Thirty Minute Mentors Podcast Transcript: Fitness Guru Autumn Calabrese

I recently interviewed Autumn Calabrese on my podcast, Thirty Minute Mentors. Here is a transcript of our interview:

Adam: Our guest today is one of the most impactful people in the world of fitness. Autumn Calabrese is the creator of a number of highly popular workout programs, including 21 Day Fix, and her newest program, a revamped version of 21 Day Fix, 21 Day Fix Superblock. Autumn is a celebrity trainer, a major fitness influencer, and a best-selling author. Autumn, thank you for joining us.

Autumn: Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Adam: You grew up in Cleveland, of ways away from where we both live in L.A. And you went to Webster University where you studied dance. Your aspiration was to become a professional dancer and then things changed. Can you take listeners back to your early days? What experiences and lessons were most instrumental to shaping your worldview and to shaping the trajectory of your success?

Autumn: Yeah, oh, my gosh, I love this question so much. So I did. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in a blue-collar working-class family and grew up in a small Italian neighborhood. It's been a joke in my family my whole life that I came out of the womb, dancing, like, my mom didn't even make it into the delivery room with me. She had me in the labor room, I was always a ball of energy. I love music. Music has always moved me. I begged to dance as a little kid. I’ll try to give the short version. When I was about five years old, I woke up one day and couldn't walk. They didn't know why and I was rushed to the hospital. I was having an issue with my hip. I had so much pain in my hip. I couldn't stand up. I couldn't even sit in a chair. I had to lie in the backseat of the car to be driven to the hospital. I was there for a week. The long and short of it is the doctors never really figured out what was wrong with me, I just sort of got better. And because of it, my parents were really reluctant to let me do certain activities at a young age because since they didn't know what was wrong, they didn't know what could retrigger the injury or whatever it was. So I kind of always started behind the eight ball on the things that I loved because of it. So I wanted to do gymnastics. I was never really allowed to do gymnastics, I wanted to dance. But I didn't take my first dance class until I was 13 years old. And when you want to be a professional dancer, most of these kids have been dancing since they were three. So they had 10 years of experience on me before I ever stepped foot in a class. So my technique was probably never going to be the same as theirs. I had to come at it from a different angle and the angle I came at dance with and the angle that I come at life and fitness and how I train is all heart. I don't think I'm the best trainer in the world. I don't think I have all the knowledge. I'm always thirsty for knowledge. I'm always learning and growing. But I always say you'll be hard-pressed to find somebody with more heart than I do, that cares as much as I do, that wants it as bad as I do. I'll outwork anybody in the room to get to the goal because I've had to learn that at a really young age. And even when I went to college, I didn't get into my top choices. I didn't stand a chance to get into my top choices. I was never going to go to Juilliard. I was never going to go to NYU as a dancer. I went to Webster and I was proud to go to Webster University as a dance major. But I fought battles there too with our ballet master who was the head of our program. Just the fact that I wasn't a strong ballet dancer and that I loved jazz and hip-hop never sat well with him. That my passion was not in ballet my passion was in another area of dance. And I ended up with a lower back injury. I ended up with a bulging disc in my lower spine, I'm guessing the hip and the spine, knowing what I know now they're all related. And it has a lot more to do with my alignment than anything else. But I actually never finished my dance degree. I was one semester shy. And I was one semester shy because he let me know he was never going to let me graduate. In order to graduate I had to be cast in the final show. And it didn't matter how hard I auditioned or how many times I auditioned. He's basically in no uncertain terms told me, I won't cast you in this final show. So I was never going to finish my degree if I wanted a dance degree, and that's when I left and that's when I went on a journey to find something else and I didn't quite know what that was. But I ended up finding my other passion and it's fitness. And it's helping people on their health and their fitness journey.

