Set the right Fitness Goals in 2025, chat with the fitness coach Alyna

We talk about the importance of setting realistic and measurable fitness goals for 2025 and explore the common pitfalls of unrealistic expectations. Chose performance-based goals over aesthetic ones.

I talk with Alyna Han, a multi-talented personal fitness coach about the importance of understanding one's needs and emphasizes the significance of habit-building, especially for beginners.

She also shares her journey into fitness, her experiences with various training methods, and the significance of having a purpose behind fitness goals.  No personal circumstances, such as having children, should stop you from fitness goal-setting and taking care of your body.

The discussion also covers the differences between online coaching and in-person training, optimal workout frequencies, and how to choose the right personal trainer. Alyna highlights the importance of comfort and connection in the trainer-client relationship, as well as the need for specific and measurable fitness goals.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Fitness Goals for 2025
01:30 Alyna's Journey into Fitness
07:25 The Two-Year Rule in Fitness
14:43 From Art to Fitness: A Career Shift
23:14 Setting Realistic Fitness Goals
30:08 The Importance of Performance Goals
32:03 Understanding Client Needs and Goals
34:11 Realistic Fitness Goals and Expectations
36:39 Building Healthy Habits
38:16 The January Fitness Boom
40:10 Online Coaching vs In-Person Training
42:32 Optimal Workout Frequency for Beginners
44:49 Affordable Alternatives to Personal Training
46:49 Choosing the Right Personal Trainer
52:17 Gender Dynamics in Personal Training
56:49 Setting Specific Fitness Goals

MY GUEST LINKS:
instagram : @ahanfitness
Warpcast:  @MoveWithAlina  
Website: https://www.ahmindsetmovement.com/ 

HYROX competition mentioned:
- find one near you: https://hyrox.com/

Transcript

Pete (aka BFG) (00:01)
Hello everyone, and I am back. you know, I haven't been talking to people from the, let's say builders world. I've spent past three months mostly talking to artists and I am unsure how would I introduce my today's guest because you know, she might be an artist in a sense, or she might be a builder in a sense. And you will definitely see why I'm saying this just in a minute. So.

Arena welcome, happy to have you.

Alyna Han (00:33)
Thank you so much for having me. Nice little surprise.

Pete (aka BFG) (00:37)
Yeah, so for everybody for the context, I discovered Alyna on Farcaster, like most of my friends and actual guests on the podcast. And she fits into the growing but very small niche of fitness. You know, people who can actually teach you how to do the exercise. And today we are gonna talk about mostly...

about how you should approach setting up your fitness goals for 2025 because it's end of 2024. And so that's what we should do. And we actually got to the conversation from my lack of fitness goals for the past number of years. So we will try to win this into it so I can set up my fitness goals for 2025 as well.

Alyna Han (01:30)
Oh yeah, absolutely. We're gonna find something for you to do that you probably thought, I haven't thought of that. How's the difference?

Pete (aka BFG) (01:36)
Wonderful.

Just to give you a perspective you know you can see a Christmas tree behind my back and there is about minus 5, minus 7 outside, white and Alyna has around 20 degrees hot in almost 30 in Thailand. Look at that, how lovely. So let's start with the first question Alyna how did you get to fitness?

Alyna Han (01:52)
Well, all my 30, 25 to 30.

around the world.

So I was lucky enough that both my mom and dad have always moved in some way. My dad is massively into tennis. He plays sports at school. My mom, I mean, back then there wasn't really gyms that you could go to, but she was always doing aerobics and like step and all these dance classes. And just after that, anything that else that came waits. And I kind of grew up having to go like...

pick my mom up from the gym and like, you know, in the way we're like, we're gonna go pick mom up from the gym and, and, and whatever the studio. And so I've always just had it around me. And I think for anyone who's a parent, like you can see how important that is for your children to see that, look, this is a normal part of life. This is what adults do. They move.

So then I think after that, weirdly to have two older brothers, but I was always the one way more into like martial arts weights. So being from Thailand, Muay Thai was probably one of the first things that I was surrounded by. Yeah, like martial arts, like from like the age of like 16, maybe like 15, 16. Yeah, so started with martial arts, particularly Muay Thai.

Then I went into, so I've done a fight, I've done a fight in Muay Thai before. Then I went into like kind of bodybuilding, um, in the way of just kind of learning how to use weights. And I think a lot of people, they find their first steps either with something like running or something like bodybuilding, because it's just like the first time you use a machine, like the classic lat pulldown. Yeah. You know, like everyone knows that, but no one actually knows what it how it actually works, you know, but they just follow it because it's what you do pull down. So, um,

Pete (aka BFG) (03:42)
Right. True.

Alyna Han (03:52)
So yeah, then after that, kind of just found my way doing like crossfit, anything just super intense, boxing, done a boxing fight. And then very much now, so went through my strength conditioning, which is basically just learning like the more sporty way to condition someone, right? To really balance you out, just the teaching how to sprint and.

and just sort of be explosive but strong at the same time. And then basically right now I am much more into Olympic lifting. So that was my main goal of like the quick one. So I am a bit of a weird all rounder. There's a lot of like, there's not that many like me because I think people, they kind of just enjoy like what they enjoy, but I get bored. I like to just.

maybe do something very well for two years, but then I want to try something else just to move in a different way. Lockdown was, I mean, not a great time for a lot of people, but actually it was very much a useful time for me. I did a lot of yoga in lockdown. I almost did like 90 minutes a day at some point. And I managed to get my yoga teacher training just before I went, just before lockdown. Yeah. In that.

Pete (aka BFG) (05:07)
Wow.

Alyna Han (05:10)
And a special qualification in particular, not just the standard one, one more yoga sports science I did. more for, to work with athletes and people who weren't like, I'm not a yogi, but I want to learn yoga. How can you make teach me so I'm better for my sport kind of more clinical approach to yoga? because I don't think you can really force spirituality or that kind of the true side of it on everyone. So it's a nice way to, coach, for the coaching world to learn that way. but before that.

Pete (aka BFG) (05:26)
So, pretty cool.

