Kelly Chall: [00:00:00] think about, think about carbs. You want fuel while you're on the mat, right? You wanna be able to move and all that stuff. So think about carbs. We... Protein is so important, don't get me wrong. Protein is the king of macros. But when we're looking at a performance part or performance lens, carbs are your best friend.
Riley: Today I have Kelly Chawl. She is a fitness coach, um, particularly running now, is that correct?
Kelly Chall: Yes, correct
Riley: from the Clearwater, Florida, and she is, um, been somebody that my [00:01:00] wife Lindsay has been in contact with over the interwebs for, for quite some time and just a very inspiring, uh, profile on there.
And so Lindsay's taken a lot from that. So I invited Kelly on here today because she's got a lot to, a lot to say and a lot to offer in regards to, you know, fitness and motivation and all the stuff that good coaches do. So Kelly, welcome to the show
Kelly Chall: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here
Riley: Yeah, this is great. So tell us who you are. What, where'd you grow up?
What'd life look like as a kid?
Kelly Chall: Yeah. So like you said, I'm Kelly Chall. I'm from Clearwater, Florida. I am a native Floridian. I've lived here my whole life. Uh, I was born in Orlando and then, uh, moved over to the Clearwater-Dunedin area, um, in middle school. So I've been over here on the, the West Coast for, for most of my life. Um, I am married.
It'll be 16 years this year, and we have two girls, a, uh, seven-year-old and a soon-to-be 14-year-old girl[00:02:00]
Riley: So you say Florida. Is, is the, is the whole Florida Man thing really true?
Kelly Chall: Yeah. There are some parts of Florida you never know what you're going to see on the side of the road.
Riley: It is a wild thing 'cause it, you know, when I first heard somebody say something about Florida Man, it was one of those things where I went, "You know, I do hear that term a lot." And, uh,
Kelly Chall: Yeah. The picture I get is think of a...
Riley: that
Kelly Chall: Yeah, picture a guy in like cutoff jean shorts, probably a mullet, holding a beer and like an alligator right next to him.
Riley: That's, that's the Florida man, uh.
Kelly Chall: Yep.
Riley: So in the area you guys are at, is, is there a lot of gators there?
Kelly Chall: There, um, there's kind of this joke where someone's like, "This is the way you tell if there's an alligator. Touch the water, and if it's wet, there's a gator." So basically any, any body of water there can be. Um, we are, like, 10 minutes away from Clearwater Beach, so we're more towards the, [00:03:00] towards the beach.
We don't have a lot of, uh, like, lakes and kinda swamps around us, but, like, middle of Florida, that's, like, gator, gator central
Riley: We have family in southern Mississippi and,
Kelly Chall: Oh.
Riley: But they, the gators tend to be mostly towards the coast. They, they used to live five minutes from the Gulf, and there was a
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: around that, you know, the swamps and bayous there. But
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: Now they've moved about an hour inland, like
Kelly Chall: Uh-huh.
Riley: and you don't see them up there, so.
Kelly Chall: Uh
Riley: Yeah, that's fun. That is fun. So what, what drew you to coaching?
Kelly Chall: Yeah. I, it took me a little while to figure it out 'cause I... So I went to school for education. I have a degree in, uh, exceptional student education, or special ed, and so I started my career as a emotional and behavior disabled teacher, so I taught, uh, middle school. EBD is the, the acronym for it. I taught that for a few years, and then moved into kinda [00:04:00] general population, um, teaching, and then I had my first daughter.
And then since then, I've kind of had a lot of little careers, but they all boil down to teaching and coaching in some way. So I was a teacher, and then I was a tutor, and then I was a doula, a birth and a postpartum doula, helping women through their pregnancy and birth, and then postpartum after that. And then from there, I went into fitness coaching.
I started, got my personal training certification, started coaching, um, outdoor boot camp classes. Meet me at 5:00 AM in a parking lot, uh, three days a week, um, in the mornings, and then in the evenings. I did that for a while, until I found a virtual kinda fitness and nutrition company, and I worked with them.
I started as a coach, and then moved into a corporate role with them for the last, uh, I was there for about five and a half years, kind of coa- being able to coach and train on a much larger scale with it being virtual. But all of them boil down to being able to help teach and coach people. I always say I love when you see that light [00:05:00] bulb that goes off.
Like, you're trying to tell someone something, and then you say it in a way, and then they're like, they figure it out. Or you just kinda help them get enough confidence to be able to know that they can do it. And then, um, I don't know, there's just something about seeing somebody, seeing somebody believe in themselves or actually seeing them see what's possible.
And so that's always kind of drawn me to the education, the coaching, the teaching kinda side of things.
Riley: That thing you just said with that light bulb moment, uh, that fulfillment you feel when someone's just... 'Cause you can see it, right? You can see it
Kelly Chall: Yes.
Riley: and all of a sudden it just,
Kelly Chall: Yes
Riley: and there's... And then from then on they're different. And I, I so identify with that. That, that is, you know, I don't know if you know, but I'm a, I'm a jujitsu athlete, right?
I play in that game and I, I
Kelly Chall: Uh-huh
Riley: and I love it. You know, I'll, I'll spend hours and hours and hours studying how to say something, like you just
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: such a way that it clicks with different people. But then [00:06:00] I find, like, it'll click with one person, but the person sitting next to them doesn't get it.
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: And then I have to phrase it differently to get that one to get it. So talk about that a little bit. What, what do
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: to try to cater to that? What things are you looking for in that, that, that student, if you will?
Kelly Chall: I think the biggest thing that I learned and then was able to implement when coaching is it's not so much about what I'm saying, but it's about what they need to hear. So instead of, instead of giving somebody some- giving them more things to do, it's asking more questions. And in my last role in that corporate position, I worked with a lot of coaches also that would come for advice, or we would have, like, workshops, and one of the biggest things that I would say is ask more questions.
Before you start to change a workout plan or change a nutrition plan or change the way somebody's going about something to get their desired outcome, ask them, because sometimes, a lot of times, clients are saying one thing, but they're actually searching for something different. [00:07:00] So kind of those layers of questions, of asking them, "Okay, why do you wanna do this?
Great. Why do you wanna do that?" And you kinda get a few layers down of the whys, and you can kind of from there, their answers, be able to rephrase the, the information that you're giving them in a way that, that helps them get to the real reason, if that makes sense, of what they're, what they're going for
Riley: Give me an example of that
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Let's say somebody says, "I wanna lose 10 pounds." Okay. Why? "Well, I wanna, uh, I wanna feel better." Okay. Well, why do you wanna feel better? "Um, I'm tired during the day." Okay. What would be, what would be better if you... How would your life be better if you weren't tired in the middle of the day? "Oh, then I would come home, and I'd have more energy for my kids, or I wouldn't wanna take a nap."
Okay. Well, from there, probably what you're dealing with, it's not so much you wanna lose weight. We don't wanna pull your calories back right now. We wanna make sure you're fueling yourself adequately, you're getting enough movement throughout the day to kinda carry over that energy. So you might [00:08:00] think your, you know, your problem is you wanna lose weight because you tie that to energy, but we wanna look at the other...
You know, you're not having as much energy because you're undereating, and you're underfueling. You're kinda running out of fuel by that second half of your day
Riley: That's a, that's a good point. 'Cause yeah, sometimes we always go to that like, "Well, I just need to cut my calories in order to
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: some weight in order to feel better." But sometimes... And I, I know that's a, a lot of... When my wife was, uh, in the, in that coaching program you're talking about,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: uh, that was one of the things is that fueling.
You know, you gotta, you gotta keep enough, you gotta keep enough gas in the tank.
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: Yeah. Do you, um, when you- you're talking about, you know, again, motivating people, do you find that... What are you looking for in someone to get started? Is it just their initial interest, or are you looking, is there something that you see that, that gives someone a higher probability, or you see a, a common factor between those that [00:09:00] will succeed?
How's that? That's, that's
Kelly Chall: Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's a really great question. I feel like a lot of times it boils down to, well, first of all, you have to have that drive, that why you wanna do it. You know, you want-- You have to want the outcome more than the comfort of, of not putting in the work. And I think in my, my coaching, especially now with my running coaching that I'm doing, the people that I see that are succeeding the best are the ones, they're very, um, not so much type A, but they're very much like, "This is what I'm doing.
Next, next, next." Like, they have their, their training plan, and it's that structure. They need that structure. But with that structure is the mindset work of that belief in, okay, this is your plan. It might seem overwhelming, but you are capable of doing this. What can we work on? We-- In my, in my coaching, we work...
It's kind of a, I call it a triangle. So we focus on training, we [00:10:00] focus on nutrition, and we focus on mindset. Because if you take one of those out of the equation, you're not typically going to be as successful, and our mindset will stop us way before our phys- Our mind will stop us way before physically our bodies will stop us, for the most part, especially when it comes to running.
We can talk ourselves out of, out of things before we actually need to. So it's, you know, having that, the mindset component to go with that drive is what I have found my clients that are most successful are the ones that will really work with me on those, like, those mantras. What do you tell yourself?
What is your self-mantra? What do you say when you're in the middle of something and you don't wanna keep going? What do you say when you don't feel like, you know, doing your training today? What are those things you're telling yourself? What are you identifying yourself as in order to be able to hit your goals?
So it has to be-- There has to be a balance, or at least a combination of that drive to wanna do that, but then also that kind of work with your mindset of being able to [00:11:00] sometimes just talk yourself into doing what you need to do
Riley: You know, you talk about talking yourself into something. I, I
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: Lindsay this morning, I was on a run Monday, and just hit that point. It was, it was... I got out late,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: I was already kind of past that, uh, that nutrition curve where I was a little over the hump, uh, blood
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: you... And, and so, and it was hot, right? It was a, it was a
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: and so I got out there, and I'm like, "Man, I could've went this morning when it was cooler." But I got, uh, to about two-mile point, and I started feeling that, just the fatigue, you know. That I was,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: as far as long runs go, that wasn't a very long run, but I started feeling it.
And I'm like, "Man,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: Like, "Maybe I should start walking." like, "You know, I only have a mile to go, so let's, let's just keep going." And it was like,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: the next mailbox and then the next
Kelly Chall: Yes.
Riley: But you,
Kelly Chall: Yes
Riley: that, that conversation that goes on in our head,
Kelly Chall: Yeah[00:12:00]
Riley: the thought came to me at that point.
I was like, "Yeah, this is hard, but it's not that hard, so
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: keep going, and I'll just try to think about something else until I get to the end." And
Kelly Chall: Yeah Is that what you're talking about?
Riley: that rattles around in our brain?
Kelly Chall: Absolutely, and I love how you said, you know, one more mailbox. I love using a visual, especially when you're kind of in that slog. You're, like, even in the middle of the run or, or you still have a mile or so to go. It's not like the finish line is right in front of you, right?
When we see our finish line, we're more likely to, that in, that last push, you know, that kick at the end to get there. But when that finish line is way out there and we don't see it, it's really hard sometimes to motivate yourself to get there. But if you can look ahead and say, "Okay, I'm gonna run till this driveway.
