S02-E208 Unbreakable Athletics with Jim Beebe

S02|E208

Unbreakable Athletics with Jim Beebe | Samson Strength Coach Collective

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Jim Beebe:
And then I’m playing.

catch with my son in the front yard and I trained my German Shepherd so that when my son threw a bad ball I wouldn’t even go get it I was so lazy so that I would train the Shepherd to go get it for me and I asked him hey Jack what do you want to be when when you get big and he’s like I want to be an athlete and I was like I said the same thing to my dad and I’m looking at myself I’m like not doing it like I’m gonna teach my kid how to be unhealthy I’m gonna teach my kid how to be fat like my dad was when and he got sick at 58 and died at 62 like he never

even saw any of this. And I’m walking up the stairs and I’m like, my calling is to do a number of things. The one is to manage and build these kids to be better than me mentally, physically, spiritually. And I’m not doing that.

Connor Agnew:
What’s going on Samson strength coach collective listeners on today’s episode. have Jim Beebe. He’s owner of unbreakable athletics and then has an educational company as well. Athlete builder. ⁓ you get into quite a lot of different endeavors. So I’m very excited to speak with you today,

Jim Beebe:
Connor, man, thanks for having me on the show. Looking forward to it. I’m usually on the other end, so this is great for me. I just sit back and answer questions. I’m excited.

Connor Agnew:
It’s always the best, right? When you host a different podcast and you get to be the guest and you don’t have to spend the whole time analyzing, okay, what’s my next question going to be? How am going to make sure I can keep this conversation going? It’s much easier to be the guest side.

Jim Beebe:
Sure, and I can also give answers that are curveballs that kind of throw the host off. So that just makes it fun for me then. I think you’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.

Connor Agnew:
Excellent. All right. Good. So you’re just going to make me sweat for the next 45 minutes. I love it.

Okay. Well, let’s just start off with your background. Can you tell me about your full background and then what’s brought you to your current endeavors?

Jim Beebe:
Wow. I don’t want to take you back all the way, but from Ohio, but went to Purdue for engineering and quickly went to business and finance and did that undergraduate MBA and lived the finance life for a good 15 years. JP Morgan, white collar crime, even high net worth investments. And I’m 300 pounds and I can’t walk up the stairs without breathing heavy. can’t run a mile, can’t bench or squat my body weight. Like I’m, I’m fat and

I remember when I was younger, I wanted to be an athlete and I did some athletic things, but the parents weren’t really like athletes that didn’t really learn much there. They, they loved me and all and they tried to help, but not much there. And it went to a really competitive high school. They won 50 titles in the last 25 years. No kidding. And I’m like, so after my freshman year, I’m not really doing anything. And I was learning some sports on my own and playing, but that, kind of just ended. I was good at math and ended up in finance. And then I’m playing.

catch with my son in the front yard and I trained my German Shepherd so that when my son threw a bad ball I wouldn’t even go get it I was so lazy so that I would train the Shepherd to go get it for me and I asked him hey Jack what do you want to be when when you get big and he’s like I want to be an athlete and I was like I said the same thing to my dad and I’m looking at myself I’m like not doing it like I’m gonna teach my kid how to be unhealthy I’m gonna teach my kid how to be fat like my dad was when and he got sick at 58 and died at 62 like he never

even saw any of this. And I’m walking up the stairs and I’m like, my calling is to do a number of things. The one is to manage and build these kids to be better than me mentally, physically, spiritually. And I’m not doing that. So then I went the, I’m you know, I’m going to be healthier. I, it was toe in the water. I’m going to do some P90X and I’m going go for a 5k run and start building up for that. And then I’ll do like a Spartan race. And I did some group training downtown.

Indianapolis and then came across CrossFit as I kept doing more more challenging athletic things and I’m like alright seems like a reasonable business model I know how to do high finance I don’t know how to do small businesses but I can dust this book off from MBA school on how to write a business plan which I saved and I just used that book and wrote a business plan and I’m like you know what I am going to stop working in the financial world

and I’m going to open a CrossFit gym. And then ⁓ either all in or not at all, because you’re not going really do really well if you’ve got two different businesses. And I have two different businesses right now, so that’s kind of funny. And so at my late 30s, 37, I started putting everything together and I started, I went through some certifications and I started coaching people in my garage and then kept learning year after year.

Connor Agnew:
Yeah ⁓

Jim Beebe:
38 I’m like, know what? I’m gonna sign a lease and I’m gonna open a facility and I rented out of space 10,000 square feet, which is huge You don’t need that much space, but it was cheap and it’s in Plainfield on the west side of Indianapolis and it was super cheap Relatively. I’m like, alright, this is it and At age 38 I started that and added sports performance age 39 brought in some coaches for that and then kept adding educational certifications been running the gym

We just passed 12 years in March. So power lifting, strong man, nutrition, CrossFit, functional fitness, whatever, and then sports performance for kids. And that’s what the gym has evolved to. And so it was a total epiphany and a change of direction for me. And I completely all in on it. And here we are today.

Connor Agnew:
Wow. And so it was your kids truly who really wanted to make you want to make the change.

Jim Beebe:
Yeah, because you know, I always wanted to do it when I was younger. wanted to play sports. I always wanted to play sports, but I didn’t really play baseball until I was 12 by that point. It’s kind of over. And since I got cut, I went to an all-boy Jesuit high school. I wasn’t kidding when I said they won 50 titles in the last 25 years. They really have. I want to say six soccer ones in a row and a dozen football, a dozen rugby, whatever. Anyways, so I’m like, there’s nothing for me to play. I’m 15 years old. I’m like, that’s over.

