With Rob Johnson

Samantha Bauer(00:01.717)
Welcome back everybody to Sisters in Law of Attraction podcast. I'm Sam. And we're so thrilled you're back with us. If this is your first time or your third time or whatever, we're so thrilled you're with us on this journey. We have kind of an exciting episode today. We've got a special guest is an important person in my life. Other than my husband, I spend five days a week starting my day with him.

Christine Goforth(00:06.293)
And I'm Christine.

Christine Goforth(00:29.88)
Yeah.

Samantha Bauer(00:30.337)
and his name is Rob Johnson, affectionately known as coach Rob. he is the creator and owner of built strong, a fabulous gym in, central California. And, I'm so proud to call him my friend, but welcome Rob. We're so thrilled you're with us.

Christine Goforth(00:48.6)
Hello.

Rob Johnson(00:48.902)
Thank you for having me, I'm excited to be here.

Samantha Bauer(00:51.037)
Yes, yes. Well, I think where we should start, Rob, is I mean, obviously, you're very passionate about fitness. You're a very fit guy yourself. And but I think the one thing that sets you apart, quite frankly, is the energy that you create in your gym and building a community. So maybe let's start with your vision in creating built strong.

Samantha Bauer(00:51.037)
and kind of the philosophy behind it.

Rob Johnson(01:22.234)
Yeah, yeah. So I've been doing this personal training for 24 years now, and I've always been a person that has thought of fitness as a vehicle to connect with people. So I love working out, I love exercise, but the thing that I love most is people, and fitness for me has always been a vehicle for me to connect with people. So when I get to spend time with people, I have fun, and people, they

Rob Johnson(01:22.234)
fire me up. So I wanted to create a gym where I can just do my thing, connect with people, have a great time. And the other thing with that is I want people to feel at home. growing up as a kid, I used to watch Cheers. So what was his name? Norm? He would walk in and everybody would be like, Norm! I love that and that's kind of one.

Samantha Bauer(01:53.398)
Yeah.

Samantha Bauer(02:12.359)
huh.

Christine Goforth(02:13.07)
Hahaha!

Rob Johnson(02:18.618)
that's kind of what I want our gym to be is a place where people come in, everybody knows your name, and you can do this thing called fitness in this very fun, open, inclusive environment.

Samantha Bauer(02:30.601)
And it's true, Rob actually stands at the door and announces everyone's arrival to the gym. Right? And what's fun too is you create nicknames for everybody. I'm, depending on the day, I'm Sam Bam, Sam-a-bamma, Bam Bam. And it's so funny because a couple of years ago we were working out.

Christine Goforth(02:36.416)
Nickname and all, right?

Rob Johnson(02:36.878)
Yeah.

Rob Johnson(02:45.306)
Yes.

Christine Goforth(02:48.142)
You

Samantha Bauer(02:56.385)
with a gal and I never knew her name, but you called her I'm just gonna say it tater tot I literally saw her in the grocery store. I'm like, tater tot. She's like, hey Sam, ma'am But that's just kind of like the fun energy that's created, you know in the gym and I think Obviously as you well know in creating that community is is creating those connections with people

Rob Johnson(03:02.448)
Yeah.

Samantha Bauer(03:24.359)
Everyone is on their own fitness journey. We have all fitness levels, all ages. But what I love is I think for me, when we do group exercise, we're all like-minded people, right? I we're all there to be healthy. And we build these relationships. And I got to tell you, I've met some incredible people that have become really close friends.

Rob Johnson(03:27.002)
Mm-hmm.

Rob Johnson(03:54.223)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I love that. That is a big win for me because if people can do that, make connections, and be healthier and more fit, what else can be greater?

Samantha Bauer(04:07.081)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and during a boot camp, I'm sure we call it something different, but I mean, we just, you know, it's in my mind, it's, it's boot camp, but, you know, Rob is dancing, he's clapping and he's just cheering everyone on. And it's just, it's, it's, what sets you apart. Like I said, because, you know, you've got the technical physical side, but so much of it is.

Christine Goforth(04:08.568)
Ain't that the truth?

Rob Johnson(04:16.709)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Bauer(04:35.923)
it's like spiritual men, you mental and all of that. so maybe you can talk a little bit, Rob, about how you approach with your clients that, you know, that mind body connection and how important that piece is.

