Change Your Life With Kettlebells - Jodi Barrett’s Pathway to Peak Performance

Jock Putney: You're working with people all over the world. What you've been able to accomplish in terms of training people on how to actually use movement and mindfulness to achieve, like, a higher level of existence—it's impressive.

Jodi Barrett: I started training kettlebells and they grounded me so much that I was like, "Okay, this is something I think I can expand on." And it's just that piece of "I can move my body." Mobility is the secret sauce to it. Sure, the heavy lifts are great, but when you're able to move better, it's like that's your keeper forever.

Jock Putney: You sort of unlocked a door.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. And understood, like, something was revealed to you because you'll have that moment where you hit a wall and you're like, "Okay, what do I really need to figure out and work on here?" So, that was my moment. I think it was actually the day I got super brave. You can help so many people. You have to move first, right? And just the foundations of that. So, you know, it's just getting people to do that first step.

Jock Putney: Jodi Barrett, welcome to the Pathway to Peak Performance. It's so great to have you here, my friend. Welcome all the way down from Canada.

Jodi Barrett: Thank you so much for having me.

Jock Putney: It's our pleasure.

Meet Jodi Barrett Charity: Dress for Success Jock Putney: So, you know, each episode we have a charity that the guest chooses and I'd like to know what yours is.

Jodi Barrett: Uh, Dress for Success.

Jock Putney: All right. Dress for Success that helps people who are sort of—well, you could explain it better than I can.

Jodi Barrett: Ah, well, it's the idea of when women enter back into the workforce, you help them dress. And the whole idea behind it is when you put on something that you feel comfortable in, good in, it helps, right? So, it's just empowering.

Farm Girl Roots Jock Putney: Well, you are an interesting person and have a very interesting story that starts in a remote area of Canada, Saskatchewan, which is—that's the wilderness, right?

Jodi Barrett: It is out there.

Jock Putney: So, take us all the way back. Tell us about your story and then we'll get to where we are today and your pathway to peak performance.

Jodi Barrett: Oh, all the way back. Yeah. Oh boy. Yeah. So I grew up in, like, a rural community on a farm and literally the town, I think, had 20 people in it where I first started going to school. Eventually that closed down and I had to go to the bigger school. And yeah, so it was like I—I'm a farm girl by trade, by heart, I guess. A country girl. I grew up and some of those values, I didn't realize how much they were embedded in me and helped me grow what I grew today.

Then I went off to school, went off to university, and the whole path of, you know, you grow up in this small area, you go to the bigger school, bigger university, you get married. Kind of where everything my pathway led. And I stayed at home for 11 and a half years and then I got divorced.

Divorce and Reinvention Jodi Barrett: Yeah, it's like I always say the Coles version because it seemed like such a long thing, but it was—I went from university to like—I had this plan I was going to not get married right away, become who I needed to be, but that kind of got diverted. I kind of feel like I did things my way but completely different.

I got divorced in 2013 and kind of went through a whole transition of making the decision, having the moment of knowing I need to make the decision, getting in that space and going—I wasn't really happy with how I felt about myself personally and then realizing I made this huge decision that affected so many people in my family and I'm like, "I have to turn this around."

So, I launched my first company at 41, which was crazy because it involved flying to New York City. I just decided that I would get certified, but I knew before I got on the plane that I wanted to get her to hire me. That was my plan. Yeah. So, I sat on that plane just kind of going, "This is what I'm going to do." Honestly, before I got on when I was sitting there, I thought—I wasn't sure how what the turnout would be, but I was comfortable sitting on the plane knowing that it was the step.

Jock Putney: You're making the effort.

Jodi Barrett: Yep. And it was like I knew it was a piece of it. I wasn't sure. Well, I wasn't sure I'd be sitting here today. And it just kind of snowballed from that. All of it. The insanity of day one to here.

Jock Putney: We all feel like we have a plan in life or sometimes a lack of a plan and then something pulls us through and takes us—you know, some people start their pathway to peak performance at an early age, some people come to it later in life. The notion of growing up and having some values and understanding who you were and then really getting in touch obviously in order to make those types of decisions to dramatically change your life and those that are around you—it's pretty serious. And so it's not something that you just made up, I'm sure, like one day you're giving this a lot of consideration.

