Self Love & Sweat The Podcast

Pilates & Yoga for Men, Being On Camera, Confidence & more with YouTube Star Sean Vigue

November 25, 2022 Lunden Souza Season 1 Episode 106
Self Love & Sweat The Podcast
Pilates & Yoga for Men, Being On Camera, Confidence & more with YouTube Star Sean Vigue
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In this episode, Lunden talks with Pilates Instructor for Men & YouTube star Sean Vigue all about the importance of pilates in our lives, how he got started on YouTube, how it feels to be on camera regularly and have confidence and believe in what you are doing. All this and more...Sean is so funny you're going to LOVE this episode.

Sean Vigue is one of the most followed yoga, Pilates, power yoga, flexibility training and performance enhancing instructors in the world with millions of followers in every corner of the world from beginners to elite professional athletes. He is a bestselling author including his latest major releases, “Pilates for Athletes”, “Power Yoga for Athletes”, “Pilates for Men” and greatly enjoys creating books which are accessible to everyone regardless of age and fitness level. Sean has produced thousands of online workout videos, a full DVD line, his own podcast and loves teaching at fitness conferences. The more he works in the health and fitness field the more excited and motivated he gets.

Mentioned in this episode:
VIDEO: Top 6 Core Exercises feat. Lunden & Sean
BOOK: Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin

Timestamps to help you navigate this episode:
(0:00) Intro
(2:47) How we met & previous collabs
(7:55) Vocal performance & singing opera
(9:32) Pilates & a dancing injury

(11:15) Responding to your body's whipsers

(16:46) Limitless possibilities

(23:01) Acknowledge the dog and move on

(28:07) Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25

(30:43) Loving to perform & be on stage

(34:54) 3 things Sean learned from theater

(45:16) Getting your brain in a state of flow

(47:56) Pilates & yoga for men...why men?


Connect with Sean:
IG: @seanviguefitness
FB: /seanvigue
YouTube.com/seanviguefitness
seanviguefitness.com

CLICK HERE for FREE 7 day trial of the exclusive SeanVigueFitness App

Support the show

NEW COURSE: Level Up Your Language & Your Life - How to go from talker to communicator (use code LUNDEN30 for 30% OFF) https://houseofnaba.com/collections/courses/products/level-up-your-language-your-life-how-to-go-from-a-talker-to-a-communicator

FREE Self Love & Sweat Monthly Life Coaching Calendar: http://lifelikelunden.com/calendar

One-On-One Life Coaching & NLP with Lunden:
http://lifelikelunden.com/vip

Connect with Lunden:
IG: @lifelikelunden
YouTube: https://youtube.com/lundensouza
LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lundensouza/
Twitter: @lifelikelunden

Use code LUNDEN25 for 25% off Snap Supplements: https://bit.ly/snapsweat

Use code LUNDEN25 for$25 off at Evolve Telemed: https://evolvetelemed.com

Lunden Souza: [00:00:00] Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections, break down barriers, and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host Lunden Souza.

Lunden Souza: [00:00:20] Hey, have you grabbed your free self love and sweat monthly calendar yet? This calendar is so amazing. It comes right in your inbox every single month to help you have a little nugget of wisdom, a sweaty workout, a mindset activity, just a little something. Something to help keep you focused and motivated and keep that momentum towards your goals. So every day when you get this calendar, you'll see a link that you can click that will lead to a podcast episode or a workout or something that will be very powerful and quick to read. And then you'll also see on the top left corner of every single day there's a little checkbox in the calendar. And what that is, is that's for your one thing. You can choose one thing every month, or it can be the same something that you want to implement and make this something that you can easily implement, like daily meditation or getting a certain amount of steps or water, for example, and staying hydrated and even taking your supplements. This can be something, if you want to get more regular, doing a particular habit and routine, you can choose what that checkbox means. So if you want your self love and sweat free monthly calendar delivered right to your inbox every month on the first of the month, go to lifelikelunden.com/calendar. Fill out the form really quickly and you will have your calendar and your inbox within a few short minutes. That's lifelikelunden.com/calendar Go get yours for free and enjoy this episode everyone. Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. Today's guest is Sean Vigue. Sean Vigue is one of the most followed yoga, Pilates, power, yoga, flexibility, training and performance enhancing instructors in the world with millions of followers in every corner of the world, from beginners to elite professional athletes. He's a bestselling author, including his latest major releases Pilates for Athletes, Power, Yoga for Athletes, Pilates for Men. And he greatly enjoys creating books which are accessible to everyone, regardless of age and fitness level. Sean has produced thousands of online workout videos, a full DVD line, his own podcast, and loves teaching at fitness conferences.


Lunden Souza: [00:02:47] The more he works in the health and fitness field, the more excited and motivated he gets. So I'm super excited to have you here today on the podcast. Sean This is not the first time we've connected and collaborated. We collaborated early on. For those of you that remember the  Runtastic fitness coach Adidas Runtastic days, when I was creating YouTube content for Adidas Runtastic Sean and I collaborated and we were just laughing about before I pressed record that I actually said his last name wrong on the collaboration because we were on YouTube and we were like, We basically wrote a script and then created the clips and then put them all together. And I called, said Sean Vague. And I remember I told them I was still haunted by it today, and I made sure I really did my homework. And you say it in a lot of your videos and I did a lot of your YouTube videos, which have thousands and thousands and thousands of views. And yeah, sometimes we mess up as interviewers. So I feel like it's made me better messing up your name the first time. Welcome. I'm so excited to have you here.


Sean Vigue: [00:03:44] It's a pleasure. Lunden You know, I remember before we did that collaboration many years ago when I was in Colorado and you were in Austria, I believe, and I purposely because Lunden is a very unique name also. So I went in, I think I researched your name and I listened to your videos just to get it just right. But yeah, that was always a collaboration. I always funny though, I thought it was great. And I remember I filmed out in the snow because it was the middle of winter in Colorado, so I did a whole bunch of exercises on my mat in the snow. But that seemed appropriate for some reason.


