Phil Daru | Coaching: Creating Connections and Pushing Athletes to Succeed
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Most people want to actually be led and not be a follower. But the problem is we don't have great leadership examples out there. Right? As a business owner, as an entrepreneur, those people that you bring on, you have to learn how to coach them up. You have to learn how to teach them, how to guide them so that they can be a valuable asset to the team itself. Probably the age of 22,

I opened up a gym for myself. I was an independent contractor taking clients and sneaking them into Gold's Gym and charging $20 a session. Times have changed now of athletes. I've had probably around 200 professional athletes

that I've been able to work with it, right? I've created that level of authority in the space. Welcome to Mic Unplugged, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves, and game-changing conversations.

Buckle up. Here's Mick. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged, where we dive deep into the minds of the most inspiring leaders and innovators on earth. And today I have a powerhouse, both literally and figuratively, in the world of strength and conditioning. A coach who has transformed athletes at the highest levels. Someone that I'm honored to call a friend.

Get ready to be enlightened. Get ready to be moved. Get ready to be motivated by none other than the incomparable Phil DeRue. Phil, how you doing, brother? I'm doing amazing, man. Thank you for that intro, too, by the way. That was awesome.

Hey, it's all about my people, man. So like I said, I'm glad to call you a friend. And, you know, on Mick Unplugged, Phil, as you know, we like to talk about going deeper than your why, right? Like I feel like everyone's why is superficial. I could probably guess Phil's why, but it's your because that makes you unique. Is that because that's your purpose? So Phil, for you, and I know it changes right from time to time, but if I were to say early young Phil, what was your because? What drove you to who you are today, brother?

That's a good question, honestly. The biggest thing for me was since I was as young as I can remember, I've always wanted to push myself. I've always wanted to be better than competition. I'm a very competitive person by nature. I think that got instilled in me through my parents.

And wanting to achieve more and more, whether it be physically, whether it be psychologically, understanding things. And I've always pushed myself beyond the breaking point, or at least as far as I possibly could without breaking points, to figure out what's the best way to get the job done.

And I think that led me to understand strategy and tactics and proper programming and making sure that I have a game plan aligned with that. Because let's face it, you know, we, I'm not the most, I would say genetically gifted in a lot of ways. I'm not the tallest guy. I'm five, eight, right. I'm not the strongest, but yeah.

there was always a way to get it done. And me having that chip on my shoulder, growing up in the environment that I grew up in, I've always had to find ways to be better than the next and to be better than who I was the day before. So improving daily through constant action and finding out my weak points, I would say it's a constant action that I'm always trying to uphold. So

As I go further on down my life and looking at it from, I guess, connecting the dots backwards, the biggest thing for me was always trying to figure out what I was missing. What's the weak links in the chain? And that goes into having introspection and learning about yourself and figuring out how you're going to, hold on, this is my son right here, hold on.

He's coming in. Come on in, man. Come on in. Let's go. On a podcast. You want to say what's up? Go ahead, buddy. So this is dad life. You know how it goes, man. Yes, sir. So yeah, I think that that was one of those things where you always have to find out exactly who you are and living in solitude and taking time for yourself is tough. I mean, I got three kids. I have a wife. I have a full business. You understand that completely.

But there is an importance in that. And when you do have that ability, you can start to overcome some rough situations. You can start to understand who you are and how you can overcome those situations.

And you can help others with that too as well. And that's what I've been able to do as a coach because as you peel back the layers, like you talked about from a basic standpoint, yeah, we're getting people, I'm getting people ready to compete, whether it be in the cage, in the ring, on the field,

But we're also trying to find out exactly who they are and who they are as an individual, because that's going to make them a better athlete. That's going to make them a better individual so that they can be the most successful that they can be at whatever they do. Yeah, that's amazing, man. So how did you get into coaching and fitness? Like what was that initial thing that got you there?

So I've always been an athlete. I've played sports since I was four years old. I've done martial arts since I was four or five years old. And I think it just fell in line with what I was doing. I was always a captain with all my teams.

And the biggest thing that I remember was that my mother was a very good athlete. She she was the first ever Broward County women's firefighter or in that in that section of when they started to bring on women. And, yeah, she she definitely instilled a level of competitive drive in me because she had a chip on her shoulders.

