve just started a family, maybe have a family, maybe one or two kids, or in that transition point where they’re a little bit more, they’ve settled down and they’re having that long term approach and focusing primarily with is my knowledge base is on fat loss specifically getting rid of that gut that they would see it. Cause I don’t have it, but you get the idea. So fat loss and longevity and sustainability now when it comes to fitness, and that has been my own experience with this. Going through different phases, working with different guys past a certain age, what I’ve noticed is that. It’s not so much about getting jack, getting apps, getting super lean, like the typical bodybuilder that you would see on the cover of a magazine, like just veins everywhere looking crazy shredded. It’s more about, it’s cool, I’m not gonna lie. It’s cool to be that guy. Of course, you can take into account genetics than all the drugs that those, a lot, those people are taking. So, I’m not gonna talk about how realistic this is, but past a certain age, and for a lot of guys it’s, it’s about finding that nice balance between fitness. You know, again, it’s not about the look itself. Sure it feels better to not have a big belly, but it’s about feeling, feeling healthy and staying safe in the gym because as you get older, there’s gonna be some shorter issues. There’s gonna be some injuries. Now there’s gonna be kids. Start thinking about what, what are the, what message am I sending to my kids? What message am I conveying by just being out of shape, not having energy to play with my kids, to be a responsible father. A lot of the guys that we work with, they are super busy. Like we’ve got entrepreneurs, we’ve got people who have like one or two jobs, a side hustle, whatever happens to be. So, all of this is energy. Like you need to be able to wake up in the morning, get stuff done. And get more stuff done, and at some point, hit the gym, and then provided you have time, spend some time with the kids, spend some time with the family, actually enjoy life and all this sort of energy. So, my personal. I would say passion and focus is mostly on that sustainability and making sure that all of these different areas of life they work. So, fitness, it’s not the goal. It is sort of like the medium, not, not even the medium, like how are you gonna achieve your life, where you have that nice balance, things are happening, you’re not getting overwhelmed. You do have the energy staying healthy.  And, sure. Having abs, yeah, it’s cool for a lot of guys, it’s a nice challenge for the first time of their life getting abs, but it’s not like I want to be going on a stage super shredded, and so on. So hopefully that was not too long.

Gian: No, it’s great. It’s great. We welcome all input. So, what I’m hearing from you is that, you know, your work is about, is also quite holistic, right? Like it’s not just about, you know, for example just muscle building or just fat loss, but it’s really about kind of being able to use your body, for your life, right? Because we have bodies in order to experience life. Is that something that resonates with you or.

Niki: In a sense, by the way, I’m gonna be looking there and there because I have, I have my screen there, and my camera there, so it may look like, ok, I’m over the place. No worries. Uh, when I talk, I try to talk to the camera. Holistic. I’d say you; you could say that that’s not how I personally would describe it. And I feel like when it comes to holistic, depending on who you’re talking to, it may have more of a negative connotation. Like some people are gonna be like, nah, holistic, not my thing. I do science based. It’s not necessarily the case, I would say there’s a lot of science and there’s a lot of reasoning and I’m talking to like actual researchers like yourself. Recently I talked to somebody who is in the Mayo Clinic. I forgot which state, uh, Illinois maybe. So, some really, really smart people, researchers. And it is all based on science, but there is also the holistic approach where a lot of times science doesn’t apply to the, or rather, the research may not necessarily apply to the individual. So, to give an example. They have a study, so maybe you’re more familiar with what I’m talking about. That’s a study. Yeah. Let’s see. 30 different people, they’re gonna feed them a certain type of food and they’re gonna notice that 28 out of those people get like one type of result, and two people are gonna get sort of like a completely different result and then they’re gonna conclude, you know what? For most people, this type of food gives them X result. All about those two exceptions. Now this is the individual for them, that general, what does. What a research study is gonna summarize is not gonna apply. So, this is where the individualization comes into play, and this is where you combine science. Like I would say in my own experience, could be totally wrong about this, science and research. It’s a starting point. It gives you sort of a direction where you headed. But then once you start going, you need to get input from the individual and see does it actually work? Is it justified? Does the science apply to, or rather, does this, what science finds applies to this individual? So, it’s more of a starting point. It is definitely science-based, but there’s also the holistic approach where combine them together. And ultimately, I would say, you know, I’m probably biased when it comes to this. Results are what matters at the end of the day. Doesn’t matter what I think. Doesn’t matter what you think, if you do X and you get y, that’s it. The result matters. And then based on that result, of course we can draw some conclusions and we may need to refine your approach.

Gian: Yeah, I mean, yeah. Makes sense what you saying. So, with the topic of the podcast being around critical, and sort of the notion of what critical means. What does, what does? When I say the word critical, what does that mean to you? What do you think critical means? Maybe in your field as well?

Niki: Yeah, so I’m gonna be completely honest. Like you put me on the spot, I’m not a hundred percent sure what critical means, like in terms of the dictionary.

Gian: No,It’s open. Yeah. It’s really your interpretation, everything. Like there are no wrong answers, right?