Gym Mirror Wake Up Jodi Barrett: Oh yeah. Like I often talk about the story about in the gym one day when I was standing there and my kids were all in school. They're school age. So I had, you know, I stayed home so I went and I would train at the gym. And I remember the day I was like standing there looking at my reflection going—it was such a disconnect and a connect all at the same time because I was like, "Oh, she's super strong, that woman that I see there." But everything in the room felt heavy. And I didn't work out that day. And that was the day I actually—I left. I went for a walk and I was like, "Okay, need to make some changes."

Because I always liked training. I learned at a very young age that I didn't connect the piece about how training helped, but I learned at a young age that it helped me regulate and that if I, you know, I was having something that was bothering me, I would go for a run. I learned that at a really young age. And then so that day in the gym, I was like kind of terrified because I'm like, my one go-to, I didn't execute, right? And but I think, you know, if you follow people who do fitness, they often—they'll extreme fitness it for a while if hopefully they figure it out, right? Because you'll have that moment where you hit a wall and you're like, "Okay, what do I really need to figure out and work on here on here?" So that was my moment. I always say it was like I'm like, "Oh, I broke down that day." And I'm like, I think it was actually the day I got super brave to go, "Okay, what do you need to do?"

Jock Putney: You sort of unlocked a door.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. And understood, like, something was revealed to you, like, "This is the new path forward."

Jock Putney: Yeah. And I have to go do that now. Even though it's a tough one. Yeah. So, in your pathway to peak performance, you're doing all the things that you think you're supposed to do when you come to this point in time where you go, "No, no, no. I have to go do this new thing, which isn't going to be easy." Uh, I often say in the pathway to peak performance, we have to break the mold of what came before in order to actually achieve the new, the next sort of level of that. Interesting. So, you go to New York.

New York Kettlebell Leap Jock Putney: Let's talk about that.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. Um, actually found this person on Instagram is how that came about. I was Muay Thai training at the time. She did kettlebell. She brought both together and I was like, "Okay, this is what I'm going to do." Most people thought I was crazy. They're like, "Oh, you are having the biggest midlife crisis, Jody. What are you doing?" And I was like, "I don't know." Like, I started training kettlebells and they grounded me so much that I was like, "Okay, this is something I think I can expand on." And I wanted to get certified.

And the idea was, you know, I wanted to work for—because I wanted—I had a moment in time where through my divorce, when I was going to go look for a place, I couldn't sign a contract for an apartment because they're like, "Well, you haven't worked." And I was like, "Oh, 11 years of your life staying home." I was like, "Gutted." So when I went to New York, it was like, okay, if I can do certifications, help women so they have something, not so that they're going to leave because—I mean, you know, it's not my intention of like, "I'm going to work with women and you're going to, you know, abort," but I'm like, it's like when if you can give yourself something as an individual, as a, you know, as a mom, so that it's healthier because I saw that I didn't necessarily always do that. I was so focused on everyone else instead of self a little bit.

So, so yeah, New York was such a big—I mean I was so green. You know, you think about—I'm originally a prairie girl, grew up in rural. My biggest place I lived had 250,000 people living in it and I raised three kids and now I'm getting on this plane to go to New York. And I decided when I got on that plane, I would say yes. Well, not to everything, but you know, it was like that thing where I was like—

Jock Putney: That's good because you can get in trouble in New York.

Jodi Barrett: I'm good. But it was that moment where, like, she's like, "Do you want to teach a class on Saturday morning?" She has 30 people. And I'm like, before I even processed it in my head, I've already said yes. Out of my mouth. And I was like, "Okay, very interesting." Yeah. And then I went for lunch one day with some of the professional Muay Thai fighters. And I'm sitting there having—we're having sushi and I was like—I had this moment where I thought, "If somebody would have snapped a picture of this and sent it to me, like, 5 years before and handed it to me, I would have been like, 'What is she doing there?'" Right. So yeah, it was crazy.