All right, I got to the driveway. I'm gonna run to the next driveway. Okay, well, I'm already here. I'm already doing this," you know, you just kind of talk yourself into it because we can easily talk ourselves out of it. So if we just flip, reframe what we're think- or what we're saying, then we have the power to either continue on or the [00:13:00] power to be like, "No, you know, this, I don't wanna do this anymore."
But I always tell people, like, you didn't come this far to just come this far. If you have gotten up, put your shoes on, and got out the door, keep going. You didn't g- do that just to walk out and then turn back around and go home. Like, you've already done the hard part of saying you're gonna do it, getting out there and doing it.
And if you give yourself those little, those little increments, those little wins, that's gonna help push you forward. And another thing I work with my clients is saying to yourself, "I am a runner. I'm going for a run." Not, "Mm, I'm gonna try and get two runs in this week." You've al- if you, if that's how you start your, your week, you've already halfway talked yourself out of it.
But if you say, "I'm doing this," you've already committed to yourself. You've already said it either in your head or out loud, and you've already identified that that's what you're going to do. So that helps a lot of time, and I, it was a switch for me when I started this run streak. Instead of being like, "Oh, when, when am I gonna do it?"
Or it went from "am I going to do it" to "when am I going to do it." So there [00:14:00] was no question. Every day, there's no question of if I'm going to run. It's just when.
Riley: Mm-hmm
Kelly Chall: going to run? And then I learned pretty quickly that I have to do it in the morning, otherwise... Like you're saying, it gets hot, and then I don't wanna run at night.
So it's just kind of, you build on it. You say, "This is what I'm doing." Okay, now that you've made that decision, the next decision is easier 'cause you've already made that first decision. So instead of being like, "Maybe I'll do this, maybe..." You know, make that decision and then move forward with it
Riley: Mm-hmm. That is so good. You know, it's not, it's not if I'm gonna run, it's when I'm gonna run. That,
Kelly Chall: Right. That is a huge part. Mm-hmm.
Riley: that perspective,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: do that, that I do on kind of rinse and repeat sort of a, of a thing, it's not... I, I never ask myself You know,
Kelly Chall: Right
Riley: practice, I don't, I don't say if I'm going. I'm just going that night. That's, I
Kelly Chall: Right. Mm-hmm
Riley: there 'cause it's a scheduled class, right? So
Kelly Chall: Right?[00:15:00]
Riley: That is good. Dang.
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: do you, do you find that a, a client to switch that gear in their head, is, is that the coach's job, or does that have to come from the, that person?
Kelly Chall: It's a combination of both. It's like, you know, people say you can't force somebody... You can't make a smoker quit smoking, right? You can't force somebody to do something if they don't want to do it. And I'm sure you've had experiences, we all have, with friends, with family, with clients, where we want something so bad for them, but if they don't want it for themselves, you're talking to a wall.
Now, granted, sometimes they'll listen. It'll just take a little while. But if the client says they want help, but then doesn't wanna do the things, there's only so much, as a coach, you can do. There's only so much that you can do, and also, you're only going to be so [00:16:00] effective if they're not able to, to, to do their part, so to say.
And that's one of the reasons why I really focus on mindset at the beginning with my clients because I need them to... Especially with running, because everybody thinks it's just physical. I mean, you can use this in any, any sport, any, any athletic endeavor. You think it's physical because it is, but so much of it is mental.
And when you can help somebody figure out, okay, it starts up here, and then that translates to the rest of your body. So if we can get your brain, your mind in the right direction, then it's gonna be a lot easier for everything else to kind of fall in place. But I need you, as the client, I need you to wanna be able to, to want to do the work that it's going to take.
One of the big things is, is just, um, kind of pointing out the fact or talking about the fact that there are so many, typically, so many negative or not, not good [00:17:00] patterns of thinking already.
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Chall: able to acknowledge, like, "Hey, I know that this is the way that culture has... You know, this is-- You've thought about running as a punishment.
You've thought about exercise as a punishment to yourself when you eat bad. You thought about this in this way. Now, we're gonna take some time and reframe that. We're gonna try to get rid of those years of that thinking and shine a new light on it." So that work has to be done, like, towards the beginning, and it- I found it's very helpful with clients to acknowledge that.
Like, "Hey, none of us start this in the, in the perfect place. None of us start something knowing everything that we need to know. That's why you have a coach. That's why you go to an expert. Because we need help in that." So knowing that we're starting here, we're gonna throw away these, these thoughts. We're gonna replace...
Not throw 'em away. We're gonna replace them with ones that are going to help you to, to your goal and not those same negative ones that keep you stuck or keep you starting [00:18:00] over and over each time that you try.
Riley: You mentioned, you mentioned there, um, not throwing them away but replacing them. I, I think
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: common thread when you're talking about like with addicts or something. You, you, you
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: the habit away. You've
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: replace it with something healthy. And it's, it sounds like you're kinda saying the same thing.
It's like we're thought addicts that are just
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: we got all this negative crap coming in our head all the time or, or
Kelly Chall: Absolutely. Mm-hmm.
Riley: so
Kelly Chall: And it's hard. I mean, it's a, another thing I'll do with even just friends, 'cause w- how easy is it for us to either deflect a compliment or somebody tells us something nice, we're like, "Oh, yeah, it's no big deal." Or if, you know, we're, we're the first to kind of be self-deprecating or kind of push down, like, what we say, you know, that's kind of a defense mechanism, right?
If we're like, oh, well, if we're the one saying that, then if somebody else says it, it doesn't, it doesn't really bother us. So even with, with friends, and I catch myself and my, my, [00:19:00] uh, children, like, "Hey, would you say that to your friend? Like, would you talk to your friend the way that you're talking to your- about yourself?
Would you tell them, you know, this, they're a horrible person, or this was bad, or this was..." You know, like, kind of thinking about how we talk to ourselves affects us just like how we talk to other people affects them. So kind of thinking about yourself as, even though it all happens in your head, but kind of thinking about, "Okay, what if I was saying this out loud to somebody else?
Like, is that how I should be talking, or how, should I, you know, should I think about that maybe before I say it?"
Riley: That's a really good point, you know. If, uh, if someone else said what we're saying to ourself, we'd probably punch them in the face, right?
Kelly Chall: Right.
Riley: Do you, um... What do you find when, as a, as a coach, is the, the biggest challenge you have? 'Cause I, I know, one, you know, just finding clients can be an issue, but I re- I'm, I'm thinking back, and here's, here's what's going through my head, is, uh, I was thinking back to Lindsay and I used to [00:20:00] facilitate a, um, financial training for people, you know?
And
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: we, we went through some stuff that, that taught us some f- pretty
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: in, in life and business and, and so then the lessons we learned we like to, to help other people. But, but one of those things that we found was, man, most people say they want something. You, you alluded to this earlier. They say they want it,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: to do anything that it takes to get there, like not even start, and it,
Kelly Chall: Right
Riley: discouraging after a while.
So from that coach's perspective, how do you deal with that?
Kelly Chall: Yeah. And I, I think faith, faith, fitness, and finances, I feel like all three of those have the same kind of, can have the same, um, ways of doing things. So with finances and fitness, it's that whole idea of you have to do something that you don't wanna do in order to see progress. With finances, like, you have to save, you have to [00:21:00] stop spending more money than you have, right?
You have to, if you're in debt, you have to focus on, on getting out of that before you can build something. So with fitness, like, you have to be able to say, "Okay, it might not be fun to give up extra ice cream or, you know, extra foods that don't serve my body well," or, you know, it might, I might have to add in more movement through my day, or I might have to do something that I might just wanna sit on the couch, but I know sitting on the couch isn't going to help me.
You have to be able to move past those uncomfortable things if you wanna see progress. And that's kind of with clients. Like, I will tell them, "I 100%, I am here for you to help you, to guide you, and I will give you 100%. But if you are not giving me that back, not even 100%, if you're not giving me, you know, the majority of it back, you will not see the results."
And especially with nutrition, with, with fitness and [00:22:00] nutrition, I'm not there next to you all the time. So I don't know what you're eating. I don't know what your workouts are. I'm taking your word for it, and I will believe you until, you know, until you prove me wrong. But I, you as the client or the coach has to find a way to Try to build the client's confidence enough with the information they tell them, and the way that they talk to them, and the way that they treat them, so that when they're done with their call or their meeting, that client feels empowered enough to make the decisions that are going to help them to continue on.
And also continuing to think about the why behind it. So continuing to think about, like, "Why did I start this in the first place?" And when you think about it, especially with, with personal coaching, like that's... You're putting an investment for that. In order to have a coach that's personally working with you on a one-on-one, that's an investment that you're making, and I wanna make your investment worth it for you.
So if you're gonna invest the [00:23:00] money in it and the time, you know that you need to invest that outside of, outside of the, the one-on-one, the meeting. Like, you've gotta do your homework because you don't wanna have to have a coach all the time telling you what to do. My goal when I was a teacher, when I was a doula, when I was a, I did childbirth education, all those things, was for me to give people the information so that they were empowered to do it on their own, to know what to do.
And so I feel like if, if I can't... As a coach, like I said, uh, my job is to teach you, not just hand you a meal plan, not just say, "Do this," but why should you be eating this way? Why should you be training this way? Why is this beneficial in the way that you're running? And for you to understand that so that then you're kind of bought into it.
You know what you're doing, and you can do it. You're not gonna rely on somebody all the time to be able to, not re- for them to tell you every single step. If that makes sense.
Riley: Oh, it makes [00:24:00] total sense. Yeah. I, I think, you know, my, my daughter, she teaches, uh, fiddle lessons, right? She's a, she's a fiddler, and she's got all these, these students, and most of them are kids, but some of them are adults. But she can always tell the ones
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: at home practicing
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: just saying they're at home practicing.
Kelly Chall: Right
Riley: got this one in particular, we were talking last night and she said, she said, "She tells me she's practicing, but she's just not getting any better. And I can tell she's not, but she's, she's insisting." She's, she's lying to her. You know,
Kelly Chall: Right
Riley: that?
Kelly Chall: Um, I will say right now with the clients that I have, because it's more personalized and it's more one-on-one, I don't see that right now as much as when I was teaching boot camp classes, when I was doing, um, like virtual coaching and I had, especially the virtual coaching where I wasn't seeing them in person.
Riley: Mm-hmm
Kelly Chall: yes, definitely. I would have clients that [00:25:00] they're like, "I just don't know what's going on." And I'm like, "Okay, well show me your food log." "Oh, well, I haven't been tracking." Like, okay, well, I can't, you know, I can't help you. I don't know what to help you with if I don't know what I'm working with. So I always like to tell clients, like tracking your food and, and your workouts and all that, that's data.
That's the information for you to take that information and then know what to do with. If you don't have any information, it's kinda like finances. If nobody has a budget, you don't know, you don't, you don't know what you're doing or where things are going, or how to fix it if you don't know what's happening.
So those clients where I'm like, "Okay, let's great. Let's get on a call. Let's figure this out." But then they have no information to give, it's kind of the same speech each time, and it goes back to mindset. Like, why are you doing this? What do you want out of this? And do you actually wanna do this? Because some people will s- they'll say that they do, but then their actions prove otherwise.