Rob Johnson(04:39.077)
Yes.

Rob Johnson(04:52.538)
Yeah, in this line of work, you have the, let's call it the academic side, know, the science side, the nuts and bolts of like fat loss and muscle building and all that. That matters. That's very important. I found in my experience, that's not what people get caught up on. People get caught up on more of the behavioral, more of the mental, more of the motivational, more of the, you know, the energy side of it. And

Rob Johnson(04:52.538)
I found for myself that if I can tap into that and help people get out of their own way, everything else becomes easy. So I have never been the type of coach that tried to change somebody. I literally want to get alongside my clients and members and learn about them and maybe find those little gaps that can help them be better. And we're talking about habits.

Rob Johnson(04:52.538)
What habits are working for you? What habits are not working for you? How do you use motivation? Talking about motivation in a way that motivation is not gonna sustain you. Motivation helps you get going, but it's having good habits and having good strategies, having a good environment. Those things are the things that are gonna sustain you. So talking with my clients about that, I found has had a big impact.

Samantha Bauer(05:53.995)
Right.

Samantha Bauer(06:10.592)
Right.

Samantha Bauer(06:14.827)
Yeah. And you talk about habits too. know, Christine and I have talked a lot on the podcast about, you know, just making changes in your behavior when it comes to how you think, right? How, what, what you think, how you respond to, you know, challenges in your life, setbacks. And I love quite frankly, recently, and this is part of, of, of your gym delivery and that, you know, you said,

Christine Goforth(06:26.616)
Yep.

Samantha Bauer(06:43.283)
you send out messages and so one of the recent messages was that setbacks aren't failures, it's their feedback. How you respond to bad things, failure in your life matters and that's where those habits come in. And you also talk about next time you miss a workout or you go off the plan, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not over, just get right back on and it's...

Christine Goforth(06:51.15)
I love that.

Rob Johnson(07:00.87)
Mm-hmm.

Rob Johnson(07:08.858)
Right. Right.

Christine Goforth(07:09.667)
No.

Samantha Bauer(07:12.521)
I love this because it literally just connects to exactly what Christine and I were just talking about in the previous episode. We got a little bit more into the science and the neuro pathways and how you rewire the brain. But you talk about next time you go off plan or you miss a workout, pause, just recognize, okay, sit with it for a minute, reframe.

Samantha Bauer(07:12.521)
How can I learn from this? It's that reflection piece that Christine and I were just talking about. And then reset. Get back on track. And that's where the action is. And the more you can practice that, I mean, it's just more that's how you build that habit. That's how habits are based on neural pathways, like how you're going to behave and how you're going to think about things.

Christine Goforth(07:42.734)
Mm-hmm.

Rob Johnson(07:55.366)
you

Rob Johnson(07:55.366)
Right.

Christine Goforth(08:01.762)
Well, and also building the component of building trust with yourself that you know that if you do go off track or whatever it is that you have faith and you trust yourself, hey, we've been here before. We just go tomorrow or we do whatever it is, just course correct. not, is having faith and trusting yourself is so important.

Rob Johnson(08:02.17)
Right.

Rob Johnson(08:07.204)
Yes.

Rob Johnson(08:19.6)
Mm-hmm. Right.

Rob Johnson(08:27.046)
That's a very important word is trust because oftentimes people don't trust their process. So they'll go all in on this one strategy or this one thing, not believing if it's gonna work or not. And then I say it doesn't work and then they'll toss the baby out and they'll try something else. I'm of the mindset of get confident, not perfectly confident, but trust your process.

Christine Goforth(08:34.008)
Mm-hmm.

Rob Johnson(08:55.824)
Just get confident in it. And then if something doesn't work, find a little tweak to help you maybe change direction instead of trying to redo the whole thing. Because it's often like small little tweaks that can get you off track and a small little tweak that can get you back on track.

Samantha Bauer(09:04.789)
Yeah.

Christine Goforth(09:12.44)
Well, and I think that's kind of what sets you apart from other fitness coaches is that from, from hearing you talk, you are very good about meeting people where they are rather than having them try and close the gap. You meet them where they are and provide advice and tips and Hey, if you really like eating XYZ or you really hate working out in the morning, okay, let's work with that. Right.

Samantha Bauer(09:12.48)
Yeah.

