Philip Pape: 0:00

Hey, wits and Weights listeners, happy Saturday or whenever you're listening to this hopefully quick bonus episode. I just wanted to hop on the mic here for two reasons. The first is to share the results of the 2025 podcast listener survey, what you want from the show, how it's gonna shape, what we do next, if you're interested in that, and then I'm gonna talk about some upcoming mini challenges for fat loss and fitness. So stay tuned for the end of the episode to hear the details on how to get in on that. So if you're ever wondering, hey, what do other listeners think about the show? And maybe you don't care, maybe you just care about how it helps you. And that's cool too, because what I want you to do is listen and take action. Listen and take action so that you can continuously improve your fitness. But I definitely want to know you know which types of episodes you love. What do you skip? The frequency? Is it too much, is it just enough? And I asked all these questions.

Philip Pape: 0:51

Today I'm pulling back the curtain on the survey to share at a high level what the results look like. I got over 50 responses, a lot of details. I'm still sifting through the lower level stuff, but I wanted to summarize it for all of you. So through the lower level stuff, but I wanted to summarize it for all of you. So, first, starting with just listeners and frequency, most of you listen to every episode. We do three episodes a week, or most episodes, so that tells me the content is resonating and maybe it's worth the investment in my time to create those for you. But more on that in a second. More than half of you have been listening for a year or more and newer listeners are sticking around. So I really love that because I'm always trying to attract to people who are longtime loyal listeners, who want something fresh, a new topic, a new take on a topic or to a different angle from that engineering lens that we come to. But I also want brand new listeners to be able to jump in on any episode and know what the heck is going on. Most of you hit play within two days of the episode comes coming out and my concern is always that if I have too many episodes, you're going to let them pile up or you're going to skip some and it's going to be overwhelming. So I am always thinking about that and some of you wait till up to a week, you know, confirming that maybe the episodes are not as time sensitive as some shows, which is good, they're kind of evergreen, but also could indicate a little overwhelmed. So again, I'm looking into that and then that's the listener frequency and, I guess, loyalty we'll call it.

Philip Pape: 2:16

The next section is episode format and length. Now, most of you are happy with three episodes a week, but there are some of you that would prefer two. So I am I'm just on the fence about this and really just to let you know one of my thoughts it takes a lot of time to prepare for the guest episodes and I might at some point stretched out the frequency of those out so that they don't occur as frequently not weekly, but maybe every other week, every third week, and I could potentially go down to two a week, where some weeks you're still going to get two solo episodes plus bonuses like this one here, as well as case studies. So I'm trying to mix it up. Most of you want longer episodes than shorter ones, but if I have a lot of episodes, that's kind of a difficult balance. So if I, if I, reduce the number of episodes, I might go a little longer, but then some people do want shorter episodes, so I'm never going to please everyone. It depends on your preferences. And just to reiterate if you love guest episodes, those usually come out on Friday. If you like the more traditional science-based deep dive, that's Monday. And then, if you like my very unique twists from an engineering perspective, those are on Wednesday.

Philip Pape: 3:18

Which leads me to the next section, your favorite episode topics and styles. This is the part that I really eat up here, because it tells me what kind of topics to go for in the future. Um, actually, it is kind of like uh cliff's notes for me. It's like like a cheat card, cheat code actually for the gamers on what topics I might um cover in future episodes. So, for example, the uh, the 12 month fat loss and muscle gain blueprint. A lot of people love that one. A lot of people love the intermittent fasting myths that need to die types of episodes.

Philip Pape: 3:48

So I get that at this point and listeners love when I go deep on the science, but you love it when I also apply it to practical application. So I try to do a little bit of both and at the end of the day, when I do talk about application, I keep it a little bit higher level only because I've gone over and over and over again the specifics for fat loss and at the end of the day, it's highly personalized anyway, and so that's why I offer things like the free rapid nutrition assessment. You could always click on the show notes to sign up for that. That's 15 minute talk so we can talk about your situation. Or our Facebook group we do free live Q and A's. Again, you can post a specific question for you.

Philip Pape: 4:25

So I try to keep the podcast episodes a little more on the philosophy, on the worldview, on the approach, and then have it principle based, if you will. Um, you also said interviews perform well. You like the guests. I try to keep the guests pretty high quality. You know, sometimes it's a little bit of a miss, but most of the time it's pretty solid. At this point, I know what I'm looking for and I know what you're looking for, so I try to make that work. And then you're looking for more case studies and real world examples. Well, have I got something for you? Because I'm going to be doing a case study with a client who had amazing results, like they all do. But this particular client, um, is super excited to share her story very, very soon on the podcast. Uh, probably in February. So stay tuned for that. And yeah, and, by the way, she she lost 20 pounds of fat but she gained muscle at the same time. She ate a bunch of carbs all the things they say you can't do, and she did it.