Niki: Gotcha. So, I would say for me, the first thing that comes to mind is more of a negative thing, like critique as in, oh shit, like your heart rate’s getting a little bit elevated, like, I’m gonna hear something that I’m probably not gonna, not gonna like, and tense up a little bit. That’s the first thing that comes to minds. More of that negative feeling tensing up, but then also critical. I would say it’s more of a way to give feedback, uh, precise feedback, and sort of like get straight to the point and try to uncover what is happening. Like critique could also be a good thing. Um, and yes, it may not make you feel good, especially when you’re working with clients like me as a coach. So, I’m a coach and a client, so I got a couple of coaches that I’m working with. I do get critique from them, going be honest. Sometimes it sucks. Like you send them a video of what you’re doing, you show them your diet, and they’re like, there are some things they have to work. So being on the receiving end, it, it, it’s sucks a little bit, but I know they’re right and this is the, this is how you grow. So, this is, that’s what comes to mind, like critique in the sense of being on the receiving end as a coach working with other people, you also have to think like, how do I package, it’s not necessarily critique, but my feedback. So it’s still valuable to the person, but at the same time, doesn’t. Make them defeated. It’s not like, oh, snap, you’ve, you’ve really messed up your diet, like what you’re doing there terrible. Like your squad looks like, I don’t wanna swear, but it looks really, really bad. What, what you’re doing there. So, you don’t wanna make people feel bad, and don’t wanna make them, that they’re actually not achieving something.So, you need to still put sort of a positive spin, but have them learn from their mistakes and have them improve so they keep on going. And there’s a lot of nuances here who you’re talking to. Like some people like really straight talk and just get to the point, like tough love kind of. Some people are like this, and you can definitely, be very, very blunt with some people you have to be a little bit more sparing in terms of phrasing and everything.

Gian: Yeah, no, I and I hear a lot of really, really great things. Like, so from the first thing like, you know, critique is, is how we grow. It might not be very pleasant at times, but it’s also useful feedback in some ways. And for me, I mean, critical critique, all of these things, criticism, there’s a, there’s a difference, right? Critique and criticism, and all of that stuff. I also think, you know, critical means can be, can be important, right? So, we have like maybe a critical intervention. This is something that’s, that’s like a, a critical sense of something that is like integral and sort of foundational. But I, I really like, you know, uh, how you talk about it, especially in the fitness world when critique means, you know. For example, how we do things how, like form for example, forms or diet. Oh, by the way, you can totally swear. Like this is, this is a swearing podcast, so no worries. So, I’m wondering, um, when, for example, you’ve already talked about a couple of, uh, instances where critique or being critical comes into play in your work, but when do you find yourself, being most critical? So in what situations where you do you practice critique the most?

Niki: With a client or…?

Gian: In general, with yourself, with a client, uh, with, uh, a coach, you know, giving feedback back, right? There’s any?

Niki: Yeah, I would say me as working with other people and learning from other people, I would divide into sort being on the receiving end and being on the person who’s critiquing and being on the receiving end. I feel like it’s very important to be able to handle the feedback and knowing that sometimes feel like you’re doing amazing. Just the other day, I got some, uh, critique on something that I did. it was fitness specific in a sense, and it didn’t feel good. I’m gonna be honest. It’s a skill. It’s like gives the great part of fitness and training is that you can apply this sort of like muscle resistance training to the mental aspect and being able to handle critique well because you understand that this is a, this is stress, like lifting weights, stress on your body, but because of this stress, you can adapt, and you can grow.

So, in the same way, sometimes you, you just have to be calm yourself like a kid. Just, just give it to me like straight, like what did they mess up? What I can do better? And, that’s sort of like the feeling that I get sometimes you just tense up a little bit and you’re like, ah, shit. Like you, what is it you gonna say? Like, do I do well? Do I do bad? What I can do better? And sometimes you realize like, consciously, logically, understand that Okay. This definitely makes sense but doesn’t mean that you’re gonna feel great when somebody looks at what you did and like, no, this whole thing, just start over. Like it’s not, this workout’s not gonna work, or this thing that you think in terms of diet or the food that you’ve prepared, scrap this. So, it’s part of the learning process, but we grow through adversity. So, this is more on the receiving end, and I’m pretty much okay with, I do ask for critique myself. That’s more of a personality thing. I know. What I respond best to just gimme the all the bad stuff. Sure. Gimme what I’m doing Well. But I mostly respond better to negative feedback as opposed to positive feedback cuz it tells me what I can improve. Now when you’re working with somebody else.  I feel with coaching, and this is probably not specific to fitness, just in general, it you have to be a little bit of, I always messed up these words, psychologist, psychiatrist, like the person who can analyze, other people’s behavior.Make sense?

Gian: Yeah.