Lunden Souza: [00:04:17] Yes, And I know that and I just thought of this right now, so I'm just going to say it and then if it's available, cool. If not, great. But I, I know that there were some after Runtastic got bought by Adidas, we, like, deleted some videos and just rearrange things on the channel. But if we can find some of those videos we did back in the day, we should put the links in the description so people can watch and see you in the snow because that's how Sean and I connected. We we met because I was working at Runtastic in Austria. Like you mentioned, you were in Colorado and Sean was and is making these amazing Pilates, yoga flexibility, mobility videos for everyone and specifically geared towards men. And we connected and just yeah, like I said, wrote this script, created this video and collaborated in ways that were available then and now. It's cool to reconnect here. And so, okay, so in your bio, I mean, do people you said you've created series of DVDs, you have a podcast, so it's like you've been creating content in a way that serves people where. Do people still get DVDs? Do people do more of the YouTube videos now? Like how have you noticed that consumption from your your following overall? Because it's been super consistent.


Sean Vigue: [00:05:31] It has been. Well, you know, it ebbs and flows. This business is constantly changing all the time. I'm usually a little behind it, but I do it under the umbrella of my brand. So people who follow me understand I haven't sold a DVD in many years, but I did release. I'm looking at them right over the camera. I have them over there. Some of them displayed. I did about seven or eight of them when I used to live in Florida. They want to move to Colorado and they did very well. I would actually edit them on. Was it indeed? I don't even know if that's around anymore. The Apple editing software to do DVDs, and I sold quite a few of them. The problem was, is I would ship them a lot worldwide and it was a universal code that I had on the DVDs. But a lot of the times they just wouldn't work. So it's very troublesome. That's why streaming is definitely the much better route to go. Streaming is universal. It goes everywhere. The only problem is sometimes your internet speed or connection. But it was very fun. I learned a lot doing DVDs, how to make DVDs, how to reproduce them, how to hire out to somebody to do about 500 of them at a time. And at the time, you know, people were still buying them. You go to the stores, you go to Barnes and Noble and certain stores, they still had fitness DVDs. You just don't see them much anymore. They're kind of archaic. You can buy them on eBay, I think. But I still get requests once in a while for them because people play them and play them and play them. I like DVDs. I have a whole collection of DVD movies and shows still. I like those.


Lunden Souza: [00:07:03] Yeah. And I remember when I was growing up, my mom, yeah, we had a lot of VHS and DVD workouts and I would do them with her and it was fun and it was exciting. But so where did your I love your shirt, You guys can those watching the video, you can see. But those of you listening, you can't. Sean Shirt says Pilates makes me hot. So when did you realize that Pilates makes you hot? When did you start? And like, how did that journey of then becoming so. Yeah, purposeful. And like I wouldn't say passionate about, but it's like, really what you are and who you're doing. Yeah. What you are and what who you are and what you're doing in the world. Right. So how did you realize, like, okay, Pilates and yoga. This is the thing that men really need to lean into, people really lean into. And how did your journey start?


Sean Vigue: [00:07:55] That is true because it's kind of hard to separate the fitness from us anymore, isn't it? I think about it all the time. It dominates my thoughts all the time. All different levels of fitness for myself, for my business, where I've been, where I'm now, where I want to go. You know, I started I did professional theater. I was a singer, actor, reluctant dancer for many years. I went to college for theater, arts and English. I dropped the English degree because theater took up so much of my time. I started doing vocal performance and singing opera. And then I went out and just started doing professional regional theater all over the country a lot in Florida. That's kind of what brought me to Florida. And in doing so, theater is very demanding. It's eight shows a week with rehearsals. If you're doing another show at the time, you're always working with different people. You're traveling a lot. There's a lot of physical demands with the singing and the movement and the dancing. So I was always a weightlifter. Since high school, I was always doing weights. But when I started doing theater, I started taking a lot of dance classes because that was my weak spot. I was very heavy on my feet. I was a park and bar guy. They say you would stand and just sing. You have a big voice and I like to sing big opera or Les Miz or Phantom. So I started in my trips to New York to audition and to see people and hang out. I started taking dance classes and in those dance classes, and I always like to give a shout out to Broadway dance. And Sue Samuels, she was the instructor there. She was wonderful. And she started doing or we would do some a little bit of kind of yoga flow in the class.


Sean Vigue: [00:09:32] We would do some Pilates core work. I remember her saying Pilates. I'd never heard of it before. Most people mispronounce it. So I started doing those kind of workouts to keep me prime, keep me flexible, keep me mobile in while doing theater. And then back in 2004, I sustained a really bad back injury doing a production of Fiddler on the Roof down in Coral Gables at the Actor's Playhouse in Coral Gables, Florida. And I was out for like a week, just laying on the ground. I was doing this Russian dance thing where you go down low and kick your legs out and I like, strain my back. I'm not even sure what it was, my lower back. I never had that happen before, but I hadn't been doing much core work or flexibility training up to then. I was still in my twenties. So a long story short, after that injury, that's actually when I started doing more seriously, the Pilates and the yoga and the flexibility training because it was so awful. Lunden It was just awful. Someone like me to be sidelined like that. Everyone has a story like that. You just push too hard and eventually your body pushes back and it's not pretty and it teaches you a lesson. Hopefully you don't just keep going the same way, but you you start go to the fork in the road and go a different route, route where you realize you're mortal and you you want sustainability. You want to keep doing this for the rest of your life. You want to keep moving well. So yeah, that's when I moved to the Orlando area and I started taking Pilates and yoga classes and then I started getting certified in those classes.


Lunden Souza: [00:11:03] Awesome. And sorry I muted myself for just a second because maybe you'll hear a dog in the background.


Sean Vigue: [00:11:08] I hear a doggy. That's okay. I'm in Florida. Long hair. There was just a leaf blower outside for about 20 minutes, it seemed like.