Alyna Han (05:38)
I very quickly and it just happened to be worked in a yoga calisthenics gym. So I was around the calisthenics guys as well. So then I should have probably started with that. So then when I did go into lockdown, I already was kind of in that world a bit. But yeah, at the same time, that was when I got into calisthenics side. So for anyone who doesn't know what that is, yes, it's body weight movements comes from the Greek calisthenos, beauty in the body and things like pull ups, chin ups, ring work, like gymnastic rings.

plant, you know, like not that can do a planche, but trying to a planche front lever, back lever muscle ups, you know, that kind of stuff, right? So a very different way of training, very fun pistol squats. That's why I got this on my pistol squat stuff on there. So very fun when you can just use your body, but it takes a long time. you know, I feel like this really helped me as a coach because when I meet different people,

I could relate in the fitness world, but I can relate, not even actually in the fitness world, just people all over the world, because there's all sorts of different things that people are drawn to. you can, you know, a rock climber will like calisthenics because that training helps them. So then that's when I can go, oh yeah, I know about that. I did that for a bit. And then you can actually kind of empathize with them and actually, well, back to setting fitness goals, this is when I can kind of help people be like,

have to do that, you can do this and all these different things. So yeah, very much where I'm now in pick lifting, because that is just probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. It's been like two years of, I kind of dabbled with it for a crossfit like eight years ago, but this two years, I'm like gonna do it properly because it's a skill, right? So, so that's in a quick way where I am now.

Pete (aka BFG) (07:03)
All right. Yeah, totally.

Nice, nice. So it begs the question. do you like, when you try to start something new, do you have, it sounds almost like you have like two years period. Is it intentional or it sort of like comes out as two years usually?

and I can hear you. I hope yes now.

Alyna Han (07:55)
Sorry, it actually kind of went, but now it's back. I just, you asked about the two year period and I said, oh, it's a bit like a relationship, isn't it? Where you get bored with who you're with and you have to find someone new. I'm in a relationship and it's actually been over four years now, so it's actually been fine. you know, it's...

Pete (aka BFG) (07:58)
You're a man.

I didn't say that. No, no. That part is on you.

Alyna Han (08:22)
Yeah, is it intentional? No, I mean, sometimes it's been longer than two years, but I feel like to really master what you're not, mean, master, you're not going to master.

I got Amra back, to kind of really get enough of the basics of what you're learning. Like I would say two years is a good period. you can, this is when you choose, okay, do I want to continue doing this thing? Like, know, does that make sense? Do I want to continue doing this thing? Or do I maybe want to...

Pete (aka BFG) (09:03)
Yeah, sure.

Alyna Han (09:07)
Is it, have I seen something else that interests me that I want to explore a little bit, you know, physically. So, yeah, that's kind of how it works. A lot of this stuff is the stuff I'm talking about goes together. So I guess when you're about something like CrossFit, it is still strength-based with maybe specific skills in it. So all the best CrossFitters out there.

A lot of them used to be Olympic lifters first, really, because I don't know if you've ever seen, like, or if you've watched much Olympic lifting, or if you ever tried it, but it's such, doesn't matter how strong you are. Yes, strength is definitely an element you need to be. You need the skill. You need to learn the technique. So it's very humbling. You might not go up weight.

Pete (aka BFG) (09:40)
That's true, Surprising.

Yep, there's the technique.

Alyna Han (10:05)
for like six months because you're trying to learn the Yeah. But it's timey.

Pete (aka BFG) (10:08)
Honestly, weightlifting

never really drawn me. The only weightlifting I ever did actually started at CrossFit. I had my CrossFit decade, so that was a lot of weightlifting.

Alyna Han (10:29)
Okay. Well you definitely didn't

do that in weight loss.

Pete (aka BFG) (10:34)
Yeah, and some of it kind of stuck, I would say, simply because it's like a nice flow when you are at the gym. So you can do a couple of weights and you're sort of like done. You have to walk around different machines. You can sort of do it in one spot and feel like you did something for yourself.

And because I have three and a half year old daughter, basically the weightlifting is the only part which needs to progress because I carry her when we play or do stuff. So you basically just need to keep up with the weights.

Alyna Han (11:15)
Yeah!

I mean, anyone who's a kid knows how heavy they can get and how long you have to carry them for.

Pete (aka BFG) (11:27)
Yeah, especially when they fall asleep and you are like walking down the mountain after an hour, you know, those 12 kilos look like a ton.

Alyna Han (11:33)
yeah, we don't have...

Yeah, and it's moving sometimes, right? Well, maybe when they're not sleeping, they're sleeping. But yeah, you can't just put it down and leave it. Yeah, so I'm done with you. Can I see you tomorrow? Yeah, no. Yeah.

Pete (aka BFG) (11:40)
Yep. Yep.

He's he's stuck here. I'll see you tomorrow. Find your way home.

Yeah. Okay. Very cool. Look, so basically Olympic weightlifting is your favorite now, right?

Alyna Han (12:01)
Yeah, right now just because

Pete (aka BFG) (12:15)
Maybe we should... No, I can't.

Alyna Han (12:25)
hear me now, can't you? So when I when when it goes, do I click on that link you sent me to to like hop back in quickly on on the phone on the I was waiting for it to reconnect. okay, so I'll do that next time to click on it. Yeah, so what we're talking about? Yeah, so right now,

Pete (aka BFG) (12:26)
I can hear it. Now yes.

yeah, yes, the link is the same.

Alyna Han (12:53)
Maybe because the skill is taking a lot longer to learn. Because it is very technical and I'm like, you know, feel very much like a baby in it right now. So I, I, it's been two years and I mean, I've come a long way, but I'm not, I'm not there yet. You know, it's, it's, it's gonna take, it's gonna take a few more years, but I'm happy with the journey. Like I like, I like that, but I'm not.

Pete (aka BFG) (13:19)
Okay. So you don't feel bored

just yet.

Alyna Han (13:23)
No, no. I, I like, yeah, nowhere near like the weights I want to do. But I do combined it. So, you know, I will do the bodybuilding, I'll do the

Pete (aka BFG) (13:43)
We are waiting for you, no worries.