Niki: So, this comes through actually working with somebody for a while or maybe doing a bit of an assessment beforehand, so you know how to talk to them and know how to address them. There is always the case where I’m, um, because of my character, because of who I am, I’m always gonna be communicating in a certain way, which means that with certain individuals, it’s just, it’s not gonna click. Like I’m, I’m usually a pretty nice guy. I’m not like super blunt. So, if you need me to be blunt, that is how you respond to, I’m not your guy and probably we’re not gonna have a great connection. It’s the nature of, you know, human beings. But general, I try to gauge who I’m talking to and how to communicate. Now, in terms of when I have the most critique, I would say it’s the more free, the most frequent thing that happens when I have to critique is when people are posting their videos from the gym. So, something that we did with you. If you go in the gym, obviously I do online coaching. I’m not there with you in person physically, so what I rely on is the data that we’re collecting that people are sending me, and so on a spreadsheet. But also, I need to see how you do the exercises because otherwise I’m looking at numbers and it doesn’t tell me anything. So, this means that people take their phone, they record what they’re doing in the gym and then they post online. And this is probably scary, like being on the receiving end where I’m gonna give you feedback. And this means a lot of critique. And of course, because most people are no experts when it comes to this mean too, of course. But chances are I know probably a little bit more than most guys. If you’re in the gym and you don’t know what you’re doing, then you’re gonna get feedback. And in a sense, this is the, the most amount of critique that I’m giving, like almost every time, if you, if you do post something online, I’m gonna find something that could be done better. Doesn’t mean that you suck, it doesn’t tell me anything about who you are, but however you address it, you don’t wanna discourage people where like they’ve posted their deadlift for three consecutive weeks or four consecutive weeks, and it’s always like something to improve. At some point you need to tone it down a little bit and still recognize the small wins, especially if somebody’s getting discouraged. They think like, I cannot lift, or there’s some problem. So, this is probably the more frequent time when I’m critiquing because it’s almost every day the rest of the time it’s usually something a little bit more random where people like text me on their phone, I get a message and they show me what they did and I have to like to give them, I wouldn’t say it’s that much critique. People are just generally asking questions and I give them, um, I give them feedback, or I try to answer those questions. But yeah, it’s rarely critique over chat or when we’re on the call on a Zoom call or something like that. Okay.

Gian: Okay, and so I hear yeah, there’s, there’s multiple relationships there. You, so you talk about, you know, with coaching and with clients, do you ever find yourself being critical of yourself?

Niki: Well, sure, but I guess that’s a personality thing. So, I can talk about myself, but I would rather zoom out and talk about general, like people, we, people like everybody’s gonna view the world. Differently so that the way we perceive the world is very, very different. So, I can share my own experience, but that doesn’t mean that it’s gonna apply to somebody else. So, I’m definitely critiquing myself, but I don’t beat myself up. I’m generally very high self-esteem type of guy. So, it might sound terrible, but in my head, I, I’m the shit I’m like, no matter what I do, like I’m the man, I got this, I’m not gonna beat myself up and be like, oh, I suck. I’m not gonna wake up in the morning and I feel terrible about things could have been better. I’m like, what I do, it’s awesome. It’s gonna get into the top. I don’t beat myself up, but I do know a lot of people, especially if I’ve seen with other coaches as well, where there’s a little doubt. And I guess this also comes down to your level of expertise in a particular field. Say for example, when I was starting out as a coach, I was very much critiquing myself and I felt bad and I felt like I was a failure, or I felt like I was a fraud or I was, um, like the imposter syndrome as a general rule. Like again, I’m more of a high esteem, high self-esteem person, but I’ll still beat myself up.  Because I was not feeling like I can fill in those big shoes and feeling those expectations as you get more experience, like obvious things are gonna change. But the guess two key things I’m getting into is, your personality, how you generally view life, and your, I guess there’s a hormonal there’s a psychological thing, and so on. Basically, who you are and then also what we’re talking about. I can be very confident in one field. But not so confident in another field. And it is also context like there are people, actually was in Amsterdam like a few months ago. I was surrounded by people who are much, much smarter and more experienced than me. I’m talking like world class. Super cool guys. I felt dumb. I’m like snap, I don’t know. Anything compared to these guys. So, in, in that particular field, yeah, I was critiquing myself quite a lot. But then when I’m talking to, let’s see a client, which of course they’re paying me for me because I have more expertise in that specific field, I don’t feel the same way. I feel more confident. So, there’s, we are, that is the specific field and there’s the context. Same guy in different situation that I feel completely different.

Gian: Yeah, that’s true. It’s all, it’s all very, very contextual. So, I really, I’m interested also in this notion of the field. So, we were talking about critique and we’re talking about, and obviously you’re in various fields, you’re in sort of training, but then there’s also sort of bit more science-oriented things, and all the online space as well that can be considered a different field that one might need experience in. Do you find yourself may being, seeing developments in the field that you would critique or developments in the field that you think are positive? What do you, where do you think the field is going? Or do you critique the field?

Niki: Which field? fitness?

Gian: Whichever field is most important to you. I would say maybe fitness or maybe online fitness or maybe, yeah, whatever. Whatever you think resonates.

Niki: Can you just expand the question a little bit?

Gian: So, do you find yourself being critical of, let’s say, other people who do the things that you do? Other online coaches, let’s say?