And some of them you just have to be like, "Hey, I'm here. I'm happy to help you. Right now I'm not sure how [00:26:00] much I can help you if you aren't doing the things that I've asked you to do." And some of those clients will be like, "Okay, you know, I'll talk to you never." Or
Riley: Yeah.
Kelly Chall: back into it.
Riley: Do you, have, have you ever had to fire a client?
Kelly Chall: Um
No, only bec- and I only think because most of my clients in the past have been in group settings. So it hasn't been like m- I've done group fitness classes, group teaching. Just over the last few months, six months or so, have I gotten into more one-on-one coaching, and I haven't run into that yet. But also, I feel like I am trying hard to make it very clear on what my coaching is, and I think having kind of a clear message and a clear, um, lane of what I'm doing kind of, not weeds out, but kind of.
I've [00:27:00] had people, they're like, "Hey, are you, are you doing this? Can you do this?" And I'm like, "Mm, I would love to help you, but that's not really what I'm doing right now, so, you know, unfortunately, you know, I can't." But, um, yeah, so not yet. Hopefully, hopefully I don't, but
Riley: No, that, that term's fair though, filtering out or weeding out, right? That's, that's
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: uh, vision of what you're doing, a very clear description of what you're doing, stay in your lane, well now
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: fit that, gonna weed themselves out.
Kelly Chall: Yeah. I didn't
Riley: like anything.
I remember, I remember there were some students in the financial stuff we were doing, and I, just told them, I was like, "I don't even know why you're here, 'cause
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: you're not only not doing anything, but you're standing in opposition to
Kelly Chall: Right. Right
Riley: not... There's no reason for you to just keep showing up."
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm. I did have a couple of those and when I was doing boot camp, and I remember one day I was like, to the guy, I was like, "Why do you show up at 5:00 AM three days a week?" And he's like, "Oh, 'cause I [00:28:00] like it." I'm like, "You do half the class, and you stand here and talk." But that was his social...
You know what I mean. And in that case, like, because it was a group, there's different coaches and stuff, it wasn't, like, a personal client. But I mean, with that, it was more of a, a social, a social outing, but it was also, like, you kinda question, like, why is somebody here in a class if they're not there to, to take in what the class is doing?
Riley: It's funny, we see, we do see that in the jujitsu world a lot, and,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: we realize that in that setting, there's a huge part of it that is the social part.
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: it's, like, some of the best socialization people get, so
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: lenient on that. But yeah,
Kelly Chall: Great medium Yeah
Riley: to, to, to drill or work on stuff, yeah, it's, we do expect them to, to jump in there.
Kelly Chall: Right
Riley: they're also adults. They get... They're paying a bill, so if they
Kelly Chall: Yeah, exactly.
Riley: okay.
Kelly Chall: Right
Riley: talk about this. Do you, do you find... I r- and, and again, I, I hate to even [00:29:00] keep r- referencing the financial classes, but
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: of our church that we were doing these financial classes,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: time we would put an event on, they were generally, you know, six or eight or nine weeks, whatever they were long, and we would give out a couple scholarships, meaning we
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: pay for somebody's way through there, and those students were 100% failure rate.
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: about skin in the game when it comes to coaching.
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: you mentioned there's a cost to it, right? So
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: talk about that.
Kelly Chall: Y- yeah, I was just gonna say it's 'cause they didn't have any skin in the game, and it's, it's a thing. I mean, if it doesn't hurt a little to put yourself out there, to sign up for something, to pay for something, the chances of you going through with that if it's an uncomfortable thing, I mean, I don't know what statistically they are, but I would say that they're really low.
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Chall: why would somebody wanna put themselves in a position of discomfort if they don't have anything that they've kind of put up [00:30:00] for it? So with, with coaching, like I've done a lot, a lot of... I get a lot of questions on, on Instagram, and with my last job, I was in front of a lot of people and happy to talk to those people, and happy to, to help.
But they're definitely with something, they're like, "Oh, I just, I signed up for the free guide," or, "I, I did a, you know, like a, a $20 thing," or
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Chall: "But I don't really... You know, I'm not getting results, but I'm not really doing it." And I'm like, "Well, I don't, I don't know what to say. I would, uh, I would recommend either, you know, committing fully to it, or maybe finding something else."
I feel like if you don't have that piece of like, oof, it hurt to sign up for this, like, I put my money up for this because I want a result. If you don't have that, you're less likely to, to follow through on that, 'cause what does it matter? It doesn't matter if you do it or not, because you didn't put anything out there.
Riley: There's no loss, right?
Kelly Chall: Right. You're just like, "Well, that was [00:31:00] fun." Which you would assume that people that get a scholarship would be grateful and would be, you know, wanting to do it even more, but I think that goes back to the, the internal motivation or that, you know, that drive. If that drive wasn't there, then having it, not having any friction with signing up, not having to pay for anything still makes you feel like, well, it doesn't matter.
I can just continue on because I didn't really put up anything to get here.
Riley: Yeah, half the time they would show up for the first two, maybe three sessions, and then we
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: right? It was...
Kelly Chall: Aw
Riley: it was 100%. And it really was a, was a bummer 'cause, you know, you
Kelly Chall: There you go
Riley: think they'd be thankful, and they, they all said thank you, but their actions
Kelly Chall: Right.
Riley: that they were actually thankful,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm
Riley: Um, do you... Have you ever found that... That's not how I need to ask that question. a- as far as like a, a magic way to help people, 'cause we're always looking for that, like,
Kelly Chall: [00:32:00] Oof
Riley: to say or magic thing to hear that's, that's gonna motivate us forever, you know? Is there... Does that
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: just folklore?
Kelly Chall: I don't know. I, I mean, if it does exist, it's different for everyone. So I think it goes back to that whole asking more questions than, than you have instructions type. Like, asking, it's going down to why are you here? What do you want out of this? Um, what is, you know, what's on the other side of this plan or this, or this time?
Um, yeah, I don't know. I, I wish there was a magic way to get... It's just making people care, and I, I really believe it is instilling belief. Because when somebody has belief and they have hope, they're unstoppable. If you don't have hope, like, first of all, if you don't believe in yourself, you're not gonna have hope that things are going to change.
So in some way, not [00:33:00] that we're in control of everything, but we have to have at least some belief in ourself in order to do the actions that are going, that are, that it takes to get to make a change. So as a coach, if you can find a way, and like I said, it's not the same. Unfortunately, it's different for everyone.
But if you can find that way to instill that belief, then those things that they're hoping for seem a little more, you know, in, a little closer in the picture. They... 'Cause m- I tell my clients all the time, motivation means nothing. Motivation is waning. You will not be motivated. You have to be disciplined.
If you wait on motivation to get something done, you'll never... You might get a quarter of it done, but it'll fail you. Motivation will fail every time. But if you build a system, you build discipline in it, just like when we say not am I going to run, but when am I going to run, then you've already built your, your foundation up to where you know that you're going to do it because of the discipline, and you're gonna do it even when you don't wanna do it because you are not letting motivation [00:34:00] dictate whether or not you do what you say you're gonna do
Riley: That's so realistic, that whole motivation's going to wane, right? 'Cause
Kelly Chall: Yeah. Yeah
Riley: days where I'm just like, "Man, I wanna get out there and run," or, "I wanna get out to ride my mountain bike. I wanna go fight
Kelly Chall: Yep.
Riley: the mats," right? But
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm
Riley: where I'm like, "Eh, I don't
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: I'd rather eat my Doritos," right?
Kelly Chall: Exactly. Exactly, and nobody is immune to that, and that's what I try to tell my clients, too. Like, you see David Goggins and, like, all these other people on, on Instagram or YouTube, wherever. You know, we have, we have everybody at the, on our fingertips right now, and what everybody says, and there's so much noise, and people think it's this whole, you know, "I'm always motivated and I'm always gonna..."
Everybody who's out there working, they get up and they wanna work out, and it's not true. Not... Nobody is ever always motivated, but they've built it into their life to where it's a non-negotiable. They've built it in to where it's a norm in their life. It's not [00:35:00] like this, this faraway thing that we have to be motivated for.
It's the thing that they just do because that's who they are and that's what, you know, that's how they've kinda built their life. But that's hard to, to change, or that's hard to institute if you're not, if you're not used to that. If you haven't really lived your life like that, it takes a long time for you to kind of rearrange things to be like, "Oh, this is what I do.
This is my daily habit. This is my weekly habit. Whatever it is, this is just what I do. It's not that I have to be motivated to do it. I'm just going to do it, 'cause that's, that's how it goes."
Riley: You know, I th- I think about, as you're saying that, the times that I have... I wanna go ride my mountain bike, right? I've gotta, I've gotta go put that bike in the truck, and I've gotta load it in such a way that it's safe in there and protected so it's not flopping around getting up. And then I've gotta drive, you know, 10 miles to the, to the mountains where the trails are and then,
Kelly Chall: You know, so there's a [00:36:00] process of-
Riley: of getting there,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: But what I've found is if I have my gear set up in a certain way, in a certain place, and it's, it's ready to go, then it's, it's m- less friction for me, right? I can just
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: got. Let's throw it in the truck," and I'm gone. if I don't have all these other hurdles or feel like it's hurdles, just normal stuff I
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: then it's much easier to get done.
[00:37:00]
Kelly Chall: Yeah. One of the things I tell clients all the time is before you go to bed, put your running shoes, your outfit, your watch, headphones, whatever you're going to do, whatever you're going to use, even if you're not running first thing in the morning, but put them to the side somewhere. I like to put mine...
Our couch is kind of right outside of our bedroom. I put it on the back of the couch, like the, the top of the couch, so that I know when I get out of bed in the morning, I know my stuff is right there. I don't have to dig around in the dark. I don't have to see if my clothes are clean. I don't have to try to find my shoes or where did I leave my headphones.
I take two minutes to find, gather up my stuff the night before, put it in a spot, and I know that it's there, so then when I wake up, it's there. And again, that friction, like you're talking about, is, is done. It isn't there, so I can't... I don't let myself start think, "Oh, well, [00:38:00] it's gonna take me five minutes to find this," and, "Oh, I don't have this," or, "Oh, I don't know where this is."
Like, you kind of, you, by being prepared, you're removing those things that could pop up, or you're removing kind of those, the speed bumps to, that are in the way between you and, and what you wanna do
Riley: That little catalyst we use to talk ourselves out of stuff is, is a lot of times it is a 30-second task.
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: It's like, how long does it take me to put the little pad on my tailgate and pick my bike up and set it in the back of the truck? It doesn't
Kelly Chall: Right? Doesn't take long. Right
Riley: going through all these little steps, "Oh, I gotta remember this, gotta remember my
Kelly Chall: Uh-huh
Riley: remember my water bottle. I gotta... I haven't washed my water bottle. It's dirty. It's gonna have
Kelly Chall: That's great.
Riley: Yeah. It
Kelly Chall: And next thing you know, you talked yourself out and you're sitting on the couch with Doritos.
Riley: That's it.
Kelly Chall: That's
Riley: and I
Kelly Chall: it.