Building a Global Business Jock Putney: Okay. So you come to this point in time where you're helping people, you're getting certified. You're developing a business. And it's a business. You know, what's interesting about your business is you're working with people all over the world. Um, like you have, like, clients in Dubai and here and there and all. It's—it's pretty wild, um, what you've been able to accomplish in terms of training people, um, on how to actually use movement and mindfulness to achieve, like, a higher—you know, a higher level of existence, I guess is the best way of saying it. What happens after New York? You're there, you've done this, you get this certification, you become a certified kettlebell coach, correct?

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. And then she's like, day two, she shows up and she's like, "Okay, talk to my husband and we're going to hire you. So, you'll go back to Canada." And so, I would train for her. So, I went back and I did that. And then about a month in, she phones me one day and she's like, "Well, do you want to buy the Canadian region?" I remember the day because I kind of—I screamed in the kitchen. And my kids are like, "What's wrong?" And I'm like, "Okay, well, this cool opportunity." And I'm like, again, I had zero idea of what that looked like, how that looked. How was—I couldn't even sign a contract to get an apartment. How am I now going to pull this off?

And that's how I say—I'm like, again, it's not always the middle part. I don't always know when I'm doing it, how I'm getting to it. It's like, I'll shoot for this and we'll see where we end up. So, you know, I got certified in March. By October, I had found two business partners and we launched the Canadian region. So, yeah, it was—it was a ride and I feel like I—I don't have a business degree, like, from school, but I do have one after.

Pandemic Pivot Online Jodi Barrett: Yeah. So, I did that and then crazy things all happened. So, I certified, started doing that, and then the pandemic hit just when I was getting ready to sign papers for the first studio location because that was my plan. I'm like, "Now we'll do studios and we'll do one here and then I'll do one in this next province," grow it like that.

But then the pandemic hit and it was like, "Okay, sign the papers. Moving forward still." Because I always thought, stand around too long, you get stagnant. So, let's just keep—keep going. So, did that, but then that allowed me to have the online piece, the hybrid, right? How cool is that? And that—that may not have come along had that piece not—that obstacle not happened.

Jock Putney: Yeah. Like, it gives me goosebumps, actually. Right. Yeah. It forced—it forced you to call a—or to pivot and and it's a huge—and it wound up being just this huge thing.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. And it ended up where I ended up, right. We did the studio for how many months? Well, for three years, three and a half years. And then that summer before I decided I had to make a change, I—like I launched my book and I knew I had to decide between which part of my business model was working, which wasn't. And it was the online piece that I looked at and I'm like, "Well, it's existing just there." So, and I always wanted to move, which was also crazy because at 48 I was like—I closed the studio location and I rebranded. I took nine women on a retreat and then I got back home and everyone's like, "Oh, Jody's just packing up, taking a little break." And I knew that I was leaving and not coming back. But um, you know, I wasn't—I wasn't—I was processing all of it still. And I was like, "Okay, I'll just keep that piece to myself for a bit." My kids knew. But um yeah, so that was my rebranded in 2023 in December and it was the piece, the online piece.

Mobility and Body Awareness Jock Putney: I think one of the things that's really great about what you do, um, is that oftentimes in fitness, in the fitness community or whatever you might want to call it—one thing that's really interesting is that oftentimes you need a lot of equipment, you need a lot of space, you need a gym membership, you need access to—but a lot of people can't get those things. They can't make all of those things line up.

The work that you do and the way that you train people with very limited equipment—you know, you do a lot of push-ups, you do a lot of pull-ups, you do a lot of this using the kettlebells in all sorts of different ways and all this. What's really interesting is the multiple planes and the mobility work that you do, which now as I get older, I realize, hey, the mobility stuff may be the most important. So, you really have created something. You've brought this new piece to the table that gives people access to something that they might not have been able to do not that long ago. And that's so exciting because they can actually get fit. How does that feel?