Lunden Souza: [00:11:15] Yeah. I mean, I like the noises. Sometimes there's birds or That's kind of what I get for setting up in this spot here. But that's why I muted myself for a second. Yeah, I love that. What you mentioned about how you're, like, everyone has that story right or that moment. And it can be in fitness, it can be in other areas of our life to where it's just kind of, you know, you can't ignore it. Like you said, you push so far and then your body is like. And one of the things that I've realized and I really like to coach on is to help us understand and react to, let's say, respond to nurture on a little bit more the whispers instead of waiting until our body is, like you said, like you hurt yourself or something just knocks you out or pulls the rug out from underneath you to really be able to be in it for the long, the long game and longevity, consistency, those are words that I think about. Meditate on breathing and tension and awareness to. And that helped me realize that some of my go hard in the paint workouts all or nothing mindset. You know only one way of working out and it has to be harder and heavier and faster and whatever was actually potentially working against me, if I wasn't balancing it out with the flexibility and like you said, the core stuff and things like that. So I've definitely felt that in my body and I definitely realize the importance of the restorative core strengthening movements and styles of training in addition to some of the harder things.


Lunden Souza: [00:12:50] So that way you can be in it for the long game and do this fitness thing right. I want to be like in my eighties and nineties working out and moving. I always just feel so for me personally, I just feel so inspired by that, right? It's cool if you're in your twenties and fit and can do all this cool shit, but it's like if you're older and you've done the groundwork and I don't know, sometimes I see those memes on social media of like a 90 year old woman on the balance beam or doing all these crazy bar tricks. And I'm like some part of that heart. I want to exist in me in the future. Do you feel that way or do you feel like, I mean, you just keep going and you keep sharing and you're getting stronger? Like, what is this longevity look like? And I know I think a lot of us listening can probably, like, understand or think about like, yeah, yoga and Pilates being restorative. But like you talked about the core strength and preventing injury and a lot of those things. So how is that important for like our longevity foundation physically? And then also maybe like our mindset and kind of where you're at in terms of your fitness mindset, longevity, you know what I mean?


Sean Vigue: [00:13:55] Absolutely. Well, the mindset part was when I was about 28 or 29, I'm almost 50 now. And I when I got injured, you know, your mind goes to crap. Everything just blow up your mind, your body, how they're interconnected so much. Once one of them goes in a really bad direction, the other one's going to follow. And I was down and out and it's a horrible feeling just laying on the ground and you're like, I wish I was three days ago, you know, where I could walk and just take everything for granted. But, you know, the injuries and the setbacks, I learned to embrace them because, you know, little like I was working out just now and my my back shoulder blade was a little tight just because I haven't lately, I've been back on the flexibility training and doing the the massage and stuff, but I had been doing it for a while. So I realized, you know, I feel that in my body. But yeah, I want longevity. I love rolling out of bed in the morning, feeling good. I like to be excited about the day. I like to be excited about what I'm going to do for my brand, for my business, how I can reach people in a different way, unique way.


Sean Vigue: [00:14:58] Because when you're I've been doing this over 15 years now, it's really not that long of a span, but I've compacted so much into that. So there's thousands of videos, I've taught thousands of classes. So I'm always I want new ways to inspire myself and also to inspire people to get up and move and flow. Because as you said, 80 or 90, I'd like to just keep doing this. Why not? I can keep doing the the body weight training and the core training, Pilates, yoga, flexibility. That's the stuff that sustains us. That's what keeps us going. I use that as the center of my training. I do strength training about three times a week. I do a lot of other cross training, but the basis of my training is core strength and flexibility. It has to be to keep me pliable, to keep me moving, because that feeling of being rigid or tight or unbalanced, I like you and I hate that it's we we can't because we want to keep moving and flowing throughout the day. We don't we don't like to sit for long periods of time. If you want to kill me, make me sit for like 4 hours. That's what does it. I want to keep moving and flowing.


Lunden Souza: [00:16:04] Yeah, like that stagnates, whether it's physical or even in business or creatively. I think that you and I are probably very similar in generating that. So sometime and just like and I think that movement is helpful in that, right? Like there's moments where I feel like yeah, either blocked I don't know maybe, you know emotion like yeah, just there are certain things where movement can really help me move through other things and create momentum and other areas. So I feel like it's powerful that way too, when I think of restorative longevity, but also as a tool to help me move through other things or other challenges in life.


Sean Vigue: [00:16:46] It's amazing that what we do is actually a great it's great medicine for what we need in our minds and our souls and stuff. For a fitness instructor, for someone who takes their fitness business online as well and opens up the almost infinite possibilities. There's so many things to do with this business podcast, apps, training classes, videos. There's so many different avenues, different apps you can find that can drive you crazy. It's driven me crazy before. I've gotten much better at just tempering it down like Sean just cut it off for today. You're done. Because if not the old me, when I first started off and I'm glad I did this, but I'd be up really late every night just doing things, trying different things. I was so curious about it. But on the back end of that, you're not getting sleep, you're getting burnt out, you're getting frustrated, and then you take a step back like, Oh, none of this worked, but I'm glad I did all that because I learned so much. I'm glad I did a DVD line and experienced all that, taking boxes of them down to the post office and mailing them off. That's those are the things where you learn so much. You learn the ups and downs of the business. It gives you a lot of depth as far as when you turn that camera on to record a video, you can say, Well, I've been you know, I've been around the block a little bit. I've tried a lot of different things for myself and for whoever chooses to follow me.


Lunden Souza: [00:18:04] Yeah. Staying in your lane, especially. Yeah. With all the options we have available as creators and teachers and coaches, I sometimes I'm like, remember? And then I'm just like, okay, choose the one and then get really, really, really good at that one. And then if you decide to branch out, okay, great. And I love. Yeah, I just yeah, I love the consistency in what you've put out. I think your video content number one is is hilarious. Like not hilarious, but you're really your sense of humor is really funny and I love it. And there was a video that I watched. It was like day one of your 30 day yoga. So you have like Sean has so many great playlists and options for you. Like do some great stuff.


Sean Vigue: [00:18:45] I have a lot of content.


