#26: Andrew Coates on Maintaining Integrity in Fitness, Your Duty to Get Off the Sidelines, and the Roadmap to Social Media Growth

Andrew Coates (@AndrewCoatesFitness) is a personal trainer, podcaster, writer and now speaker from Edmonton, Alberta. He’s one of the most genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to and interacting with in the online fitness world to date. He is the host of his own podcast, The Lift Free and Diet Hard Podcast and is a regular contributor to notable fitness websites such as T-Nation, TruCoach the PTDC, Generation Iron and others.

Andrew has had significant, organic growth on social media over the past 2 years and is leaving behind a roadmap for others to follow. The secret? Create relatable, shareable and high quality content, and have genuine interactions with followers and colleagues. No gimmicks and tricks… surprise, surprise.

We spoke a great deal about the importance of getting off the sidelines. Meaning, your duty to contribute to creating good content and spreading good messaging in a time and place where there is so much nonsense out there. It’s one thing to complain about the “influencers”, but if you’re not stepping into the arena, you’re not helping to solve anything. In fitness, and any other industry the “good guys” have a duty to maintain the integrity and contribute good work.

Andrew and I spent most of the episode speaking on the business and behind the scenes end of things in the fitness industry, but as usual these are all translatable to your physical fitness, your life outside of the gym, and any other industry you might work in.

You can connect with Andrew on Instagram, check out his podcast, view his upcoming seminars and speaking engagements as well as view his writing and publications on his website here.

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