Jodi Barrett: It feels so great because it's just like this piece that when you believe in something so wholeheartedly like I do—like at home, I'm like, "You can," and I know gyms are great. I had a—I had a studio, that piece of, you know, the community, but it's like you can do what you need to do. No excuses in your own space. You can build up the confidence. So maybe one day you do transition into a gym space, but it's removing that piece of, like, "I don't have time."

But you always have—there's always the begin because you don't need a whole lot of equipment. I saw a post the other day and there was somebody showing the big cable machine and showing a double tuck and I had a client send a message saying, "Hey, that's a double tuck with a kettlebell. We don't need all that space or that equipment." Right? So, and it's just that piece of "I can move my body."

Mobility is the secret sauce to it. I believe like when you train with me and it's like, sure, the heavy lifts are great, but when you're able to move better, it's like that's your keeper forever. And the other piece is you're teaching people how to connect with their body. Well, I'm 50, so I mean like—and it's okay that it's happening later because I think also that's a journey. But you're connecting in a space of, you know, when we're training, I'm like, "I need to know things like: Are you hydrated? Did you fuel? Did you sleep? Where's your stress?" And the last thing we check in is actually "How does your body feel in this very moment?"

So, you're creating that relationship where you're like, if you're heavy, life's heavy. I'll say go do this. You're not going to lift heavy. You're not going to beat yourself up today. You're going to slow this down, but you're still going to move with the weight or mobility, right? So, it's the ability to give that because I think that's a huge piece to people, like, online.

100 Pushups Daily Standard Jock Putney: Yeah, that's wild too. And you think about it now. We live in this world of fit, of trackers, right? And I, you know, I wear this watch to actually count steps more than anything, but I do track my workouts just because I want to see like, I don't know, it's just a competitive nature in me. But I think that you just picked up on something that is so important, which is being in tune with your body enough to know when, hey, maybe I need a rest day today or maybe I don't need to train as hard, just enough. Uh, in the medical world it's the "minimum effective dose," right? So it might be that day you—you don't need to train beyond—but you do have some standards. Oh yeah. You—you have some pretty hard, heavy-duty—I wouldn't say hardcore, I'd say heavy-duty standards, uh, where you'll—you'll—you'll see the stuff where it's like, "I still have my last 25 push-ups to do." How many push-ups do you do in a day?

Jodi Barrett: 100.

Jock Putney: 100? Every day?

Jodi Barrett: Every day.

Jock Putney: You've done a 100 push-ups a day since 2019?

Jodi Barrett: Mhm.

Jock Putney: So that's—um, okay, that's a lot. And why do you think you're in such bad shape? Yeah, I don't know. Okay, you say without a lot. Oh, that's hilarious. No, in all seriousness, that's really impressive that, you know, you could actually stay with that no matter what. Even when you're sick, you did it.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah.

Jock Putney: Yeah. You have a—a philosophy around that, too. When somebody's not feeling all that great, you say push through.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. Or not—like I mean, or you can break it up. So, it's—I just did a—we just did a 30-minute challenge with my crew swinging a kettlebell for 30 minutes, but they had to decide before what their rest time was going to be, right? So, it was like they do 20 swings—regardless it was 20—and then they had to pick either a 20-second rest or 30-second rest. And they have to decide this before. I'm like, "You can't halfway between—like, this is a decision," because you're teaching them—I just say, I love—I can relate everything to training too. Like when you talk about that, it's like you can learn so much from it, right? Because you're—you're teaching them to show up and be true to their word and that's the practice that we rep over and over.

So 100 push-ups. I don't sit down and do 100 at once. Like, I do 50 in the morning and 25. And but what's interesting is that people forget—like that group when we sat down and I said, "Okay, let's calculate what we did." And they're like, "Wow, we did like 700 push-ups." And I'm like, "Now, can you imagine if I would have turned on the camera today and said, 'Okay, we're going to do 700 push-ups in the next 30 minutes'?" They would have been like, "Yeah, no."

Small Promises, Big Wins Jock Putney: So, how powerful is that look back when you—when you go back and retrospect? Like the—you go back and take a look at, "Okay, here's what you just did over the last seven days, over the last 30 days, over the last 6 months," uh, with the people that you—that you coach, that you work with. How powerful is that for so many people?