Philip Pape: 5:17

The next section is on demographics. I don't want to go too much on this. I collect this just because of it's interesting to hear what demographic related issues I should hone in on. So the majority of you are between around 40 to 65. Totally not surprised about that, but it also means longevity. Retaining muscle training intelligently around. Injury and age-related factors are super important to you and they're important to me as well. I'm 44. Um, highly educated audience. Definitely You're all highly educated. I'm not surprised. I kind of talk nerd speak. I get quite technical. I have an engineering background. I talk a lot about science. Um, it kind of makes sense, right, so we are simpatico on that. And then, um, there were some other demographics, I'm not sure things like household income and whatnot. That's. That's just more of interest to have the information in case. In case. I need that that. And then the last section here is listener feedback and opportunities for growth, because really, at the end of the day, I want to know what am I not doing as well or could do better? So what is working?

Philip Pape: 6:12

The evidence-based approach, the no fluff. A couple of people said, oh, it'd be cool to have a co-host and have some banter. But, like 99% of people said, hey, I love that you get right into it. It is real world, it's not just theory. I mean, I love scientific papers, I love the latest studies, but I just want to know what the heck to do with that information. And then you love the engineering mindset and the problem solving for fitness.

Philip Pape: 6:33

I have gotten like three messages this week from people saying, hey, I love this whole engineering approach and I'm like that's good to hear, because sometimes I really go kind of technical on that. But I try to not make it so technical that you actually have to understand the engineering. It's more using it as an analogy, and the analogies are helpful because they unlock your brain to a different ways of thinking about the same problem and it might give you an aha moment that you wouldn't have had otherwise. Plus, I find when I learn about things that I'm not as familiar with like if you're not an engineer and you hear me talking about the Nyquist stability criterion, but you have curiosity. You might learn something new that takes you down a path of discovery you wouldn't have anticipated.

Philip Pape: 7:14

Now, what do you want more of? Okay, this is the really good stuff here. You want more deep dives into fat loss and muscle gain strategies. So I'm going to have to understand exactly what that means, because we do that a lot. But I think I want to get even more targeted on specific Okay. So if you're going to lose fat, what are the different scenarios along the way and the different problems people face, and really just hone in on every single one of those issues. Same thing for gaining muscles, by the way, or gaining muscle Muscle.

Philip Pape: 7:43

I think I'm going to do a podcast called something like my hardest gain ever, cause, let me tell you, folks, I am in a muscle gaining phase right now and my expenditure skyrocketing like has never done before, to the point where I literally cannot get past 189.5 on the scale. I'm being a little facetious. You know it fluctuates, but my metabolism has skyrocketed so much that even when I overeat by what I think is a sufficient amount every day 2, 3, 4 500 calories beyond my already targeted surplus I'm still not gaining. That's an excellent example of a problem that people often face, and I know the solution for me is I just need to eat a heck of a lot more food. I mean, there are other things as well that I'm trying to do, and that's in conjunction with the fact that I've incorporated some sprint protocols, which probably is boosting my metabolism further, which will be great in fat loss, but not so much during the day. Anyway, those kinds of things I think you'd like to learn about. I could even talk about the mini cut that I'm going to do, coming up for our trip to Florida, for example.

Philip Pape: 8:50

You also want more listener Q&A. I know I do the occasional bonus Q&A. I might do some more straight up Q&A episodes. Keep in mind a lot of my episodes that are a single topic. They are answering a listener question, but I think you're probably looking for the type where there are three or four in one so I can go back to doing a few of those here and there, and you're looking for real client case studies. I already mentioned that. You also mentioned even clearer takeaways and action steps in each episode. So again, yes and no. When I'm really honed in on the philosophy and the approach. I don't always want to take a lot of minutes giving you a how to step by step, because it's going to depend a lot and I don't want you just assuming that's the only way to do it. And that's where, again, I say like hey, join our Facebook group and ask your question, or reach out to me for a rapid nutrition assessment, ask a specific question for you, and I'm going to cover as many scenarios as I can in the episodes.

Philip Pape: 9:39

Um, you also want less fluff. Getting straight to the point point and covering the topic so kind of like today's episode is pretty meandering. It's a bonus episode. It is not the typical type of episode. If you're brand new listening to the show, go check out any other episode, um, but on those episodes I usually get kind of to the point. Sometimes I have a drawn out opening. So anyway, I think a lot of you said I I didn't have much fluff, but a few of you said I did so, who knows?

Philip Pape: 10:06

And then more training content, not just nutrition. That's kind of an interesting one. I am a nutrition coach but I do bring on guests that talk about training, like Andy Baker's coming on, nikki Sims from Barbell Logic is coming on and I what was I going to say? I just recorded an episode about progressive overload overload thinking about this exact comment you guys said in the survey. So I agree, I can definitely have more training content and not overloaded on nutrition. So I'm definitely going to do that because it's an important part of your lifestyle and your nutrition strategy. So I took a lot of notes on things that I possibly could do based on this that you will see going forward.

Philip Pape: 10:45

I already mentioned that I might consider testing a two episode a week deal in the future. If I switch, it will be consistent. It won't be like three one week and two another. It'll be consistent. I'm going to continue with high quality guest interviews, but you may see some more creativity around them, like having more peer to peer type interviews or, you know, kind of a half and half conversation where the it's another podcaster and they might have half of the conversation on their podcast. Um, I might do some more conversational style rather than just me interviewing them and so on.