Christine Goforth(09:41.164)
you're meeting them where they're at and then helping them kind of create that trust in themselves. So.

Rob Johnson(09:41.211)
Right.

Rob Johnson(09:48.615)
There's a lot of trainers in my industry where their approach is they try to get their people to fit their program. I'm the opposite. I try to take the world of fitness and health and make it fit that person because everybody's book is different. Everybody has a different life, different circumstances, different things, different preferences. So I try to, like you said, meet them where they are and

Christine Goforth(09:59.801)
Yep. Yeah.

Rob Johnson(10:17.99)
coach them along the way.

Samantha Bauer(10:19.797)
Right. Well, you hit on something too, Rob. You talk about confidence. And there's this concept that you don't naturally just have confidence. You have to have courage first. So if you have courage to try something different, courage to challenge yourself in a new way, courage just to show up at a gym, maybe that's not comfortable for you. But you have to have that courage to build that.

Rob Johnson(10:33.925)
right.

Samantha Bauer(10:48.971)
confidence. so confidence, trust, trusting yourself, trusting the process. And then once you have that trust, right, then you build confidence in it, you build confidence in yourself, you know, that you can do this. Well, and I love as you know, my favorite thing is just, you know, a badass, right, this whole badassery stuff. And so, you know, when you talk about a badass,

Christine Goforth(10:50.222)
Mm-hmm, yep.

Rob Johnson(10:50.266)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Christine Goforth(11:12.366)
Yeah

Rob Johnson(11:12.644)
Hehehehehe

Samantha Bauer(11:16.297)
I do encourage, you know, our listeners to check, you know, Rob out and obviously, you know, we'll have links and all that good stuff. He is a true badass when it comes to, you know, physical fitness. And so it's been really fun, you know, to watch your journey because you're modeling too, right? And so you're showing that how you're living this, you know, this healthy lifestyle too. But one of favorite recent post of yours, I think it was on Instagram. It's you said the weight was light.

Rob Johnson(11:32.326)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Bauer(11:46.421)
but the brain work was heavy. And I loved that. So talk, so you know what I'm talking about, right Rob? So tell me about that a little bit.

Christine Goforth(11:48.447)
Mmm. that's so good.

Rob Johnson(11:54.351)
Yeah, yeah.

Rob Johnson(11:54.351)
Yeah, I live in the gym, right? And people often think that working out comes easy to me and I'm always fired up and ready to work out. Most days I am, but there are a lot of days because I work in a gym environment where I want to go home and not do gym stuff, but I know I still got to get that work in. So sometimes it's more of a mental

Christine Goforth(12:20.974)
Yeah.

Rob Johnson(12:27.43)
of a mental game because sometimes I just don't have it. So sometimes it takes me to find some ways to like kind of trick myself. I'll, for example, I'll say, you know what? I'm just going to go and just do five minutes of something. I don't care what it is. And I'll just get my body moving. And then once I get my body moving, then my gears start kicking in and then I get the blood flow and then I can actually have a workout. But sometimes it's more of a mental challenge than it is a physical challenge.

Samantha Bauer(12:33.782)
Yeah.

Christine Goforth(12:46.136)
Mm.

Samantha Bauer(12:57.033)
Yeah, absolutely. And I think I told you this years ago, or I even asked you, said, how do you stay so up and so motivated? And you and I have talked about this before, I always say, we show up, hashtag we show up. Even on the days that you feel like not showing up, that's so the day you have to show up. And I was always just so admired.

Rob Johnson(13:14.256)
Yep, yep, Mm-hmm.

Christine Goforth(13:15.704)
Yeah.

Christine Goforth(13:19.628)
Mm-hmm.

Rob Johnson(13:19.982)
Yes.

Samantha Bauer(13:25.885)
your ability because I mean, let's face it. I mean, you're starting, you you've got classes at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., you know, and you've got people that are half asleep, you know, not totally thrilled that they're there at 5 a.m., you know, I'm one of them, by the way, and we've talked about darling Paul, my husband, and Rob knows him as counselor, calls him counselor, that's one of his, or easy money, I don't know, depends on the day, what Paul's being called at the gym.

Christine Goforth(13:35.566)
Mmm.

Rob Johnson(13:36.89)
Mm-hmm. It's cold, right?

Christine Goforth(13:39.606)
huh.