Adam: So much to unpack there. And I want to dive into a couple of things that you shared. Number one is something that you brought up which totally hit home for me. You weren't a natural. But you were able to overcompensate for that because you left it all out on the field. You had heart in your words, the way that I describe it, for me is grit. I played baseball. I was by no means the most talented person. But there was no one who was going to work harder. There was no one scrappier, there was no one with more grit. And when you have that in you, it applies off the baseball field, it applies beyond the world of dance, it applies everywhere.

Autumn: Yeah, absolutely. Talent will take you so far. But persistence and that grit are what will take you the rest of the way through hard work. Somebody could have all the talent in the world. But if they're not willing to put in the work, they might get beat out by the person who's willing to go that extra mile.

Adam: 100%. You mentioned this pretty significant obstacle. Professor who says, I am not going to pass you no matter what you do. You're not going to pass. You're not going to graduate. That's a pretty insurmountable obstacle. And what did you do? Did you go around it? You didn't let that be the final chapter for you. You said, you know what? I'm not going to graduate. I'm not going to get my dance degree. But life goes on. I'll figure out another way. And I want to know if you could share with listeners, how did you figure out that other way? How did you discover what the right path was for you? And what advice do you have for anyone listening on how to discover what it is that they should be pursuing?

Autumn: Yeah, here's the thing, you can feel the pain of disappointment. But if you live in the pain, that's where people get stuck sometimes. And that's where you won't progress to the next thing and you don't allow yourself the opportunity to find what else might be out there for you. So I definitely let myself feel the pain. That was my dream since I was a little kid. I wanted to dance. I wanted to be a professional dancer. I wanted to come to Hollywood and I wanted to be in music videos and dance on stages and tours. And somebody was telling me that I wasn't good enough, and it wasn't going to happen for me. I think for me, I know this. I am Italian, and I definitely have a fiery personality. And I definitely have something inside of me that is like, I'll show you. And that has served me well over the years now. It doesn't always serve me well. And I have had to learn different ways to use that fire. But at 19, it served me well to let that hurt. And that anger fueled me instead of keeping me down and saying, I'll show you what I can do. And really it was more about showing me that I was in control of my destiny. Not this one person. This one person wasn't going to get to determine how I lived the rest of my life. And so it did. It took me time. I packed my little Honda Civic and I drove from St. Louis across the country by myself to Los Angeles. And I was here and I auditioned and I pursued acting for a while and I waited tables. I did all the things I actually got my sag card, it was self-discovery along the way. It was basically paying the bills while I figured it out. And people kept saying like, well, you love to dance, why don't you teach dance? And for me, I knew I didn't want to do that. It's not that I couldn't, I didn't want to. I had so much hurt and so much anger around what I had experienced that if I was going to dance again, I needed it to be for me and not for somebody else. But I do it. I did. And I do love the idea of helping people and inspiring people and moving my body and I'm not really somebody who does well sitting at a desk. And so I did sit at a desk. I was a casting director's assistant for about six months and it was the longest six months of my life. But while I sat at that desk and did that job, in the spare moments of that job, I thought about what I wanted to do, and I researched things and that's when I started thinking about personal training. And I decided I wanted to give that a shot. And when I said okay, I'm going to do this. I didn't look for the easiest certification. I actually looked for the hardest certification. I wasn't going to go back to college for it. I had already done three and a half years. I actually had quite a bit of anatomy and physiology under my belt from being a dance major. So I ordered my first certification from the National Hill Academy of Sports Medicine. I spent four months studying that book and learning that book. And as soon as I got that cert., I hit the ground running. And we're in a very different time. Now, this was 15 years ago when you really had to hustle. I made business cards, I made flyers, I took ads out in the newspaper, word of mouth, you did what you had to do to find your clients. But even in those first few training sessions, even in those first few months, I quickly realized how much I loved it. And that I could have not a passion to replace dance, but that I actually was going to be lucky enough to have a second passion in life. And I still love dance. And over the years, I even got to put out a dance program with Beachbody known as Country Heat. And that program was very cathartic for me. And it was a healing process because I had to go through all of my emotions in order to create that. I had a lot of blocks around what I was capable of as a dancer or not capable of as a dancer, and what I was good at and what I might not be good at. But in going through all those processes, I never really settled into defeat. One, I got to heal myself and two, I got to grow. And I got to help more people. And I got to find the love and the fun and dance again. But even more, so like I said, I've discovered this other passion that I didn't know I was going to have, which is fitness and nutrition and helping people on their journey with it. So the takeaway is that you have to be open to a second path, or a third path, you have to be open to more than one way of achieving your dreams and living an extraordinary life. It doesn't always work out the way you think it was going to, sometimes it works out better.