Niki: Gotcha, I used to be more critical for sure. It would get me emotional, but I feel like that’s part of the growth process. And this is true for any field. Like in the beginning, you don’t know anything, so you don’t really care. Then you start. Gaining some knowledge and you feel like, ah, I know this. Like I’ve uncovered this huge, big secret and start being very critical because what you think, you have like this limited view of the world and you’re like, oh, my thing is the right thing, and this guy doesn’t know anything. So, this is when you’re probably most critical, but then you start growing. You understand that, okay, there’s a lot more things that I don’t know, and you realize that there’s more than, I don’t know, than actually what I do know. So, then you become more critical of yourself. So, it’s natural for transition where you’re not critical of anybody. Then you become critical towards other people than towards yourself, and then you find this nice balance where you are. I don’t know much. Most people don’t know a lot either, so we’re all in the same boat. And you become more open, you become less critical. Sometimes you talk to somebody who has like a completely different view on the same topic, you know? Like that person could be, right? I mean, I know my stuff. He knows his stuff. I mean, obviously, you know, there’s a lot of contexts. There’s a lot of nuances. So, you’re not critical at all. But you’re more like questioning in this, uh, level of curiosity as well. And you need to get to that point in order to actually become really good at something because you can always learn from other guys. Like, uh, give you an example, just the, yesterday there were two kids, probably 15 or 16 in the gym, and one guy was hanging on a bar, just hanging, and the other guy was pulling his ankles. I was like, what’s this? He was doing something to his ankles. I’m like, I, I don’t get this. Like, I, I got curious. Like, they’re 16. I don’t know what they, they know. Maybe they’re just like having fun. I have no idea. Maybe they seen something online that I haven’t seen. So, I was like really interested. I was even contemplating going there and asking them like, what do you guys are doing? I’m legit interested. I don’t like…what would go through my mind in the past would be like, these guys are just fooling around. They don’t know anything. Now I’m like, I don’t know. Maybe I can learn something from those two kids. Maybe they’ve done something, maybe they’ve seen something that I don’t know about, and maybe it’s something that is legit, or at the very least I can try and see if it works.  Again, that’s kinda like the natural evolution, I would say for any field at some point.

Gian: Okay. And did you, what, I’m curious to hear the end of the story. What were they doing?

Niki: I got no idea. I think what I see, what they were doing, one guy was doing squats and he had the heels elevated. He was using weight plates, uh, which I think he saw from somebody else doing the gym. Maybe me, I don’t know. So, I think maybe he was working on his ankle mobility or maybe his ankles were stiff. Because the other guy was like literally twisting and pulling his ankle, so.

Gian: Okay

Niki: That’s my guess. Yeah.

Gian: Yeah. Ok.

Niki: Sure.

Gian: Interesting. Ok, so you talked a little bit about, you know, curiosity and, and being curious as some, how people develop in the field. Let’s say the field, broadly speaking. We could be talking about fitness, we could be talking about, you know, a lot of different things.  But so, do you notice any trends in the field in any field that you find relevant? Do you notice any kind of directions that people are going in, whether positive or negative?

Niki: There are certain trends. Yeah. I would say the stuff that was, that’s probably true for almost everything, but kind of like at some point, go full circle. When I was a kid growing up, it was like all the bodybuilders that bro splits, and then at some point it was like all science based, at least in terms of what I’m exposed to. So maybe things don’t change, it’s just that I’m, I’m focused on different things. Now it’s more about health and high protein or maybe like, everything has to be like super complicated science proven. There has to be research and so on. So now we’re going through this phase where it’s so science based and research and labs, and it has to be justified, uh, not justified, but it has to be tested and whatnot. So, we’re more in this phase. At some point it’s probably gonna go, oh, intuitive. Sort of like the bro split again. So yeah, it’s kind of like going for different phases. But when it comes to fitness, I mean, we’re not gonna reinvent anything new. It’s always gonna come down to, you gotta watch what you eat, you gotta eat mostly healthy food and you gotta do the training.You gotta lift some heavy stuff, do some cardio. That’s it. Like these are the basics. I feel like what does change is not so much the basics and what actually works. It’s how we convey that information and the package that we wrap, how we wrap up the package. So, we’re gonna do keto because whatever, keto, I don’t know, it’s trending or we’re gonna do like vegan, just some kind of a diet there, which a lot of times is just like sort of a marketing and a delivery tool to still get to color deficit and to get you to train.Of course, there’s also, I guess something that we’re also going through is there’s a lot of focus on individuality, which I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, it’s just that that’s hyper focused on this thing where it’s probably the result of just this mixture of cultures that we have nowadays where we have people from different countries, different backgrounds, different beliefs, and we have trying to accommodate for everybody. In a sense, that’s like the individual approach, which for people like me, that’s a good thing because we can hyper focus on one type of individual, one type of problem. So that’s probably trending right now. I would say more the sort of like a very individual hyper focused approach. And to give an example, you could be, I don’t know, 20-year-old lesbian who is into video games and also power lifting. I mean, that’s probably a ton of those. And you’re gonna have a coach that’s gonna specifically niche down for working with these types of individuals, which is awesome because it’s a very small market. Not a small market, but a very, very hyper focused, hyper target. And you can find the guy that’s gonna work for you.Well, let’s say 15, 20 years ago. I mean, sure. It could be like 20-year-old lesbian video games, whatnot, power lifting. You’re still gonna work with just your typical par for the course. It’s gonna be the same, same guy everybody’s working with. It’s not gonna get like the same connection maybe in a sense. So again, that’s, that’s I would say a good thing.And then the other one is the, uh, what was the science-based approach? Not sure if this answers your, your question.