Riley: the other night I was... I was trying to remember what I did, but I came home from, from jujitsu, and I was- Mm-hmm I was tired. I'd gotten some good, good rounds in, and I was hungry. But this is like [00:39:00] 9:30 at night that I come in the door, right? So late, and I'm going, "I, I should probably eat something." But then the, the thought literally crossed my, my mind that was like, "I'd be much happier with myself in the morning if I don't eat something tonight."
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: all I'm gonna do is eat and then not be able to sleep right 'cause I'm digesting, and then, you know, I'm
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: while I'm sleeping, so it's, it's gonna go the
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: And I
Kelly Chall: Right? Yeah.
Riley: thing.
Kelly Chall: I already did the hard thing. Right. Yeah. My friend, uh, and former coworker, Leanne, she would always... She had a saying. She was like, "What will your, what will your tomorrow self thank you for today?"
Riley: Hmm.
Kelly Chall: what tomorrow, what are you gonna be glad that you did today? So if it's laying your clothes out before, if it's not eating super late before you go to bed, if it's getting your, your truck ready to put the bike on it.
Like, what, when you wake up tomorrow, or in the middle of the day, whenever, tomorrow, what are you gonna look back and be like, "Oh, I'm so glad yesterday I took the time to do that"? 'Cause then it just helps set you up, and then that keeps going. If you think [00:40:00] about that every day, like, imagine how much more productive or prepared we would be if every day we just took, like, a few minutes throughout the day and be like, "What should I do today that's gonna help me tomorrow?"
That would be, like, probably life-changing.
Riley: Yeah, for real. So that thing, that little phrase your friend says, you know. One, one of the things that I, that I... Probably the best quote I ever heard in my life is, is that my life is perfectly designed to get the results I'm getting.
Kelly Chall: Hmm
Riley: thought, "Oh my gosh, that's so good." But that, those little mantras, right?
What's, what's
Kelly Chall: Yeah Oh, um, I do like to think about, like, what will my tomorrow self think me for today, and then a big motivation one... Well, I guess there's two, and they kind of work in different ways. Um, one, it's... I like to say, like, "You're safe. You're just uncomfortable." And this comes in... This [00:41:00] isn't every day, every day issues, but, like, let's say I'm running and it's, like, hard, or I wanna quit something, or I'm nervous to get on a podcast or go talk to a business or go do something that I know is going to help me in some way in life or make a big decision.
Like, I'm safe. I'm fine. I'm just uncomfortable, and it's okay to be uncomfortable. I think, like, you know, so much of our lives and just our culture and everything, we just wanna be comfortable, which, fine. Like, I understand. I like being comfortable, too. But then we kind of get scared when things are uncomfortable.
But a lot of things you have to be uncomfortable in order to grow. So that one, it seems like... It seems a little, um... I don't know. It seems a little deep or a little, not scary, but I find myself, you know, knowing the difference between uncomfortable and safe. Like, you're safe to do these things. It's just a little uncomfortable, and that's okay.
Like, giving yourself permission, I think, a lot of times to feel the things 'cause we get nerv- Oh my gosh, I'm anxious. [00:42:00] My husband always says, 'cause I tend to be anxious sometimes, and he'll say, "Are you anxious? Are you excited?" I'm like, "Ugh. Okay, I'm excited." I... 'Cause they're the sa- If you think about it, it's the same feeling in our body.
Our body doesn't know the difference between anxious and a- an- anxiety and excitement. It's the same thing. We feel the same things. But if we tell ourselves, "Oh, I'm so anxious about this," how is that going to... how is the rest of that going to go? Versus saying, "I'm so excited about this." Um, I guess also to answer your question, I don't have to, I get to.
That's a quote that I really like to use for myself, for my kids, for my clients. Instead of saying, "Ugh, I have to go to work today," "I get to go to work today." Like, even if you don't believe it in that moment, fake it till you make it does a lot for mindset work. Like, instead of, "Oh, I have to run today," "I get to run today.
I woke up today. I have legs that move, lungs that breathe." Like, I am in shape that I... I'm in a good shape that I can physically go for a run. [00:43:00] I get to do it. You know? Like, just shifting kind of the have to, to the get to, and then that, that layers on the, the gratitude with it and... Um, my pastor said a long time ago, and I'll never forget it.
He's like, "You can't be grumpy and grateful. You can be one or the other, but you can't be them together." So it's like, what do you wanna be? So I'll tell my kids that and myself, "Do you wanna be grumpy or do you wanna be grateful?" And so all of... I know I just said, like, four of them, but they all kind of, they all kind of flow, flow together
Riley: No, I, I think we all have multiple, right? 'Cause we're,
Kelly Chall: Yeah Different
Riley: different situations almost
Kelly Chall: situation The rate
Riley: slightly different phraseology for it. But, um, I have a question for you. It's, it's kind of a complete switch gear, so I apologize for the whiplash. But nutrition-wise, right, we talked about eating and eating late in the evening and,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: you know, what that does digestively and calorie burn and all that kind of stuff. What, um, what is your suggestion... So before bed, like, [00:44:00] how, how long before bed would you suggest people not eat?
Kelly Chall: Typically two to three hours before you go to bed is optimal, they say, for, for digestion, and just digestive rest, um, to help with sleep and the, the, uh, stages of sleep and getting deep sleep and your body just really being able to rest. Um, but also I keep that flexible because people have different schedules, and especially, like, I would hate for a client to miss out on the fuel that they need, especially a running client, to miss out on that fuel because they didn't get home till late or, you know, because they have...
they're going to bed at a certain time. I think it's more important to make sure that you have the nutrition that you need in order to function over keeping a strict eating schedule. And especially when we talk about running and when I work with my performance clients, like, you are fueling your body for performance, not fueling your body for fat loss or for other things.
So it, it [00:45:00] all depends. My favorite answer for fitness and nutrition to every single question is, "It depends," because it depends on what your goals are. It depends on what you're working for. Because if you say, "My goal is to lose fat," or, "My goal is to run faster," or, "My goal is to get stronger," those are all different, different things.
So you work with- within those goals for that nutrition. So yes, ideally, it is great to eat a couple... or to stop eating a couple hours before bed. But if that means you're gonna miss out on 300, 500 calories that you need in order to, you know, feel good the next day and to carry over that fuel, then I would suggest eating even if it creeps a little closer to bedtime.
Riley: Yeah, that's a, that's a, that's a constant battle for me, and I know it's-- it can be especially, um, in the running world too, is like
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: you're eating. 'Cause I'll, I'll tell you what's going through my head right now is
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: I generally will try to eat about three hours before, especially jujitsu events, right?[00:46:00]
Kelly Chall: Uh-huh
Riley: Partly because I don't wanna be gassy when it
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: It's a very up-close personal sport, right?
Kelly Chall: Yeah. You're being
Riley: by other
Kelly Chall: squished.
Riley: and so that, that quandary I get into where it's like I should really eat before I go.
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm. Well, but
Riley: it's-- doesn't help me. Like I, I do find that when I get there, I'm still really gassy, and I'm,
Kelly Chall: Oh,
Riley: what do you, what do you suggest
Kelly Chall: okay
Riley: 'Cause I imagine if you're part of a running group that goes in the evenings, you don't wanna be
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: either.
Kelly Chall: Yeah. I would start looking at... 'Cause the timing of that is great, actually, 'cause what I tell clients, especially, like, if they're doing, like, a half-marathon or a full marathon, to try and eat their first meal three hours before their race. So eating three hours before your class I think is a great timing-wise.
What I would focus on is the type of food that you're eating. Just keep track, like if you're like, "Oh, each time I eat this and I feel gassy afterwards," try to swap out some things. Like, just be more aware of how [00:47:00] your body feels with those foods. Because we label foods, like, healthy and unhealthy, but then...
And there are, there are foods that are better for you and foods that are not so great for you. But there are also foods that are healthy that cause more digestive, you know, distress from some people than other people. So I would, I would suggest try to find, like, what's your go-to meal that you know you can eat and you feel good afterwards.
And that might take some, you know, some guesswork, and you can try, like, one week try this, or one week try that. But I think your timing is great, 'cause I think that three hours before, before you're going to, you know, go to class, I think that gives you enough time to have, you know, energy from the food and then carry you through that time.
But it would just be kind of trying to figure out what foods are best in that situation. Maybe tr- change those up
Riley: that you say it like that 'cause it's, uh, I'm laughing because I think, "Gosh, that's so obvious." But, but I, uh, yeah, it's been, it's been a genuine thing where I'm like, [00:48:00] man, I,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: that if I eat a heavy protein meal,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: the, I'm gonna be the gassy guy on the mat, right? But if I eat
Kelly Chall: And think about, think about carbs. You want fuel while you're on the mat, right? You wanna be able to move and all that stuff. So think about carbs. We... Protein is so important, don't get me wrong. Protein is the king of macros. But when we're looking at a performance part or performance lens, carbs are your best friend.
So the carbs are what's going to keep you with that energy throughout that time. So I would suggest if you're going to do a percentage breakdown of a meal, I would suggest that meal to be, like, 45 to 50% carbs at least. And then let's say if it's, um... Or no, let's say, like, 55. I would say 50 to 55% carbs, and then only maybe, like, 20, 20% fats, and then the rest lean protein.
'Cause if you think [00:49:00] about fats and fatty protein or protein, those are the two that are gonna give your stomach the most, like, digestive distress, and those are what I tell my clients too before races. Like, before races, we wanna focus on, you know, uh, oatmeal or rice cakes, a little bit of peanut butter, but banana, some honey, things that are very carb-heavy and, um, not, not fatty.
Fatty will definitely kinda make you feel bogged down. So if you focus on a carb-heavy with a lean protein and then, you know, some, some fats which would mostly come from like, I don't know, let's say nuts or something like that or, or avocado, you know, something like that, um, and see how that feels with a more carb-heavy instead of protein.
And then save that protein for after. After you're done, have a protein-heavy meal to kinda help replenish, um, your muscles and your... and also carbs to help with the energy. Yeah,
Riley: Yeah, that's it. It's, it's
Kelly Chall: that's it
Riley: I say that it does sound so obvious now 'cause I do know that like oatmeal, I feel great if I eat[00:50:00]
Kelly Chall: There you go
Riley: it then also getting it through my head that I can eat that for not, you know, later in the day and that's not a breakfast
Kelly Chall: Yeah. Yeah.
Riley: dorky
Kelly Chall: I like to think about it as like numbers. Well, you do because, and that's what I was talking about before when I was talking about acknowledging with clients these, these thought patterns that they, that they have because we've always been told, you know, breakfast is this sort of food, lunch is this sort of food, dinner is this sort of food.
I did, do you know what the
Riley: Mm-hmm. Yep
Kelly Chall: I did that years and years, probably 15 years ago, and I remember the one thing that has really stuck, one of the things that has stuck with me is they label it meal one, two, and three. So like that way you get in this mindset because during the Whole30 I ate so much sweet potato and ground beef for breakfast.
Like it was because you just think of things that are going to nourish you through the day rather than being like, oh, it's, you know, the morning I can't have, you know, I can't have, uh, a hamburger or it's, you know, nighttime I can't have oatmeal. Like just looking at food as fuel and not [00:51:00] necessarily putting it in, in little boxes kind of helps, especially when you have a specific goal.
