161 |Becoming Your Own Superhero with Don Saladino
Welcome to Episode 161 of The Optimal Body Podcast
Becoming Your Own Superhero with Don Saladino
Feel like you are too old to start exercising? Have an aesthetic goal, but trying to navigate body positivity? In need of tips for finding balance and flexibility with discipline and intuitive eating? Don Saladino, the celebrity trainer and fitness expert, offers a compelling perspective on aging, goal setting, body positivity, nutrition, and finding a balanced lifestyle for YOU. With an emphasis on individualization and intuition, Don Saladino shares what can resurrect when limiting mindsets about exercise and age are shifted and how he gets clients looking forward to movement again. Don shares how he approaches a friend’s goal and how they followed up with the magic words “What’s next.” Then, Don shares how he navigates aesthetic goals with an open and mindful approach, discussing discipline and addressing its fine line with dysregulated habits around eating. In addition to a discussion about setting goals, Don discusses the phenomena of metabolic flexibility and how to approach cravings, calories, and blood sugar. Finally, Don talks about his experience with 15 years of in-person coaching and expanding to a global community, and how his lifestyle transfers into his children’s lives. Lean into wisdom with Don!
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What You Will Learn in this Interview with Don Saladino
4:01 – Is age a limiting factor to movement progress & muscle building?
7:21 – How to navigate a limiting mindset associated with age and just start
9:14 – The magic words: “What’s next?”
12:36 – The impact of community & new year resolutions
15:59 – Navigating aesthetic goals with body positivity
21:43 – Recommendations on the fine line between discipline and a dysregulated mindset
23:45 – Goal setting with a “one thing a month approach”
27:00 – Exploring metabolic flexibility
30:50 – Curbing cravings, calories, and the importance of regulating blood sugar
25:10 – Coaching Online vs In person
43:11 – Honing in your YOUR process rather than someone else’s process
44:19 – How does Don’s lifestyle transfer into their children
49:11 – How to get involved with Don
About Don Saladino
For over 20 years, Don has coached actors, athletes, musicians, and business executives. In 2005, he opened his NYC Gym, Drive 495. After operating a gym for 15 years, Don expanded to a global online fitness business. He has developed a reputation for training some of the biggest names in Hollywood for the big screen. Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Liev Schreiber, Sebastian Stan, Anne Hathaway, Zachary Levi, Hugh Jackman, & David Harbour are among his roster of clients. He has been tapped as a fitness expert in publications such as Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Met Rx. He has also been featured in People, US Weekly, Origins, In Touch, Cosmo, & Shape; and has made appearances doing live fitness demos on The Today Show, Page Six TV, People NOW, E News, The Better Show, & The Juice. He sits on the advisory board of Men’s Health Magazine. In March 2018 & October 2021, it was his great honor to shoot the Cover of the iconic Muscle & Fitness Magazine. Don lives in New York with his wife, Mel, and their two children, Amelia and Donny Jr. – & their pups Rigatoni & Sambuca.
Items mentioned:
- Don’s Website
- Don’s App
- Don’s Workout Programs
- Don’s Mastermind Workshops
- Don’s Instagram
- Don’s Youtube
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