Gian: Yeah, definitely, definitely. Yeah. I’m just interested in the trends and what I’m hearing is, you know, there’s a different way of, you, you talked about packaging. We could even talk about communication, right? So how, how things are communicated. So yeah, it’s definitely, there’s definitely a lot going on there. Um, okay, cool. So, I wanted to also, so this podcast is really interested in “Critical”, but also this notion of being right is a Critical Being. That’s why, why it came together. And part of that is about “embodiment” and how people kind of use their bodies. So, the other episodes that I’m recording are people that are in very different sort of physically oriented fields, right? So, we have a yoga studio, owner, dancer, powerlifter, like all of these different things. And so, I’m asking everybody, so how they use their body, like how do you use your body in everyday life? What is important about your body that helps you to do your work, for example?

Niki: Gotcha. This is specific question towards me as an individual.

Gian: Yeah, yeah.

Niki:  Regardless of my field of work.

Gian: Well, I mean, it’s you, specifically,  so yes.

Gian: Your field of work. So, like what, what is,

Niki:  Gotcha.

Gian: As an online coach, how is your, your body helping you or hindering you even.

Niki: Mm-hmm. I would say, the way I look at it, embodiment; Embody is, that’s my specific thing that I’m focusing on, which may be not necessarily this is a liitle bit disconnect of I do in my life as opposed to how I approach work. I’m gonna separate this a little bit.

Gian: Yeah.

Niki: So, in terms of how I, me as an individual I use my body is I want to be able to move pain free to be able to…Because when I started training, there was always an ache, shoulder, wrists, knees. There was always pain and my process was, you know what, if I’m training, there has to be some kind of an ache. There has to be some kind of a pain. Like your joints are gonna get beat up. That’s just the nature of what you’re doing. Now I came to realize that this is not, shouldn’t be the case. Yeah, there’s gonna be some wear and tear, there’s gonna be some issues every now and then, but it shouldn’t be to a point where your health is deteriorating, like the, the main goal of movement should be to be able to move better and pain free over time. So, I would say for me, this is a big focus. The other focus is creating awareness and what I’m currently focusing on, hyper focusing right now is to get real good connection with muscles. Mostly focused on muscles, not specifically like the. The big stuff, like the actual aesthetic part, but even muscles like breathing, like being able to control my breathing, being able to just, sit down and know that like, for example if I sit down right now, just take a second to feel like, okay, there’s some tightness here and I know why it is because of the camera. Kind of like trying to look straight there. So, there’s gonna be some tightness in my traps that I’m feeling. There’s some tightness in my lower back cuz of how I’m sitting. There’s a little bit of slouching over. So, tightness here. More like on the backside. Uh, also with my breathing because I had a meal, I can definitely feel that.So, I’m working on creating that awareness and when you do have that awareness, you can move better, and you can deal with some of those issues. So obviously there’s tightness in my traps. Like if this thing continues, like maybe I’m gonna get a headache. If I’m sitting in front of this camera for five hours, I’m probably gonna get a headache and I know there’s gonna be some consequences. So just first off, being aware. And then based on that awareness, I can take action in order to make sure that I move better, and that I feel better because that accumulation of improper movement, improper posture, is gonna lead to some issues. And I would say I’m pretty happy with where I’m right now with my own training and movement because I, there’s less issues now. I don’t really fear high risk of injury at this point in time. I’m definitely getting like good simulation in the gym, like being able to. Contract my muscles. And of course, it’s more in terms of hypertrophy growing, more muscle. It definitely helps for sure. So, quality of movement, I guess is a big thing for me and that’s why I’m focusing with my body as well and creating that awareness. And it’s not always about movement, like sometimes, probably to relate to the body, but say for example, you know, sometimes you feel angry, you feel depressed, you feel lonely for no reason, like everything’s going amazing. If you have like those sensations and about sitting down and being like, okay, I feel a certain way. And being able to backtrack and realize what is causing this. And sometimes it could be, I eat a meal, which is funny enough, like a lot of people don’t realize this, but you may eat a certain meal that may make you depressed. Like, I know for me gluten, for example, if I overate on bread and pasta, I’m gonna get really agitated and frustrated for no real reason. And it took me a lot of time to realize that. So, awareness is a big thing for me. And then quality of movement and quality of life. Trying to get away from pain and be able to preserve my body until a very old age. Now with clients, I guess, it’s sort of a different thing where the way I use my body is to be able to also understand how my body functions, which is gonna translate into understanding how other people are, how their bodies are gonna function. So, a lot of times I’m just like, obviously watching a lot of guys. Through their movements and in, in my head as I’m watching, like you maybe squatting or doing something, I’m trying to imagine what you’re feeling like sort of this mirroring in a way. And sometimes I’ve seen guys who train, I can tell, like legit, I’m, I’m getting like contraction. I feel like the contraction that they’re having, for example, in their chest, like I’m, I’m getting sore from seeing them doing their work, (Phone rings) let me just close this.  Or maybe, doing something that I feel like, okay, that’s legit probably cause some pain and being able to take my own experience and then look at somebody and what they’re doing, be able to realize what they’re doing, Is it wrong? Is it okay? And there’s a limited application to this of course because you can never know what’s happening inside of somebody. Like just looking at them, it’s not gonna tell you a lot. It’s gonna tawll you, it’s gonna tell you something about their body and their reflection and affordability and whatnot, but very, very limited amount of information. But it’s still be useful for the general purpose of making sure that they’re not making any big mistakes with their movement that could make through increased risk in injury. Um, so that’s one thing how I’m using it. And I guess you can also say like, if you’re posting content online, like every now and then you wanna show your abs, you wanna, you wanna show people that, you know, you just don’t talk the talk, you know, walk the walk. Like if, if you’re talking about fat loss and you’re turn terribly out of shape, it’s not gonna convey like there’s gonna be some mismatch between what you’re talking about and what one in reality, like you’re showing that it’s possible. So, unfortunately for me, I’m not genetically blessed when it comes to like having an amazing, I’m just lean, but I’m not like very crazy ripped abs and what not crazy ripped…abs. I  have those. So, there’s not the person who shows off his body a lot, but I know for a lot of other guys who are on the social media, like you’ve seen the guys who are like always shirtless, uh, showing over their physique, uh, that’s an edge in terms of competitive market, that can definitely be an edge for other guys. I guess I’m shy shy when it comes to this, but it, it is something that I know works for a lot of people. So, yeah, I’ll end it here.

