Cold weather changes how we eat and train, and a lot of people respond by beating themselves up for gaining a little body fat or not being as lean as they were in summer. Add Thanksgiving and Christmas events, cold and flu season, and the pull toward hot food and home cooking, and it's easy to treat the whole season as a setback.

On today's episode, Piet talks about how he approaches training and nutrition in the colder months. He explains why he thinks it's reasonable to carry a little extra body fat in winter, why he suggests staying within a couple of percentage points of your usual range, and why comparing yourself to someone else's body doesn't help. He shares his protein, fat, and carbohydrate targets, why he gives himself some room on fat and carbs this time of year, and how he plans around events by eating less earlier in the day and more later, instead of skipping them.

He also covers his weekly training framework: three to five strength sessions, two to three long, low-intensity sessions, and one to two high-intensity sessions, plus mobility and recovery. He talks about what his knee rehab has shown him about needing both strength work and cardio to stay lean, and about ways to use the season, including structural rehab, lagging body parts, and endurance challenges and races like HYROX. He closes with ways to stay healthy through cold and flu season, from sleep and hydration to nutrition and supplements.

Join the 7-Day Results Accelerator to build clarity, momentum, and sustainable joy in your routine. pharosathleticclub.com

If you are in Southern California come train with us

Echo Park

Redondo Beach

Idyllwild

Palm Springs

Follow Pharos, Piet and Emylee on Instagram for more fitness related content.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What stories do you keep telling yourself, and are they helping you become the person you want to be?

In this mini episode, Emylee talks about a week of negative self-talk and what she took from it: the words you repeat shape what you expect of yourself, how you act, and what you believe is possible. She describes how a frustrating moment turns into a judgment about who you are, so "I procrastinated" becomes "I'm lazy," and why one experience doesn't have to become your identity.

She walks through a simple exercise with a paper, an eraser, and a shredder. Write down the stories that may not be serving you, challenge the "always" and "never" language, and let go of what no longer fits. Then write a version you're willing to practice, such as "I struggle with follow-through, but I'll take one small action today."

She also covers why you don't have to feel confident, motivated, or ready before you act, and how that applies to starting at the gym before you feel like a fit person.

Join the 7-Day Results Accelerator to build clarity, momentum, and sustainable joy in your routine. pharosathleticclub.com

If you are in Southern California come train with us

Echo Park

Redondo Beach

Idyllwild

Palm Springs

Follow Pharos, Piet and Emylee on Instagram for more fitness related content.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fitness advice keeps swinging between extremes. One side says go hard or go home. The other says zone 2 and a few strength sessions are all you need. At the same time, competitions like HYROX, ATHX, and DECA are growing fast, and many people aren't sure whether they're ready to enter one or how to train for it while also working toward longevity.

On today's episode, Piet talks about why he thinks the answer sits between those extremes, and why longevity training and performance training feed each other. He traces how fitness got here, starting with the 2007 movie 300 and the mainstream start of CrossFit, and explains why he thinks many CrossFit athletes burned out and why HYROX is easier for beginners to enter. He says people want a physical challenge with a date and a result, and that you don't need to be great at something before you sign up.

He also explains how general physical preparedness (GPP) shapes the Build, Hybrid, and Train classes at Pharos, why he thinks zone 2 and basic strength work alone aren't enough for longevity, and why he says to commit to a program instead of moving between gyms. He ends with how to get started: an intro with a coach, InBody measurements, and a six-week plan.

Join the 7-Day Results Accelerator to build clarity, momentum, and sustainable joy in your routine. pharosathleticclub.com

If you are in Southern California come train with us

Echo Park

Redondo Beach

Idyllwild

Palm Springs

Follow Pharos, Piet and Emylee on Instagram for more fitness related content.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it take to build a business, raise a family, and keep pursuing goals of your own?

In this episode, I reconnect with longtime friend Rose Avera—the very first coach I hired back in 2014. Since then, Rose has co-founded Florida’s Cali Coffee with her husband, Craig, become a mama, and recently celebrated winning the open division in HYROX this year being only 11 months postpartum.

We catch up on her journey from fitness coach to business owner, motherhood, and making room for health and athletic ambition alongside a full life.