Connor Agnew:
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Jim Beebe:
So I went to the local gym or racquetball club and I was, all right, I’ll start playing racquetball at this place. And I started to play like around the state in some tournaments and I was, it’s a club sport at Purdue. So I was on their club team for a while I was there. And then that was about it and kept going to the fraternity parties and drinking. And I kept saying, know, I’m really good at finance and investments and I’m really out of shape and unhealthy. And then you started living that finance life where you’re taking clients out.

taking prospects out and it’s a you know these expensive dinners and and drinks before and afterwards you know calorie content is 1500 2000 calories at a pop and it’s like hey this isn’t it this is not it and that world was going fine like we’re making money I’m making clients money but I’m just I’m just riding on the inside and I’m like I can’t do it can’t do it anymore and so this has been the deal ever since I made that decision

Connor Agnew:
I mean, I think this is incredible too, because like you said, like people always have these kind of hopes that they always wanted to do something, right? Like when I remember when I ran a marathon, everybody’s like, I’ve always wanted to do that. And I’m like, you can, you know, like it’s not, it’s not this big deal. You can go out there and do it. Do you feel like making that switch ultimately got you what you wanted out of it, which is setting a good example for your kids from a health and athletic standpoint?

Jim Beebe:
Right.

Yeah, the want to is nice. The need to is closer, but it’s not until someone says I must do this that it happens. There’s no chance with it. I just want to. I want to do a lot of things. I want to do a lot of things. It doesn’t really matter until you say, must do this. And so, number one was to honor and glorify God. So I want to do that. want to use my talents to the best of my abilities and do that. And then number two was

teach my family and friends, this is how you build yourself mentally and physically. That was absolutely number two. And then number three was can you make a living doing that? And so I have, ⁓ I would like to make more of an impact. I would like to make more of a living if you will. And if I make more money, then I can make more donations and do more things and go hiking more places. But overall it’s impact. It’s like those kids that wanna play and they can’t.

There’s still a chance you can do those things. There’s a do-it-yourself model, which is very, very hard, but there’s a blueprint to do things, and we came up with that. And so it’s those folks that want to do things. But here’s the real thing, whether you’re an adult or a kid.

The real PR that I look for with all of them is that mental PR where they’re no longer afraid. They’re no longer afraid to walk into the gym. They’re no longer afraid to put this big heavy back squat on your back. They’re no longer afraid of that conversation with their spouse or their coworker. And it’s those fears that just ruin the world and they won’t do things or won’t try things or won’t even, they won’t even be honest. They’ll just say, I’ll be there and then I’ll ghost you because they’re afraid of letting you down, right?

So when you get rid of that fear and you see what these people can really do with their lives, then it’s like, alright I win I win right that’s the real Juice for me if I had to come right down to it from a psychological Basis that’s really it if I can get people to do that then I’m just thrilled

Connor Agnew:
And how do you see that happen? Is it like a slow creep or, you know, are there moments where your clients can say, you know, I’m finally not afraid?

Jim Beebe:
LUL

You can tell when people walk into the gym. They’re afraid, man, what we got today? Are you trying to kill me? You’re trying to kill me? Versus walking in, all right, what we got today? All right, good. I’m hoping for those. I’m ready to, like, they’re looking, they’re already thinking in their head, how do I attack? Versus can I? And whether you want to believe in some get rich quick scheme or get fit quick scheme, none of that is.

real. It’s all the James Clear Atomic Habits approach of building small wins. The next thing you have is a breakthrough. People don’t get outside their comfort zone and go from, I’m gonna just do a mile then I’m gonna do 26 miles. I might do two miles. Unless something cathartic happens. You’re drunk and you hit someone and kill somebody. All right, I’m no longer drinking. You have to that bottom out moment.

for you to make a really significant change. When your kid says, wanna be an athlete and you can’t walk up the stairs, know, like I’m a loser father leading my kids this way. And you have this bottom out moment. If you don’t have that, then everything else is incremental change. So how do I get someone a little bit mentally tougher? Do something that’s a little scary and then get comfortable with that. That’s something a little scarier than that. I don’t get uncomfortable with that. You draw parallels and you say, hey, we’re gonna do something a little bit scary today.

And you get uncomfortable with that and they do it. Confidence only comes from the reps. So you squatted 135, all right, I’m confident with that. Can you squat 145? Sure. Am I gonna put 495 in the back? No. Same thing when you’re coaching. The coach only has confidence when he sees you in your reps. Man, this guy is an 80 % free throw shooter because you’re in the basketball world. Oh, this guy’s an 80 % free throw shooter, you’re definitely gonna be in the game at the end when there’s fouling going on.

So how do people handle and build fears? You have to do uncomfortable things incrementally and it’s best to do them in different areas of your life, not just physical things, conversation things, jumping off a cliff things. There’s a process to everything, nothing is really that new. There’s no real secrets, there’s just some process to everything and you have to incrementally do it.

Connor Agnew:
Hmm. And how does that process look for your general clients? So people in their forties getting into fitness or people with your story who are trying to, you know, change their lives essentially versus athletes who are younger and kind of have a more common and direct goal of maybe playing division one sports or being a professional athlete.

Jim Beebe:
Sure, so that’s the bread and butter of most gyms, the mom bods and dad bods, right, the soccer moms and dads. They’re busy all the time, they run their kids around, they don’t have much time, so they come in and they’re overweight. And it’s a similar deal, even before they start doing group training with us, they’re gonna do one-on-ones with the coach, just so they understand the basics of the movement, just the terminology, so when we say things, they don’t feel stupid, right? And when they come in, we…

point out that hey you’re gonna be squatting with the class and you’re have great athletes and terrible ones young and old thin and fat but we’re all squatting together as a team you tell them over and over again that no one’s really judging you right they don’t believe you they have to see it themselves they had to experience it they’ll believe you some they develop some trust right not much but they have to actually go through it so okay anything else

You gotta be great with the bar before you’re great with a ton of weight. You gotta be great with your body weight before you’re great with a ton of weight. The last thing we want is injury. Injuries do happen, even if you’re doing things perfectly, they do happen, but if we do have them moving correctly and we’re relentless on being disciplined at it, we got a good shot. then so once they get comfortable with that, we put them in the back of the class so they can watch the better ones in front of them. I’m gonna put them up on Front Street where they could be exposed.