Lunden Souza: [00:18:46] And I'm your.


Sean Vigue: [00:18:46] Content freak.


Lunden Souza: [00:18:48] And you're just like, I don't know what you said, but you were like, Oh, do you like my greenscreen? But it clearly wasn't a green screen. You were like, this beautiful place. And you're like, Are the ducks real or not? Even the comments. Oh, the ducks. And I was doing you were doing like some and I was doing the stuff on the ground and doing the flexibility, mobility, and I was laughing. So I just thought, you know, sometimes I mean, I'll just say because I mean, this is what I what I think. And I think sometimes we don't get recognized and I think it's cool what you're doing because there's yeah, a lot of, I don't know, instructors doing different things. And sometimes it's like, okay, what makes someone great at what they do? And I think you're just super consistent and super clear and like who you are and what you think is like entertaining and helpful and funny. And I just think that's always really cool to, to watch your stuff. So I really, really enjoy it. You guys definitely have to check that out.


Sean Vigue: [00:19:38] Thank you. Oh, wait. One thing about the go for is I say greenscreen, but there's always a few people who really I think, well, it's just a comment. I mean, who knows? But they think I'm serious or I filmed other places like this guy is in front of a green screen and I don't know if they're serious or not, because I always like to have a nice backdrop, the woods or the lakes in Florida or in Colorado. I'll have mountains in Wisconsin, I'll have green forests and stuff. But some people really think that we just had a hurricane blow through here. Ian And those ducks are still out there, so who knows if they're real or not?


Lunden Souza: [00:20:12] Oh, my God.


Sean Vigue: [00:20:13] They're still out there. I went out there and filmed a couple of days ago and there's birds perched on the ducks, so that might give it away if they're real or not. But I mean, during a Category one going through here, the ducks are still out there. They will be here long after we're gone if they're real or not. We'll see.


Lunden Souza: [00:20:29] And I know I was.


Sean Vigue: [00:20:32] I hear record and I'm just myself. I love what I do. And I say this Lunden When I first started teaching back in like 2006 and I know you always have that thought in front of the camera, in front of a group of people like, Oh, wait, how do I teach? How do I act? And I said, Well, I really love this stuff. I'm just going to teach it as myself. That might not sound like a lot, but I know some instructors that just put on a different voice. When they teach, they feel a little uncomfortable. It's like, Don't just be yourself. You love what you're doing and. People will understand that and they'll want to follow you. They'll want to absorb that energy and stuff. And it'll keep you going as well, too, because you'll want to keep bringing something to the people that choose to follow you. So I yeah, filming is therapy for me. I love it. I love it. Thoughts just come out when you flow and move and you're outside. And this nice environment in Florida also and a lawn mower shows up and you have to decide whether to stop or just keep going. You know, it's really it's like theater. It's live. Even though I record it, it's still kind of live because you never know what's going to happen outside. I've had animal encounters, people encounters. I'm actually working on a book, my memoirs of being a freestyle fitness instructor. So there's just so much stuff every day these different things happen that are so entertaining. Yes. And that's what feeds me as well to the unexpected.


Lunden Souza: [00:21:55] I'm sitting here, like, laughing, looking up, like having these visuals of exactly what you're talking about. And I think, yeah, we could totally offer insight here because I think, yeah, I mean, not everybody listening might be creating fitness videos, but could be creating content in some way for your business or for whatever. And I remember like when I first started in 2012 creating content and it was like the equipment we used was different. The ability to even like see what you were filming was different. We didn't have all the smart things. And I just remember like being set up at the park and then not really realizing like it was going to be soccer practice. So it's like all of a sudden, like all these kids come out and you're just like OC, you know? And I remember me being so shy and like, so so yeah, embarrassed for people to see me filming or know that I was filming or here that I was. I remember like watching the video footage and just thinking my voice sounded weird to your point of like, Oh, just make it sound natural for me.


Lunden Souza: [00:23:01] I think I felt much more like a character on stage in the beginning than I felt like it was natural, like I do now. So for me, that did take a little bit of work and and a dance. But it's interesting because I think, yeah, that's important to think about. Like your persona that you are on camera is like not persona, but what you're able to show nowadays can be very authentic and very real. And I think that's also what helps with the longevity, is being able to even continually evolve and get better. And like you said, you always have the backdrop if things come in, it's like sometimes you have to decide if you're going to cut or whatever, and sometimes as we get better, we can make the jokes out of things that sometimes I remember. If, like, you know, there was a dog in the background, for example, today on the podcast, there was another, you know, another version of me, an old perfectionist version where I'd be, Oh my God, did the dog, did it ruin it? Should we start over? Is it you know?


Sean Vigue: [00:23:59] And you're like, Oh, I just we have to do it all over again.


Lunden Souza: [00:24:03] Acknowledge the dog and move on. Right? Like no one cares. Probably no one remembered the dog until I mentioned it right now. And so I think that some of that comes with it too, is just being able to learn your flow and your style and how to weave your personality into it and building confidence in the process, too. I think, you know, there's a lot of done is better than perfect when it comes to content. I think, especially when you want to be consistent, right? It's like sometimes, oh, you know, the camera tilted towards that last 10 seconds and what am I going to do re film it or are we going to just like, let it happen or we you know, I just think there's there's that, too. So, I mean, I just feel like there's so much I've learned from from confidence wise. And then just like creatively, like you said, now it's fun. Now it's fun for me too. I made a little time lapse and I posted it right before we hopped on of like my set up here and how quick it was just to, like, set it up and be like, Cool, we can do this and we can create value and do whatever. And so for me, yeah, I don't know. I just feel like there's so much growth and so many stories I think about, and maybe if anybody is listening, feel free to connect with Shawn or I or leave a comment below. If you're watching this video on YouTube of like, Yeah, are you showing up on camera, what's the funk feel like for you? Because I think we can identify with that funky feeling. And now it just now I feel like I don't want to say I don't care because I do care. It's just like it's more about the message rather than if I stuttered or said something weird or looked funny. Right? But for a while it could be really funky. So navigating that has been really funny. I love that you brought it up.