Jodi Barrett: It's incredible because people tend to not believe in the capacity that they're able to do. Like, we always forget that we're so capable and it's just if you can break things down for people—those little moments—and then we can put them all together and share and it's showing up. So some of my shortest videos online are like 2 minutes specifically because I'm like, "You said you were going to train today. I don't care if you don't train 45 minutes, but you should care that you made a promise to yourself." And it's like building that piece of pride inside.

Hard Things Build Confidence Jodi Barrett: I always tell the story about my daughter. She bicycled down from her dad's one day to the studio, her and a group of friends, and she's like—the friends' parents came and picked them up and she's like, "Mom, can you take me home?" And I'm like, "Okay, I'll take you home. But," I said, "You got to wait two hours because I got two hours of work left here." And she sat around and hemmed and hawed. And she's like, "I'm—I'm going to bike back home." And it was so awesome.

She got home and she phones me. She's like, "Can you believe I did that?" She's like, "I did it. Like, I drove—I biked all the way down and biked back." And I'm so grateful that I had to work two hours because I would have robbed her of a something that taught her at a very young age what she's capable of. And I think so many times along the way we rob ourselves because we go easy instead of doing something hard to know we're capable.

Jock Putney: It's not easy to do the hard stuff. No. And people are afraid to get started. They don't know how to start.

Kaizen and Daily Growth Jock Putney: So that—that notion of, like, Kaizen, right? It's a term—um, Deming—so it's the notion of, you know, small, like 1% incremental efforts that compound over time.

Jodi Barrett: Yes.

Jock Putney: And we just get better and better and better and you're a prime example of that. And then you're also—we talk about Pathway to Peak Performance. So you've achieved peak performance—uh, you've done that. You have more than one business, but you also are sort of on this sustainable path. You have a pathway of sustainability now that—where there's a line. You—you—you upleveled and then you held the line. You push yourself up and I don't know—do you feel like that you're continuing to push to these new levels and then that's the new sustainable level, or there peaks and then coming back to sustainability, and how does it all work for you?

Peaks, Sustainability, and Burnout Jodi Barrett: Yeah, I think there's definitely peaks in there and but I think understanding the—the push is just different. Like, understanding that the pace, which is probably what it is. Like, I mean I'm pretty consistent and I teach my body that it's just my brain understanding that it's like, "Okay, just keep course," right? And then—but I do think you have to—you're always going to have to challenge yourself.

Jock Putney: Yeah. Because if you don't, you're not growing, right?

Jodi Barrett: For sure.

Jock Putney: Yeah. If you're not challenging yourself every single day, there's a point in time when—um, there are peak performers who overchallenge themselves and—and hit a burnout point. Um, and that comes in a variety of ways, uh, with different folks. But as you get older, you learn sort of what those break points are. And you start to put the brakes on, say, "Hey, okay, I got to—I got to back off of this a little bit in order to actually maybe take a rest day here instead of training straight through." So in your world, what's next? What's the big—what's like—you've got a bunch of big things that are going on. So what's the next big thing for you?

Building a Safe Training Community Jodi Barrett: The next big thing just—I think growing my online platform to the point where—like I've started doing retreats before and then I kind of just pulled back a little bit just because of the big—my big move and trying to get myself settled there. Just—um, just creating a space for people to—I think it's so important, like, in training to feel safe and heard. And I think because I've went through things in life, probably, that pushed me there when you feel like those are spots that you had moments in life where that wasn't part of your world.

So you really want to create that space for others and just—I work with so many women and men too that—most people, we all flourish when we feel safe in our training environment and there's so much to learn when you train. Like, I mean my kids always tease. They're like, "You relate everything to kettlebell," because I think because I can, right? It's just—it works.

Juggling Clients and Loving the Work Jock Putney: Yeah. Yeah. All right. So the online community is growing. More and more people are learning about you. It keeps—you keep more and more, uh, clients all the time. How do you manage? That's the one thing I'm curious about because you have these clients that are international clients and you're—you still do stuff where you work individually with people and then you have the platform itself. You have an app where people can go on and actually take courses. Um, but how do you manage all of that?