Adam: Be open to more than one way to live an extraordinary life. I love that. Know thyself. I don't know if they spoke about the Maxim of Delphi in dance class. But number one, know thyself. Before you can effectively lead others you need to be able to lead your own life. And the journey that you shared, this great journey of self-discovery is a journey that everyone needs to go on. It's never too early, it's never too late. And it really comes down to developing comfort in your own skin. A few things that you shared that I really want to highlight for listeners. You had this desk job right away, you knew it wasn't for you. And you immediately started to try to figure out what is for me. And you stumbled into personal training. Try new things. And when you do try new things and go all in, when you decided to pursue personal training, you said I'm going to pursue it at the highest level. And you did. Be open-minded to different opportunities. In life, we're going to discover that there are lots of things that we enjoy, not just one thing. You have this great passion for dance, you have this great passion for fitness. And it's such a beautiful story about how you've been able to ultimately marry the two.

Autumn: Yes, as I said, it's just been this journey of finding myself and saying, I'm going to do what is best for me. I guess, marrying it and finding that path. I don't live in a place of fear. I know that I can step into something and try it. And if I quote unquote, fail, or don't like it, I can just as easily step out of it. And so many people, I think they decide once they step into something like I can't change the end of there are so many reasons and people will be disappointed in me and I'll let people down or how will I pay the bills. And of course, we need to be able to pay the bills. And of course, we don't want to disappoint anybody. But I really don't want to disappoint myself. And I can always find a way to pay the bills. So you got to be brave enough to go after it and be willing to fail forward.

Adam: I like that. I like that a lot. Autumn, can you share with listeners what your day looks like? What is your daily routine? And what do you believe listeners should incorporate into their daily routines to reach peak performance?

