Sustainable Fitness for Real Life: My Conversation on the "Maybe This Will Be The Cure" Podcast
Ever feel like most fitness advice isn't designed for your real, complex life?
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with my dear friend and client, Megan, on her podcast, "Maybe This Will Be The Cure." It felt like a natural continuation of our conversations, just with the microphones on. It was a long-overdue chat where we dove into topics that are not only foundational to my coaching philosophy at Cacti Fit but also deeply personal for Megan and many of you.
In case you need evidence we go way back! 😝(Unwed Megan & Scott) 📸: Me
In our conversation, we covered a lot of ground, all with the goal of helping you build a life of health and vitality that actually works for you.
Here are just a few of the topics we discussed in the episode:
Engineering an Empathetic Approach:
My journey from a mechanical engineer to a fitness coach wasn't a career change; it was a synthesis. In our chat, I explain how I apply the same rigorous, data-driven principles from my R&D background to deconstruct fitness, creating an effective, sustainable system for my clients.
“I am classically trained as a mechanical engineer, but I have pivoted to coaching, fitness and nutrition…
[I ended up] deconstructing it like an engineer does because I wanted to make sure I was… efficient with my use in the time in the gym, and that was an iterative process that keeps iterating to this day.”
Chronic Illness & Fitness:
When you're living with chronic illness, the "all-or-nothing" fitness mindset is a recipe for burnout. Megan and I had a deep and personal conversation about her journey, and I shared my core philosophy of rejecting the zero-sum game and instead regressing the work to fit your capacity on any given day.
“[As we worked together], it was really obvious that there were these real health concerns. And so at that point it’s just about regressing something to your ability… There’s kind of like a big problem I’ve observed… a zero-sum mentality. It’s like if I can’t do whatever I approximate internally to be perfect, then I need to throw the whole thing away...”
Hormones, Perimenopause, & HRT:
The silence and misinformation surrounding perimenopause is a systemic failure. Fueled by a mission that became deeply personal after a conversation with my own mother, I've made it a core part of my work to provide a clear, science-backed perspective on this critical and often confusing life transition.
“I kind of became obsessed with women’s hormones along that journey… I reviewed women’s endocrinology and, you know, how that system is… certainly like the menstrual cycle and things like perimenopause are very fascinating… My mother said, ‘Why did no one tell me about this? Why did my mother not tell me about this? Why did my sisters not tell me about this?’ So what I try to do is break through that and catch people early and get them set up to ease into this big life transition.”
Sustainable Habits:
Motivation is a fleeting, unreliable feeling. In this part of our conversation, I explain why the Cacti Fit philosophy is built on the much more durable foundations of habits and discipline, which is the only way to break free from the frustrating "boom-bust" cycle that so many people get trapped in.
“There’s kind of like this notion of the boom bust cycle, which is to use that motivation kind of fuel. You do something, you take radical intervention and then you get slammed into a wall because the motivation fuel runs out… Motivation will not sustain the effort. It’s just a transitory kind of emotional state… My mindset… is to focus on habits and discipline.”
The "Athlete" Mindset:
The single biggest barrier to progress is often a psychological one. We discussed the concept of "disidentity"—the feeling of being an imposter in your own fitness journey. I explain why the most important first step is to adopt the identity of an "Athlete," because you are what you do. You are an Athlete!
“The other one I think is pretty important, which is a type of like disidentity… if you have like a desire, a motivation, something the seed of a change that’s kind of swelling up in you and you start to go to the gym… you are an athlete. You are now the person doing this. There is no, you’re an imposter. You’re invited in the gym… Identifying as the thing that you are doing is a very helpful cognitive trick.”
I'm incredibly proud of the conversation we had and am excited to share it with all of you.
You can listen to the full episode on the following platforms:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Audible
| iHeart Radio | Pandora
Listen to the full episode and let me know in the comments: Which of these topics resonated most with you?
A Foundation of Trust: Why This Conversation Was a Long Time Coming
A special thanks to Megan Godard-Cardon for the opportunity to speak to the issues I am passionate about and for being so open, honest, and vulnerable! Women being vocal about their health, fitness, and hormonal struggles works to normalize what is indeed, normal.
This conversation was built on a foundation of trust established long before we hit record. Here’s what Megan has shared about working with Cacti Fit on her previous episodes:
From: I’m Grateful For My Body AND It’s Complicated
“I remember telling a friend at the time, I wish I could find somebody that could work with all my time constraints and all my body issues and help me get in shape. And actually, her brother had started a fitness coaching business and needed a couple guinea pigs.
So on our intake call, he asked about our time constraints... And he took all that into account and made a workout plan that worked for me... And after working with him, finally my weight started to trend down...”
“I also tried weightlifting, like, to build muscles. So at first I did it on my own. I got the Peloton app and was doing different. They had like a beginner’s weightlifting program that I was doing, but I would be dying... And then I started working with a fitness coach. His name’s Blake Hill. Anyways, he was great and he would prepare workouts for me. And the thing with that is I wouldn’t be Dying in pain, which was awesome.”