Rob Johnson(13:48.11)
Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep.

Samantha Bauer(13:54.337)
But I've talked about the fact that you he does your 6 a.m. Class and it's such a gift to me a gift of time and quiet so I can do my reflection and my gratitude journal and then I can wake my body up and and all of that so I can be there at 830 and I've got just a fun fun great group of people that I have that you know, that's a community that I adore but but it's just it it's

Rob Johnson(14:03.28)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Bauer(14:21.025)
It's really every once in a while I do have to go to the 6 a.m. because I've got something else going on and I I'm not totally happy about it.

Christine Goforth(14:29.302)
Yeah. Well, lucky, luckily Rob's energy is infectious and it.

Rob Johnson(14:29.478)
You

Rob Johnson(14:29.478)
you

Samantha Bauer(14:35.617)
You know what? You never regret coming because you feel, you just feel happier. You feel, I mean, obviously physically you feel good, you know, honestly, Rob, you, you, I love the fact that you just recognize the importance of energy and how infectious that can be.

Christine Goforth(14:41.751)
No.

Rob Johnson(14:57.413)
Yes.

Rob Johnson(14:57.413)
Yes, I learned a long time ago when I was at Bally's as a young trainer, we took a lot of sales courses at Bally's and the one thing that stood out was energy and they were talking in a sales situation, it's your energy that the customer is gonna catch, not what you're saying to them. And I just never forgot that. And also, like you said earlier, I know people don't like to work out but

Samantha Bauer(15:13.313)
Mm.

Samantha Bauer(15:19.883)
Yeah. Yep.

Christine Goforth(15:21.186)
Yep, 100%.

Rob Johnson(15:29.648)
They do it anyway. I know people who don't wanna get out of bed and be here when it's cold or it's hot. I get that and there's no judgment. So as a professional, my job, like my true job is to create a place where when they walk in the door, they, you know, they catch the vibe and it's like, okay, you know what? I didn't wanna be here this morning, but you know what? I got here and now it's a great time. So I feel the onus on me as a

Christine Goforth(15:35.629)
Yeah.

Samantha Bauer(15:36.703)
Yeah.

Samantha Bauer(15:49.844)
Yes.

Christine Goforth(15:55.982)
Yeah.

Samantha Bauer(15:56.0)
Yeah.

Rob Johnson(15:58.907)
professional to create a place that people want to be at. Not like, I gotta go to the gym, I gotta go work out. Like, I get that, but if I can make it fun for you, it's a win.

Samantha Bauer(16:02.976)
Yeah.

Samantha Bauer(16:06.389)
Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Christine Goforth(16:10.058)
make the fun outweigh the work. Yeah, yeah.

Samantha Bauer(16:10.293)
Well, and we-

Rob Johnson(16:13.159)
Yes, yes.

Samantha Bauer(16:15.241)
And Christine and I like to call it, know, high vibe-y. It's a high vibe-y environment, right? And I think, Rob, what our whole purpose here at Sisters of Attraction is to really just create a community of people that want to make small adjustments in their life to live in the lane of joy and gratitude just so that we can have that positive vibe.

Christine Goforth(16:18.19)
Bye, Vibe.

Rob Johnson(16:19.399)
I love that.

Rob Johnson(16:43.557)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Bauer(16:45.223)
and we can attract all the great things that are meant for all of us. And I think for me, what the most important thing about this work and why Christina and I continue to talk about this and get so fired up, by the way, just, could get on, we love this stuff. I mean, if we could just literally talk all day long about, you know, law of attraction and, you know, high vibe-y stuff. But really it's about...

Christine Goforth(17:03.022)
All day long.

Rob Johnson(17:03.878)
you

Rob Johnson(17:03.878)
you

Christine Goforth(17:09.4)
You

Samantha Bauer(17:13.631)
making an impact in others.

Rob Johnson(17:16.038)
It is, it is.

Samantha Bauer(17:17.599)
Right? You, you showing up for others at five o'clock in the morning and laughing and clapping and dancing and telling you, announcing people as they come to the door and through the door by name sets the tone for their day. And therefore they go out and have a positive impact on others. if yes. Yeah. Yeah. And.

Christine Goforth(17:33.463)
Yes.

Rob Johnson(17:34.873)
Amen, yes.

Christine Goforth(17:41.358)
Full energy shift. Full energy shift.