Autumn: So I will say this, I have a very specific morning routine and nighttime routine and what the rest of my day looks like. It really just depends on what's going on. Work-wise, you know, I am in the middle of a filming schedule. So my routine right now looks very different than if I wasn't filming a program. I'm up at four o'clock in the morning. Right now normally I wouldn't get up till seven. But believe it or not, whether I wake up at four in the morning or seven in the morning, if I wake up in L.A. or Florida or wherever else, I still have a theory, a similar morning routine. I'm up, I'm in bed, and I basically wash my face, brush my teeth, and put my workout clothes on. That is it. That is the first five minutes. I go downstairs, I have a big glass of water to start my day. I make myself a matcha latte. I make myself a really healthy breakfast. My breakfast always has healthy protein and it has healthy vegetables. And it usually has some sort of complex carbohydrate. So that first 30 minutes of my morning, that's setting me up for my day. Once I make that matcha latte, I allow myself time to sit down, enjoy my breakfast, and drink my matcha. There's just a moment I'm by myself because my son who's 14 sleeps in usually. So I get to have a moment of quiet and gratitude for the day and for what my day is going to be and reflect on that and sort of organize what's going to happen. When I'm done with breakfast, I'm in the gym. That's the next thing. My workout is a non-negotiable for me. And even if I have a rest day, which I do take one to two rest days a week. If I'm on a rest day, I have a golden doodle. He's basically the size of a mini horse. He's huge, he needs a good long walk. So even on my rest days, if I'm going to rest I still get up I still put on the workout clothes, I finished my breakfast, and Buddy and I go out for our walk. I still move my body which is still part of the morning routine. How you start your morning really sets you up for how your day is going to go. If you're constantly hitting that snooze button, if you're rushing, if you're running out the door without food fuel, if you haven't just taken a moment to center yourself and your day, your day is probably going to feel really chaotic. And I think a lot of people tend to start their day that way. They don't really have a morning routine or the morning routine that they have established is just that rush, rush, rush, asleep to the last second rush, rush, rush. And then they're rushing through their whole day. And they wonder why by the end of the day, they're crabby or burnt out and exhausted. So my morning routine I have and then whenever the work is done for me and that, again, can be very different times. Sometimes I'm really lucky that work is done by two or three and sometimes work is not done till eight or nine o'clock at night. But I sit down to dinner with my son, we have a good meal together, we talk about our day, that's very important. I need time to connect with him. I need time to unwind from my day. I have a little nighttime routine. I have an infrared sauna at my house that I love. So more often than not again, the infrared sauna, that's my quiet time, it's my time to unwind. I will usually take a hot bath, read a little bit of my book, wash my face, do my skincare routine, and I'm in bed by 10 or 10:30. I have a very set bedtime routine and waking routine. I figured out what my circadian rhythm is and what my body likes. And I really try to stick to that. Everything else in the middle of the day can be super crazy. I can be in rehearsals, I could be in meetings all day, I could be in my gym writing a workout for four or five hours at a time, or I could be working on writing a book, it really just depends. But that morning and that nighttime routine, that book ends my day. It determines how I start my day, which can really affect my mood, and it determines how I end my day, which can also affect my mood. So if you really want to have that peak performance, waking up, fueling your body, calming your body, quieting your body not living in chaos. And then the same thing at the end of the day. Doing the same thing that can really set you up for success. If you have no plan, it's very hard to get to a goal. They basically say a goal without a plan is just a dream. Right? So you got to know if you're looking for peak performance. What's your plan to get to peak performance?

Adam: What are your best tips on nutrition and on fitness? And how can anyone optimize their health?

Autumn: My very best tip is not to overcomplicate either one. We are really bummed barded right now with information, so much information, not so much wisdom. There's a lot of information out there try this diet try that diet. Cut this out because I got that at Whole Foods, watch your portion sizes, right? We don't need to overeat to find balance in our macronutrients. That means protein, healthy fats, healthy carbohydrates, go easy on the desserts and go easy on the alcohol. Nobody's saying you can't have them, but we don't need them in excess. So it's the over-complication of nutrition that I really think starts to confuse people. That's why I created my nutrition program Portion Fix to just try to take it back to the basics and be like, guys, you don't have to give up food that you love. Like, let's just watch how much you're eating. Let's pay attention and have some balance with all the food groups to make sure we're getting the fruit, make sure we're getting the veggies, make sure we're getting the water, more water, less alcohol, less soda, less excessive amounts of sugar. And the same thing for fitness. We're in this era where on social media, it's so fun to see people who have incredible strength and flexibility and can do all these crazy moves. And we think oh my gosh, to be fit like that I have to be able to do those moves. And that's not necessarily the case as well. Not even not necessarily, it's not the case even a little bit. The basics work. Move your body and break a sweat. It could be a walk, it could be a jog, it could be a bike ride, you could swim, pick up some weights, you don't have to do crazy things with the weights, bicep curls, shoulder press, bent over rows, push-ups, calisthenics work. There's a reason why, you know, if you ever watch how they train some of our military, it's all bodyweight. There's a lot we could do with our own body weight. You just need to get up and move your body. You don't have to overcomplicate it. That was one of the beautiful things about my original program 21 Day Fix. It was simple fitness meaning moves that people could understand that weren't crazy footwork. It wasn't gymnastics routines. It was as simple as 30 minutes. I give you a modifier in case you know, you're a beginner and you've never done it. I show you how to push yourself. And we combined it with simple nutrition. So that people just understood like, wow, look, if I don't have to starve, I actually can eat and eat a good amount of food and feel really good at the same time. It's that simple. It's keeping it simple. Stop overcomplicating it. But also, we got to stop making all the excuses for why we can't do it. Because we absolutely can. We can go to the grocery store and pick healthy food over junk food, we don't have to go through the drive-thru. It's not even affordable. People used to say, well, it's more affordable. It's not even that anymore. It's more affordable to cook for your family at home. It takes a little more time but we've got to decide what the priorities are and our health and feeling our best. That's what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about six-pack abs, I'm not talking about big bulging biceps, I'm talking about your health so you feel your best. The aesthetics are sort of the after-effect of focusing on feeling your best. And if you focus on feeling your best, it actually becomes very easy. You just ask yourself a simple question. If I skip this workout, am I going to feel my best? By the way, sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes your body does need a break. And you do need a little extra sleep. But more often than not, we should get up and move our bodies. If you ask yourself when you're about to go for that second or third slice of pie. Is this going to make me feel my best? You probably know the answer. Probably not. And if you just ask yourself that simple question. It's not a deprivation question. It's what's going to lead me to feel my best.