Gian: Okay. Yeah. So, what you, you mentioned kind of at the end like there are certain, um, demographics that people, or at least in, in the online sphere, like to see. Could you expand a little bit more on this? Like what, I mean abs obviously yes. But is there, are there anything, any other embodiments that you think help when it comes to, um, being successful as an online presence?

Niki: So, it’s gonna depend on who you’re talking to and who you’re trying to address. Say for example, if you have a 20-year-old female, she probably wants to have great glutes. If you talking to a 60-year-old guy, he probably doesn’t care about this. He just wants to move pain free, or if you’re talking about, uh, a dad bod, he probably wants to get rid of the belly. He doesn’t care about leg training or something like that. You talk to a yoga teacher, obviously it’s a completely different thing. So, yes, you wanna focus and d, talk to the exact, you wanna have a very, very specific message and talk to just a very specific person. So yeah, the approach. It’s gonna work different for different guys. Like, I cannot relate to somebody like, um, who’s talking to 20-year-olds.  Mostly following on social media or in general, the guys I’m working with, they’re a little bit older than me and these are people that I can relate to. If you’re 20, I’m probably gonna be like, yeah, I don’t get like, you want like crazy abs and being super lean because you wanna get girls. Like, this is also not the embodiment itself, but what that body, why you, what that body can you think that body can give you? So, if you’re 25, you think that if I have a lean body, I’m gonna be able to attract a mate. Simply said, obviously most people are thinking in different terms, but there’s a lot here. So, you wanna also, not so much focus on the body and embodiment, but rather the message, what does this body mean for you? Or what do you think is gonna get you? So, the having a specific body, it’s not necessarily the goal. Like again, if you’re 20 years old, like having abs and being super lean or maybe like 20, let’s say 25, having abs being super lean, it sucks. In a sense that it sucks to get there. So, it’s not ultimately the goal to be there because if you can be out of shape and still be able to party and you know having girls or not, why have abs if you can’t get the same results without abs? So, it’s not necessarily I wanna be lean because I wanna be lean. It’s about, I wanna be lean because I wanna get something because I’m lean. And if you’re talking about somebody who’s 60, I mean, be a different thing, common thing that I hear would, especially guys in around 35, is I wanna lose my gut because I wanna be a role model for my kids. So that’s a big thing. It’s not that. I don’t, or maybe like somebody has diabetes or has like some kind of a health disease, they, they see their blood panel, blood markers, it’s terrible. Their health is terrible, so they wanna lose weight, not because they wanna cut down on the junk food and that they wanna cut down on just being lazy and not doing anything, or, you know, more exaggerating or something like that. It’s because, if they lose the fat, they’re gonna feel better. They’re gonna get respects from, you know, their kids, their wife, they’re gonna have more energy. So, being in shape, getting in shape, getting a specific body, a lot of times, yes, it, it does involve a lot of work. And it’s not ultimately the goal, it just, the process.

Gian: Yeah, yeah. This is that. There’s a lot going on and, uh, you know, there’s so many, so many things that I do wanna talk about, but I think, you know, we talked a little bit about the important aspects for you in your body and what helps you. But do you notice aspects of other bodies, so like maybe for example, your client’s bodies, what aspects might help or hinder them, in, you know, the pursuit of fitness. for example, with specifically online coaching?