And I was training her. I remember when I was like five, six years old, I'd ride my bike as she would run up and down the neighborhood. And I would just be yelling at her like, let's go, mom, let's go.

You fast forward to that. And I've always been a person or as a kid, I've always, I was that kid that got knocked on doors and brought kids out to play. Right. I was the one to rile everybody up and get them active. Right. You go into high school and now I'm getting ready for football and I'm calling kids over to do weight training or we're going to the field to run routes. So it was instilled in me from a leadership perspective. And it just kind of molded into the position that I'm in now.

And I think also me being an athlete and having that experience, whether it be in the cage, in the ring, on the field, it allowed me to coach from a deeper perspective because now I can put myself in the position of what these guys go through and they understand that. And that's when that buy-in occurs. So I think when I started training people, I started training people at around 19, 20 years old.

I got my degree in exercise science because I wanted to be around sport performance and fitness. And I didn't really know if I wanted to make that my prime career. My goal was to make it either into the NFL. And then when I started fighting, I wanted to be in the UFC.

So from an athlete, I wanted to be at the pinnacle at my athletic abilities. Right. Didn't plan out, didn't pan out the way I expected it to. That's fine. And that's how we can pivot. And that's the biggest thing is understanding when to pivot and then taking advantage of those opportunities when the time comes. And that's what happened. I found a way to utilize my athletic ability and all those those skills.

I would say skills that I've acquired through the talent that God has given me and implemented that into my coaching ability for others. So right around probably the age of 22,

I opened up a gym for myself. I was an independent contractor, taking clients and sneaking them into Gold's Gym and charging $20 a session. Times have changed now. But I just got tired of just being under someone's shadow or being in someone's house and having to sleep on the couch per se, right? But from a business perspective, I was like, you know what? This is something that I know that I can do at the highest level. Let me go ahead and take the leap

and open up my own facility. And I started small. I had a 500 square foot storage closet type of deal. And that's when I met my wife. I had about 12 members in the gym. I was doing boot camps. And I would take the things that I've learned from playing collegiate football and professional fighting. And then I would integrate that into just general fitness work that I would do with these people that would come to the gym. And then what I found was that

Regular people, and I mean regular people as in the sense of they're not competing at a high level. They're not athletes competing at a high level. But they are athletic and they do want to compete. So there was a common theme here that I found that people just want to be pushed in the right direction. And they want to achieve great things. And they need a guide to do that in a lot of ways. Not a governor, but a guide. And you don't have to be a drill sergeant. At times you do. Don't get me wrong.

but giving them the opportunity to give themselves an understanding of who they are, right? And push them to the point where they feel like they've accomplished something bigger than who they are. And now as you can get to that point, when you get to that point, because nothing will change if you don't cause stress, if you don't have some level of resistance. So I think in any way, the gym,

training itself gives you an opportunity to be a better person. And I know that's kind of like esoteric and maybe a little bit more philosophical on another level. But if you really think about it, you're giving yourself the opportunity to be better by pushing yourself beyond the point of where you're regularly at. Right. So as people grow and they progress, you have to stress out the body. That's just in general.

Whether it be physical stress, whether it be mental stress, right? In order for you to be a better person, to be a better father, husband, wife, whoever, mother, you got to constantly stimulate and put yourself in a position to grow, evolve, learn, and adapt. And that's the biggest thing that I see overall from how...

the gym, the weight room, strength training, conditioning, endurance, whatever can give you that opportunity. I think that was one of the reasons why I took to coaching because it's not just about shedding a few pounds. It's not just about getting someone ready for a fight. It's about molding an individual and creating change that was better than the day before. That's amazing, man. Like there's so much I want to unplug from,

with what you said, going back to something early in your life when you were the kid that was knocking on doors. And I've been saying this for a long time. Parents, get your kids outside. I think now, Phil, I don't know if you agree with me. These are the words of Mick and Mick only. Don't go chastising Phil for this. Man, like parents...

make outside feel like punishment for kids, man. Like growing up, if I, on the weekends or after school, if I was in the house, something was wrong. Yeah. Like we were not allowed to be in the house. And so I want parents to understand that.