There aren’t mirrors in the gym or people looking around and we make sure we’re having a good time, right? So make a joke. That’s the hard part about coaching. You gotta be getting them better, cueing them, being real endless. And then you gotta be funny and entertaining. So keep the minds off the pain that’s about to come, right? So I have a bunch of bad jokes and no one laughs at, but I keep saying them. And so it’s just incrementally getting people more more comfortable with you. And you gotta, when you tell them to do things, you gotta be right. If they’re squatting 135 and we’re maxing out and.

Their numbers probably 205 and you say hey man, we’re going to 155 next and their eyes get kind of big and I say hey man, I’m not gonna put any weight on you that I know you don’t have as long as you do all our progressions and even if you don’t have it, we’ll be spotting you here along the way. All right, so you gotta keep building that up and then you gotta be right, you gotta be right a ton of times. You might be wrong every once in while but make sure you put them in a position to win and make sure they do that and then you remind them hey, we did this before and we won last time.

Same processor, let’s go.

Connor Agnew:
Yeah, it’s funny because I remember one of the first lessons I had to learn as an intern was putting people in a position to win, right? Because we had a young tight end and that was who I was working with at the time was the tight end group and ⁓ he was overhead pressing 135 for five reps, no problem, right? And I just didn’t understand that we could not make the same jumps for an upper body lift, especially shoulder press that we could for a squat, right? So he said, how about we go 185 next? Because that moved really good.

Jim Beebe:
Mm.

Connor Agnew:
And I was like, yeah, 185 is going to be so easy. And then immediately slapped on 185 and couldn’t even get it above his nose. Right. And he was demoralized for the rest of the day. And so that was one of my first lessons in, okay, I cannot basically give these people as the expert, even though I’m an intern, I have no clue what I’m saying. Right. At that time, I’m seen as the expert by the tight end. I cannot give them advice that will not help them be successful. There’s certainly times to push people, but there’s also times where you’re just completely wrong and you’re really not helping them get wins.

Jim Beebe:
Right.

And that point you just say, I was wrong. I was wrong. And so many people won’t. And that further reduces the level of trust. Because they’re like, well, that guy was wrong last time. And then he dug in his heels or he covered it up or he made an excuse. And little kids see right through that, let alone adults. So now you put the wrong weight on me and you didn’t own it. So now I really don’t think much of you. Right? So you can make a mistake. That’s okay. That’s life. Right?

but you gotta own it next. Say, man, I messed up here. You know what I did? I’ll be honest, I equated that to lower body where you can make bigger jumps in the percentages like that. And a shoulder press, much smaller muscle group, just not the same thing. And that’s where I got, that’s a little silly. That’s on me. That’s my bad. We’ll know better next time. And so we’ll make sure so that what puts you in a position for success, don’t get in your head about that like you did something wrong. That’s all on me. So now you take the pressure off the athletes, now on you as a coach where it should be.

And then he believes you a little bit more because you owned your mistake Once you start hiding behind that and come up with excuses now you’re just even now you’re even worse Right

Connor Agnew:
Do think people get scared to own it as a confidence or lack of experience? Where do think that comes from?

Jim Beebe:
That comes from you were worried about being abandoned by your parents when you’re a tiny little baby. Right? If I make a mistake, you’re not gonna like me. You’re gonna think less of me, we won’t be friends. You’ll go away. If I make a mistake, you’re gonna dump me. If I make a mistake, you won’t trust me as your coach. Right? You will abandon me. So, everyone’s afraid that I gotta be perfect or look perfect. Whether you’re on social media looking perfect, right? Or they’re not gonna think I’m perfect and they’re not gonna like me as much. And if I don’t like me and I end up…

And if I could end up alone, my God, my life is over because I’m alone for a moment. And most people are like that. And it’s really, really sad. And I’m not saying I’m impervious to it. I felt that before. And I’ve learned enough lessons where that’s absolutely ridiculous and silly. Right? So when you worry about being alone, you’re not going to be alone. And if you are, who cares? Because you still have that guy on your side. So people are worried about owning it. And all it does, and the reality is that it just builds more trust when you do.

And when people don’t and they’re fake, then there’s a better chance people aren’t going to believe in you. Then you won’t talk about being alone when no one respects you and they don’t like you. Goodbye. Start over. Start over.

Connor Agnew:
Hmm.

Hmm.

Yeah, it’s so funny. I’m going through that process right now with the wedding. We were talking about this right before the show, right? I get married in 19 days now. And thank you. Thank you. Very excited. I got some great advice pre-show as well too, which I appreciate greatly. But, you know, there’s two of my really good friends who I know it’s a haul for them to get there. And I understand that. And I’ve told them a million times, if you can’t make it, I’m not going to be upset whatsoever.

Jim Beebe:
Congratulations.

Connor Agnew:
But now as it’s crunch time and I told them, I need to know by this Thursday because our vendors need to know whatever they are not answering my texts, you know, and they’re not saying anything back. And it’s making me way more upset because they’re not answering me versus if they just said, Hey man, we would love to be there. Unfortunately, can’t make it. And so it’s a hundred percent understandable where you’re coming from. Like if you make a mistake,

that trust, think it’s almost like an opportunity. Now I would never say to directly make mistakes just to say, I own that. Now we have more trust, right? But when those opportunities come naturally, I think it enhances the trust even more.