Rob Johnson(17:43.202)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes.

Samantha Bauer(17:46.913)
The fact that you talk about vibration, mean, we're all, we all have frequencies and all of that. And if we're in a state of high vibration, again, we can do good things for ourselves, but we also can make a huge impact in our community, in our own family. Christine reflected when she was early in this journey.

Christine Goforth(18:08.856)
Yeah.

Samantha Bauer(18:13.247)
you know, early on her husband and her daughter came to her and said, my God, you just making that minor shift in thinking has impacted how I approach my life. Right. And, and, you know, and I think that's, that's the line of business you're in. Right.

Christine Goforth(18:24.61)
Yep. Yeah.

Rob Johnson(18:29.336)
Yes, yes. Yeah, our energy is contagious. And I think if we want to be that person or people to have a positive impact, we have to own and be aware of how we're putting out our energy. Because it could be for the positive or it could be draining to someone else. So I think we have to stand in that place of knowing how we're showing up. And then

Samantha Bauer(18:45.739)
Yes.

Christine Goforth(18:45.762)
Yeah. yeah.

Rob Johnson(18:58.828)
using that as a tool to help someone else be better or help them have a greater day.

Christine Goforth(19:06.274)
Yeah, nailed it. Yep.

Samantha Bauer(19:06.421)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I love it. And I think we've talked about making tweaks in your own thinking to just do more of the positive. And in last episode, Christine explained the neuroscientists that said bad things or bad thoughts are like Velcro, like stick. And the good stuff kind of like slides through. And so you have to be very intentional to unstick the negative and plant.

Christine Goforth(19:25.773)
Yes.

Rob Johnson(19:27.408)
Yeah.

Rob Johnson(19:27.408)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Bauer(19:35.409)
and reframe and all the things, merited in the positive. And that connects back to your work, Rob, in helping people create healthy habits, a healthy lifestyle. And what you say in your head when you're doing hard physical stuff actually matters because you move your body in a different way instead of like, my God, I hate this. I can't do this. I love a lot, right?

Christine Goforth(19:38.132)
Marinate in the positive.

Rob Johnson(19:39.967)
Yep, yep, mirroring aid and positive, yep.

Rob Johnson(19:56.902)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Rob Johnson(19:56.902)
Yes. Right, right, right. Like it's, my gosh, I get to do this, right? Yeah.

Christine Goforth(20:03.01)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Bauer(20:07.969)
Right?

Christine Goforth(20:09.282)
I get to do this. I like to picture all the energy that's getting unstuck and being released from my body. All of the tension, all of the stress, all of the, whatever it is, all of the trauma energy that needs to be moved or unstuck, whatever it is. Yeah.

Rob Johnson(20:22.352)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Bauer(20:27.349)
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Rob Johnson(20:29.478)
That's the part that's really fascinating is when you start getting into the mental side of it, because then it carries you through the fitness. And in that process, you're learning and strengthening all those great things about yourself.

Christine Goforth(20:40.173)
Mm-hmm.

Samantha Bauer(20:47.611)
Exactly. Exactly. Well, Rob, I told you it would go fast. I mean, it did. It flew by, right? I mean, I'm telling you, we could just sit here and just, you know, geek out on this stuff and just get so high vibey. But we're so thankful that you came on today. And obviously we'd love to welcome you back. And I am so grateful that you're in my life. And I'm just so thrilled that we all can show up together.

Christine Goforth(20:52.332)
Yeah.

Rob Johnson(20:57.946)
Mm-hmm.

Rob Johnson(21:05.222)
I would love it.

Christine Goforth(21:06.455)
any day.

Samantha Bauer(21:16.13)
and exchange positive energy and make an impact around. So thank you so much for being here today.

Christine Goforth(21:21.976)
Thank you, Coach Rob.

Rob Johnson(21:23.046)
Well, thank you for having me. This was awesome.

Samantha Bauer(21:25.203)
Yes, well, we can't wait to welcome you back. So anyhow, this is Sisters-in-Law of Attraction. I'm Sam. Thank you so much for joining us today. We will see you next time. Bye.

Christine Goforth(21:32.372)
And I'm Christine. Thank you.

Rob Johnson(21:39.015)
Bye guys.

Samantha Bauer(21:40.617)
All right, we can still talk.