Jodi Barrett: Well, I think probably because I was a mom, I was multitasking for—for many years.

Jock Putney: Yeah.

Jodi Barrett: And I love what I do. You know, I—I don't know if I ever—I think maybe we talked about—the online auction was my first like after, you know, after I got divorced, I'm like, "What am I going to do?" And you're like—because I had stayed at home mom for 11 and a half years. Well, the first one was an online auction. Me and two other people were like, "Okay, let's do this. Let's build this."

And at 2:00 in the morning, I was pricing salt and pepper shakers. I think someone brought in 20 boxes. And I'm sitting on a concrete floor and I'm like, "Jodie," I'm like—I think I'm in my space by myself in this warehouse. I probably said out loud, "If I ever have my own business again, I better love what I'm doing because these hours are killing me." Like, it was like ridiculous.

So, and then I—I did—I left that because I was like, "This is—this is silly." And then I actually went and started selling leggings. So I went from—before Kettlebell Lady, I was like the "Legging Lady." The Legging Lady, Legging Lady. Then I used to have clients that I knew from that come in to train with me and they're like, "You'll always be the Legging Lady to us, Jodie." But yeah, so my online auction was the first my online, I guess, business.

But it was, you know, and I guess coming back to your question is: how do I just do all of it is because I actually just really love what I do and I love the kettlebell like—and like you talked about like a general practitioner. When I went in and figured out it was kettlebell, I was like—I like also like being really good at something. I actually practiced doing stuff I'm not good at because it's a good practice. But I wanted to be specific and the fact that I could do kettlebell—like I've tried—I every once in a while go back to conventional a little bit to see and then I'm like, "Oh yeah, that's why," because I can be super strong with kettlebell.

Why Kettlebells Work Jock Putney: You know, it's sort of funny when you look at the mechanics of kettlebell. The mechanics of what you're doing are truly incredible from a fitness standpoint. You know, in terms of becoming like a—a bodybuilder—and it seems to me like from a fitness standpoint and a longevity standpoint, it seems that that is—um, a—a phenomenal—like, that is like on another level. Like when you look at those swings. What are we engaging? You're engaging the entire body. The—I mean the core—that's like one of the the main things when you think about, uh, keeping your back in order, um, and—and your entire posture and how you carry yourself and just everything. Um, it's an incredible—it's—it's actually an incredible tool. So you really—you really specialized in kettlebells and it's really paid off for you.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. And I love the idea of it's rhythmic, right? So that you—like for me, before I was to go to a big meeting or something, I would swing a bell just to regulate, to ground, to calm. And the piece that people sometimes miss with a bell is that you have to think. So best way to get out of my day and my stress is to put a bell in my hand. Build a complex where I have to go: two swings, mid rack squat. I'm pressing—because I've forgotten about this because I have to come super present here.

And I think we also forget that as we age, we don't just want to build this muscle. We need this to stay clear, right? So my grandma, she played cards up until she was 96 and she was just a sharp little woman. And I always think it was because she played cards. So, not only when you swing the bell, you're mind-body connecting. You're recurring in relationship, you're regulating, and now you're like—you're super present because you have to be, you know.

And those are the days that like—if you have a super heavy day, I say go do some light, some mobility because maybe you just really can't connect in that moment. But I like—to me, I like—I know there's other things but I'm like: the bell is an ultimate piece of tool. And coming back to the safe piece: where are you most safe? In your home. No doubt.

Affordable Home Fitness Setup Jodi Barrett: Right. I think it takes such incredible courage. Sometimes I see people—we always, you know, it's always one of those things, the beginning of—the—the year, there's that period in the gym where you see this massive amount of people that start out and by February like most of them—half of them are gone. By March, you're back to the normal levels of where that gym was. And I always admire the people that are going in there, um, that aren't in shape, that are trying, they're trying their best.

And so it's like, you know, I feel—I always feel like the gym is a pretty supportive environment. There are a lot of people who just can't get over that barrier to walk into any—a gym, a studio, or whatever. But if they can get access to the right information from someone who's as talented as you are and start to utilize that, you know, whatever. It's—not an—kettlebells aren't expensive, are they?