It's OK for your kids to be outside. They're going to develop. And I'm not even talking physically. I'm talking socially. I'm talking about from a cognizant learning standpoint. Just being outside is good. Do you agree with that, Phil? And if not, you can we can argue. No, absolutely. You know, my son was just out there. I love when he.

Gets with other boys and I can see them actually playing and I can see them having to having to overcome some type of difficult situation out there. Right. You know, they were fishing earlier. I was taking my son fishing with his friends and you could see that there were some issues like they couldn't they couldn't catch fish. So they're trying to find different lures and they're trying to find different spots, you know, to fish and to catch this fish. So it's problem solving.

in an actual form. And, and don't get me wrong. Like I do believe technology does have its place and, you know, there's a lot of things that, that are good about that. But physically going out there, not only getting exercise, but going and being a part of nature, you know, feeling the elements. I mean, we're in, you know, South Florida and it's hot out here, man. It's humid. These kids have to, you know,

Okay, if I'm hot, I need to drink water, right? I need to get electrolytes. I need to eat. And they don't get that unless they get stressed and they don't feel that. So naturally, intuitively, they go, I'm hot. I need to drink water. So now you're getting to drink water as opposed to soda sitting in the house, you see what I'm saying? Or whatever have you. So-

Yeah, I think the elements and just like we said, nature and being outside is a very good way for a young individual, a child to understand their physiology, to understand problem solving. There's a lot of different things. You've got to peel back the layers and not just think like, oh, just go outside and get out of my hair for a couple of hours. It's really about it's really about letting them.

Figure out what's optimal for them as far as how to play. Kids don't even know how to play anymore.

right right they have to find some some stimulus they have to find some some uh some way of doing that and get that dopamine rush where you can just go outside and find out how to climb a tree right find out how to throw some rocks don't throw them at houses obviously that's crazy but you know we got a pond out there you throw them at the pot like and then and then they get to understand how their body moves in space and i mean obviously

I'm a performance coach and I've done this a long time, but if I wasn't in that field, I would still feel that way. I would still want my child to go out there and figure out their body and understand, you know, how they move because that's what ends up, ends up, you know, what ends up happening. You get older.

And now they go to do some type of physical activity. And I see it all the time where they weren't active as a kid. And now I have to reintroduce new movement patterns that are just basic foundational patterns that they have no idea how to do. And what ends up happening when they get forced to do those foundational patterns in everyday life, they tend to get injured.

So now you are hurting. You have tendinopathy, tendinitis. You have back pain. You have neck pain. All because you didn't learn how to move as a young or as a youth. And that's where we have to as individuals, we have to understand that as parents, we have to understand. And there's a lot of great coaches out there.

you know, that work with youth athletes that can coach them and teach them. But I think the best way to do it is just to let them figure it out. As a young kid, the Soviets used to do that a long time ago in the old Soviet Union. They would take the kids and that's how they would find out what sport they would actually play. From seven to around, I think it was 10 or 11 years old. It's called the rule of three.

They would just have the kids run around the gym and just do everything, whether it be climbing rope, whether it be crawling, jumping, all of these things. And then they would put them in the sport that was conducive for them to be successful in based upon genetic makeup, based upon their movement quality, so on and so forth.

But they had it right when they gave them the opportunity to be generally fit and build a base of athletic ability. Totally agree. Totally agree. And the other thing that I want to unplug that you said, man, and this goes into all layers of leadership. So as an executive coach, I talk to people about this a lot. You know, you said people want to guide. They don't want a governor. Right. And I told I tell people this.

all day, every day, most people want to actually be led and not be a follower.

But the problem is we don't have great leadership examples out there. And so the fact that you said you're the guide, not the governor, I think parallels into the business life as well, too, because for the leaders that are listening and watching Phil and I, that's the mentality that you need to have. Like you need to be more of that guide so that people actually want to be a part of what you're doing and that they feel like they're being led. I also believe that leaders need to

Always lead from the front. And I'm going to say this because of, I mean this because of the fact that when I am able to lead at my highest level with the elites that I've been able to train, when they see me do the thing that I tell them to do, they go, oh, okay. I'll take, I understand now. I had my NFL guys out there the other day. These are legit four-year starters that are in the NFL right now.