Sean Vigue: [00:25:36] I like what you said. You know, when you first start you have this. You always hear yourself in your head and you have this vision in your head and you think, okay, it's how I want it to go. And then you see yourself on camera and how different that is and how you listen. I really never watch my videos. I only, you know, I go through and edit them, but I know how it goes. I have it down to a science now, like, okay, the flow felt good. Sometimes I wobble a bit, which I. Like and like that builds character. I mean, I'm an instructor too. I'm always learning. I go through all the same stuff because some people will say, Well, and guys do a lot too. The comments like, Oh, this guy, I can't do that. And I always say, Well, do you practice it? Do you do it? I can't do that. It's like, well, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice makes the masters we say in German and mocked. Mr.. You practice all the time. So I love swapping stories with I always say there's a handful of us like you and I and a few other people who are crazy enough to take our fitness and launch it online, launch it on YouTube, put it all over the place, and then see what happens. You're always firing these videos out there, firing things out there, and then kind of waiting to see where they land and what happens, what kind of response you get. I've mentored a lot of people who are fitness instructors who are interested in getting into video, and some do, but a lot they really just talk themselves out of it.


Sean Vigue: [00:26:55] They they get nervous. They get really self-conscious. So it's that initial part like you were talking about, I'm going to start. You could say, well, you know, I maybe don't like the way I sound, but so what? I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep pushing, because if I don't do it, I won't be able to sleep at night. If I don't do this, it's going to bother me all the time. The regret of it, like, oh, you know, I should have done that. Now I'm ten years older. I can certainly still do it, but maybe I lost some of that drive and enthusiasm that I had. But the fitness ball, the snowball keeps feeding us all the time because it's, as you said, endless possibilities. And the comments I get and the reactions I get, they feed you and inform you and say, okay, I'm going to work on that some more. I want to do this. Nothing like getting a new idea, some new something to work on, a new project that gets me going. I love that because we got January coming up. That's harvest time for fitness people. That's the big time. You have about two or three weeks max in January, so I'm already starting to plan that what I'm going to do and leading up to December. And that's good for me because I'm such a spontaneous guy. Sometimes I miss the whole show because I'm off doing something else. And you dummy, you should have been planning this.


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Sean Vigue: [00:30:03] Live and learn. Right. It's a constant learning environment.


Lunden Souza: [00:30:07] Oh my gosh. Look at that. My What.


Sean Vigue: [00:30:09] Happened?


Lunden Souza: [00:30:10] Look at it. Watch. Hold on. Here we go.


Sean Vigue: [00:30:12] See? There you go.


Lunden Souza: [00:30:13] Done it. Just literally.


Sean Vigue: [00:30:14] Like that. Prove the point.


Lunden Souza: [00:30:16] Oh, here we go.


Sean Vigue: [00:30:18] Cool.


Lunden Souza: [00:30:18] For those of you listening, can't see, but those of you that are watching. Yeah, my camera just decided to, like. I don't know, I guess maybe there was a little bit off balance with my. My legit quick setup that I had here, but I love that what you said.


Sean Vigue: [00:30:31] That is perfect. What we were talking about, we just said it's fun, too. You never know what's going to happen.


Lunden Souza: [00:30:35] You never know, right? So my computer's still I mean, my microphone still connected and I just popped it back up. But anyways, that.


Sean Vigue: [00:30:42] Was very smooth.


Lunden Souza: [00:30:43] Very smooth. Going to do. Right. Okay. So I love what you said, though, about like, you can't not do it. Like, it keeps you up at night. Like you'd rather it's like, not that you want to suck, right? Because we want to serve with excellence, but it's like you'd rather like, need improvement than not put something out. At all. And I think. That drive is so important because, yeah, I mean, the comparison trap can be real and we can get in our own minds about what we could, should or what we missed or like whatever. And I think that's something I can definitely identify with, especially when I think about moving back from Austria, coming back to California. There are some stuff, Sean I swear that like I go back and watch. I did like some 25 day challenges, different things where I'm like, I don't remember recording that. Like that was such an emotionally challenging time. I was going through a breakup. I was like continuing to build my business. I just kept going because I knew that that's what needs to happen regardless of if I was feeling great or not. Like the people need the message, right As I'm working through it, I still want to be teaching. I don't want to go into hibernation like it was just a a very. Yeah. So when I go back and look at that, like you mentioned, sometimes I'm like, Oh yes, I want to continue to nurture and nourish me. I don't think I always need to go hard in the paint and I'm very thankful for that version of me that did some of the groundwork that pushed her limits and that like got shit done, quite frankly. Also, as a kid, I loved, I never was in theater, like in college or anything, but I love to perform. I did cheerleading. I was the lead performer in the shows at my living room where my mom used to do hair, so I would perform for all the people, the.


Sean Vigue: [00:32:26] Living room performances. Yeah.


Lunden Souza: [00:32:27] I was a professional living room performer with with filming. Right. So my dad, if I was lucky, would fill me with our, like, big, fat VHS tapes. I need to find those tapes there somewhere.


Sean Vigue: [00:32:38] Oh, I have a lot of those. Yeah, that's where we cut our teeth. A lot. If you remember camcorders and stuff, that's where you hit record. And it's showtime. There you go. You never forget that.


Lunden Souza: [00:32:49] Yeah. And if you mess up, you have to, like, rewind, Cut. Like, I remember trying to, like, make it so it's like a perfect cut. But do you think that. Like and you work with probably. I have friends too, in the fitness space and online space. I don't know, I guess. Yeah, I can think of a couple that she was like a professional dancer. I did a lot of performance there. Me and my professional living room performances and like to sing and do stuff like that too. Do you think like the performer in us has this drive to like, continue to create and do stuff like that? Like you said, it feels like being in theater and that's how I feel too. And it's not it's not playing a character because, I mean, yeah, it's me and the you know what I mean? Like, and it's just kind of like developing this practice of cultivating this creativity that's in front of the camera that is talking like all of that. And I mean, I find it so enjoyable even when I suck. And I watched a video of me yesterday three times, it was a workshop I did and just like critiqued myself and just like it was something new I had coached on before.