Niki: Yeah. So, with online coaching, there are some limitations. I think the biggest benefit of online coaching is that we can tackle the diet like if you’re working with a PT in person, it’s usually can get more focused on movement provided he knows his stuff, which can, unfortunately, I’m not gonna say that this is gonna be the case for most people, but we can tackle more diet. Now, online coaching, there’s a little bit more limitations in terms of, talking about training and so on. And a lot of it has to come down to visualization on my end and on the client’s end. Cause I asked, I have to use words, I have to use text, I have to use video. It’s not the same as being able there and to correct you on the spot. I would say that’s the biggest limitation, but it’s one small limitation compared to all the different benefits because, I open my phone, there’s messages from all the guys that can respond, and they can show me a picture of their meal. They can just have a specific problem. It’s summertime, people are going holidays. Like there’s a lot of benefits to just being able to communicate this. Now, again, strictly sticking to bodies. As a coach and a little of what I’m gonna say, it’s not stuff that I came up with myself. So full credit is gonna go to probably Tom Purvis. I haven’t worked with him directly. I have consumed a lot of his courses and I have worked with some of his coaches, and I think I keep working with some of the guys that he had personally trained and coached. So again, I don’t wanna say something that’s gonna sound like, oh, he knows a lot of stuff. It’s not my own knowledge. This is something that has, that I’ve learned from somebody else. So, the critical things are who we’re talking about. So, we have an individual. Now, what we’re gonna consider, what we have to consider is basically people send me pictures. What I’m gonna consider is their structure. They’re build, like some people are like very wide, build like a tank. Some people are more like, more like slim and slender. That’s one thing, like did their structure, skeletal mass, there’s a questionnaire about maybe any health issues that they have. Pathology. Do you have like tendonitis? Do you have like some issues with your knees? Do you have any surgeries? So, we’re just trying to collect information about the individual, like who we’re talking about, just basically visually, any feedback that they have. Any preferences that they have. Like some people tell me what I’ll try, I hate these types of movements for whatever reason and can definitely go dig deeper or it could be a preference in terms of the training style.So, for example, if you like power lifting training, which is bench press, squat, deadlift, and you don’t like dumbells and cables, okay, that’s also something that we need to fine tune. Or especially if you are somebody who doesn’t have the structure to handle a bar press really well. Right. You may prefer that exercise, but because of your structure, because of your pathology, because of whatever surgeries you have, that may be not a good match there, which means it would need to have a conversation.But initially I’m just collecting information, visual, whatever the people are telling me. Then the next phase is gonna be seeing people move. So, this is gonna tell me a lot about what you’re capable and getting your feedback. What I like to do with all the new guys that are joining the program is I take them through some basic movements, not because I think that those basic movements are amazing. So, squad or deadlift, I don’t think these are the greatest movements. I don’t think everybody should be doing them. And I think that for some people they’re terrible. But because there’s such compound exercise, they give me a lot of visual feedback of not only how you look in front of a snapshot, a picture. But how you move and how you distribute the load, your foldability and so on. And based on this, I can start drawing some conclusions, making some conclusions. Say for example, I can see your squat and I can see that maybe you don’t have a lot of mobility in your ankles, or maybe the way your squat is gonna make you very hip dominant, which is gonna hit your glutes a ton, maybe your lower back. It’s not gonna do much for your quads. And if your goal, this is another piece of the equation. If your goal is, you come to me and tell me, you know what Niki, I wanna build great quads and I see your squat. And it’s all hips, basically glutes and low back and no quads. Guess what? We’re not gonna be doing some squats, but I still need to see you move. So, we have the individual, we have the pathologies, we have the moves, we have his structure, we have his goals, like what is your goal. What’s gonna work for you, and what are your preferences? So, you may be again somebody who loves to do a squat, but at the same time, You wanna build great quads, but your squat’s not gonna build your quads.So, we’re gonna probably gonna keep the squad there because that’s something that you are enjoying. But based on your goal, we may have to add some other work, maybe like some lunges or split squats, or maybe like leg extension. We have to come up with something too. Have, have you, allow you to achieve your goal. So, it’s this sort of an assessment that happens over time and it requires also a lot of communication because sometimes I’m not seeing stuff, and even with my own self, a lot of times I rely on the creating that connection. With my own body, which takes a lot of time to develop. And when we’re trying to get feedback from somebody who has poor connection with his muscles and his joints, it takes even more time because you have to sort of like educate them. You should be feeling this type of sensation, or if you’re feeling this, then maybe, okay, something else is happening. So, it’s having those conversations where I look at, let’s say somebody’s squat. I draw my own conclusions and then I ask him a question, okay, to me it looks good, but how does it feel to you? What do you feel? Do you get any issues with your joints? Can you go any bit lower? What happens if you step a little bit wider? So, there’s still some experimentation there. And this is like the ongoing customization process, which I will also wanna talk a little bit about when it comes to embodiment and body movement and so on. Working with coaches, I’m gonna stay away from that, I am just wanna focus on the movement and exercise. You cannot customize, you cannot create a personalized program for somebody that you don’t know. Like this happens over time. Same thing with when I’m working with a coach. I can tell you from experience, uh, especially on the bad side, most people, most coaches that I’ve worked with, I’ve worked with some really, really smart people. They would mess up my first program. It’s bound to happen. I’m more of a genetic freak when it comes certain type of things, especially on the bad side. Again most of the things are gonna be correct, but some things they’re gonna mess up. And I, I know this is gonna be the case. Same thing when you’re working with somebody that you don’t know that well, customization, personalization happens over time through communication. So, it’s like this is the important part. Yeah. One person, one side, the other person together, we’re a team that that’s how it’s gonna work at the end. Maybe I went on  bit of the tangent.