Adam: So much of it is just not overcomplicating things and understanding that at the end of the day, the basics work. The basics in everything in life, whether you're talking about fitness, whether you're talking about leadership, whether you're talking about business, whatever you're talking about, lean on the foundations, understand the foundations understand the principles. And once you master the principles, all right, it's great to try to find an edge here and there. But don't do it to the detriment of giving up on those very basics. Because at the end of the day, that's really where the most important work takes place.

Autumn: Absolutely. You can't build a beautiful house on a shaky foundation. You could but it'll probably fall apart. You know. So it's the same thing, right? Yes, the foundation is key.

Adam: So much of what you do is centered around motivation, motivating others, motivating yourself. How do you motivate yourself on the days that you don't feel motivated? And what can leaders do to effectively motivate and inspire the people that are leading?

Autumn: It's such an interesting question. And I think I have an answer that not many people have. I think we lean on motivation way too much. Motivation comes and goes and there are a lot of days I'm motivated. There are a lot of days I'm not motivated in the context that we're speaking about it in. But here's the thing, I have a purpose. And purpose will always lead to consistency, right? There are plenty of times when I wake up and I'm not in the mood to work out. But I have a deeper reason than just, I'm motivated to work out, right? I have a purpose. I'm here to inspire people. I'm here to show people what consistency looks like. I do it for my own personal health to feel my best. I do it to show my son and lead by example because he may or may not do it now. But he's watching that mom just makes it a part of life. It's not I have to, it's that I get to. I get to get up and move my body. And that feels really good. So we got to stop relying so much on doing things on the day we're motivated and instead do things from a place of purpose. What is it that you want in life? Knowing what you want in life, knowing why you want it. You've got to know your why. And then you'll be able to figure out your how. But so many people are just like, well, I want to be healthy. Okay, why? Why do you want to be healthy? Because when you know why it's a lot easier to get up and do that workout, it's a lot easier to make those healthy food choices, and it's a lot easier if you're running a company. And you know what the goal is for the company to say, okay, here's our goal. Now, here's how we're going to get to it, you have a purpose. If your only purpose is I want to make a million dollars. Well, what do you plan to do with that million dollars? Why is it important that you get to that million dollars? What does that million dollars get you? Do you get to do more philanthropic work? Do you get to spend more time with your family? Do you get to help take care of somebody in your family? What does achieving that goal do for you? When you know what your outcome is that you want, it gives you clarity and clarity is power. So that's where you got to work. Your reasons come first, your answers will come second, and your purpose will provide you the drive much more than motivation ever will.

Adam: I think they're so intertwined. And your advice, which is to really zero in on purpose, whether it is identifying your purpose on the days that you don't feel motivated, whether it is as a leader, truly getting everyone on your team, to understand the purpose behind whatever it is they're doing. Whether it is something small or something big, it's essential. So I really do think that they go hand in hand, it does come down to asking yourself, why does this matter to me? Why do I care? Why is this important? When you have that answer, even on the days you don't feel motivated, you're able to get to that place.