Alyna Han (13:46)
doing this. Yeah, they go. I don't know why it's doing this. But yeah, Yes. So, yeah, frankly, that, yeah, I'm not bored yet. And it's it's again, with everything I've done, it's shown every type of training I've done, it's, it's put me in a different community in a different world and introduced me to a whole bunch of different people. And I like meeting new different people. just

Pete (aka BFG) (13:49)
Yeah, you're back. Good.

Alyna Han (14:16)
opens your eyes, you know.

Pete (aka BFG) (14:19)
Absolutely. So did you know from like a long time ago that the fitness is going to be your world in a sense that it's going to be your work and not just your fun time activity.

Alyna Han (14:43)
Yeah, if I go quiet because I'm waiting for the mic. No, did not think it was going to be a profession. I've always loved moving. I was probably a bit of a chubby kid when I was younger, as kids are, especially growing up in Asia for a bit. I I was 12 when I moved to the UK, but everyone's smaller here, so I definitely felt a bit bigger. And that probably, as a teenager, is what drew me to like

want to work out. Because what I find is everyone who is naturally lean, who don't do sports for enjoyment, they don't feel like they need to work out. And I know we know the person who could eat a pizza, five pizzas and look the same. But there's people who can will just inhale, you know, some ice cream and put on five kilos. You can look at it and that's so actually

Pete (aka BFG) (15:22)
That's true.

Yeah.

Alyna Han (15:41)
It sucks, yes, to be that type of person, but that gives you purpose to work out and you end up being fitted in the person who doesn't have to do anything. then, because eventually hate to it everyone, it catches up to you. Doesn't matter. It will catch up. Like just wait, anyone who's in the like, you know, late twenties and whatever now, or maybe even just even mid thirties and still it.

Pete (aka BFG) (15:58)
It will catch up, yeah.

Alyna Han (16:12)
it absolutely catches up. It's harder to lose weight if you put that on. And next you know, you haven't built that habit for when you're younger. So guess what? Teaching an old dog new tricks is really not fun. And you're like, I don't have this habit. I have to like get myself to the gym and make this a routine because frankly, it's about lifestyle and habits. So going back to...

Pete (aka BFG) (16:28)
Hahaha, mmm.

Alyna Han (16:40)
to that kind of side of things. I'm kind of grateful I was more that body type maybe because it's just driven me to want to be better and to push myself because I kind of had to, I didn't really have a choice in terms of if I wanted to maintain it. So I didn't think it was going to be my profession. It was just something I kind of did because I kind of like, know, as any teenage girl is at the time, you want to look a certain way and...

and but also be healthy as well. Well, actually, no teenage girls don't really care about being healthy, they just care about looking a certain way. Yeah, actually. Yeah, it's true to, I mean, I get a lot of them as some of them, come up to me and they see things on TikTok and I have to explain to them like, this is not what it seems, you know. But yeah, so I actually was gonna be an artist.

Pete (aka BFG) (17:18)
Didn't want to say that. It feels like that.

Alyna Han (17:36)
talking about artists, that's why it was funny when you first mentioned, from six years old to 18, I was painting, drawing. Actually, the NFTs were a very interesting subject for me to think of the artwork side of things. But I thought that was gonna be like my life. went to a university, I did a very special course called Technical Arts and Special Effects, where I was doing like, I was working with like,

Pete (aka BFG) (17:38)
Huh.

Nice!

Nice.

Alyna Han (18:06)
master technicians who worked at Madame Tussauds. And I was doing like sculpture, like I always did very realistic, not like, and I love animation, can't do it. I was more the like classically trained, realistic side of art. And I thought I was gonna work in the film industry, doing prosthetics and makeup and like making, let's say a director says, make me 10,000 plates I can smash again and again. I don't know, you know, so.

Pete (aka BFG) (18:29)
Wow.

Alyna Han (18:37)
Yeah, I think so.

Pete (aka BFG) (18:37)
Well, you

still can, I guess.

Alyna Han (18:40)
very out of practice. the thing is, yeah, I mean, I, I mean, I know things and materials and I can appreciate how things are made now, but I can definitely still draw. I'll never lose that. And I miss the creativity. I miss drawing. miss painting. I miss that creative outlet, which is why I guess in my own way, like marketing and things like that, I'll try.

what I started training very seriously at uni. And I think in second year, I started to realize, I think I'm enjoying this more. I'm a very passionate person. so it was art, but then it just suddenly became fitness. And I was like, I'm really connecting with this and I wanna help other people. That was my next thought.

I got this satisfaction when people ask me, you know, you're really good at this stuff. you show me, like, how do I do this? And that satisfaction where you've just shown someone how to do something and then now they're able to do it and then the pain's gone. And it was just that urge to like, I wanna help people with their goals and I just wanna help people, yeah, be better. I feel...

Pete (aka BFG) (19:55)
Right.

Alyna Han (20:04)
there will be in the physical world because right now we are obviously in this new AI age where it's a bit of a reality is becoming a bit of a blur but there's one thing AI will be able to write the perfect program for you like you know chat gbt and everything online but it will it cannot move for you it will cannot literally move your limbs so whether we like it or not

we're gonna have to move our bodies, you know.

Pete (aka BFG) (20:36)
I like it as a prediction. Pretty cool.

Alyna Han (20:40)
It's like,

even the robot, like even if we have robots, it's like, well, a robot cannot sit, it doesn't have the same, it doesn't have an organ, it doesn't have the same organ. So it can't, it can't like say, oh yeah, I totally get your back pain kind of problem because I have it too. You know, it's just not made of the same stuff, you know, it's not organic.

Pete (aka BFG) (20:57)
Right. Yeah.

Neat, neat. Okay, so it's quite a journey. I think you should keep your artistic background alive. You should definitely find some time for this. Because you never know, know, creativity of all forms and shapes might be, you know, what holds the future together. Don't worry, we'll be able to cut these things out.

All good.

Alyna Han (21:35)
Yeah,

when I go away to places, I try to take like my notepad and I still try to like sketch and I've taken watercolours with me some places and I've tried to just do some painting very rarely, but it's just another form of meditation. You just don't think of anything else when you're drawing or painting. So I do try to do that.