Your specific goal is to have energy while you're on the mat. So we want to make sure that the food that you're eating helps with that goal of your energy
Riley: That's, that's wonderful. It's almost embarrassing to sit here and think, didn't that occur to me earlier?" But
Kelly Chall: Because you're probably looking at it from one, you know, you're looking at it from one way, and then that's why, that's why we need community. That's why you need to talk to people, 'cause other people come in and they're like, "Hey, what about this?"
Riley: I've only been struggling with it for like eight years, you know? I... Oh
Kelly Chall: Oh my God. Thanks for the coaching advice. Of course.
Riley: so back to, back to the, the coaching kinda, kinda life now. You are, you're, you're a running coach primarily now, correct?
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm. Yeah
Riley: so runners often deal with shin [00:52:00] splints or plantar fasciitis or, you know, these, these kind of things.
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: how much the running technique has to do with those kinds of things
Kelly Chall: Yeah. I think with that, um, and with a lot of things in fitness, we tend to think about, if you think about a pyramid, we tend to think about the very top. Like, when we're thinking about fitness, we're like, "What pre-workout should I have? What supplement should I have? What should I do?" And we're not thinking about the bottom, which is, like, strength training and eating enough food, right?
We wanna focus on those little things. And I think with running, technique is definitely important. Shoes are definitely important. All of those things are important. What I really focus on in that trian- performance triangle is the, with the nutrition and the training, the training's not just running. The training is strength training.
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Chall: a lot of people, and I was one of them too, I say I have, like, two running careers. Career, use that loosely. Two, like, running time periods where I started [00:53:00] running It was right before, or right when I was first pregnant with Kate, so let's say f- it was 14, 15 years ago, and I was not strength training.
I was just... A friend was like, "Hey, let's run a half marathon." Okay, I couldn't run more than two miles. Like, I was a horrible runner. But I was like, "Let's do it." So, that accompanied with, I had bursitis in my hip, my knees hurt all the time. Like, it just... I would go for a long run and then spend the next, like 30 minutes on the couch with like frozen cranberries, you know, on my, on my knees and
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Chall: But I just thought that was normal. That was just part of, you know, running. And so then, um, then I stopped running for a while. I had my second, and then I started running again a couple years ago. And in that in between time, I'd become a personal trainer, I started coaching clients. I started-- I learned the importance of strength training, and I learned the importance of strength training across other modalities, and how important it is.
And so now what I really focus on... And now as a result, I run [00:54:00] faster, I can run longer. I don't have the pains that I used to. I mean, things ache and all that, you know, normal. But it's a world of difference as before because the foundation is strength training. And I focus a lot with my clients on a lot of unilateral moves.
We focus on ankle strength and mobility, focus on with your feet, um, like lifting in socks if you're at home, or barefoot if you can. Um, just really with your, with your toes. Um, just kinda from the ground up, how everything is connected. So technique is super, super important. But first, more important than that is having that foundation of knowing that like if your glute is weak, that's gonna show up on your knee.
That's gonna show up either on your, your opposite ankle. That's gonna show up, you know, in different ways in the mechanics of your hips. And if your glutes are weak, then your hip's gonna dip each time. You know, when we're running, we want our hips to be, you know, um, parallel and kind of stay in the same plane.
And when we have weaknesses, that's [00:55:00] when, that's when it starts to go kinda side to side and things pull. So really focusing on unilateral movements, making sure the strength training is complementing the running. And then from there, we talk about, you know, having that slight, um, slight lean forward, the way your feet should hit the ground, the, the length of your stride, your, you know, your upper body and kind of what's all involved.
Um, but it really starts with that, that basis of, of strength training and just how important that is in order to be able to progress with your speed and your endurance
Riley: Yeah, it's, it's cool you bring that up because I remember I was training for a half marathon, and I was, I was able to go eight, nine, 10 miles at the time. I was kinda at that depth into it, feel pretty good about it. But one day, my neighbor invited me to go on a run, just a short run. It was two miles, two and a half miles, something like that. I knew he was not a runner, but he was a s- he's trained strength all the [00:56:00] time. He was pretty jacked dude. And I remember thinking, "You know, I'm just gonna outrun this guy, so I'll take it easy on him." And that guy outran me so ... Like, I couldn't keep up at all. And I was, uh, you know, I'm sucking wind, like pushing my
Kelly Chall: Right?
Riley: guy that only does strength training just, just dusts me, you know?
And by the time we got
Kelly Chall: So far
Riley: we get to this, this last kinda, it was about a half mile back to the, back to the house there, and he goes, he goes, "Hey, man, if you don't mind, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go a little faster for this one." And I was like gutted. I was like, "Holy crap,
Kelly Chall: Right?
Riley: importance of strength be- it, it's kind of occurred to me then, it's like, oh, okay, it's not all
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: being able to go long.
There is something
Kelly Chall: Right.
Riley: so.
Kelly Chall: Right. And there's also, you know, there's also, um, a natural ability kind of component of it, too. A lot of people, I think in all realms, we play this comparison game. It's real easy to hop on Instagram and be like, "Oh my gosh, this [00:57:00] person is running a, you know, six-minute mile, and this person is doing this and, and that."
And so, you know, it's always good to, to keep in mind, you know, everybody has different abilities and everybody's worked for... You know, you don't know how much work somebody's putting into it, right? But with your, with your friend, what you're saying, you know, if somebody's got the strength and they have the lungs, you know, even if they're not a runner all the time, especially a shorter, shorter distance, um, can definitely, can definitely humble you sometimes.
I feel like that with my husband. I tell him if we have more than three miles, I can take him. But under three... And he doesn't run nearly as much as I do, but he's been, you know, an athlete his whole life and, um, he's just got that short sprint, like he's got the speed to start with. Now, I can take him if we keep, keep going.
I've got the endurance. But I remember as I first started, I'm like, "How are these people so fast?" And some people, they're just, you know... I don't know. They're faster to start with, but doesn't mean you can't, you can't work at it.
Riley: Yeah, there is [00:58:00] that place where as athletes we have to come to that you do you sort of a thing,
Kelly Chall: Yes. Yeah. Yes
Riley: there are those super freaks out there, and we all see 'em when we get involved in a race where you're like,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: not even halfway and you're finished already. How?
Kelly Chall: You see them come back and you're like, you see like the little police like motorcycle and the person right behind them
Riley: Oh, I've been there so many times. I, I got, uh, my-- The first race I ever did that was an organized event, there was a speed walker in there, and I didn't
Kelly Chall: Oh I didn't realize how fast this was Yes
Riley: I figured somewhere, you know, a speed walker could maybe pull off a 10-minute mile. No, this lady was like 7:20s.
Kelly Chall: Yes. It's crazy. I don't know how they do it.
Riley: It's
Kelly Chall: I also tell people, though, on the other end of that coin, when people tell me like, "Oh, I could never run," because I feel like you hear that when you tell somebody you run or whatever. People are, like, kind of polarized. Either they're like, "Oh, cool", or they're like, "Ugh, I hate running" or, "I could never run," or whatever.
And I'm like, if you're serious about it, if you don't [00:59:00] think you could run, find a local race, 5K, 10K, half-marathon, whatever, and go stand at the finish line. Watch for, I don't know, 20, 30 minutes, and then tell me you can't run. 'Cause what you will see, you will see people older than you, you'll see people heavier than you, you'll see people not as able-bodied as you are.
You'll see people with a prosthetic leg. You'll see people with, um, like, walking canes. You'll see even there's... They have those, um, some people, they'll have an assisted runner with them. If it's, like, a blind
Riley: Mm-hmm
Kelly Chall: running, they'll have a companion that runs with them. Like, you will see the gamut, and you cannot tell me...
Now, you can tell me you don't wanna run. I'll take that. I'll take that as an answer, but you cannot tell me that you can't. Because you'll see all these people that do it, and then you're like, "Oh, okay. Well, if I want to, I know I can." So it's, it's one of those surprising things of you don't realize... You don't know how many 70-year-old men and women, like, I've chased to try to just be like, "Just finish in front of this one," and they're [01:00:00] ahead of me, like, almost the whole time.
Riley: Well, that was a, that was an eye-opener. So the first mountain bike ride I ever did, right? We were-- There was this gradual incline up to the base of this hill, and it was the, in the, on the trail system where I was... It's kinda the first actual climb that you have to do. in hindsight, it's not even that much of a climb, but at the very first ride I ever did, I rode up the gradual incline to the base of the hill, and I was gassed.
I'd, I had to push my bike up the actual incline. Well, I get to the incline, to the top of this thing, and my buddy's up there waiting for me, you know, and I pushed my bike up the whole thing. And this, this lady comes riding by me, and she's, she's gotta be, you know, 5'2", 250 pounds. She was thick. And it was like-- But she pedaled up past me and kept going, and climbing, climbing, climbing.
I'm just watching her go, and I'm like, "Okay. This is
Kelly Chall: Right? That's awesome. That was cool. Yeah.
Riley: Huge respect.
Kelly Chall: Yeah. And then you're like, oh, it's [01:01:00] motivating to you too because you're like, "Oh, well, shoot, if they can, you know, there's no reason I can't."
Riley: Yeah, yeah, yeah. She made it look easy. It wasn't even like
Kelly Chall: Right
Riley: You know, I thought she'd be all s- like, worked up, and maybe she was, but it, for me, I was, I was over the edge, right? I had already...
Kelly Chall: Right.
Riley: I was done.
Kelly Chall: Right
Riley: still had gas in the tank. So that was
Kelly Chall: That's awesome
Riley: Now, you had talked about, um, being self-employed as a coach.
I wanna, I wanna
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm. Yeah
Riley: right? Now, all of a sudden, your livelihood is depending on this. It's not a job anymore. It's not that you're working for another company.
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: it's all on you, Kelly. So let's talk about that as a, as a career choice.
Kelly Chall: Yeah. So I think it was exactly a year ago today that I, I left my former job and decided that I was going to... Well, really, I kinda took off the summer, um, and spent a lot [01:02:00] of time with the girls, and we did a big road trip and all these things, and then kind of getting into it more in the fall and through the, through the winter.
Like, now I'm figuring everything out, whereas before I was just, I did one part of a business, and now I'm figuring out how to make the website, how to do the, you know, the landing pages, how to do, you know, set up the workflows and, and all of those things. So it's definitely been, um, a learning experience.
It's been fun actually, well, more fun some days than others, to figure it out. Um, but it's also been It's been a journey of figuring out exactly what I wanna do, and it kind of... When you asked earlier about having to fire a client, when I first was deciding to kinda go out on my own, and granted, I'm in a, a very nice position to where my husband, my husband works, and I'm able to kind of take a little more time right now to figure out exactly what I'm doing.
Um, and I know that's not always the case for people, [01:03:00] like, when they decide to do their own thing. So, I wanna preface it by saying, like, I know I'm in a really good spot, privileged spot to be able to kind of figure this out as I go. And, um, I kinda started... At first, I wanted to be everything to everyone.