Jodi Barrett: No. Like, I mean you can get one bell—like and because I do—I train in it. So I'm like, and then when they set up their studio, I'm like, "Well, you don't need a whole bunch of bells." Because the position and holds of a kettlebell will change your workout. And that's why I can guide people on, "You get this bell." I always say—people say, "What do I need for bells?" Well, what can you afford to do? Can you do one? Then this is what you're going to need. If you can do two, go here. Right? So, there's different ways that you can navigate that. But ultimately, if we were just to say, what's the average cost of any bell?

Jock Putney: Any bell.

Jodi Barrett: So, you can probably get a 15—well, I'm trying to think. I was in Walmart the other day. You can get a 15-pound bell for I think $25.

Jock Putney: $25? Right. $25. And then an online course and then a pull-up bar. That's not expensive.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. And push-ups are free.

Jock Putney: Push-ups are free. You can do them anywhere. Yours is a really comprehensive program. It's everything that you need all in one place. Um, and people have this opportunity to—to really dig into, uh, what it's going to take to get them from where they are in that moment to where they want to go. Um, that's powerful. That's like—that's an amazing thing.

That's one of the things I—I really felt when I first saw your stuff. I was like, "Oh, we have to have her on the show. She has to come be on the show." Uh, that's a long flight from Canada—Canada to come down here to be on this show. But um I felt it was super important. The reason being is that, um, you can help so many people. Well, all-cause mortality drops dramatically when we have fitness injected into it.

So when you can get somebody to break that barrier of "Okay, I can't go into a gym, I can't go to a studio, I can't go anywhere else, but I can do it in my safest place and I can do it with somebody that doesn't cost very much money. I could get access to an—an app and I can get trained, um, using this." That's pretty darn cool.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. My—when I did my 12-week program, it's my favorite one that I've ever done because it's like body weight first for four weeks. And it's because people will always say, "Well, I don't have kettlebells yet." Because they'll—they'll reach out and connect with me. I'm like, "Well, you don't need kettlebells yet." Because you have to be able to move first, right? And just the foundations of that. So, you know, it's just—just getting people to do that first step, right? And not in a way that's so overwhelming. Because people, like you said, January 1st, everybody starts hard. They go hard, but they—they don't know how to time manage, right? Like when you keep adding things into your day, something's going to fall off, right?

Jock Putney: Yeah. Yeah. Or people go—that's the other thing, because they don't know what they're doing. They go too hard.

Jodi Barrett: Mhm.

Jock Putney: And then they—they throw themselves off. I just think what you're doing is so fascinating and you bring such a positive energy.

Movement, Friends, and Gratitude Jock Putney: So in your Pathway to Peak Performance, um, there are times when life is hard. Mhm. Not everything goes our way. Where do you go? How do you handle that?

Jodi Barrett: So, the bell is always a good place for me. Movement. That's usually where I go and just—I've learned over time that to feel stuff, sit with it. Because if you don't, it just—it brews up. I used to have a rule with my kids. I'm like, "5 minutes, go set your timer in your room." So, I mean, whatever. And I've—whatever I teach them, I—I do myself. And sometimes it'll be like, "Well, I probably need 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes or more."

And just knowing that again, when you rep training, you're not just repping training, you're repping life. So you try, try, try—muscle breaks down, you're tired. What do you have to do? You have to rest. So it's just understanding that. And don't get me wrong, there are days where things are not always the easiest, but I think having a good circle of friends—maybe one or two, it doesn't have to be big. So, when you have those days that are heavy, they're—they're there to go, "It's okay. You got this. Get back up."

Jock Putney: Yeah. I think that—someone to be—that you can be completely honest with and really, like, call it like it is.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah.

Jock Putney: Um, we all have people, associates, right? But you don't—they don't really know you.

Jodi Barrett: No.

Jock Putney: And that person that you can actually say, "Oh, I'm feeling super hot," right? Where you can be completely real.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah.