Lunden Souza: [00:33:55] So I wanted to go through and, and I found some stuff I kind of messed up on, a concept I like swapped. So I'm going to send, you know, just kind of go through and just kind of, yeah, just improve and want to be even. Yeah, I don't know how I was trying to bring that full circle, but I just kind of want to go in and yeah, be better and show up better. And I think that part of that is the. You know, performer feeling and, you know, like, I get excited about that and I don't think everybody does. And I think also everybody has an opportunity to share their message online, regardless of if they're a professional living room performer, opera singer. Right. Theater major like you. Yeah. Do you think that helps us? Do you think that there's something we can share that can help people that don't feel that way? Or what are you? I just thought of that right now because I was like, Oh, there's kind of some parallels. But not everybody is like excited when the five, four, three, two, one happens, you know, like how we get, you know, I mean.


Sean Vigue: [00:34:54] Showtime. You know, I, I've talked about this a lot is what I learned doing professional theater. You'll learn so much, so many different skill sets. Number one is how to be in front of an audience or how to be on camera, how to face, how to work your body, how to move your body, how to breathe, how to enunciate, how to speak properly, how to. Hopefully I don't do this all the time, but put good sentences together, well constructed sentences. And if you're teaching that, it goes with a flow that you're always teaching and a great flow and enjoyable flow, whether it's your what you're saying, how you're moving, what you're teaching, how the flow is. And it's always a flow in theater. It teaches you longevity. You're doing eight or nine shows a week sometimes. Maybe it's a very demanding show where you're singing a lot, you're moving a lot, you're interacting a lot, you're on stage a lot. And then a lot of times, as I said, if you're doing kind of a repertory theater, you might be rehearsing other shows. So you're rehearsing a show in the morning and afternoon and then you're performing at night. So I don't care what age you are. It's very demanding. It's a lot of time, it's a lot of presentation.


Sean Vigue: [00:36:04] So you learn your limits, you learn what you can do and what you can't do, especially vocally. That was very important for me. If you're doing where you have to sing a lot and you don't want to burn yourself out. I learned a lesson watching other people do that a lot. They get really emotional. That's why you got to keep emotion out of what you're doing a lot because emotion can push you into directions You may not want to go and blow out your voice or hurt your body. You don't want to get too emotional. And sometimes with the flow, you want to find a balance. So you're always looking for that balance. Theater taught me that whether I was doing West Side stories or forums or Oklahoma's or operas, that you want to find that balance. I did The Marriage of Figaro. It's a mozart opera, a very demanding I played Figaro that was in college and I had bronchitis when I did it, I had to do three performances and that was back to back to back. Even professional opera companies, you do a show, you have a couple of days off and you do another one. And even at I was 19, even at that age, I had to learn how to keep breathing and how to keep performing as my voice was just going.


Sean Vigue: [00:37:07] And I'm it's a three hour opera. You're in front of 1200 people and you have a full orchestra. And I'm 19. And you had I had to learn how to do it. I got through the final matinee with a little bit of voice, you know, But even how awful that was. Lunden, I hate it. It was awful. But I learned so much from I made it through and I felt amazing, was like finishing this massive race, like a triathlon or something with a leg injury where I could barely walk. But I made it through. But, you know, one of the chapters in my book you'll work on will be what I learned in Theater, how I learn performance, and how that perfectly melted into the world of fitness, where it satisfies so many of those cravings. I have to maybe be on stage, be in front of the camera to say, All right, lift your arm, and the whole class will lift their arm. Things like that that we that we enjoy doing. So definitely learn the basics. That's what I teach a lot. Somebody might have they want to do videos and that's great. But, you know, learn how to present, learn how to speak properly, to learn how to instruct properly.


Sean Vigue: [00:38:13] And that's tough. It it's a spark that will just happen. Maybe it won't happen. And that's okay. If I was really bad at this, I would not be here right now. I would have said, okay, I'm going to move on to something else. I just don't have it. Like, I'm not good at advanced math. Maybe I am, but my brain shuts off. But I'm very good at being in front of the camera and leading people and creating workouts and flows and doing stuff like that. That's something I've been gifted with, but other things I can't do calculus. I only want to try it. So long story short, I would say you learn how to use your body in space. You want to get out there, learn how to speak. Drives me crazy when I can't understand somebody or they don't instruct. They just demonstrate, but they're not telling us what they're doing. And I know sometimes I go off on tangents and I want to tell a story, but I never want it to sacrifice what we're doing. I don't want to sacrifice the flow. And as I say, Hey, it's my channel. If I want to tell that story, to tell that story, you can skip ahead if you like.


Lunden Souza: [00:39:10] Yeah, I as you're talking, I was like writing down some notes because some things that you mentioned I thought are so powerful. And I remember when I. First started personal training right out of college or like. Yeah, I started kind of in college, but then got my first job doing it for a personal training company that was local to the area I was living. And I remember like being so it was so challenging for me to be able to say what with words, what I wanted people to do with their bodies. And I was that annoying instructor that you mentioned where you're like half demonstrating. You don't have the words to say it. And I remember I remember the moment I realized that that was really affecting, like my confidence. And I was like, No, you're going to get really good at this. So I remember cueing myself, practicing the cues for others, listening to other instructors cue better. And yoga was a very powerful resource for me to take classes from good yoga instructors to hear them cue and be like, Oh, that subtle cue made me like change my hips. And now I feel exactly what they mentioned in that movement. So I think that's a whether you're online or a fitness professional, maybe new to the online space or even new to the space in general. Anyone listening who's new to the teaching space when it comes to fitness get really good at using your voice, not because you need to be on YouTube every single week like Sean or have a podcast like we both do.