Riley: Mm-hmm
Kelly Chall: a position where I was doing workouts, doing...
filming workouts that were going out to thousands of people all over the world, and I loved that. And that kind of... You know, I also did that when I was teaching group fitness. And so I wanted to do, you know, the strength training workouts, and I wanted to help with, with running, and I wanted to help with nutri- like, there were all of these things.
And then I'm trying-- as I sit there and try to make a website, I'm like, "Well, this is confusing even to me. I don't even know what I'm doing." So, I really had to, like, figure out, okay, what exactly am I doing? What do I wanna help people with? How do I want to kind of use the gifts that I've been given to best help people?
Um, how can I do that? And so that's where it's kind of really led into kind of narrowing down the focus [01:04:00] of running, um, of coaching mostly women through, you know, through running training plans and then kind of beyond that. And like I said, I still do... With my, all of my plans and all of my coaching, strength training is a non-negotiable.
It's always, always in there. Um, so now it's the, you know, it's the getting... putting myself out there on- online. It's talking to, you know, people in my community. It's getting out to run clubs. It's being more visible, more, um, more involved because I spent the last almost six years visible, but not really promoting anything of my own.
I didn't have, uh, that, um, pressure and vulnerability of, like, it being my thing, right? I was able to promote something of somebody else's, which there's a little more safety in that because if somebody doesn't like it, well, it's not mine
Riley: yours
Kelly Chall: se. You know what I mean? So, I'm definitely growing in the fact of, like, kind of [01:05:00] knowing that I need to, you know, be confident in what I'm doing and, um, just kind of putting myself out there more, which is, you know, not always, not always fun, but it's a good growing opportunity
Riley: Yeah, we'll talk about that a little bit. Well,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: before I go onto that, I, vulnerability, uh, you know, the aspect of social media,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: used the word privilege. You know, you're
Kelly Chall: middle privilege Mm-hmm
Riley: to... There's, there's always that hump. If you wanna start your own thing, you cannot... very rare occasions, start that thing and have an income the next day.
That's
Kelly Chall: Yeah ... so there's-
Riley: So there's a hump. There's this,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: dip you've gotta get through. talk about... You, you used the word privilege. I would always, I, I wonder, I kinda question that a little bit 'cause I...
Kelly Chall: Okay
Riley: it's a
Kelly Chall: Yes, it's a privilege. Yeah
Riley: being wise in that because I think we can be just flat out unwise when we have this dream, we have this vision, [01:06:00] but man, maybe we quit the job too early, and maybe we
Kelly Chall: Right We need to run that as a smart house Mm-hmm Smart house
Riley: to
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: So I don't mean to be critical there, but I, I d- I do. I think, yeah, it's a privilege. It's cool that you can just jump right in, but had you not had that backdrop or that, that safety net of your husband's job,
Kelly Chall: Yeah You would've had to figure out a different way Absolutely
Riley: right?
So is it privilege or is it just you're using good wisdom?
Kelly Chall: I, you're totally right, and that's where I kind of want it to be, 'cause I don't want it to come across as like, "Oh yeah, I quit my job and then took, you know, eight months to figure out what I was doing," because that's not always feasible, you know what I mean, for, for people to be able to do that. So yes, I love how you, you pointed that out.
And that's how it was, because if it was, if it was different, then yeah, I would've spent all that time figuring out. If I knew that I was going to leave the job that I was in to do, to pursue something else, I would've spent that time h- in tandem, you know, figuring out what I'm doing and all that to be, to [01:07:00] be able to kinda take that, that leap.
My leap is just, it's a little slower
Riley: Yeah
Kelly Chall: than that. But I do think it has given me time, like I said, to really figure out what I wanna do, and I'm grateful that that has happened because I will admit, it was, it was really hard, 'cause it was, it was last May, and then it ran right into summer, all, you know, busy and all this and everything.
Then it kinda slowed down in the fall, and I started to, like, really question, like, what am I doing? I really felt like I was supposed to leave. I was supposed to pursue something new, um, in a new way, and coach people in a different way than what I had been doing. And I loved, don't get me wrong, I loved what I did, and I gained so much, so much from that job, and the people, and the, the clients, and everything.
And, um, but I just knew it was, it was time for something different, and I felt that very clearly. But then I kind of had a little time of not d- a little bit of doubt of like, well, are you [01:08:00] sure that this is what I was supposed to do? Because I haven't really felt that again of like, this is what I need to move forward with.
So it's been this kind of game of, like, waiting and having faith in, like, what I feel like I'm supposed to do. But I do think that it has helped me to really define where I'm going. And that way, now that that's defined, I can really pour into that, and I think that makes me a better coach, and I'm more helpful to people if I know specifically what I'm doing and I'm not chasing all of these other things.
'Cause if, if I'm your coach and my mind is, like, preoccupied with, "Oh, should I be doing this, or should I go this way?" Then I'm not, I'm not as much of a benefit to you than somebody who is defined in what they're doing. I need to make sure that I know what I'm doing before I can help you figure out, you know, what you're doing, and I don't wanna do my clients a disservice by being kind of all over the place.
So I do feel like I've had time to, to figure that out, and that's been figured out, and now it's really kinda like [01:09:00] boots on the ground. All right, how is this going to... How is this gonna work? How are, is this gonna grow, and what do I want this to look like now that it's kind of more established?
Riley: I, I, I don't know if you realize the, the truth wisdom bomb you just dropped. some of the best business advice I ever received was exactly what you just said, that you have to know who your client is and exactly what you're doing for them. Because some people fit that, and you can really help them. But if you try to help somebody outside of that, it's gonna be a diluted form, and they're never
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: Y- you're never gonna serve them well, so they're never gonna be truly happy, So
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: who you are and what you wanna do and then going solely after that will, will create, like, super happy customers and super happy clients, right? So
Kelly Chall: So
Riley: I, I
Kelly Chall: like I said, I, I don't even
Riley: you just said, but that's some of the best, the best business advice anyone listening to this could ever [01:10:00] hear. Define your
Kelly Chall: 'Cause I feel like as you were asking the questions, and again, I'm glad that you kinda stopped me on the, the privilege thing. It's been something that I've had in my head and I've known, but haven't really, like, said it. You know what I mean? Like, put it in that string of words, and so it kind of cements the fact of, like, oh yeah, this is what's happening
Riley: Yeah. I think with, uh... So l- my wife and I, we own another business. It's in the automotive, um, a mobile oil change company, right? And we started that, it's almost been 20 years. It's been, I think, 18 years now, ago that we started that. took me about, oh, three years or so before I really defined who my client was.
Kelly Chall: Hmm
Riley: we have it written out and, you know, we, we say small local companies with 50 vehicles or less.
Kelly Chall: Hmm. Yeah
Riley: like, it narrows it down. So now when someone calls me with a personal vehicle and says, "Hey, I need an oil change," I tell them no. And
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: I don't [01:11:00] try even to get we're in their business. I refer them to someone else because I've defined that, and man, it's,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: we have hundreds of these really happy customers
Kelly Chall: That's awesome
Riley: I don't serve the people who I can only halfway serve. I serve the
Kelly Chall: Right.
Riley: all the way
[01:12:00]
Kelly Chall: Yeah. Yeah. And I, I think that's a hard lesson to learn because you want to, a lot of times, at least my personality, you wanna be like everyone to, everything to everyone, and you feel like if some- if you say no to somebody, then like, oh, no, you're missing out. Not only are you missing out on their business, but you're disappointing them.
Like, you're not helping them. And a lot of times, the best coaches I know, most all coaches I know, especially in the fitness world, want to help people. You get into it because you want, you know, to help people. So by being able to, like, be confident in that, of like, "These are the people that I help, and this is what I'm gonna do," it doesn't mean you're not helping them.
You're, you're not able to help them in the way that you, the best way that you could, so it's, you know, the better thing that it, they go somewhere else.
Riley: Yeah.
Kelly Chall: a good way to look at it. Yeah,
Riley: And I, I
Kelly Chall: I love having this sort of like boundary.
Riley: I can refer them to,
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: "Hey, I can't help you. I'm not, I'm not the guy for you, but [01:13:00] this guy right here, go talk
Kelly Chall: Right. Mm-hmm
Riley: Yeah. Do you, uh, when it comes to coaching and advice, when it comes to running your business or running your, your, uh, fitness, do you take your own advice?
Kelly Chall: Oof. Not as much as I should. I try to, I try to. Um, I think... Well, I should rephrase that. I think when it comes to, like, a big decision, yes, typically. But little things in the moment, like, I'll do, and then things will happen, I'm like, "Wait, why is that happening? Oh, well, because I didn't do," you know, whatever I would tell a client to do.
I think we get so busy in the day-to-day, in the little, the little things that we have to do, that we kinda get on, on autopilot, and we don't really think about, at least for me, like, you know, think about some of the things. And when you take a step back and look, you're like, oh, then you give yourself a second to be able to follow that advice as opposed [01:14:00] to, you know, it just coming natural.
But also with that, like, the more... I feel like as a coach, the more I coach people, the better I am, because it's that whole, like, the best l- uh, the best learners are teachers. So I remember in my classroom, like, one of my favorite things to do after we've done a lesson is have the students teach their classmates.
And being able to walk around and hear a student be able to teach another student, tell them their, how they learned it, even if it was a summary from a story or whatever it was, that... First of all, the kid feels like they're in charge, or the p- it could be a kid or an adult. They feel they have some ownership from it, and they have to have retained it enough to be able to, to give it back out.
So I feel like for me, I always notice, like, I'll get off coaching calls or whatever, and I get this, like, new pep in my step 'cause it's like, you know, you're able to coach somebody. But a lot of the times, there's a majority of the things you're telling them that you're really telling yourself. So it's good,
Riley: [01:15:00] Mm-hmm
Kelly Chall: good reminder of the things that you know are true and you know that work.
And you're helping your client, but you're also kind of getting that, um, that little extra, extra pep, uh, pep talk or, or self-coaching moment. Um, by being able to, to help them, you're also helping yourself
Riley: That's like a perk of being a teacher or an instructor,
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: isn't it? Oh, I love it. I love it. So to social media and the vulnerability there, right? years, I thought anyone who was on social media was sort of a diva who just wanted some attention. That is not what it is, is it?
Kelly Chall: No. I mean, I'm sure there are some people out there. Social media is such a, it's such a funny thing because it can be so, so good, and it can be so damaging. Like, like I said, I have a, I have a almost 14-year-old daughter, and she knows... She doesn't have a s- she [01:16:00] tells me she's the only kid her age that doesn't have a cellphone, but there's reason for that, and then we've also talked about social media.
Like, that's not going to be on the table until years later. And I've told her because even as an adult, navigating social media and what to take from it, what to leave with it, how to interpret it, it just adds so much more to your life that to worry about that you shouldn't have to. There are good things, but there are so- you are just being fed all of these things.
So my, my goal with social media, and I've only over the last four or five years have gotten into social media for my, for my previous job, um, was a way to connect with people is what I would use it for and now with promoting my business and, um, I just have a lot of people that, like, I don't know in person, but I feel like they're friends because we talk, you know, on, through DMs and, you know, I see what they're doing and they see what I'm doing.