And we did a strongman training session because it was fun. It's the last day of offseason training. And I got out there and I did it with them. And, you know, I'm 35 years old, so I still got some gas in the tank, right? I just got done doing a 50-mile run. They saw that too as well. They saw me damn near die.

Right. Yeah. And they at that at that moment, you're leading from the front. So as I go and tell them what they need to do or at least show them what's necessary for them to be the best athlete that they can be. I'm right there with them. I'm right there sweating and bleeding with them.

And it's the same thing with my fighters. It's the same thing with, you know, with my kids. I want to make sure that I'm showing and being the example. So I'm waking up in the morning, getting after it in the gym. I'm coming home later at night, making sure that I'm still working so that they can see that every day because it instills a work ethic. That's how I got it. I saw my parents, right? And so for that reason,

That's the best possible way. I see a lot of quote unquote leaders or bosses. I don't like the term boss. Right. But I would rather say, you know, we have a team, even if you have a workspace and you have a business, you have a team. Everybody has their role. Everybody has their position and everybody's important in their position because if they don't play their position, then the team won't succeed. So as a team leader, I need to be able to still be in it.

Right. I'm not saying, you know, if you're in your 60s to go, you know, rock climbing or whatever you need to do. If that's your thing, do your thing. Because I know a lot of 60 year olds that still do that and more power to them. Look at Timberland. Timberland is my guy. He's 53 years old and he's still getting after it with me and in the same training session. And I think that what that does do, though.

it allowed for the people that follow those individuals, they go, okay, I can buy into the situation because he's doing it. He's not just telling me something that he's never done. And every athlete, every elite athlete that I talked to respects that. Oh, all day, all day, man. So Bill, what are some of your most memorable moments or achievements that you've had thus far? I hate to say there's so many, because that sounds like I'm boasting. Um,

Give me one that stands out. Well, as a coach watching an athlete succeed at the highest level, the biggest one to date right now would be when Dustin Poirier won the interim title against Max Holloway because I knew

how much that meant to dustin right and the and i was with him at that point for about four to five years and then we've expanded you know seven years i've been with dustin watching him progress and if you guys don't know who dustin poirier is ufc fighter he he beat uh conor mcgregor twice um big name big name good guy um like a brother of me a brother to me and um

Watching him succeed was like I was there with him. I was in the cage with him. Another thing is being able to give my coaches, the coaches that I've been able to mentor. Now we're looking right around, I would say somewhere around 6,000 coaches that I've been able to mentor around the world. I love the fact that they want to follow in my footsteps or whatever have you. I'm humbled by that.

But I'm more impressed by them because they come back and give me ideas now. So it's like, it's a give and take. It's a reciprocity in a sense, right? And seeing them succeed with some of the tools that I've been able to give them.

which is, you know, tremendous from a coaching and a teacher as a natural educator. That's what you want to see. You want to see those individuals that you've been able to educate, teach, you know, and progress and get them to that pinnacle of success and almost bypass, which is important because, again, you want that at that point as a teacher, you need that student to be able to eventually beat the teacher. Right. So those are some of them.

No, that's awesome, man. And, you know, talking to a lot of coaches in sports and leaders in the in the business world, I think every great leader, great coach is proud of their tree. Right. Because that's the legacy. That's the embodiment of who you really are. So leaders that can grow and develop.

Other leaders to me, that's a true sign of leadership. So I respect you for that. And all the things that you're doing with the coaches that you have. So speaking of your coaches and your training philosophies, how would you describe your philosophy? And then what principles do you prioritize when working with athletes?