Lunden Souza: [00:40:35] But like it's very helpful to be able to instruct someone and adequately describe with your words and then be able to demonstrate with your body. It's so helpful for people watching. And like, I don't think that, you know, I think people watching, they know if they like the instructor or they don't, or if it feels good for their body or they don't. But I think one of the reasons why people can feel very supported and connected is when they see what they're doing properly with their body through you, and then also getting cues that they can see. But then also they might not necessarily be able to see, but they might be able to feel right. Like sometimes the activation of your core, pressing your lower back into the mat, certain things, you don't necessarily see it like you would if you told someone like flex your bicep, right? You see things differently. So I think really working on my verbiage that was super helpful even on the webinar I watched or the workshop that I hosted that I rewatched of myself, I kept mixing up tactical and tangible. So I kept saying, I'm going to give tactical tips. And I was like, That's not the word. And in the workshop.


Sean Vigue: [00:41:38] I thought.


Lunden Souza: [00:41:39] I was correcting it. I was like, tactical, tactical, tactical. And then I just was like, What the freakin I said, I just did. I just didn't know. And so even now, right after starting in 2012, working on camera, doing stuff like needing a script to memorize and now, you know, hosting live workshops and sometimes slipping over my words and combining things and being like, Huh? Or I also get messed up a lot too, saying mindset shifts. I kept saying like, mindset and I like.


Sean Vigue: [00:42:11] Mindset.


Lunden Souza: [00:42:12] And I just yeah, that's what I just so it's helpful practice. And if I'm going to be saying something like Mindset shift regularly and workshops, it's fine if I mess up over my words, duh, and I want to get better, to communicate better because I think being able to communicate better, especially in fitness and showing up on camera or even in the classroom, right? We've both taught in person stuff too, and oftentimes the communication and the demonstration is very, very helpful and powerful to the cohesion of a group or of a class or anything. Right?


Sean Vigue: [00:42:49] Yeah. Instruction is there's a very I always reference this book by Steve Martin, the comedian, very, very good actor, very good writer. It's called Born Standing Up. And he writes about his 18 years in stand up comedy and he talks about stand up. And I equate this also to fitness, whether it's a video or a class says you're living in three different time periods. You're in the past because you're thinking about what you just did. You're in the present because you're thinking about what you're doing now, but you're also always thinking about where are we going from here? Any time you're teaching a class video, you're all, I'm always in those three planes of movement. They have to be together for it to all make sense. For there to be a flow, you have to know where you came from. Of course you have to know what you're doing right now. And you also have to have that part of your brain that's thinking, I see. I always see like a tunnel. You're seeing where you're going after that. You can plan out in your head, but there's always room for ad libbing and spontaneity. But that's the part I think that I always I don't think about anymore. I just do it. But that keeps that flow electric. It keeps it moving and keeps it going. I don't want to think, Oh, there's a wall coming up. I always think about the big expansion that's coming up.


Sean Vigue: [00:44:02] But you are you're in three different time periods all the time if you're doing it correctly, because that's how it's like the conversation we're having. We have to that's what we're always thinking about. Where have we been with the conversation? What are we talking about right now? And also keep directing it forward, Keep into an inspiring. Station. So I always I always think about that quote. I like that quote because no matter what I say, what I do, it keeps me always thinking about those three time periods and keeping it as smooth and effective as possible. And as you said, you want to keep. You owe it to the people who choose to follow you. I never take anything for granted that you want to keep delivering to them something new, something exciting, something that has great benefit. And if you can drop those, whether it's a flow, some new movement or something that you say or just a way of saying it or way of cueing, cueing is so important that they think about it because those revelation moments, those aha moments are so powerful. Something from 30 years ago you can still think about daily that somebody said or something you saw. I get a lot of inspiration from movies, obviously, because I quote movies a lot in my videos, but that's where I get so much inspiration from a great a great line like, Oh, what a great line.


Sean Vigue: [00:45:16] I like that. That makes you mull it over for a while. And I always turned it into my fitness brand. Like, how can I take that quote and what I'm feeling with that and put it into a flow, put it into something I write. How can I equate that? Because it's all connected that way. It all goes together. We don't really separate. Lunden doesn't you know, you don't say, Well, I do fitness over here and here's me over here. It's always connected. It's always that state of flow that we're in. I was explaining to my wife, we're very different brains and that's why we do so well together. But she does stats and numbers and I say, You know what? I'm not in that flow. It drives my brain crazy when I'm not in a state of flow, when I'm kind of stagnant and a lot of us just self imposed, our brains become prisons and they start telling you what you can and can't do when it's so dumb, you just say, Just go do it, just go work on it. So it's that constant state of flow I love to be in. It does. I don't have to be in it just for a few hours and then go off and do other things and feel very good about it. But I have to have that flow.


Lunden Souza: [00:46:17] Yeah, it's like very recharging, it looks like especially I can see when you say that flow, it's like your body even can aesthetically shift and kind of go like this. Whereas for someone else flow might be like, what? There's no structure to flow. Like, what do you mean flow? So the different brain types, I think acknowledging them, I.


Sean Vigue: [00:46:34] Have to have everything set up just like this. And that's a brain type. That's why we're saying about how to reach different people. People are inspired and sparked by different things, aren't they? It's so it's such a diverse group of people who choose to watch a video, so you try to make it as inviting as possible without being. You don't just want to hit one area. But I guess, you know, the way I think of it is like, Hey, I'm going to do this workout. Join me. You're going to feel and look amazing during and you're going to love it and it's going to keep you coming back for more. That's my basic philosophy. Do it and you will feel it. Don't read about it. Don't hear other people talk about it or read about it in my books, of course. But my books are designed to get you up and moving because they're full of exercises. I the theory after a while is who cares? Get up and move. Get up and do it. Yes. That's why when I talk about exercise, I just want to get down on the floor and demonstrate more. That's what I like to do. They just Well, let me tell you about the Pilates saw. Like, here, let me do it for you.


Lunden Souza: [00:47:37] Yes. And with the I mean, with exercise especially, it's like you don't you really feel it and can experience it when you move and when you do it. And so I love that about your books that you are like, yeah, see, Yeah, read about it and then take action and move. So take, do it.