But if I can use it as a way [01:17:00] to help people to inspire, to educate, to motivate, you know, people and then also to help people feel, like, seen. 'Cause a lot of times as a coach, like we were just talking about, when you're coaching your client, you're also coaching yourself or, like, we're going through things that they're going through, but people might not know that.
You know, they might not, they might think everyone on Instagram, it, has their stuff together or, you know, if you're talking about something it means you don't have any problems. So, I think it is good in the way of, like, you can connect with people, but you also have to kind of have a, a guard up of, like, this isn't real life.
Some people are more real than others, and I personally try to keep it, you know, very authentic and, um, kind of you s- what you see is what you get. But, um, not everybody's like that, and so you can quickly start to compare. You can quickly start to say from a business pla- p- uh, point of view, from a athletic, running, you know, nutrition, all of those things, you can be like, "Well, this person has this many [01:18:00] followers.
This person is selling this much stuff. This person looks like this. This... You know, what am I doing wrong?" And then you can kinda spiral with that or you can look at it as how can I shut out that noise and use this platform to help other people, and what can I take from other people on this platform that's gonna help myself?
But just you have to kinda... It's hard to get that lens kinda, that filter correct all the time.
Riley: Now you used the word authentic, and I think that's a,
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: thing, right? 'Cause we can sniff it out when somebody's not. You know, that was, that was
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: this podcast that I was really afraid of, was I was, uh... And what made me hesitate, I'm like, I'm not really... I'm kind of dry, deadpan sometimes, you know?
I can be very dry in the way I speak, and expressions and that kind of thing. So I thought, "Well, what kind of a, almost like a character can I put on?" And
Kelly Chall: Oh, yeah
Riley: I was like, "That's not sustainable for me." So y- you said it earlier, you get what you get. You're just gonna get Riley. [01:19:00] There's no character, right?
I'm gonna talk the way I talk. I'm going to have whatever presence I have, and
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: something I'm not. So it or leave
Kelly Chall: Like, yeah. Like you said, yeah, it's exhausting to try to be something else, and I feel like people, people can tell that too. And, um, that was a big lesson I feel like I've learned also in the last few years, especially being in a position where I was in front of people a lot more, thinking that I had to have a certain personality or do things in a certain way.
And that was exhaus- First of all, it's like trying to figure out, you know, what does everybody like or should I be this or that? And then it was just blatantly clear, like, you can't do anything. If you are so worried about what everyone else thinks, you're gonna stay in exactly the same spot. Like, you're not able to progress.
You're not able to move. If you're listening to all of [01:20:00] these voices from all these different sides, or they might not even be voices, they can just be made up. You think that they think that. You know, you're assuming people feel this way, and if you go against, if you go with that, you're just gonna stay still.
Whereas, if you just be you, if you're just, "Here I am, this is what I do," and especially it's easy when you love what you do. It's easy when you love what you're talking about. Like you with this podcast, like, you enjoy, you know, interviewing people. You enjoy hearing stories, so you don't have to put on a front.
You know what I mean? Like, you just do what you enjoy doing, and you're able to, to do that in your own way and not have to worry about, 'cause not everybody is gonna like you in any capacity in life. There's always gonna be people in some way or another that don't like you, and nobody likes everybody, you know?
So that was a thing that I had to kinda get over, 'cause I would read comments or, you know. The internet is a strange place, and when a Reel gets in a... I've had a couple Reels go, like, viral, [01:21:00] but I don't see any good in that. But, like, people were commenting outside of, like, my kind of little nice Instagram world, and I'm like, "Who are these people?
Why are you so mean?" I goes like, "This is... I can't do it."
Riley: We had a guy that got on one of, one of my episodes and started threatening the guest. Like, got in this
Kelly Chall: Oh no
Riley: didn't catch it for like, I don't know, 48 hours or something until afterwards. And I jumped on him like, "Oh crap, this is going down a bad path." Threatening his life, like threatening to hunt him down and kill him.
Kelly Chall: Oh my gosh
Riley: thing, and I'm, I'm, I'm reading these comments. I'm like, "How is this episode..." You know, I, from my end, I can block all that stuff and did, but
Kelly Chall: Right
Riley: like, yeah, the Internet's a
Kelly Chall: It's wild. It is. It's wild
Riley: That's, uh... How do you, um, how do you filter out in your brain those negative comments, right? 'Cause we'll, we'll get 100 positive ones. That
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.[01:22:00]
Riley: sticks with us for some
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: you know?
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: you deal with that?
Kelly Chall: It's hard. Um, it comes down to, like, knowing who you are. So I have a very strong... I have developed, I should say that, I have developed a very strong sense of who I am and my identity, and having that kind of helps put a fence, put a gate, a wall around what other people say about you. Not saying that it still doesn't bother you.
Like, I probably could rattle off every, if not all, most of the negative comments that I've read about myself. Um, so it's not that they, like, don't bother you, but having that strong sense of identity, of this is who I am, um, and knowing that... Again, knowing that not everybody's gonna like you. That was the biggest thing for me, is that it's okay if somebody doesn't.
[01:23:00] Like, they don't have to. Um, but yeah, just that identity, and for me, um, that comes down to, like, my faith. So I'm a Christian, so knowing that, like, my identity does not lie in what other people think about me, um, has been a big, for the last few years, has been a really big thing that, you know, just keeping that front of mind.
Like, that's okay, you can think that, and you know, I... Where it's if I felt like I did something, you know, to make somebody feel, feel negative, that's one thing. But if it's just, you know, me doing whatever, then it's just kinda like, you know, they always say bless and release. Like, that's their opinion and just kind of filter that, filter that out and replace it with, with a positive.
Um, one of my coworkers, former coworkers and best friends, she told me about a feel-good folder. And so you take, like, any, um, any nice comments or, uh, DMs or [01:24:00] anything like that, and, like, take a screenshot and make, like, a folder in your phone of, like, compliments. And she's like, "Next time, you know, you get, like, a, a bad comment or a negative something, like, going back to the feel-good folder and kind of reading, you know, to kinda pep yourself up a little bit."
Riley: Yeah. No, I love it 'cause you, you, you s- you alluded to sometimes, sometimes things people say have an element of truth to them, right?
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: an element of
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: know, that's why they sting, right? 'Cause it's
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: you're kind of right in some, way," but been able to discard the rest, right?
So
Kelly Chall: Yeah Take the lesson Yes
Riley: and don't let that person live in your head either. I
Kelly Chall: Yeah. And you're right. Sometimes, you know, a lot of times those ones that, like, you really keep ruminating on, there's probably more truth to it than you think. And so those I do feel like, you know, that's a good opportunity for, like, for growth and for, okay, if this person sees this...
And there was, there was a [01:25:00] one comment where somebody said something about the way I was acting, and then I asked a few people, I'm like, "Do I when I say that?" You know, "Does this sound this way?" Or, you know, "Do you feel this?" Or whatever. Because it's one of the things, like, I never want what I'm saying to, to have a negative impact on somebody if I'm not saying it correctly.
You know, like, I don't wanna do that intentionally. I wouldn't do that intentionally, and if there's something that I'm doing that I'm not aware of, you know, then I'd like to know. But when it's one out of, you know, 55,000 or something, it's a little, it's a little different. Yeah.
Riley: For real. For real, right? And
Kelly Chall: For real.
Riley: the thing. It's, it, it always a- amazes me how much we let those 1 in 55,000 affect us. Like, man,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: not pay attention to the other 50,000
Kelly Chall: Exactly. Exactly
Riley: Excuse me. Um, let's switch gears here a little bit.
Kelly Chall: I have some lighter questions Yeah
Riley: of bring this, bring this, uh, to a close. When you hear... this, this podcast is called the Go Earn Your Salt [01:26:00] podcast, right?
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm
Riley: of our electrolyte company, and it's what we decided to name the podcast. What do you... What comes to mind when you hear the term go earn your salt?
Kelly Chall: So the first thing that comes to mind is, like, after a run, like a summer run. Like a... 'Cause you know that feeling, like, you're all sweaty and then the sweat kinda dries and it's all salty? Like, that's what I think of. Like, a hard workout, a hard run, something to where, like, you know there's just salt coming, coming out of your pores.
Um, that's basically the visual I get when I think of go earn your salt. Like, go do something to where you are putting yourself out there, you're exerting yourself to where you need to be replenished
Riley: Hmm.
Kelly Chall: way
Riley: Beautiful. Kelly, what is your, your favorite pastime?
Kelly Chall: Hmm. My favorite pastime, I would say probably camping with my family. We have an RV, and so we like to [01:27:00] go, um, to some of the state parks in Florida. A lot of them have springs and alligators.
Riley: It
Kelly Chall: that That's fun. Yeah, exactly. Um, being able... It- Even though if it's just, like, an hour or two hours away, it feels like a complete disconnection.
Like, as soon as we get to, like, a campsite and set up the RV, it's like, it's just this sense of, of calm, and there's nothing to do, and it's just really great family time
Riley: What is something quirky about Kelly that most people don't know?
Kelly Chall: Oof. Um
Probably the amount of songs that I, like, act out and sing in the kitchen or the living room. My husband calls it acted out Kelly. And my girls, I don't know, like, yeah, just very dramatic with the, with the lip syncing.
Riley: So you put on a show every time your, your jam comes [01:28:00] on, huh?
Kelly Chall: Basically, yeah.
Riley: I love it. Okay. What's your favorite naughty food?
Kelly Chall: Ooh. Well I, I'm on like a Blue Bell ice cream kick right now. So I would say cherry vanilla Blue Bell ice cream to be very, very specific
Riley: If you've, if people are not from the South, they don't even know what that is. The Blue Ba-
Kelly Chall: Oh The vanilla bean ice cream Yeah. Yeah, that's true.
Riley: Uh,
Kelly Chall: Yes. So ice cream, I guess we could just say that. No, no, no, I don't want to say-
Riley: Blue Bell's special. It's good. It's
Kelly Chall: Yeah. It's
Riley: ice cream.
Kelly Chall: really good. Blue Bell is like the best ice cream
Riley: Yeah, but that's, uh, it's fun 'cause I've spent enough time in the South with my in-laws that seen that commercial on TV and that little
Kelly Chall: Yeah.
Riley: it's
Kelly Chall: Yep.
Riley: Like, great. Um, Kelly, do you have, do you have a nickname?[01:29:00]
Kelly Chall: Um No, not really
Riley: No nicknames
Kelly Chall: No. I'm trying to think. Nothing that's ever really stuck
Riley: You are, you are blessed in that. I love
Kelly Chall: I used to... My maiden name is Kane, so like through high school people would call me KK, but like that kind of left after high school. Yeah
Riley: Do you, uh, the scariest moment of your life
Kelly Chall: Ooh. I thought these were light questions.
Riley: Yeah, this,
Kelly Chall: Scariest moment of my life?
Riley: I should put this one somewhere else
Kelly Chall: Disclaimer
Riley: not very light. You're right
Kelly Chall: Um, oh my goodness
I'm not sure if this is... This is the first thing that comes to mind, and it was recent. Um, I could not [01:30:00] find my youngest daughter for, like, 30 minutes, and I thought she, I thought she was, like, lost.