Pete (aka BFG) (21:51)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I'm still envious of anybody who can actually draw by hand, but, you know, there's always time to learn.

Alyna Han (22:13)
I'm sure you do much more

useful things,

Pete (aka BFG) (22:19)
Yeah, well, you never know. Life is not only about useful things. I guess we all dreamt about some artistic part which we are missing. And so my hands are both lefties in terms of like drawing stuff. I'm improving with my daughter. She draws better than I do, but yeah. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Okay.

Alyna Han (22:22)
Thank you.

yeah? are great. Kids are great. Well you should do some lessons together.

Pete (aka BFG) (22:46)
Look, I think we have a decent amount of background, so everybody kind of got to know you. And I'd like to jump into our main topic, which is basically how we should approach setting up the fitness goals for next year. And I think let's do it in two different levels, because I guess it's a bit different if people are normal fitness enthusiasts.

And they basically go to gym. They just don't have any goals and they, maybe they would like to, you know, somehow fix it, which would be my case. and, maybe there is someone who, you know, is not into fitness, never was, but feels like, you know, the back is sort of giving up or I'm gaining weight. And so for them, it's probably a little different. so I would start with no fitness.

not fitness enthusiasts, let's say, but people who feel something is not perfectly okay with their body, whether it's back pain or it's like, you newborn kids and you sort of feel like you're not moving as fast as they are. Maybe you would like to. So what, what should be the thought process when people think about fitness goals? Because I think a lot of times, you know, you get swayed by the Instagram picture of like,

perfectly looking person, whether it's a guy or girl, doesn't matter. And some app which you should download and do something for twenty eight days, which seems to be super popular these days. And all your problems will be gone. So let's ignore these and let's look at the process and thinking behind how you should.

Ease yourself into fitness if you are not doing it every day now.

Alyna Han (24:47)
Yeah, no, absolutely. I think this is a really good point to make to say because I

I completely understand that I am not the normal person. I am passionate about fitness. is like my life. is my normal state of being to like work out and just do something that is like probably super terrifying and terrifying, but also just tiring for anyone else. So we're probably not the best people to talk to in terms of like, how do you, how do you stay motivated? Because we just do, it's just like normal life, but I do work with gen pop, right? There's just general population and that is, I do work with those that still say to me,

And I think Oksana will remind me saying this she still hates work Even after all these years She's she's well, but can it's very impressive that she's like no I still hate it, but she still she still turns up You know she just does it. Maybe it's the Russian mindset I don't know, but she just she just yeah, she just she just does it and maybe maybe because she knows well she tells me

Pete (aka BFG) (25:42)
Could be.

Alyna Han (25:51)
Even though she's tired, it makes her feel better. Even if you're tired in a weird way, like jet lag, it kind of like resinks you and re-centralizes you. So it is important to think about in that sense. So in terms of setting your goal, there are two types of people that you have to look at. So the ones with kids and the ones without kids. yeah, I kind of think, because it does matter. When you have kids like

Pete (aka BFG) (26:16)
Okay.

Alyna Han (26:21)
everything changes, everything changes and you know in terms of because your priorities change you know you kind of have this these people or one person to really look after and it's like all dependent sometimes that is even better because you go oh my god i need to make sure i i can keep up with them and i can look after them because then you have a purpose so the three things you need to basically stay alive are

Pete (aka BFG) (26:31)
totally.

Alyna Han (26:51)
physical movement, cognitive stimulation and what was the other one that I keep telling people about?

Pete (aka BFG) (27:14)
Right, now I can't hear you but I know you said purpose. I'm lip reading, I'm getting better at this. Yeah, I can hear you now.

Alyna Han (27:20)
Literally. Can you hear me? Yeah, I'm back.

So if I say that again, so you can kind of see. Purpose, cognitive stimulation and physical movement. So if you're setting goals, you've got to have a purpose. So a lot of people come to me and they say, like, I want to just get, I want to get strong, a bit toned, lose weight. They say get strong. They don't actually know what that means or looks like.

It's like, okay, have you thought about what being strong looks like? Like, it's all well, it's all well to say just be strong, but like, be more specific. What does that mean to you? for some, if you're very elderly, it literally could be, I want to just be able to walk downstairs without being afraid. Or I want to be able to walk downstairs, or I want to be able to open my dishwasher while hurting my back, you know? So when you, when you think of a goal, it doesn't need to be massive because

Pete (aka BFG) (28:13)
Mm-hmm.

Alyna Han (28:18)
Most likely, if it is too big and you are very new, you might not stick to it. So it's probably better to set realistic goals that you will stick to. So for those who say, okay, I want to get strong, I say, right, have you ever tried weightlifting? No, but I like to learn. Okay, great. So you're with a PT say, so what does that look like? We're going to find you a goal. We're going to measure your one rep max.

Pete (aka BFG) (28:29)
Mm-hmm.

Alyna Han (28:46)
your one repetition max of say a back squat. You know, if that's something you'd be interested in because then it will keep you, will give you a goal, a physical goal to look forward to, right? And so we go, right, we're gonna work on this for 12 weeks and then we'll measure it at the end of this or eight weeks we'll measure at the end of this and that will just keep you on track.

Pete (aka BFG) (28:59)
Mm-hmm.

Alyna Han (29:10)
So you have to look at what does strength look like to you. So it doesn't have to be a one RM back squat. could be, you know what, I'm gonna get my first pull up. I mean, most women can't do, annoyingly, the statistic is most women can't even do one pull up, right? So there's a pull up and chin up. Pull up is whether your hands are pronated, facing away from you, and then your palm, for those who don't know, palm, supernated chin ups, palms are facing towards you. One of them is a little bit easier to get than the other, but.

that is a great physical, tangible goal that you can reach for. So I would suggest if you aim for something with a performance and skill, you're more likely to stick to it. Because if you aim for something that is just aesthetic and there is nothing wrong with aiming for something aesthetic because we all like to look good, you kind of feel sometimes like you're never happy with where you are.