Jim Beebe:
It does and so those folks you have to like almost give them another round say I’m gonna assume you’re not gonna be here cuz I ever heard from you guys I’m not saying you’re afraid to let me know I’m sure you guys are busy so they can save face, right? The truth is they don’t want to let you down so they’re being posies about it, right? So yeah, you want to make sure they can save face, but hey, I’m gonna assume you guys can’t be there because we need to move forward It’s totally okay. Like I said before I love you guys to death Not gonna hurt hurt my feelings. Just gonna make things happen. So ⁓

Connor Agnew:
Yeah.

Jim Beebe:
I’ll talk to you guys down the road soon as soon as you guys are free and I’m free. Know our feelings, love you guys together and we’ll see you next time.

Connor Agnew:
That’s perfect. I’m stealing that right after this show. I’ll be texting them that same one. There we go.

Jim Beebe:
You want to call people when you can. FaceTime is even better. Then call, then voicemail, then text. Text is like the lowest form of communication. Avoid that at all costs.

Connor Agnew:
Yeah, that’s true. That’s actually a very fair point. When I have players away for the summer, I always FaceTime them. That’s the first one because they almost always feel like they have to pick up. And then it cracks me up because they’ll text me saying, I was at workouts at 8 a.m. this morning and I’ll FaceTime at 11 and they’re still in bed. So it’s a good little exposure piece too. Well, when you first started out, you mentioned, okay, I started with P90X and then…

eventually got into CrossFit and got exposed to all these different types of lifting. What drew you to each type? And then what have you learned from having such extensive background in all of these different training methods?

Jim Beebe:
Well, I remember I’m doing more more CrossFit things. So I’m lifting and then there’s the gymnastics piece and those that don’t know it’s basically whatever someone says that any kind of training is CrossFit. They can make anything up and then that’s kind of the points that’s very, very random. However, something that’s trends quite a bit with CrossFit was weightlifting. So snatch and clean and jerk. And I’m like, I’m not very good at this. I’m going go to a specialist on snatch and clean and jerk for a year.

for some 90 minute sessions, couple times a week, says, if I want to coach it, I need to learn all these things. Because you always want to keep learning so you can do better. And I walk in and I’m talking to him, I said, hey, why is weightlifting the best way to train? And he had his philosophies. I’m like, okay. And then I went to a powerlifting store, I hey, why is powerlifting the best way to train? And whatever people are doing, it’s pretty interwoven with their identity. And they’re gonna say, hey, this is best, right? And I’m like, now, there’s gotta be different ways.

Why don’t I learn a bunch of different ways and then I can mix and match and incorporate it? And since the majority of my gym was CrossFit training, it incorporates power lifting, weight lifting, gymnastics, running, jumping, plyometrics. And if I’m pretty good at all those things, then I’m going to be a better coach. So I better start learning a whole bunch of things that’s so broad. Like power lifting is a lot more narrow, a lot simpler in that respect.

And then whether I was looking at like West Side Barbell’s approach to building strength or CrossFit’s approach or the basic standards in a text, they’ll mostly say that there’s this pyramid to building someone. They’ll say, you got to be in shape. There’s your GPP, your general physical preparedness. And then it’s like gymnastics movements, meaning can you move your body weight well? Then it goes strength, next up the pyramid and then power and speed typically, and then actually playing your sport. So if you’re in shape, the next Bane builder really is strength.

Right, so that’s really it. So between being in shape and strength, that’s like 65 70 percent of the pyramid Well, if I can get really great there that I move the needle almost all the way on those two pieces alone So I focus on those a lot because they had a much higher return on investment Finance term, right and then from there you ever notice those guys that walk in that are really super strong How easy it is to get them to be fast because they have so much force they can exert into the ground or against a

Object I’m like well shoot once you’re super strong like if you’re a 500 squadron deadlifter. It’s gonna be pretty easy to jump or Power clean a hundred pounds right when you see Brian Shaw Reverse curl 335 well sure he’s a 1100 pound deadlifter It’s only a third so if you take a third of your overall deadlift can use any power clean that yeah So I’m like great so if I can get people in shape and then really strong then the power the speeds and come pretty easily

Also, most people are afraid of doing the strong things, the one rep maxes, the three rep maxes. And if one of my main goals is to get people more resilient and have them handle fears, well, it’s a pretty easy way to address that with a one rep max back squat and things like that. So I wanted that diversity in my learning so I can make an impact with the athletes with a high ROI. Then what I’ve come to believe is it really does work. you’re being strong,

hides a lot of sins in the rest of your training. And from there, it’s easy for me to build things. So let’s do that. And that’s how I developed that approach.

Connor Agnew:
And so you started off with general clients, right? General population. Yeah. And then you transitioned and actually got some more coaches in for athletes. How did you kind of decide, okay, let’s make this, let’s open it up to athletic training aspect of it too.

Jim Beebe:
yeah, for sure.

Mm-hmm.

The coach, one of my members, her daughter was training at this other gym and the gym was having problems and the coach was being let go and I was like, I don’t know anything about training kids and making them fast and things like that. I know how to make people well-rounded and he was looking for a place. So he came to me and I brought him on and he’s way smarter than I was in that area. I’m like, great, you can be really smart at this and I can learn along the way and it expands our service outstanding.

If you’re running a gym, it’s a pretty hard gig, right? It’s very competitive and it’s not considered a necessity for a lot of folks, whether you’re being healthy or training kids, right? So it’s really challenging. So most people that run gyms have other jobs and he did too. And then his other job just went way better. And then he ended up leaving the industry. But I learned enough things along the way, added some more knowledge and went to Zach Avines’s certifications and things like that.