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Chall: We were at a, an, an event, and she went one place. And she was with fri- I mean, she was fi- It was actually at the tennis club that my husband runs, and it's a very familiar place.
But they were having an event, and she had gone over to play with somebody at the event, and then, like, literally there was, like, eight of us looking for her, and she was just on the other side of somewhere. But it was like, as a parent, that feeling of, like, you really don't know where your child is, like, in that moment, so your mind starts, like, spiraling.
So I will say, like, when it... I'm, there probably were scarier things before, but that's the most recent, like,
Riley: Oh,
Kelly Chall: scary
Riley: one of those one time. We lost our son. He was four years old, and he, he was a good bike rider at that time. And we were on the Greenbelt, and we took this little loop around this little dirt trail that went off the Greenbelt. And I waited, 'cause I knew he'd circle back around, right?
Kelly Chall: Mm-hmm.
Riley: some point I was like, "I think it'd be fun to go follow him.
[01:31:00] I can catch him." Well, I didn't catch him, and then when he came out, he went past the point where I was and just kept going. So we
Kelly Chall: Hmm.
Riley: to the original meeting point, no kid. And we're like, "Where did he go?" And we s- Turns out, 35 minutes later when we find him, that he had ridden a mile and a half or two miles the other way before...
You know, 'cause Lindsay and I
Kelly Chall: Oh my gosh.
Riley: hauling butt
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: and I, I come across him about a mile away, but he had gone down and turned around and came back. But yeah, at some point our four-year-old was, you know, miles from us on the
Kelly Chall: Oh my gosh.
Riley: So
Kelly Chall: he just like chilling when he saw him? What's that?
Riley: What's that?
Kelly Chall: Was he just like chilling when you saw him or was he like- He was so
Riley: Yeah,
Kelly Chall: Oh my gosh. So
Riley: He's just like, "Oh, I had a
Kelly Chall: That's crazy.
Riley: I
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: So we, we, we said, "Take us to the point where you turned around." And when we did, we're just like, "We're going forever. How did you get that far, kid?" It...
Kelly Chall: That is crazy.
Riley: Yeah.
Kelly Chall: Oof.
Riley: So I hear you. That
Kelly Chall: I hear you. Yeah. It's
Riley: [01:32:00] your heart going.
Kelly Chall: ridiculous. Right? Yeah
Riley: most valuable learning experience you've had
Kelly Chall: Mm. Most valuable learning experience
Hmm. Um
I think probably my first stint as a teacher, being a special ed teacher, um, just being-- learning how to help and teach such diverse, um, modalities and students just in such different places, if that makes sense. Like being able to... Um, I learned so much about how to treat people, I guess I should say. So, which I [01:33:00] think really helps me with, with coaching and with-- and being a trainer, just learning that like not everybody learns the same way, not everybody thinks the same way.
Like being able to, um, differentiate instruction with, with a group of people and just kind of the compassion that you have to kinda learn through working with students, uh, with disabilities. I feel like having that kind of chunk of my life, having that experience and, you know, the degree for it, but then also the in-classroom, um, experience really has helped me in areas beyond in my life that I wouldn't have thought that that would have carried o-carried over to.
Riley: Sure. could definitely see that happening.
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: Um, Kelly, who, who in your life has influenced you the most?
Kelly Chall: Um, I would say my husband. He... I feel [01:34:00] like he has all of the, the things that I am not as good at, or the kind of charac- I feel like he's the opposite. You know they say opposites attract. We're definitely opposite in, like, some personality traits. But I have learned so much about how to interact with people and treat people, and he's much more the dreamer and the, um...
I don't think I'm pessimistic. I say I'm realistic, but he's definitely much more of the, the optimistic- Pessimistic ... Yeah, exactly.
Riley: it
Kelly Chall: Um, but I feel like he's just influ- influenced me in a way of, like, things that I wouldn't normally think. I see him doing those things, and it makes me, um, be more aware of, like, oh, okay, in this situation, maybe I should, you know, be more like this or be open to this.
He's much more, um, open and trusting [01:35:00] and, um, I don't know. He's just, he's an awesome guy, and so there's a lot of traits that I, I... There's a lot of things about him that I wanna be more like, 'cause I think it's a, um, he carries kinda some things that I, that I lack. So I would say probably my husband. Hmm.
Riley: Kelly, what's an item on your bucket list that you, uh, wanna do before it's all over?
Kelly Chall: I want to, um, do the Grand Canyon, like the rim to rim of the Grand Canyon
Riley: As a hiker, as the race? 'Cause there's, there's both, right?
Kelly Chall: Yeah, there's both. I'm not quite sure yet, 'cause I don't exactly know what it entails. I've never even been to the Grand Canyon. But, um, I had said I was gonna do it before I turned 40, but I turned 40 last October and it hasn't been done yet. But it's still, it's still on the list.
Riley: Oh, that, that would be a cool one. I agree. That would be really cool. I've got a friend that
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: with me that he goes and hikes [01:36:00] it,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: like every year, every other year, and I keep
Kelly Chall: That's so cool
Riley: his suitcase when he goes.
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: Yeah. uh... What's, what's the best advice you've ever received?
Kelly Chall: Best advice, just in general
Riley: Mm-hmm
Kelly Chall: for life?
Um, this is a saying that I used to dislike strongly up until probably a couple years ago, but fake it till you make it. And I will say because I always thought that that was a cop-out. I was like, "I do not wanna fake anything." Like, if I, you know, if I don't wanna do this, I don't wanna do this, or whatever.
Or if I don't know how to do this, why would I pretend like I did? But then the more I got into, like, owning a business, growing in a career, parenting, all those things, I'm like, "Nobody knows it all. Nobody knows everything." We're all just trying our best. Like... So the [01:37:00] idea of fake it till you make it, it kind of is that mindset thing of like, you know what?
I might not know everything right now, but I'm gonna tell myself I know enough to get started. I know enough to take the next step. So not necessarily fake it in a bad way, but you know what I mean? Like, I have a tendency of s- of getting in my own way, of, like, stopping myself. Like, "Kelly, you don't know everything.
You can't do that." Like, what are you thinking? But instead of doing that, more of like, hey, I'm gonna put it out there, and then we'll see how that goes, and then I'll learn something, and I'll do something else. So I would say probably fake it till you make it. I feel like it's a good, like, thing for my head.
Like, you're gonna do this anyway, and you're gonna figure it out. You don't have to have it all figured out first
Riley: Yeah. You know, that again, there you go dropping these, these wisdom bombs, right? Because you're... Every business owner I've ever... E- every, just business owner, every leader of any kind I've ever interviewed or just sat down and had a cup of coffee with, we are all winging [01:38:00] it. That's a, I just hear that as a
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: We're all making it up as we... That's the definition, I think, of a leader, is someone who's, you're first in line.
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: someone ahead of you, so you don't have necessarily an example of what to do. you're winging it, right? That's,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: that works. So it's a, something we don't always think about when we enter a new venture or,
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: business or a new, you know, we're discovering stuff for the first time, so here we go
Kelly Chall: 'Cause we think somehow magically the people before us had it all figured out, but it's like, wait, how did they get there?
Riley: Yeah.
Kelly Chall: They were winging it too. Like, it's just- They did exactly what you said ... exactly
Riley: and they learned a lesson, and then they tried again with that new information.
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: So nice. Nice. All right, Kelly, what's your favorite book of all time?
Kelly Chall: Ooh. Favorite book of all time. Uh, it's either The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, or... Do you mean fiction or non-fiction, or does it matter? It doesn't matter. Okay. You
Riley: You're, you're favorite[01:39:00]
Kelly Chall: can pick. The Hiding Place or, um, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, which is like a World War II, like, re- realistic fiction book. I think they're making a movie into it
Riley: my aunt Pam, she, she loves The Hiding Place. She,
Kelly Chall: Yeah. It's such a good book
Riley: but she's talked about it so much that I feel like I
Kelly Chall: It's one of those books, I mean, it's hard. It's, it's about the Holocaust, and it's about, you know, it's, it's, it's hard things to, to read, but it's just one of those, like, stories that you're riveted by. But it's just, it's a great, a great book
Riley: Hmm. Oh my goodness. Kelly, what's the next challenge? Where, where are you going from here?
Kelly Chall: Um, physically? Like a physical challenge
Riley: Physical,
Kelly Chall: in general? My
Riley: wherever. Yeah
Kelly Chall: fitness wherever I am. Well, um, I have signed up for a HYROX in,
Riley: that?
Kelly Chall: What's that? A HYROX. So it's, uh... They have 'em, like, [01:40:00] all over the world. They're, and they're coming to Tampa in October. And so what you do, there's eight stations, and there's a run, a 800-meter run in between.
So it's kind of like a CrossFit, kind of,
Riley: Okay
Kelly Chall: CrossFit Games, but not really. So you have to do... There's a SkiErg, a rower, weighted lunges, sled push, sled pull, uh, wall balls, burpee broad jumps
And there's one more. But you have to do all eight of those. In between each station, you run 200 meters, and they have singles, doubles, and a relay. And so three of my girlfriends and I are doing the relay, um, in the fall. So I'm excited about that
Riley: Is
Kelly Chall: for a physical challenge. Spelled H-Y-R-O-E-S.
Riley: Okay. I've been seeing that. So a former guest on
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: Rowe, she, she's been posting about that.
Kelly Chall: Yeah
Riley: Um, and I, I [01:41:00] guess I didn't process what it was, but it looks like she's doing a lot of CrossFit-type activities getting ready
Kelly Chall: Yeah, that's what it reminds me of. And everything I've read, it's like your biggest training thing is to train- is to run on tired legs, like being able to, to continue running when your, when your legs are tired. So we're gonna do that in, um, October, so that's kind of my 2026 kind of physical goal. And then really the...
or challenge, the challenge now of just growing Chall Performance Coaching and, um, growing that and building up, um, kind of my, my client base for that and seeing how many people I can help achieve their, their running goals and, um, really just pouring into, pouring into that
Riley: Wonderful. Kelly, on the social media world, where can you be found?
Kelly Chall: I am on Instagram. It's challkel, C-H-A-L-L-K-E-L. Um, that's where I am the most active
Riley: Awesome. Do you [01:42:00] have a website?
Kelly Chall: I do. It's chawlperformancecoaching.com. That's a little bit under construction, but it's there.
Riley: It's there. Okay, Well, listen, I, I sure appreciate you coming on. It's been a, it's been an awesome conversation 'cause you have, you have said some things that, again, one will help me personally, but then as far as audience goes, I, I hope you guys understand some of the, just the real wisdom, the real, the real gems that were stated in this podcast.
That was, that was fantastic. You, you gave us some really good stuff, so I appreciate you, Kelly
Kelly Chall: Thank you, and thanks so much for having me. This has been a lot of fun, and I, I love what you're doing with the podcast and with the, with the SALT. And my daughter, I will tell you, her favorite is your, uh, electrolytes.
Riley: No
Kelly Chall: a plethora of them to choose from,
Riley: That makes me so happy,
Kelly Chall: makes me happy.
Riley: Well, listen, um, up the good work, and we'll see you out there on the interwebs. And, uh, in the meantime, go earn your salt
Kelly Chall: Thank [01:43:00] you