That's a good question. Philosophy wise, you know, this can mean many different things. Some people think philosophy is just like your methodology of training and how you program and how you organize certain, you know, training programs or periodizing, things like that. And I also believe that there's a level of a philosophical level of understanding too as well and understanding the athlete. And that's the biggest thing for me. When an athlete comes in

to train, I have to first peel back the layers like I talked about and really getting down to the root cause of what they're in, why they're doing what they're doing. And with me, a lot of the fighters have some underlying issues because let's face it, if you're a fighter at that level, you got to be a little crazy, right? You got to have a little bit of, well, you have to have some screws loose. Let's put it like that, for lack of a better term, right? And I think that

understanding why and their, like you said, the because, and that is going to give me an understanding of how to psychologically coach them, right? And get down to the art of actual coaching, right? We can break down the science of it. That's pretty much black and white, right? When you look at it, right? From a physiological perspective, from a biomechanical perspective,

I'm looking at the athlete. I'm looking at their issues, whether it comes to movement quality, whether it comes to endurance or strength deficits, things like that. I will orientate the training based upon their limitations, first and foremost. But the biggest issue is that no matter what I give them, whether it be, you know, the greatest program out there, the greatest strategy, if they're not going to adhere to the program, it doesn't mean anything.

So we have to break that down and figure out what's going to get them to buy in, what's going to get them to stay on board and retain this actual process because it's whoever stays in the longest wins. So I've been able to utilize my way of coaching in a sense to one, connect with the athlete. So first things first, we have to create a connection.

So, you know, the good thing now is that I've had a good level of athletes. I've had probably around 200 professional athletes that I've been able to work with in the past 15 years. So experience is there. My credibility is there. Most fighters and athletes come to me because of, you know, maybe I train their training partner or whoever.

Or they have seen me on Instagram or whatever the case and their social proof there, right? I've created that that level of authority in the space, right? Which is good, but you still have to create by it no matter what and The first thing that I do is I sit them down It's not just get on the floor and let's get after it I have to sit them down we have a one-on-one conversation for at least 60 to 90 minutes and

And it's like this, we're having, we're creating that dialogue, we're creating that chemistry, right? And from there, I can go, okay, he may not like this, but he may like this. He may not want to be coached like this, but I know I can coach him like this. And then understanding personality traits, characteristics.

So you can go very objective and have them do a personality trait test, whether that be something like a big five factor analysis or a Hexaco test. We also run a Braverman's test. And then you want to be very subjective and just ask questions. And that's going to be the first line of defense for me. Then after that, it's going to be, OK, let's get them on the floor. Let's start working. And when I put together the program, it's going to be first based upon their personality.

Limitations their joint prerequisites what they're capable of doing overall how well they can move because that's going to dictate the exercise selection and everything else if you look at this and

if you look at this from a holistic standpoint, this can go hand in hand with anything that you do. When you're looking at a business and you're trying to develop your team or you're trying to hire on people, as you go to hire, they have to fit inside of the team. So what position is that person able to be a part of? And what assets are they going to bring to the table? And so you have to find out who they are. And then as a leader,

As a business owner, as an entrepreneur, those people that you bring on, you have to learn how to coach them up. You have to learn how to teach them, how to guide them so that they can be a valuable asset to the team itself. So getting back to that, when you orchestrate or organize a system or strategy, you have to keep these things in mind. Who do you have in place? Who are your soldiers? And what are they strong? Were they strong as that? Were they weak as that?

And you want to put them in a position to succeed at all times. But you also want to push them, right, because they need to get better. So giving them something that they can do that's challenging, but not overbearing. And that's that's one of the biggest things. And listen, I've had guys and I had girls that come into the business and go out because, you know, they just it may not be for them. And you have to get them to that point where they go, this isn't for me or it is. And they just rise to the occasion.

Nope. I love it, man. I'm going to get you out of here on some rapid fire. You ready? Let's do it. Three things people can do to get stronger. Okay. Progressive overload. Constantly stress the body, right? Increase weight by, I would say, roughly 2% to 5% each week, right? Generally. Whether it be upper or lower. Lower can go a little bit higher. You're looking at about 10% each week. Maybe 8% to 10%. Then upper body would be 3% to 5% each week.

Another thing that they want to do is constantly stress the body. So you're going to, again, this goes with progressive overload, but find out how to put your body in that stressful situation, whether it be, and strength is so multifaceted. We're just talking about from the physical standpoint to build maximal strength, you have to have high intensity training. So what I mean by that, it's not a feeling, it's a mathematical equation. What I mean is that

the percentage of load needs to be higher than 90, 85 to 90% in order for you to actually build strength. Now,

The third thing is resilience, right? Being able to be consistent is important. So building, you know, building resilience through constantly going in there and stressing out the body enough to where you get the stimulus adaptation and not too much to where you accommodate and regress based upon, you know, just stressing the body out too much without recovery. So make sure if you're going to do it,

I like to do what's called a pendulum wave where you go three weeks up and one week down. So you build, build, build, take a deload week and then do it again and repeat that over and over again. Two things I can do to get faster. That's a really good question. So when we're talking about speed, right? Straight line running, run. Like first thing you have to learn how to move your body. So.