Jock Putney: "This is what's really going on for me right now." Um, it's—uh, that's a rare thing and it's important to have that. Um, so in your Pathway to Peak Performance, you—when you get into those moments where it's tough, you're going to go to movement. Um, you're going to tap—tap in with some friends, uh, check your thinking, and then is there a third component, which is to sort of, like, just sort of pause and reflect and let things go where they go?

Jodi Barrett: For me, gratitude's big.

Jock Putney: Yeah.

Jodi Barrett: Well, I don't—there's no thinking about it. Every day I wake up, first thing I do is write gratitude. And I do it in the morning because it sets the tone for my day. And I can tell you that there's been days where I have literally written—I woke up and you're grateful that you woke up. And I'm grateful I woke up. And that has helped me tremendously on some of the hardest times.

And I want to share a quick thing of my daughter because I said to her the other day—this is probably a month ago—I'm like—I said, "You need to start adding gratitude at the beginning of your day." And then I said to her, I said, "But you might rep it a lot." Because I'm a rapper. Like, rep—I rep it. Said, because I said, "Sometimes I'll write the same thing."

And so we had a conversation not too long ago. And she's like, "Mom, I'm doing my gratitude." And I'm like, "Great." I said, "Is it you repping the same stuff?" And she's like, "No. I'm—like, I just want to be really super present." So I just sit with it and I really think about that exact moment. And I'm like, "Oh my god, she just taught me something." Because I was like, I get into the habit of repping things so much that it becomes a rep and not a present.

So I—I phoned her up and I was like, "Okay, you—thank you. You taught me." And today I said—so then I shared with her what, you know, what my gratitude was that day. But gratitude is a big one for me. Gratitude gives me faith.

Jock Putney: You know, that's great. I—um, that's a great takeaway. Um, if everyone were to wake up every day and write a gratitude list—you know, you think about it, right? We have clean water, we have a place to live, we have food. So, if we go back to, like, you know, Maslow's hierarchy of needs—so air, water, food, shelter, and as we go up through those layers all the way up to self-actualization—yeah, to be grateful, um, is incredible. I'm going to start—I—I'm going to do that. I'm going to start to do that, um, based on that because I don't do that now. To be grateful is a great place to come from and that hopefulness—and it gives you faith and—uh, a great outlook. That's tremendous.

Start Scared, Go Anyway Jock Putney: All right, last thoughts of—of, um, you know, hey—uh, what should people know? What—what—uh, what other than gratitude? What other—what's something that you want to say to the world?

Jodi Barrett: Um, would like to say it's okay to be scared to start something. Start it though. Just start. Just start. Most things that I've done, I've done terrified and I'm like, "I'm just going to do it." And I guess that's the faith piece. I always when I come to deciding about doing things, I always go ask myself, "Am I going to regret this?" And I know it sounds morbid when you say, "Am I going to regret this on my last breath?" And I can always decide right away. I'm like, "Oh, yeah. I would regret that." So, I'm going for it. You know, go for it. One shot.

Jock Putney: Regret it? And if you didn't—if I didn't do it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you don't—if you don't try, you never—you never know. There's so many people that—they get to a place and they say, "That's it. I—I'm—" and if they just push through. I've heard that. It's so crazy, right? It's like, um, I'm going to try until I just—if it doesn't—if it doesn't work out, well, it doesn't work out, right? There's an honesty in that.

Jodi Barrett: Yeah. Which is pretty powerful. Yeah.

Farewell and Channel Outro Jock Putney: Well, my friend, welcome to the United States of America. Uh, and thank you for—so much for coming down. Uh, that was a long trip and we appreciate you coming all the way from Canada to see us.

Jodi Barrett: Appreciate you having me and I'm hope we'll probably get to do some push-ups before we leave.

Jock Putney: Yeah, for sure. Without a doubt. Thank you. It's a pleasure. Hey, thanks everyone for watching the show. Please remember to like, comment, and subscribe. It really helps us out here at the channel and share the video with someone who might be interested in supporting the charity that our guest mentioned in the episode. Thanks again. We'll see you soon.