Philip Pape: 11:16

Um, I already talked about case studies. You're going to hear one coming up and I'm going to do more in the future. And stay tuned when I talk about the challenges, because there will be a connection between the challenges and the case studies. Just hold on a second. And then I already mentioned some things like the audience Q&A or what would I do if I were you type episodes or segments, real scenarios, practical next steps or if it were actually me. So sometimes I'm going to talk about my own actual experience and thinking like a coach for that I'm going to add more strength, training and programming content because I know you want a better mix of that and then always be thinking what is the action you can take away from this episode? Even if it isn't the total breakdown of every step, there is some action that you can take. That is very clear. All right, so that's the survey results.

Philip Pape: 12:04

Hope you enjoyed that, hope that wasn't too long and you found that interesting and you could see why I send these surveys out to you because it really truly does help me get feedback that helps me grow. I learned long ago in my career that the only way I was going to grow as an individual and as a leader was to increase my emotional intelligence, and emotional intelligence begins with self-awareness and self-awareness begins with vulnerability Having the openness to ask for frank feedback. That is sometimes gonna hurt you deep in the gut. Now, at this point, I've heard so much feedback over the years and plenty of it critical that I feel like I've developed the skill of listening to that feedback to where it really doesn't affect me that way anymore. I mean, occasionally, you know, like a one-star review will slip through and hit me in the gut, but what you're telling me, it all makes total sense. Nothing's really surprising except, but it is insightful, so it's helpful. It's not all surprising, but it's helpful, which is great. So now what I alluded to earlier mini challenges, all right.

Philip Pape: 12:59

So you guys probably heard, or if you're brand new to the show, um, we have a group coaching program called Wits and Ways Physique University. Well, I'm doing a couple things for the new year based on this survey and based on my current clients. I have. We have about, I want to say, 40 members there. I just launched it last year to give people just about almost as much value as you would get from one-on-one coaching, without as much personalization, of course, because that's not possible in a group setting, but a lot of it is personalized and for a much more budget-friendly price. And already what you get in there would be monthly workout programs, a custom nutrition plan, a lot of these group programs. You don't get a custom plan developed by the coach up front. I give you that. You get a community. It's kind of like Slack or Facebook, where you can post check-ins, you can get support. You can tag me as a coach and get personalized support. There are a whole bunch of courses on fat loss, metabolism building, muscle training, physique development, et cetera. There are live group coaching calls as well. So there's a ton of stuff in there, a lot of features, great, okay.

Philip Pape: 14:00

What we're going to start now in March is monthly mini challenges. So every month we're going to have a challenge. It's going to be explained on the first call of the month. We're going to talk about the wins and the Q&A on the subsequent call or two during the month, and then the group is going to vote on an MVP for the month and that MVP is going to get a free coaching session with me. That will become a case study for the podcast. So that's where I'm tying it together.

Philip Pape: 14:25

You guys want to hear more case studies. I want to create more case studies for you. The best way to do that is have it with people who have taken the information, they've taken action and they've gotten results. Because I know that what we provide in Physique University gets you results Absolutely. I'm not going to say quote unquote, guaranteed, but I know if you do the work you are absolutely going to get the results, because it's based on science, it's based on the evidence of physique development as we talk on the show. If you're trying to lose 50 pounds of fat, you're going to, you're going to make it happen if you follow the program, if you follow the plan. So to do a good case study, I've got to work with somebody who's actually taken the information and followed it. Yes, they had the accountability, they had the support, they had the information, but then they also took the action. And that's where some people fall short and that's where you can get inspired when you hear somebody who has done that, even against long odds or what seems like long odds.

Philip Pape: 15:15

So if you want to join Physique University and get your first challenge absolutely free because here's what I'm doing for you I'm going to have a super secret link in the show notes for a 14-day free trial where you get to do your first challenge free. What that means is you'll get full access to the challenge, all the resources, everything for that month. You'd want to stick around past the 14 days if you want to get the results and get into the next challenge and the one after that and get your results long-term. But this lets you kick the tires, absolutely no risk. Cancel any time and then the super secret link is going to roll you into a discounted exclusive rate to podcast listeners that is lower than what you're going to see on the public website. So I'm going to throw both links in the show notes One to help you learn about Physique University and the other is the super secret link and there's absolutely no risk behind that.

Philip Pape: 16:06

If you have any questions, you can shoot me an email, philip at witsandweightscom. Okay, that's philip, with one word at witsandweightscom, and there is really no reason not to join. There's no risk. You're definitely going to miss out on the ability to take the information from this podcast. Use our tracking tools and our method, get the onboarding step-by-step and the support and the accountability and, yes, the information, but the ability to apply that information and get the result. You're going to miss out on all of that if you don't join Physique University, and right now you're getting a link for a free trial on your first free challenge absolutely no risk and an exclusive lifetime discounted rate. And that's all I'm going to say about it. So go click that link in the show notes. I hope you enjoyed this bonus episode a little longer than expected, but hope you found it valuable and stay tuned. Follow the podcast for Monday's episode. But in the meantime, what are you waiting for? Go sign up for Physique University and I'll