You know, and you can see this a lot with bodybuilders where they are like as lean as you can physically get and yet they're not lean enough to them. They're not happy. You know, they just know, but I want more, but I want more. I find that a lot with physical goals. Very rarely have I met someone, and I have, I have though, but I haven't met someone saying like, you know what, I'm actually really happy with where I've got to. I'm actually like, yeah, I just want to stay here. I have, honestly.

Pete (aka BFG) (30:36)
Great.

Alyna Han (30:37)
Like a handful of people I've met have said that most people it's not enough, but they just keep going for it. But on the side of a physical goal, they look good as a by-product, but then they are just constantly getting stronger and they're constantly going up in weight and so on. But it's like every time you achieve that, I've gone up in weight, you do keep that satisfaction. I can't really explain it without trying it. I just feel you get to that weight and you're like,

Pete (aka BFG) (31:02)
Mm-hmm.

Alyna Han (31:07)
But I'm happy I still did that a year ago because that was really like hard for me and I reached it and I was so happy about it. There's something about a performance, a goal that keeps, that makes people satisfied and happy for a certain point. Does that make sense?

Pete (aka BFG) (31:23)
So

will you say from your experience that when you have a new client, the biggest mistake we typically make is to set like too high goals or basically just wrong goals?

Alyna Han (31:26)
Yeah.

more on say wrong, more maybe unsuitable goals because, because say that they go, want this, I see the move. And then they go, actually, you don't know this, but you need this. But as a, as a PT, you sometimes have to go, okay, I know you need this.

Pete (aka BFG) (31:45)
I will see you there, always.

Alyna Han (32:03)
And I'm gonna, could try explain that you need this, but I'm just gonna start working with you and then you'll eventually realize how you're, you think, actually I didn't realize I needed this this whole time. You know? Yeah. So, you know, sometimes it's like, I know what he, I know what she, means. I'm just gonna like, like, we're just gonna get started and then they'll see, because there's a lot of stuff that goes with it. So, so I think.

Yes, some of them do also set unrealistic goals because they'll go, I want to lose weight. I want to lose fat. Because they say weight and not fat because sometimes I have to explain, by the way, your body weight might not change, but your body composition will change. So you might be heavier than you were before, but you'll look the best you ever looked like according to yourself. But people will find that very difficult to get ahead of them.

Pete (aka BFG) (32:44)
Yeah.

Yeah, typical problem.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I think it's the decades of talking about weight and losing weight and basically all the pills which help you lose weight. So I guess everybody kind of thinks, weight. Even though...

It's relatively easy, I think, to understand once you start thinking about it, that the composition is probably more important than weight. It's just then, you know, it's harder to measure because it's easy to step on weight every day and see something, especially when you are in a starving program or whatever diet you might be trying. And then, you know, if you add the body composition into it, it just gets complicated.

Alyna Han (33:33)
Yes.

Pete (aka BFG) (33:44)
because then you don't see the progress even if you are starving. I guess.

Alyna Han (33:45)
Yeah.

Well, it

will be in how your clothes feel. That is the only other thing that you'll go, for sure, this is like, this fits way better. This is loose on me. This is how you measure without tape your body composition and how it's changed. That you're like, yeah.

Pete (aka BFG) (34:07)
Mm-hmm.

would you say that, you know, if people are new to fitness, should they basically aim for just one thing, like a one goal for the, you know, first three months or six months, actually don't have any idea for how long people think, they will do this. Cause I think nobody's kind of coming to you with their newly

the new fitness enthusiasm saying from now on, I'm going to be exercising every day of my life for the rest of my life. Most people probably are here like, let's do this for summer or something. Right.

Alyna Han (34:47)
Yeah, well, the key, the people who are particularly like, have a date of the other brides. There is, man, honestly, there is no motivation like a bride getting married. tell you, it's like, they're completely different people. Motivation is real. So they're great. They're great to work with, but it often kind of ends there with some, a lot of them, like, okay, here's my date.

Pete (aka BFG) (34:55)
All right, yeah, makes total sense.

scary

Alyna Han (35:18)
you know, the husband's been working out the whole time and then they see the bride go through the phase and then afterwards the husband's still working out. It's like, that was a nice moment to watch. But she was consistent. But yeah, this happens a lot. do, yeah, I do feel that, so people do come to me and sometimes they're over ambitious and they do say, so yeah, I want to work out three days a week. I want to do.

Pete (aka BFG) (35:27)
Yeah.

Alyna Han (35:41)
this is this as well. And then I just go, sorry, what were you doing before? And they go, nothing. And then I'm thinking, okay, let's start with twice a week. And, and, and, and let's do that. And if you've done it's good because remember, it's not just the working out. It's also the food. It's also the sleep. It's, it's the, maybe the supplements, I don't know. Like it's, it's like so much around it, like going to the gym, showering after the gym.

Pete (aka BFG) (35:51)
Okay.

Alyna Han (36:09)
You know, there's so much around just the one hour working out that you have to be responsible for. So, I kind of, do have to pull people back and yes, I do think people should start smaller and it's all relative, right? It's, it's basically about habit building. When you think of goals, it's about consistency and it's about habit building, just like, yeah, on Farcaster posting, make it a habit, talk, you know, just.

finding somehow, you know, creating a habit. it could be, I'm gonna try walk 15,000 steps a day, minimum, or 10,000 steps, which is the classic, the 10,000 steps. But you'd be surprised. Yeah, the 10,000 steps, but I mean, there's a lot of people who are so sedentary that they realize, wow, like, I used to be just 6,000 steps. Like, I'm gonna try to do walking meetings. I'm gonna try, if you can, I'm gonna try to do...

Pete (aka BFG) (36:53)
Yeah, 10,000 steps.

Alyna Han (37:09)
Try find a way you can increase your steps because actually the majority of our calories aren't burned in the one hour of us training. It's the other 23 hours of the day. It's like, what are you doing in the other 23 hours of the day? You know, so it's like, this is the problem that we are having in this day and age why everyone's kind of in pain and everything because we're just so much more sedentary. Again, if you work on your laptop and you don't have to commute to work, you don't have to...

you know, do any of these things. So I do find it's, very important. Maybe even something that seems as simple as that is, is actually probably one of the most beneficial things for your, your longevity.