So I’m like, you know what? I like training kids as well. Now, that comes back to my identity piece of wanting to play high school sports or then play in college. So that when that kid wins and I win, right? So only 7 % play in college, but like 25 % of my kids do, right? That come to the gym because one, they want to and two, we work at it. now my own, I remember most people are selfish, I’m included. So now I derive joy.

from getting that kid better. I can draw just the same amount of getting that mom or dad to lose 30 pounds to help change their eating habits. now they’re setting an example for their kids. The joy is there just as much. The non-joy is actually running the gym with all those business components. The actual coaching part’s the fun part. The business part is mostly crap.

Connor Agnew:
I’m sure. mean, that is one of the things as a strength coach that I do really appreciate. There’s always, with every job, there’s, you know, kind of a, there’s a detriment, there’s like pros and cons, you know, but not having to actually worry about the business side of things as a collegiate strength and conditioning coach is pretty fun sometimes.

Jim Beebe:
I imagine you have clients every year, don’t you?

Connor Agnew:
Yeah, and they’re guaranteed. We actually have a very specific number of clients and they can never go over that number and we always have that exact number too. So I always know exactly what I’m dealing with.

Jim Beebe:
That’s right.

Pretty nice. So

that brings in enough revenue to keep you ⁓ well fed. That’s great.

Connor Agnew:
Exactly.

Well, you know, one of the things that you speak about and you can obviously tell just from speaking with you is that you love to learn and you continue to read and basically try to learn from other people as well. Where does that hunger come from? Because I think a lot of people will say that they love to learn. A lot of people will say that, you know, almost like you said when I or we mentioned the marathon example, like I’ve always wanted to run a marathon or.

Jim Beebe:
Mm.

Connor Agnew:
they’ll post the Instagram story of one book and they’ll be like, look, I’m reading and I’m getting better. But it takes, it’s an everyday kind of habit to actually do those things and actually get something out of that learning process. Where does that drive come from you?

Jim Beebe:
Wasn’t from when I was a kid. I only liked math then. ⁓ When you understand that you should want to build anything, it’s just incremental. And if that you really believe that, whether you want to some nutrition habits or your back squat or get smarter at math and algebra and geometry, trig and algebra two calculus, things like that. And it’s incremental once you know that to be true and you want to get better.

If I don’t continue learning, then there’s a breakdown. Right. So we have six core values. One of them is Kaizen, which means looking for constant improvement, 1 % better and everything. And if that’s my one of my core values and you understand it’s incremental, like that’s a rule. If I have these rules, right, that are dictated by nature, like gravity. And if you want to adhere to your own core value and that’s a rule, we understand that that’s the way it has to be. Then you must keep going.

You must keep learning, otherwise you’re breaking your own rules. So if you’re saying, hey, I’m going to be successful, I’m going to do these things well, and you’re breaking these laws of nature, you’re not going to do those things well. You’re going to get beat. There’s no way around it. And if the only chances to win are to follow these rules, then you got to keep going. So you listen to podcasts, you go to summits, you talk to other folks. know, running your own podcast, like I run my own podcast, that’s one to two hours of continuing education, like every week. Talk about…

Connor Agnew:
yeah.

Jim Beebe:
So even if you’re not reading a thing, they’re banned or you’re gonna pick up something in every hour. At least I try to write and I’m sure you do too. So then you are now that much better all the time. So if you’re constantly pumping that in, you’re gonna win. You’re gonna win. You’re gonna win.

Connor Agnew:
Yeah, I love the podcast because it does have to get published every Friday. So there’s no out, there’s no excuses I can make. I have to do at least this one hour of continuing education. But I truly appreciate what you’re saying about the incremental aspect because one area that I can fill in is once we’re done with season, we’ll basically wrap up in May, right around this timeframe. And then until July, my guys are all off campus and I’ve got endless time.

Jim Beebe:
Mm-hmm.

Connor Agnew:
And so it’s like, okay, this is the summer of improvement. So I made this book list that’s 15 books long and most of them are textbooks. And, know, I’m going to read every single one. And then every year I’ve done that, I end up reading one or two. And then I ultimately kind of get burnt out on the list because it looks so insurmountable to me instead of incremental. So I appreciate that you say that because it is much easier to start with one step or start with one mile than starting with 26.

Jim Beebe:
Mm-hmm.

So you guys set a process goal as opposed to the tangible. I’m gonna run three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Friday’s gonna be my long run. I’m gonna run for 30 minutes, blah, blah, blah. That’s a process goal, right? I’m gonna read at this time these days, right? Whether it’s 15 books or one book, right? The last thing I want people to do is read my books. say, man, that was pretty sweet. And then they put it down and never use it. You know, if you go through Atomic Habits, like I tell people, read one chapter a day.

Connor Agnew:
Hmm.

Jim Beebe:
apply it. if people just keep reading and reading, if you’re procrastinating from actually doing something, that’s bad, right? You can use that as an excuse where you’re like not entertaining yourself, but you’re not doing the hard things. So if you learn something from one book and that’s all you need to make a whole bunch of improvements to move forward, then don’t read the other 14. Make those improvements. Like that’s the point, right?

If you just got smarter and didn’t do anything, then I would think you’re actually stupider. Because, man, I got you smarter and then you’re still not doing it. At least now you’re aware. Before you were unaware and weren’t doing the things. Now you are aware and still not doing the things. Now, so that the point is to do. So start with A-Book.

Connor Agnew:
Yeah, I think deep work was the one for me that was ultimately made me really make a lot of changes ⁓ and actually scheduling my deep work.

Jim Beebe:
I’ve heard that title and I have not bought that and read that book yet. I need to that.

Connor Agnew:
There’s no way I found from the man who owns an actual library, I found a book you hadn’t read yet. This is incredible.