Gian: No, when I’m hearing, I mean. It is interesting. You know, We’re coming close to end of the podcast, what I am hearing is a lot, there is a huge link between sort of somatic or kinetic intelligence, like knowing how you move, knowing your body, you know, being able to make this muscle mind connection and then communicating that. And I think that this is a really important part and kind of what I’m also trying to look at, in regard to like how we communicate about, about bodies. So, this is, that’s all, it’s all really, really cool information. So, I think, yeah, I just kind of wanted to maybe wrap up by asking you two things. One, is there anything that you would like to say as a sort of wrap up, tell all kind of this is what I have to get out in the world message;   nd if you have any questions for me, so something that you might, you thought would be interesting to, to bring up?

Niki: Gotcha. Okay. So as the message, I would say, no matter who you are, no matter what’s your situation, understand that there’s gonna be one thing, or there’s gonna be a few things that are gonna work extremely well for you. And there’s gonna be a lot of things that are not gonna work for you. And you’ve gotta have, that’s the challenging part. You have to find what works for you. There’s a lot of confusion out there, for me as well. Where, When it comes to getting in shape, moving pain free, Wherever you’re coming from. You have to find what works for you regardless of what works for everybody else. You may be that 1% exception. There are some universal things that are gonna work for everybody. If you wanna get in shape, you have to eat less. There’s most of them, I guess there’s also exceptions, but the universal tools are gonna be, you have to move, you have to do some challenging physical activities, and you have to be eating mostly healthy foods. And of course, if you’re trying to lose weight, you have to be eating less. These are kinda like the universal things that are gonna work for pretty much everybody. But the application for you is gonna be different. And don’t get discouraged if your friend is doing something and they’re getting results and you’re doing the same thing that, and it doesn’t work for you. That’s totally fine. Happens all the time and just focus on what produce results, like results are ultimately your sort of like that, that’s your compass. If you’re wondering like, am I doing the right thing, are you getting results? If the answer is yes, keep doing what you’re doing as long as you’re producing results. And of course, if it doesn’t lead to a burnout. If whatever you’re doing, stop producing results, just stop doing it. You’re wasting your time. And what may produce results for me is probably not gonna produce results for you. This sort of goes into some of the questions that I have. Like sometimes guys, clients are asking, hey, Niki, like,  what do you eat? You don’t want to eat like me, eh, I can guarantee it’s not gonna work for you. Same thing with movement. What are the types of that you do? Don’t wanna do the same stuff. If you’re looking at somebody’s workout online, sure you can give it a try, but if it doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. So that’s sort of like the message that I’m gonna leave you off with. In terms of a question for you, that’s an interesting one. I guess, how have things been going for you after the program? That’s more of a curious, more of a personal thing.

Gian: I mean, it’s been, you know, personally, um, I’ve. We could also talk about it after the podcast, but, you know, in general, you know, I worked with you for, I think something like six four months, months or eight months, four months maybe. Yeah. Ok. And, I was living in Switzerland, and it was, it was nice. Um, but then of course things came up with my PhD and dissertation and, and submitting and all of this, and I got kind of in, I went in a different direction. Um, but I think one of the foundations that I got from, I think you were the, you were actually the first coach that I had. So, it was nice to kind of see what a plan could look like and what, you know, um, how that could help influence my body. Yeah, it was a different, it was just a different time. I was also living directly above the gym that I was going to, so that was, it was just, it was just situation. But yeah, it’s been going, it’s been going well. I would say I’m still, you know, trying to go to the gym six days a week. Four, four days weight training

Niki: Yeah. That’s good, man.

Gian: two days light cardio yeah. So, But, yeah,  that’s it.

Niki: It’s a learning process, man. And this for some of the guys watching. I would say if you’re thinking about coaching, training, working with the coach, give it a try. Maybe you’re gonna connect amazingly well with one person, maybe not like, similar to life. It’s not gonna work out the first time you do. Maybe it will, like, who knows? It’s of learning experience and find somebody you really enjoy working with. Um, me, myself have had like so many different coaches and a lot of times it was that natural transition where you had great results, you really connect with certain certain person. But you’ve sort of exhausted what you can learn from that person. Just moving on to somebody else doesn’t mean that he’s a bad person or he is a bad coach.  Like sometimes you have to move, sometimes it’s a get to try stuff on your own. So, uh, hopefully get value from the program, and yeah man, keep on, keep up the gains.

Gian: Yeah, definitely. Alright, so I’m just gonna end, we’re gonna end here and, uh, I’ll say, uh, thanks everybody for listening and yeah, thanks Niki for, for sharing your thoughts.

Niki: Peace you guys.