Find Cali Coffee at calicoffee.com

Join the 7-Day Results Accelerator to build clarity, momentum, and sustainable joy in your routine. pharosathleticclub.com

If you are in Southern California come train with us

Echo Park

Redondo Beach

Idyllwild

Palm Springs

Follow Pharos, Piet and Emylee on Instagram for more fitness related content.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stop Failing Your Morning Before It Starts

If you’ve ever hit snooze and immediately felt like you failed yourself, this Shorty episode is for you. A client’s goal of becoming an early bird, set herself up to start each day feeling like she failed a test. Listen in to see how we redirected her actions to set her up for success … here’s a hint… Make it actually within reach.

Join the 7-Day Results Accelerator to build clarity, momentum, and sustainable joy in your routine. pharosathleticclub.com

If you are in Southern California come train with us

Echo Park

Redondo Beach

Idyllwild

Palm Springs

Follow Pharos, Piet and Emylee on Instagram for more fitness related content.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Built to Last: Defining Your Gold Standard

Highlights from our conversation with gym owners across the country about resilience, purpose and building something that lasts.

Piet and Emylee break down the four-pillar framework — Economics, People, Brand, and Self — that's kept Pharos Athletic Club standing through ten years, four locations, and a $5M year. They don't sugarcoat how they got here: the $1.3M first buildout in Echo Park, growing to 750 members and $2M in annual revenue with zero paid ads, and the Redondo Beach acquisition that quietly cost them $15–30K a month for years before they turned it around.

This is a real look at the math and the mistakes behind running a multi-location gym — auto-pay revenue vs. top-line revenue, payroll percentage, why they hire for anti-fragility instead of just likability, and the questions that keep a brand consistent as it scales. It's less "how we built a five-million-dollar gym" and more "here's what we got wrong, and what we'd tell you before you make the same mistakes."

In this episode:

• Why chasing revenue without tracking auto-pay revenue is a trap
• What it actually costs to take over someone else's gym (the Redondo Beach story)
• Hiring and firing by core values — the questions Pharos asks in every interview
• Building an org chart and knowing when to make the sales director hire
• Emylee's personal operating system for running a CEO's schedule without burning out

💪 Join the 7-Day Results Accelerator to build clarity, momentum, and sustainable joy in your routine. pharosathleticclub.com

If you are in Southern California come train with us

Echo Park

Redondo Beach

Idyllwild

Palm Springs

Follow Pharos, Piet and Emylee on Instagram for more fitness related content.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back — this is a new kind of conversation for us. Real check-ins with real Pharos members and coaching clients, no script, just an honest look at where they actually are.

This one is with Rachel. I've been coaching her for the past nine months through a huge life transition — stepping out of a season as a stay-at-home mom and back into a demanding leadership role in aerospace. We go over her real numbers: down 6.5 pounds, body fat down 7.5 pounds, body fat percentage down 3.6%, muscle mass held steady, and her basal metabolic rate trending in the right direction.

But the numbers aren't really the story. We talk about what it actually took to get there — rebuilding a healthy relationship with food after years of tracking, guilt, and restriction, and finding her way back to eating for fuel, results, and joy. We get into fitting training into an unpredictable travel schedule, her peptide protocol, the idea of "positive shame" and living up to the identity you want for yourself, and why data should always be treated as neutral — information, not a verdict on who you are.

This is what real coaching looks like. Not a highlight reel. An honest conversation about progress, setbacks, and everything in between.

This conversation is educational and not medical advice. Decisions about medications, compounded products or peptide therapies should be made with an appropriately licensed healthcare professional.

💪 Join the 7-Day Results Accelerator to build clarity, momentum, and sustainable joy in your routine. pharosathleticclub.com

If you are in Southern California come train with us

Echo Park

Redondo Beach

Idyllwild

Palm Springs

Follow Pharos, Piet and Emylee on Instagram for more fitness related content.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Got the Zoomies? Two Bare-Minimum Ways to Get Present”

Meditation didn’t click for Emylee until she realized she wasn’t supposed to solve anything—only “sit with it,” notice and be present.

In this Mini PAC Talk, she shares two simple “gateway habits” for slowing down when life feels like nonstop go, go, go:

No perfect meditation practice required. Just a few minutes to feel more present, grounded and ready for whatever comes next.

Send this episode to a friend who’s got the zoomies.

💪 Join the 7-Day Results Accelerator to build clarity, momentum, and sustainable joy in your routine. pharosathleticclub.com

If you are in Southern California come train with us

Echo Park

Redondo Beach

Idyllwild

Palm Springs

Follow Pharos, Piet and Emylee on Instagram for more fitness related content.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.