Sean Vigue: [00:47:54] Get up and do it. Get up and do it.


Lunden Souza: [00:47:56] Yes, get up and do it. So okay, so your your books and I know we just have a few more minutes here to wrap things up, but I want to like I want you to share why Pilates for men and power yoga or I'm sorry, Pilates for men and yoga for men. I know that's been your focus. Is it because you are a guy? Is it because you found that, like many men were a little, like, not doing yoga and Pilates and you wanted them to be called into that space? And I know that because, I mean, I do your videos, too, like they're for everybody. And I know it's important to speak to who you want to speak to. So you're speaking to the men in this space, and what are you telling them?


Sean Vigue: [00:48:35] Well, my brand is for anybody, as you said, and I've I've had great success. Whenever I direct one towards men, I focus on hamstring flexibility, low back flexibility, quads, a lot of hip flexor flexibility, things that men may not necessarily have the strength in as much. But, you know, it's nice just to talk to guys because I still you know, there's so many guys are so hesitant to try yoga or flexibility training or Pilates. It just hasn't been brought to their attention. So I always think there's me and a few other other guys out there who are doing a really good job of branding it that way of putting in those kind of videos that invite the guys in, they might be a little more comfortable exercising with the. Guy. Again, it's just personal preference, isn't it? And but every time I do a yoga for in video, it always gets a lot of views. So there is something there. You know, you put a video out there and if it gets a really good reaction, like, okay, there's an audience for this, let's develop this further. And yeah, so I've had people say, Why do you only do workouts for a minute? I never have. I just do some and someone says, Oh, yoga, what is this yoga for men? I said, Well, a lot of times guys might want to be invited in. They might be looking for a guy like me to do something like this, or like my friend Dean Pullman, who does Man Flow Yoga or Travis Elliot.


Sean Vigue: [00:49:55] There's a few of us out there, yoga with Tim. There's like four or five of us out there in the world who who gear a lot of our yoga towards guys and other workouts. So that's always been big in my life. Classes. You know, the women always far outnumber the men. They're still very hesitant. A lot of guys say, Well, could you just do a class for guys Like just come to the class, You can be in the back. No one's going to watch you. It's okay. You can develop as you want to. So here again, yoga for men is always very popular, Pilates for men. I got to do a new series on that, and I always acknowledge and I get a lot of women who do those workouts, too. It works for everybody, but you got to give them the invite to come on in. And I think it takes away the stigma. They get nervous about it. I find a lot of guys like to train solo with stuff like that. They might go to the gym to do weights because they're more confident in that. But to go to a class, they might feel like they're going to be embarrassed or they're going to put them in front again. Everyone has a different view of it. But yeah, yoga for men and Pilates for men, that's been very successful for me.


Lunden Souza: [00:51:02] Mm hmm. Yeah. And I just I am so. I mean, I'm not a guy, and I agree with so much of what you said of like, Okay, well, this is the invitation. You're a guy. You're like, Yeah, guys want to be invited. Here's how we're going to show it. And they might not want to be in the class when feeling like there's a lot of women there. So the YouTube videos, the at home, the space to practice and build that confidence and strength is available when you can just click on a link and see Shaun's smiling face and funny humor and just kind of have a good time with movement. So this is super cool, so happy that we could, yeah, chat today.


Sean Vigue: [00:51:36] And once you do it, it's like, Oh, I get it now I get the movement that feels, that feels great. I'm actually like, I had this lower back pain and now it's kind of it feels so much better because I'm moving that area. I'm balancing it out. It's like you want longevity, do the flexibility, mobility, core strength thing, stuff that is so much and go for long walks. I love walking to.


Lunden Souza: [00:51:56] See.


Sean Vigue: [00:51:56] That's where I get so much of my ideas and.


Lunden Souza: [00:51:59] Same movement. Lots of steps. Lots of steps is always on the menu. Sean, thank you so much for your time and for being on the podcast with us today. It was so cool talking with you and let everybody know quickly. I'll put all the links in the description, of course, and show notes. But where can people find and connect with you? Your YouTube channel podcast Tell us all the things.


Sean Vigue: [00:52:20] Absolutely. Lunden Well, obviously you want to train with me, go to YouTube and go to Shaun V Fitness. And if you're new to yoga or Pilates or all the stuff we talked about type, go to YouTube and type in my name, Shawn V and whatever you want. Beginner Yoga, Beginner Stretch, Morning Yoga. I do a lot of morning yoga. It's very popular. So type that in. People always ask, Oh, what do you do? Any of these kind of videos? I'm like, We'll type it in the search engine. You'll find it. The YouTube page is great. You can also go to Shawn V Fitness dot com and order some of my books there or all of them I've written like nine I think and check out my app and a lot of other things too. Again, I'm a content freak. I just keep putting content out there. That's what I love to do. So there's no shortage of my stuff out there, for better or for worse.


Lunden Souza: [00:53:07] Yeah, I love that. Same, same. Cool. Thank you so much for being here, Shawn. You're awesome. Thank you guys for listening and connect with Shawn. You'll find all those links in the description and we'll see you at the next episode. Bye.


Sean Vigue: [00:53:19] Thank you, Lunden. My pleasure. Thank you, everybody.


Lunden Souza: [00:53:22] Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Self Love and Sweat the podcast. Hey, do me a favor. Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us a review. This really helps a lot and share this with a friend. I'm only one person and with your help we can really spread the message of self love and sweat and change more lives all around the world. I'm Lunden Souza, reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion, presence and purpose fueled by self love and sweat. This podcast is a hit spot. Austria production.

Intro
How we met & previous collabs
Vocal performance & singing opera
Pilates & a dancing injury
Responding to your body's whipsers
Limitless possibilities
Acknowledge the dog and move on
Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
Loving to perform & be on stage
3 things Sean learned from theater
Getting your brain in a state of flow
Pilates & yoga for men...why men?