Jim Beebe:
shoot. my goodness.

Yeah, it’s a very tiny library on comparative basis. yes. Yeah, the point is to do the work.

Connor Agnew:
Yeah

Yes, absolutely. And again, it can only be more beneficial for you. And that’s kind of what I tell a lot of people who first start out reading all these textbooks, especially interns and GAs, they almost come to me and they’re like, you know, well, I needed to read Triphasic. So as soon as I got Triphasic done, I needed to go to 531. And then after that, I to go to starting strength and do all these things. And it’s just like, did you actually spend time? Like, did you run through a Triphasic, you know, actual cycle yourself? Did you do it with any of your athletes? Because you don’t know Triphasic just because you read the

you actually have to go out and do the actual program and see if it actually helps you or not.

Jim Beebe:
That’s true. That’s true. And then the idea of like, I’ve had like Tom Berry from West Side, then Shane Sweatt is one of his disciples whose wife was Laura Sweatt, you know, and he goes, the point is to learn these things and then add your own take on it. The point is to evolve it. And we grow taller by standing on the shoulders of giants, they say, right? So yeah, know, Cal Deets knows a ton of stuff, but that book is a bit dated.

from what he knows. He knows more than now than what he knew when he wrote that. And if you read that and you apply those things, well, there’s gonna be some, at some point when you have enough experience and knowledge, you’re gonna be driving along in the car and you’d be thinking about Triphasic and you’re like, you know what? I think with these isometrics, I should try this different little thing. And then you do it and you keep notes, that way you have your own little knowledge library growing. And you’re like, hey, this was different and this is the outcome. That’s your point. Yeah, that’s how you evolve things.

There’s a process for that.

Connor Agnew:
And it’s more fun too when you get to have your own set ways. It’s a lot more fun. Yeah. Well, we spent so much time talking about books. Let’s talk about your book. Can you break it down for me? What are the contents and how could it be beneficial for those listening?

Jim Beebe:
It is.

Yes, agreed.

Sure, here’s a picture, right? There’s the head and there’s the body for the athlete. The head has three things, the body has three things. So if I’m looking at you, Connor, and you are basketball guy, there’s your mindset, how you deal with things, your identity, your core values. Can I improve you there? Yeah. Now let’s say you’re a driven person. You have your discipline, you’re doing all the right things. There’s still the knowledge of how to play basketball. Difference between zone and man-to-man defenses, right?

Connor Agnew:
Excellent.

Jim Beebe:
dribbling with your left or right hand, the other opponent. So there’s the knowledge, still a component of being a better athlete. You’re driven, you’re knowledge, you know a lot of things, but what comes out of your mouth dealing with teammates, that’s thing that could be a strength or a weakness. So those really, that’s how it comes down to improve your head as an athlete. Can I improve you in all three of those areas? For sure. Are all three critical? Absolutely. Now at the lower level, not so much. You can get by with probably one.

But at the highest level, the highest level of you, there’s gonna be some limiting factor in all three of those phases. And we’re constantly trying to bring that up. Physically, it’s pretty straightforward. What goes in your body is how you eat, then there’s how do you train, then there’s how do you recover. Same deal. So what I do is I take an old, very simple, basic business school tool, a SWOT analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunity, and threats. And I walk your mindset through that. What are the strengths of your mindset?

We’ll go through that, identify those things. What’s your weaknesses? The best strength that you have in your mindset, that’s your competitive advantage. That’s a business tool, a business model thing, right? So Walmart’s competitive advantage is that they have everything and it’s cheap. In your mindset, you have your weaknesses too. Whatever your biggest weakness is, that’s your limiting factor, that’s what’s holding you back, that’s how you get beat. Gotta bring that up so you quit getting beat.

You keep pushing your competitive advantage, so that’s how you win. What kind of opportunities do you have? Those are things you’re working on. The big threat with your mindset, that’s the one thing that you’re not necessarily going to get beat. If you don’t fix this one thing on your mindset, you probably get hurt, get injured, you get fired. If my mindset is that I just know everything, I’m going walk around like that, and I can’t learn anything, and I’m working in the financial world, and I can’t work with clients because I’m so abrasive, I’m going to lose my job.

I’m not just losing money. I’m losing my job. That’s a real threat We identify we go through that’s a little analysis for your mindset and then it comes down to what do you do? What’s our trial and error? What are we working on and you say, know, I’m really afraid of doing hard things, you know And when it comes down to hard things, I’m not gonna I’m gonna shy away I’m gonna be alright I to start with 30 seconds and work up to two and a half minutes of cold showers So you’re used to doing hard things every day. I’m gonna teach you how to do it Show you the progression when I breathe through it

And then so every day you can do something that’s a little harder and you can get used to it and after a while you’re not gonna care. We’re gonna find some other hard things to do so you’re constantly seeking hard things and we’re gonna improve your mindset that way. So we’re gonna write down your habits, we’re gonna track your habits. I came up with, I use a planner and a journal for my business so I’m like, this has to be the exact same approach, tracking habits and improving habits because we improve what we measure.

I’m going track things and see how it is. At the end of the week or end of the 30 days or 90 days, am I more comfortable doing some hard things? Cool. Let’s set up for it. Let’s sign up for an event. Let’s do something else. Right. So there’s always that next evolution of assessing your mindset and you’re working on it. You track it in your planner and you keep evolving. Do the same thing with the knowledge of your sport. Same thing with being a better teammate. And then you’re training your nutrition and your recovery. So the book is for the do it yourself.