Autumn: Absolutely. And then there will be days where you do have just so much excitement and motivation. And that motivation could be coming from anywhere. And like it's just an extra boost. It's an extra boost to that purpose. 

Adam: Yeah, 100%. So much of your success has been built around your ability to effectively communicate. Communicating one-on-one as a personal trainer with clients, communicating as a super trainer on-screen with millions of people. What do you believe are the keys to effective communication? And what can anyone do to become a better communicator?

Autumn: Listening to understand, instead of just listening to speak, that's a really big one. Thinking through it, right? Like thinking through what your thoughts are before you just start saying things. And I will tell you this, I am a work in progress in a lot of areas when it comes to my communication skills. I get excited and I like to say things and sometimes I'm not always the best listener but taking that time taking that beat, again, understanding the point you're trying to make and being open to hearing other ideas and how can you combine the ideas. But when you speak from a place of passion, when you're speaking from a place again of trying to serve and help all of that, I think changes how you're communicating. Paying attention to the tone that you're using, the volume that you're using, the words that you're choosing, all of that affects your communication, and how you're using your body language. These are just, we don't even recognize sometimes that that impacts what people perceive what we're saying. I actually just was listening to something the other day that when we're communicating, only about 7%, of how we affect people, is with the words that we're saying. The majority of it is coming from other things, it's coming from our tonality, it's coming from the way we're holding our body, the way we're matching somebody else's energy, all of that impacts our communication. So being aware of all of it. If you're excited, they're going to be excited. If you're in a negative place, people around you are probably going to be in a negative place. I've always said I'm never the trainer that will scream at somebody to try to get a result. Because I know that wouldn't work for me, that's not an effective communication tool for me. In fact, I'll probably shut down or we're gonna end up in a big screaming match because I don't respond to that. So understanding who you're talking to, and what they respond to. It's not about you, especially if you're trying to influence and I don't mean influence in a negative way, not like influence or trick but like, if you're really trying to help somebody, you have to understand them, to be able to effectively influence them.

Adam: Understand your audience. Yeah, listen, have a mindset that starts with serving others. So much of what you shared is centered around being authentic, being self-aware, and having passion, caring about what you do. When you truly love what you do. When you care about your work. When you care about what you're talking about. It's going to show. It's going to be reflected in your voice, it's going to be reflected in your communication. Absolutely. Autumn, what can anyone listening to this conversation do to become more successful, personally and professionally?

Autumn: Take massive action towards your goal. It's what it comes down to, it's knowing what you want, and taking massive action towards it. And understanding that the first thing you do might not be the right massive action. And so you change and you try again and you try again, and you only fail if you quit. So know what that goal is, and go for it. Go for it with everything you got. Don't be afraid to fail. Fail forward. Because failing is just a way of learning. You only truly fail if you quit. So go for it. And know that if you try one thing, and it doesn't work, try another thing and try another thing. And you keep trying until you get there. That's how I've ended up where I am at. I came to Los Angeles and in my mind as a young 22 year old I think I was when I came here. You know, I thought, oh, it's gonna take, you know, six months, a year, two years most and we're gonna be living this life and doing all the things and it took about 13. And if at any point along those 13 years I had given up or said, oh, well, this door was closed in my face, I failed. I give up. I'm not going to try anymore. I wouldn't be where I'm at today. Sometimes things take longer than the timeframe we put on them. If it's really your dream, if it's really your goal, you don't give up on it. You wouldn't tell your kid to give up on it. When your baby's learning to crawl you don't give them a date to learn to crawl when they're learning to walk. You don't say okay, well, if you haven't learned to walk by the time you're one, I guess you're never learning to walk. They keep trying. You keep trying until you achieve it.

Adam: Autumn, thank you for all the great advice, and thank you for being a part of Thirty Minute Mentors.

Autumn: Thank you so much for having me.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally-recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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