Pete (aka BFG) (37:53)
Actually, two questions popped into my mind as you were talking. So one, is there like an oversubscribed period for personal trainers like you around Christmas and New Year's? Are people actually signing up for the New Year's goals or it doesn't work like the gym memberships typically do?

Alyna Han (38:16)
so yeah, interesting question. So yes, you get a bit of a January boom, but thing is a lot of people, they, they only start inquiring in January. Like, so it's an investment when you work with a coach, right? It's a real, it costs, but I would say it's probably one of the best things you can invest in. Cause it's, it's long-term health. You know, it's not like just a handbag, like

this will be a life lesson you're gonna learn. people, there's a boom of people like inquiring. again, like I've just before this, had a call already about like, yeah, it's 2025. I wanna get back to this goal I had, I wanna do this. But it's just talking first. I feel like people don't really start until like end of January and also cause they have the money. You know, sometimes they're just like, we've spent like,

Pete (aka BFG) (39:12)
yeah,

we spent it every...

Alyna Han (39:12)
the whole of December

and January and actually I'm inquiring, actually I don't actually have any money until the end of it. like paid again. Yeah. So, and, and actually I know I'm very weird at this, but I actually in the in-person PTs, I take the beginning of January off because throughout my whole year, it's very random where, where I get a boom of clients. It's yeah.

Pete (aka BFG) (39:20)
Until the end of the month. Yeah, that makes sense.

Okay, interesting.

Alyna Han (39:42)
It's a very random time for me, just because I guess, as you said, train all sorts of people. Because of this work from home culture as well, there are just so many different people with different jobs that I meet. So it's all just, it's all very different times of the years that I maybe get a boom, but I do have my consistent ones, which are obviously very important. I also do online coaching as well, which is like having a platform on the app. So the good thing is.

Pete (aka BFG) (40:08)
Mm-hmm.

Alyna Han (40:10)
Those people probably do start more in the new year, like earlier on, just because it's like, we can start now, you're in an app, you don't need to see me in person, but I programmed for you.

Pete (aka BFG) (40:20)
I see. Okay. That was actually the second question. I was wondering if you do only like in-person things or also the virtual one so people can do it from home and start easy.

Alyna Han (40:31)
Yeah,

when I am away, I do every now and then do an in-person like the video like this only for the clients I see already in person. it's not, I don't take anyone on new, like I would, but it's not a big part of my business that I do like the virtual. But the online coaching is a big part. Because again, talking about consistency, this is how people

can work out even when I'm not there. I'm still giving them the plan. I'm still making sure they're on their part, their pathway to a goal. So I have a client who's working towards her pull up. She can do one on assistant one now, but she, she needs to make sure she keeps it and to do more. She needs to be consistent. So she, because you know, it's, it's, it's, want them to maintain their results, right? I'm not getting paid any extra for them to do this online program. It's just included in my package I offer, but

I want them to get this results because it's, you know, there's always more, there's always more they can use. So right now, like looking at my app, I can see all the people who have been completing their workouts whilst I'm away. And yes, I do check. Yeah, I do check and people, so because that's why, not gonna lie, think the majority of reasons why people are with me is for accountability.

Pete (aka BFG) (41:45)
Good to know, good to know for everybody.

Right, yeah, I guess.

Alyna Han (41:59)
Yeah, just,

you know, she will know if I don't go.

Pete (aka BFG) (42:03)
One more question, which probably is kind of a follow-up on what we were talking about around the goals and start easy. what's the, from your perspective as a personal trainer, what's the optimal amount of workouts during the week when you are starting with someone new? And let's say, so they've survived first months or two, so they can...

They figured out they can do two workouts a week. Is that enough to move them further fast enough or should it be more or it's totally okay if they stay at two workouts a week?

Alyna Han (42:47)
No, I completely understand. Two workouts a week done well is great, right? It's about quality and it's about, again, being realistic, not biting too much off that you can't chew, and you can get some very good results twice a week. One of the brides I told you about that I trained, she got incredible results just doing twice a week. I do try to...

Pete (aka BFG) (42:49)
you

Alyna Han (43:15)
Influence people to do three days. Just like an extra on without me as well. When I say a PT them in person, just because they can do just the very easy machine bodybuilding stuff, which just fills in the holes, just fills in the gaps of, of, of any imbalances that they can do on their own. It's very like slightly mindless, but you know, just to get it done, the whole just get it done thing. So yeah, three, three days, three days would be great, but

to done well is more than enough. And it depends on what you want to do. Not everyone wants to do just weightlifting. One weight, one cardio is great. It is definitely better than nothing. I think it's being realistic of what you have time for because of course everyone's working. And again, people have kids. So sometimes you can't even get to the gym. if it's once a week that you have to yourself, then that's great. It's just...

finding, trying to prioritise it and finding a way to maybe fill in more if you feel like that would make you feel better.

Pete (aka BFG) (44:22)
Okay, that's pretty cool. This is probably an obvious, or it's basically question with obvious answer, but I guess if someone wants to start working out, but they can't afford a PT, which I think is probably the best way to start working with somebody you can trust, but...

If you cannot afford it, what would be like the second best way to start and not get injured?

Alyna Han (44:56)
So, I mean, there are forms of, we call them small group personal trainings out there. Some gyms offer it where you are in a group of maybe say no more than six people, for instance, and you all follow the same program. So that's that small group PT if you're in an area where the gym offers that. Finding a class, of course, finding some sort of class that you can join weekly. So

Pete (aka BFG) (45:04)
Mm-hmm.

Alyna Han (45:26)
you know, you might be into go back to rock climbing, you might be into something a bit more sporty like rock climbing or dancing, finding some because it's always going to be a bit cheaper to do these things, finding some sort of community, some sort of class is going to be it's going to be cheaper. In terms of maybe something where you want to go to the gym, there are programs you can download online. But I mean, again,

these programs are cookie cutter. you, it's just, you might have a knee problem and then realize, I can't do that thing that the program has. So you need something personalized. So, they're the online coaching. are some very affordable forms of it. I feel like that would, that w it's kind of like, again, a priority thing where you would just have to somehow

find a way to reach that. other than that, yeah, I think small group PT and classes will be the best way to start doing something.