Planner is how you hold yourself accountable and how you do it. But still it’s it’s easier when you got like a Connor coaching you Right. Hey athletes. Here’s the things we’re gonna work on. I have my philosophy. Here’s the things I want you to do Here’s how I want you to track these things You’re gonna bring your planners with you every Tuesday’s to every Tuesday practice or spend 20 minutes We’re gonna go over our things see what’s working. What’s not working and constantly evolve. We’re looking for weaknesses We’re looking for failures. We’re hunting those things. We want to be in that

Environment where that’s cool. You shouldn’t be ashamed of making mistakes We want the mistakes so we can correct them faster. We want fast mistakes so we can correct them Here’s how we identify them here’s I’m gonna work with all my basketball players to do that so we can evolve you guys Faster than everybody else and that’s going to show up on the court and we’re gonna win

Connor Agnew:
Yeah, I appreciate what you’re saying too about having somebody there to actually hold you accountable. I actually hired a personal trainer myself as a strength coach and everybody loses their minds. like, there’s like, what are you talking about? There’s no, like, you know, everything about it. And I’m like, first of all, no, I do not. Not even close. And then second of all, like I’m lazy ⁓ at my heart and who I am as a person is I’m lazy. And, know, it was so nice to actually go through his analysis because there was a full testing protocol and they were things that, you know, if I,

maybe looked at it separately or if I looked at it, know, as somebody said, hey, look at this analysis, tell me what you think. I would say, I wouldn’t do this, this or this, because I don’t think that’s very important, right? But then all the things that I would have picked out that I didn’t think were very important were all things that I was very bad at in the testing analysis. And so obviously I was good at the stuff that I thought was important because that’s what I’ve done on my own time. So it’s been a very good process for me because

having to get analyzed and then having to actually show up and do those things every day has, I feel like really kind of revolutionized my own training.

Jim Beebe:
It’s true. If you follow Westside, they want those people in the gym making them so great so everyone else is getting better that way. So if you can get your teammates around you way better than you, you’re going to improve. That accountability piece, for me, I’m going to back squat, push sleds, swing kettlebells, and pick up atlas stones. And then maybe hold a minute plank. I’m going do those things. I like pressing too. So overhead press, log press, maybe bench.

Am gonna do any back work? Nah, well I’m like some of it, but I’m just doing things I like. Mobility work? Gone. Right? Flexibility? Gone. Extra deep tissue work? Not until I’m injured. Not until I’m in pain do I go and get any of that work done. No, that you need an ally. We talk about that in the book. You don’t need the friends. The friends are the ones that, hey man, let’s not go work out, let’s go grab a beer. Right? That’s the friend. I got plenty of friends.

You find some ally or someone maybe a coach that’s a mess mentoring you or actually coaching you and then an ally that goes Elbow to elbow, you know deep into that pit with you That’s that tons of value there. Hold on to that person forever. That person needs to be at the wedding, right? That person there’s a ton of value there

Connor Agnew:
Yeah, no, trust me, he’s actually one of my groomsmen. So he’s certainly there, but he’s changed my life.

Jim Beebe:
Right.

Right, right. Yeah, you gotta have that and then that build that trust and that’s a it’s a teammate component you and you and him right now He’s leading you coaching you you’re the athlete right? So everyone’s either in that leadership role or that teammate role that support role

Connor Agnew:
And so what you mentioned, all these important things, which is the mental aspects of training. And then you also mentioned helping people with their fear and overcoming fears, but that doesn’t just translate just to lifting. It translates to everything outside of the weight room, whether they’re a financial planner, or whether they’re a coach or an athlete themselves. When did it kind of dawn on you when you started coaching that it should be a holistic approach to training versus just the weights?

Jim Beebe:
That’s a question. So.

One, you start realizing that you can’t outwork a bad diet. And then the strongman world, which is where I used to live, like I would live for a couple hours a day. But if I didn’t get 4,500 to 5,000 calories, right? Or if you don’t have the knowledge that your hormones are out of whack, your testosterone is out of whack, or your sleep and your stress is out of whack, you’re like, man, I’m working really hard here. I’m pushing these sets almost to failure every time. Why am I not making any gains? You’re like, shoot.

There’s other things, right? And then you start realizing that all these things matter, more so at the higher level. In addition, I’m not trying to be the number one nutrition person. I’m not trying to be the number one speed person or the lifting person. There’s so many of those. There’s no one that does all six things. No one does, I’m gonna work with you on your mindset and your training and your nutrition and your recovery and get you a better teammate.

and then ask you the questions that makes you go and learn more things about your sport. So if no one else has that, then my approach is unique and that gives me a competitive advantage structurally as a coach or as a business. Other people say, well, I’m going to this guy for cold therapy and hot therapy. I’m going to this guy for my nutrition and I need to learn how to do some better juicing to have some better ⁓ vitamins and ⁓ macros. ⁓

And I’m like, so you have all these specialists and that’s true. You know, it takes a village, but no one’s like the general manager, right? The ship and all on all those areas. So that’s where I would come in and I would work with a basketball coach like you and say, Hey man, have you asked your athletes these things? And you’re like, because some, some, some coaches are, and if you’re at Ohio state with thousands of people and resources, they’re doing a lot of these things, but the D three level or the high school level or NAIA or even D two, some, a lot of them are not. And I’m like, well,

Here you go. I can make an impact. I can help this team win. I was then on this team. I wasn’t on a team when I was younger. So if I help Connor and Appalachian State wins, my whole downstairs is painted yellow or gold because I’m on that team. So yeah, that where I’m unique is that I take that holistic approach because no one else does and I can win that.

Connor Agnew:
Hmm. That’s so interesting too, because by not niching down, right, by not picking one specific thing, you actually were able to find your own niche.

Jim Beebe:
Yes, yes. So yeah, that is it. Yeah, because there’s plenty of people can get. There’s a hundred different Parisi Speed Schools. There’s plenty of people that can get you fast. There’s, you know, when there’s 5-3-1 or periodization or conjugated to get strong, okay. It’s AP, so that’s what those guys can do. But no one asks you those other questions.