We'll unravel that. It's hard to give you like a quick fire answer to that. But the biggest thing is start on sprinting and sprinting downhill, or I should say not downhill, but sprinting in a forward fashion linearly per se. And then make sure that you are constantly working the muscles that allow you to get faster. So that could be hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, even your upper body with arm swing too as well.

Speed overall, you have to make sure that whatever you do, if you're going to be fast, you have to train fast. So if you're working in the weight room, make sure that every lift is right around a high velocity. So when you're looking at meters per second, anywhere above 1.5 to 2.0 meters per second, and you can use a velocity based trainer to see that. That's amazing. I love that.

So advice for the retired athlete that's like, all right, I'm not the same and they know they need to do something. They're trying to get back in it. What's the thing that they can do to get back into that that mental mojo? Man, anything that's going to get them feeling like they've succeeded and are working towards something.

I'm obviously, I'm a jujitsu guy. I'm a combat sport guy. So a lot of my NFL guys, they transition to jujitsu, right? So it gives them an opportunity to still be physical, but they have to think. And it's not as demanding as, you know, being on the field. It is demanding, don't get me wrong, but you can alter your training intensities. Okay. Favorite college sport? Football, 100%. Team? Yeah.

College or pro? College. University of Miami. We'll edit that out of this one. Come on, man. Favorite pro team and why is it the New England Patriots? Okay. Oh, I'll give you this. So listen, my father's side of the family are all from Boston. So I grew up with that, you know, having to be a Patriot fan. But if I'm going to be real with you, it's the Raiders. It was the Oakland Raiders. Now they moved to Vegas. I don't know how I feel about that.

But it was the Raiders because of just how they were, you know, back in the day, the early 90s. And they just the way they went about playing the game was just was my style, man. And I liked them. And obviously my color is black, silver. I love those colors. So that's it. So I had an uncle who played for the Patriots. So that's why I'm a Patriot fan. So at least we both agree we don't like the Dolphins. So there you go. Yeah. Don't don't tell anybody from Miami that.

It's all right. He doesn't like the dolphins or the hurricanes. Next question. Phil, man, where can everyone follow you, find you, and what do you have going on? What's new and upcoming for Phil? There's a lot coming up. The biggest thing is you guys can find me on all the social media platforms, Instagram, X, all of that. Drew Strong, YouTube. I have a full YouTube channel. I put a ton of content there. Phil Drew Strong, if you want to search that.

I have a full fight strength or fight camp app that all of my programs will be integrated into that. So you guys can check that out. And also, if you are a coach, I have a mentorship program. And then at the end of the year, we're putting out a nationally accredited certification course. So that'll be something for my coaches. Send me the links. I'll make sure that they get shared everywhere. Appreciate it, brother. Thank you. I appreciate it. Any final words of wisdom you want to end with, Phil?

Like we talked about before, man, know yourself. That's the biggest thing. That's going to be what gives you the armor to battle all of the situations that you're going to go through, you know, and having the introspection to to go through those situations and have the ability to be not emotionless, but to hold your emotions in check in order for you to get the job done.

I think that that's the biggest thing with nowadays what I see with young men is that they let their emotions get the best of them based upon the situation. And so, you know, taking both sides, trying to be better from a Western philosophical standpoint, trying to increase your abilities and know yourself in that way. But also the Eastern philosophy side where knowing your strengths and understanding your weaknesses and being OK with that.

But you have to be able to merge the two. You shouldn't just be complacent, but you also need to make sure that you're progressing each and every year. I love it. I love it. Ladies and gentlemen, my friend, Mr. Phil DeRue. Phil, thank you for blessing us, brother. My brother. I appreciate it. Thank you. You got it. And to all the listeners and viewers, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.

Thank you for tuning in to Make Unplugged. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose, and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay unstoppable.