Pete (aka BFG) (46:30)
Awesome.

And I guess a very important question, maybe hard to answer, but I hope you give it a shot. So if I want to start and I want to choose a PT how do I find the one which would be good for me?

Alyna Han (46:49)
Yeah, I know, very true.

Pete (aka BFG) (46:49)
What should

I look for? Because everybody has some certificates, which I have no idea what they mean usually. So how do I do it?

Alyna Han (46:59)
So, I mean, I guess it's taking into account like what type of exercise you're interested to. So I'm guessing like you're thinking this person just is completely new, has no preference yet, right? In what style of like, what they like to do. So if you're looking for a PT, because I hate to say it, there's a lot of, there's a lot of bad stuff out there. There's a lot of, you know, misinformation. And I think you should, you should look.

Pete (aka BFG) (47:12)
Right.

Alyna Han (47:29)
up if your PT does current research. Can your PT explain to you why you're doing something and back it up? You know, and I think, I think this is very important because it is all about like anything in the medical world. It's about the new data, the new research. You don't want to be taught, you want to be taught some 1970s stuff, which is so outdated. You know, it's, it's, it's we've moved on.

Pete (aka BFG) (47:37)
Right. Okay.

Alyna Han (47:59)
We know this is not a problem now, know, so you need to, if a PT says this is why, rather than it could be, it's like the language as well. Like, I had this problem, okay, well, let's try this and let's see this. So you need to make sure the PT listens to you. So, you know, once you meet them, make sure you have a trial session with them. Feel free to shop around, feel free to go, okay.

Pete (aka BFG) (48:08)
Mm-hmm.

Alyna Han (48:24)
I just want to try a session with this person. I actually frankly find it very flattering, but also kind of funny where people come to me and they go, I'm looking for a PT. I picked you from the board and I want to work with you. And then I, I'm just like, okay, I mean, yeah, we'll have a trial. the way, like if you want to like shop around, problem. No, it's actually fine. I think we, I think we work great. Let's do it. I'm like, okay, like, like it's up to you. I am so not offended if they're like, you know what? I had a session with this person and I think we have better connection because

Pete (aka BFG) (48:46)
You

Alyna Han (48:54)
You are going to spend a lot of time with this person and you're going to show this person it's a very like vulnerable position that you're in. You you're in a very like primal state when you're pushing yourself and, and you know, it's a very kind of intimate thing really when you work with someone like that. So it's very important that you feel you can trust this person and, and you, you know, they, understand your goals and not their goals. Cause there's a lot of PTs that push their goals on their clients.

like I'm into Olympic lifting and you're going to learn Olympic lifting, you know. Yeah, because like I love it and they're like, but I just want to just look good, you know, I just want to you know, listen. And yeah, so it's very important that the PT can be passionate, sorry, compassionate and passionate maybe but compassionate and just understand like, okay, you have worked say you work with them in the

Pete (aka BFG) (49:24)
Okay, interesting.

Right, right, because it's the best thing in the world.

Yeah.

Alyna Han (49:53)
in the evening and you know, they've worked a full day, they've got kids and it's you know, just understanding that like sometimes their goal is just to get through the session. You know, so yeah. Yeah.

Pete (aka BFG) (50:04)
Very often. I would sympathize

with that. It's very often just the goal.

Alyna Han (50:12)
Just to get through, I mean, I

do think it's okay for PTs to explain that you have to push yourself. And I do say this to people that it's not gonna be easy, okay? Like there's gonna be many times that you're gonna find it pretty hard and you're probably gonna wanna give up. But until you physically like give up, like we call it failure, right? You get to failure. You always got more in you, you'd be very surprised.

It's like when you're when you're a parent for the first time and you realize how much you can do sleep deprived. It's impressive You know, we were like, oh yeah, I never thought I could do all these things so sleep deprived well, you know, so so I think it's a similar thing of It's so because you you say to me like, okay, is it okay just to do like two sessions a week? I'm like, yeah, but as long as you push yourself You know and and I say to people like imagine

Pete (aka BFG) (50:48)
Yeah, yeah, pretty impressive, that's true.

Yeah.

Alyna Han (51:11)
If you do something you thought you could never do and you just do it in that session and you beat it and you did it. Imagine doing that three days a week, you train, you literally physically overcome something so hard. You feel amazing, right? You feel like, wow, I just achieved that. And you get that feeling every day. Sorry? Yeah, exactly. It's like...

Pete (aka BFG) (51:31)
Yeah. What a week.

What a week!

3 PAs.

Alyna Han (51:40)
Yeah, it's like solving, like, you know, solving a puzzle or riddle or quiz, right? Like where, you know, we're doing a sort of a test where you're like, yeah, I figured, you know, formula, I figured it out. It's very satisfying. So I think people have to keep in mind this when pursuing their goals that obviously there's a reason it's a goal. It's going to be a little bit challenging in some way. But then once you reach it,

It's pretty nice at the end of the rainbow there.

Pete (aka BFG) (52:13)
Well, it was very motivational. Almost sounded like an ending, but I have one more question, maybe two, and then we will sort of draw it to the end, but it was great. So the quick question was, is there any rule of thumb? Should guys train with the guys and the girls with the girls? Or is there like, it doesn't matter?

Alyna Han (52:17)
That's my show.

Yeah.

My video.

Yes.

you

Yeah, it is all about preference. It's all about preference. And again, it's all about education, the PT's education. So nowadays, a lot of the male PT's, like the good ones who do their research, educate, you know, they'll ask you, women, where are you on your cycle? Because this is important, you know, they will ask these questions. And it's just up to you, like, it's who you look up to because

Some men just wanna, you know, with men. Not gonna lie. I don't have many men come up to me and say, I want biceps like yours. Don't have that, that's okay. I can live with that. You know? I don't get that much, but yeah. you know, so you'll see someone train or you'll go, I want you to teach me that thing, you know?

Pete (aka BFG) (53:20)
Yeah, okay.