Connor Agnew:
Hmm. And so I always like to hear the success stories. Like what’s one of your biggest wins that you’ve had since starting the business? I know there’s a lot, so it’s tough to ask for one specific one, but are there any that stick out to you?

Jim Beebe:
There’s a lot of them like with the moms that are doing eight pull-ups, There’s soccer moms that are doing that, that’s pretty neat. And there’s people that lose 50, 70, a hundred pounds. That’s super neat, right? The kid that said, hey, dad, I want to be an athlete one day. He plays D1 football. So that’s pretty cool. He came out in COVID when you couldn’t visit schools. He ended up being a walk-on. They cut all the scholarships. Everybody else got a sixth year. He didn’t get that. And then he earned a scholarship. So.

Connor Agnew:
Wow, that’s awesome.

Jim Beebe:
He learned enough things that he can be resilient and fight through it because people aren’t, walk guns aren’t making it anymore. They just enter the portal and move down, right? He stayed in and still won. So there’s that. So that’s one of the three. Number two is we have a special forces guy that came out of my gym that went in the army and he’s now a legit army ranger, travels and oversees and does things, right? That’s pretty cool, right? It’s like being a D1 athlete. That’s so rare.

Connor Agnew:
Mm-hmm.

Jim Beebe:
The third one is I had this one couple, mom and dad, right? They love national parks like we do. And they went to Olympic like we did out there in Washington state. And they’re at Lake Crescent. And it’s this beautiful lake, typically very still, has these mountains around the side a little bit, not that big, but decent size. And they’re out there and they’re cold. in the fall, so it’s like October, November, so it’s cold. And they’re out there by themselves.

this canoe or kayak one of the two I canoe and for some reason the storm came in and The wind is coming right at them So every time the wind is coming at them constantly comes right through the saddle between these two mountains The winds coming right through at that lake it actually creates these waves And you got to have your canoe pointed right at the wave Otherwise if you’re turning a little bit and the wave comes right at you It’s gonna flip the canoe and you’re gonna end up in the water and it’s like 45 50 degree water

Connor Agnew:
Mmm.

Jim Beebe:
Right and they even told hey don’t try swimming. You’re get hypothermia. You need to just sit there So the waves are coming it’s relentless and they keep Turning the canoe straight at the wave and they’re getting through right? Well one time they don’t turn it quick enough and they get dumped out They turn the canoe back over to get back in but here comes another way they get dumped again and the news upside down They can’t turn the canoe over They’re stuck. They’re stuck there. They can’t really swim for either. They’re kidding. You know, they’re not dressed for swimming

Connor Agnew:
Mmm.

Jim Beebe:
right they’re not going strip down. So luckily the wife had her cell phone in a waterproof case and they had their life jackets on right but they’re in this waterproof case so she calls 911 which then gets them to the overall park which then moves them to a ranger which means them to another ranger which is near the lake and the ranger comes out and they hold her paddles and the ranger with the binoculars can see them it gets in a boat a motorized boat goes out and saves her life.

They’re in that cold water like 45, 50 minutes like treading water. since they were able, since we were so in shape from training with you guys for so many years doing functional fitness and stuff, we were able to handle the work and we’ve done so many Murph events that we able to just keep going. Since we had that as their reference points, the physical work and the mental work, we knew to just keep going until this ranger came and saved our life.

Connor Agnew:
Oof.

Wow.

Jim Beebe:
And I’m like, that’s one of the best stories I’ve ever heard.

Connor Agnew:
That’s a huge win. mean,

my goodness. It’s a life-saving win right there, seriously.

Jim Beebe:
It’s the life saving one,

right? I’m thrilled, thrilled, thrilled, thrilled, right? Yeah.

Connor Agnew:
Yeah, yeah, I’d be stoked too. I

mean, if I had a business, I’d be putting them out there like, hey, Jim can save your life.

That’s incredible. Wow. But I mean, but seriously, the wins are what keep you going. And that’s what’s the most exciting piece for me. So I always like to hear about those. Thank you for sharing that. Well, Jim, seriously, I’ve had a fantastic time with you all and I really appreciate you and your time. If somebody wanted to buy your book or look into athlete builder a little bit more, what would be the best way to do that?

Jim Beebe:
Sure.

Sure, we’re on all the social media, which is kind of silly, but we have to do those kind of things. So Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, whatever, just athlete builder. And then the podcast, same deal, athlete builder. It’s a black and white anvil. You go to athlete-builder.com. You get books from there. I have a digital course if you’re interested in that. The summit that we’re hosting June 7th, I got a lot of people, a lot of people way smarter than I am that are.

They travel the country and they speak and they’re paid tens of thousands of dollars and they’re coming here just to be nice. They’re coming to our summit to present on a whole bunch of things. You get continuing education with the NSCA. So that’s coming up. Or just email me info at athlete-builder.com. Send me questions and I will answer them as best I can. And that’s how you can get ahold of me.

Connor Agnew:
That’s awesome. NSCA, CEU approved. That’s a big deal. And you know, that’s awesome. Congratulations. That’s a difference maker for lot of summits.

Jim Beebe:
It is, yeah. I’m pretty happy about it.

It is and it’s one of reasons why we wanted to do it. So it’s like, Hey, we’re having homemade barbecue and you’re continued education credits. You can lift with these, with these coaches. Like there’s, all practical too in the middle and the, and the end there’s free beer at the end too. So come hang out.

Connor Agnew:
It doesn’t get better than that, I don’t believe. Awesome. Well, Jim, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Jim Beebe:
Ha ha ha.

Absolutely Connor man, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for having me on

Connor Agnew:
Of course.