Alyna Han (53:36)
And it's whoever you look up to that you feel comfortable with. And I think the main thing is feeling comfortable. There is no right or wrong. I have, right now I have a lot more women, but that's only because I think women go for PT a more than men do. But I've had moments where I've had mainly males, men to train. Maybe because the things I do like with being martial arts and weightlifting, some people would say a little bit more like masculine.

But I also grew up with two older brothers, so I'm very comfortable around men and I went to a co-ed school. you know, it's, they're just bodies. Yeah. But women like other women as well, because it's just, yeah, it's, they understand these things.

Pete (aka BFG) (54:14)
Okay. Wonderful.

Yeah, I think the sentence you said depends who you look up to. Probably kind of sums it up nicely because it's like, if you want to have a biceps like that guy, when he can train you and you feel OK with him and he satisfies all the other criteria, why not?

Alyna Han (54:45)
Yeah. You know, you just, you want to be on like,

yeah, like you motivate me. Like you just said, boy, just like, I want to, I want to have what you have. And, if they're good, because, know, that's the thing. Try not to follow, like when you see an influencer on, Instagram or Tik Tok or any of these things, and you think, wow, I want what they have. Can they train me just because they can train themselves. It doesn't mean they're good coaches because. Right. And I think this is a thing that.

Pete (aka BFG) (55:11)
yeah, sure.

Alyna Han (55:14)
people don't realize about the influencers, they know how to take pictures. Until they show their clients that they've trained, you don't know if they can actually train anyone else but themselves. They might be genetically gifted, you don't know.

Pete (aka BFG) (55:30)
Totally, Yeah. Now I was just thinking back to my CrossFit days. think I actually early on when I started, it hurt a lot. remember the CrossFit beginnings are always kind of painful, but I remember I enjoyed female coaches way more because I sort of felt

Alyna Han (55:33)
So I should go just to add, yeah, yeah.

yeah.

Pete (aka BFG) (55:57)
more motivated to show up regularly for the period before you get into it. It's like, you know, it's hard once you get into it. Relatively easy. But you know, when I remember first month when people were saying they're going every day, I was like, how can you do this? I can't even walk the second day. So it's like,

Alyna Han (56:19)
Oh, yeah,

no, I don't think that's healthier. You really shouldn't be doing CrossFit every day, but that's a different, yeah, that's a different, like, you know, topic. But yeah, the only thing I would probably add about, like, choosing a PT is, yeah, making sure they understand you. Sorry. There was another point I was going to add about choosing PT, but I actually can't remember right now. oh, yeah, adding it just to add to, like, the goals, because I know we're probably running out time a bit.

Pete (aka BFG) (56:23)
You

You

Alyna Han (56:49)
is so obviously we have habit goals and we just have like, you know, health and longevity goals. I want to eat more vegetables. want to, you know, make them specific, I would say. So I want to hit 10,000 steps because you can, whatever you can measure, you can manage, right? We've all heard that. So, so I think make them specific is very important, but then you can go beyond that and make it more fun and say, I want to like,

do a competition of some sort. And I've kind of been saying a lot of this on Farcast, like anyone got a competition, anyone got something because it would just be something like completely new that you can really work towards and train for. And again, doesn't have to be like, it doesn't have to be the bodybuilding or weightlifting. It could be a triathlon. It could be to do a 10K run event. You know, it can be something. So there's a lot of different...

fitness events out there, I think you just have to just find them, go talk to a fitness professional and just say like, what are the options? Like what things are out there? I mean, have you heard of high rocks?

I'm in surprise because it seems like it's like everyone and their moms are doing it, but it's a, it's this worldwide race that's everyone's been doing. I've done it twice before. It was really big now, but it's, it's, it's, all over the world. And it's basically this running, mainly a running event, but it's basically 8k in between each kilometer you have a functional exercise to do. And that's.

Pete (aka BFG) (58:25)
Okay.

Alyna Han (58:26)
And it's people, there's people who are literally like kind of professional high rocks athletes now. It's yeah. So the reason people like it is because it's not like at all. It is not skill-based. So it's actually all things anyone can do. Anyone can train to do. It's not like, you know, hands down walks and all these things they do in CrossFit. So as long as you like running and you can run and

Pete (aka BFG) (58:32)
Whoa, okay.

Alyna Han (58:55)
you can do a high rock. this is another new fitness goal that a lot of people are aiming for to compete and to do a high rock. So maybe you can look at it and see after this. I'll message you, I'll message you. You'll see how it's massive now. It's in thousands of cities.

Pete (aka BFG) (59:04)
I will.

Peace.

There you go. Okay. Nice. Love it. Okay. Alyna this was great. Thank you very much for the time. I will probably ask where is the best place people can find more info about you. We'll put all the links into the show notes, but you know, what are your favorite channels?

Alyna Han (59:24)
from the end.

Yes,

Pete (aka BFG) (59:48)
Nice! You definitely don't

keep one name. You definitely don't keep it one name.

Alyna Han (59:52)
Sorry, I don't hear one name. Yeah, I

think I kind of all made them at different times. But my brand itself is like the same. My brand is a AH mindset and movement. But it's just on walk-cast, like move with Alyna, which is like nicer, know, just like shorter.

Pete (aka BFG) (1:00:14)
No, I actually love it. I think like a name and a slogan is perfect.

Alyna Han (1:00:16)
Yeah.

Yeah, thank you.

If you see my logo, my logo is a kettlebell cat. It's a tiger, I say it's a cat, like a big cat. It's like a kettlebell meshed into a cat. You'll see what I mean because of the feline qualities. I love cats and I love the athletic qualities of the cat.

Pete (aka BFG) (1:00:41)
Okay. Perfect. Wonderful. Well, thank you very much for the time, for all the advice

and the intro into the world of fitness.

And I kind of lost you, but we'll see. I hope you can come back.

Alyna Han (1:00:55)
Thank you

Yeah, if this is helpful and you want to know more than this, be great. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a It's been great to talk to you.

Pete (aka BFG) (1:01:17)
Everyone, I'll see you next time and don't forget to set up some fitness goals. I hope I'll see some of those on Farcaster or X or wherever you decide to share them, but definitely do share.

Alyna Han (1:01:43)
Well impressive.