The Ironman Mindset: How This Online Coach Helps Founders Scale Without Burning Out with Johnny Els

Scaling your agency shouldn't come at the cost of your body, your clarity, or your leadership edge. But too often, that’s exactly what happens.

In this conversation, I sat down with Johnny Els—former Ironman triathlete and founder of TruFit Academy—whose approach to fitness for entrepreneurs isn’t about quick fixes or hype. It’s about building a system that powers your performance with the same precision you bring to your business.

Johnny shares how the discipline and mindset he developed training for a 140-mile Ironman race now fuels his work helping founders boost energy, sharpen mental focus, and build sustainable health habits that compound over time. Because when you’re the engine of your business, your health isn’t optional—it’s infrastructure.

If you’ve been stuck in reactive mode, putting your own well-being on hold “until the next launch,” this episode is your invitation to think—and lead—differently.

Books & Resources Mentioned

• Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff
• Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini
• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Connect With Johnny Els
Want to learn more from Johnny and see how he helps high-performing founders boost energy and lose fat sustainably? Follow him on Instagram @trufit_academy for daily insights on healthy habits, metabolism, and performance-driven fitness.

🌟 Check out our podcast sponsor, Competitive Edge Business Consulting, and book your free discovery call with them today at www.CompEdgeConsulting.com 🌟

Chapters

• 0:54 From Taekwondo to Triathlon: Johnny’s Origin Story
• 2:42 The Online Shift: TrueFit Academy Is Born
• 4:38 The TrueFit Academy Approach
• 7:22 The Trap of Delaying Health Until Business Slows
• 8:49 Your Health Is Infrastructure, Not a Side Hustle
• 11:13 How Presence, Appearance, and Energy Influence Sales
• 16:58 Coachability, Trust, and Results in Johnny’s Clients
• 21:45 The $1,000 Credit Card Bet That Changed His Life
• 25:11 How to Connect With Johnny and Reclaim Your Energy

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:17

I'm excited today to have Johnny Ells on the podcast. Johnny is a collegiate swimmer turned online health coach. Founder of TruFit Academy, Johnny has extensive knowledge in physiology and nutrition. He is a world-class online personal trainer who helps entrepreneurs lose fat and boost confidence through healthy habits. Johnny, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being on the show.

Johnny Els: 0:44

Hey, thanks a lot, William. I appreciate it. Good to be here.

Intro/Outro: 0:49

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host author and leadership and executive coach, dr William Attaway.

Dr. William Attaway: 1:06

I'd love for you to share a little bit of your story with our listeners, Johnny, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader. How'd you get started?

Johnny Els: 1:16

Well, it started when I was really young. Well, it started when I was really young. The first thing I remember getting into was Taekwondo, just self-defense, and actually that whole studio was part self-defense, part fitness class, and so even when I was like 10 to 13 years old, I'll be running group fitness classes. So right, then and there that was kind of scary, just to having to take over and make sure people are listening and do that kind of stuff at a really young age. Um, I was involved in a lot of different sports but, yeah, I landed on swimming. I swam in college and becoming a leader didn't really start, I guess, until, um, until after I completed my Ironman triathlon. That's when people started asking me more questions about health and fitness and nutrition and different types of workouts and things like that. So although when I was still in college I was coaching the A&M triathlon team and I was helping some other people lose weight and things like that, I didn't really have an idea on business yet. So it was kind of I was kind of just winging it for a little bit. But then I graduated with my kinesiology degree and that's when I started getting into coaching for real right.

Johnny Els: 2:33

I got my, I got a certification in personal training and, as a health coach, moved up to Colorado and that's when I started training people in person. And when I first moved up here I don't know if people know that in Boulder there's a lot of professional triathletes who compete all around the world, and so when I first started starting as a coach, that is who I started helping out. And then it was a lot of fun, man, just like coaching in person and making sure that you are hitting their targets and their goals, and not even professionals right, I help out other people as well, um, but then when COVID hit, that's kind of when I started my own business and that's. I guess that's just kind of what kickstarted my whole career, because now I am 100% an online coach and I don't think any of that would have started and if I didn't actually compete in athletics or or run those group group classes and the Taekwondo studio either.

Dr. William Attaway: 3:30

So love that you know there's no wasted experience, and I often talk about this that you know everything that happens in our lives is there, either for our benefit eventually at some point, or something that can help us that we can use to benefit other people around us. And and I see that so much in your story, johnny I think that's that's part of what has made you into the entrepreneur that you are now. So so tell me about TruFit Academy. What differentiates us? What makes you unique?

Johnny Els: 4:01

Well, just with my experience um, getting my kinesiology degree, coaching different people, different level of healthy lifestyle people um I've just I've realized that a lot of people have this misconception or like this fear around health, like there's all. There's so much information out there, I don't know what's gonna work, I don't know what's right for me and things like that. And people go on and off of these diets, not really understanding what they need to do to reach a goal or see long-term results. And I feel like a lot of people will see, you know, see some sort of result when they go into a diet. But I tell people you know the diet eventually is going to end. You can't be on a diet for the rest of your life.

Johnny Els: 4:45

So when I started coaching people about losing weight and maintaining the results and feeling healthier and seeing that transition into their business and into their family, I came out with TruFit because it's so much easier to have a lifestyle and reach a goal and maintain a goal if you are focusing on things that are actually going to serve you, not things that might serve somebody else. For example, cutting out carbs, cutting out sugar, cutting out all these things yeah, they are going to help, but it's not going to help you maintain any kind of result. So the idea around tru fit is to figure out what is going to be the thing that is truly going to help you, as that individual, reach and maintain that goal.

Johnny Els: 5:37

So that's why I work with clients when I want to figure out what your schedule is, what kind of work you're in, what you're struggling with, what kind of body type you have. That way, when I build out something specific, it is going to be specifically for you and not for anyone else.

Dr. William Attaway: 5:54

So what are some of the things that you've learned in this journey so far? I mean you're several years into this now journey so far? I mean, you know you're, you're several, several years into this now. You know, like most of us, I imagine, that you've thrown some spaghetti at the wall and figured out what sticks, and you've thrown some and not, no, no, no results, no fruit there at all. What have you learned so far?

Johnny Els: 6:13

Well, I've just learned that everybody is different, right? Everyone, everyone's bodies react differently. Um, mindset plays a huge role in all of this, and if you're not, if you're not willing to take a step back and look at your mindset, figure out who you are, who you want to be, what habits in your life that you can probably capitalize on or get rid of, it's going to be really hard to build out a roadmap for your health and fitness and actually see those results. Right, I feel like that's on the client side and just working with people to figure out how we can, how we can see, start to see results without hindering your life. Right, because the goal is for this to work with you in your life and not take it over.

Dr. William Attaway: 6:56

What that that's? That's interesting because I think about the entrepreneurs that I work with, and so many of them would say their lives are packed to the brim, they're busy, they're you know, from from early in the morning until late at night. They're trying to balance building a business, family, marriage, kids. They're trying to balance fun, friendships, relationships, right, and this often becomes the thing that they don't focus on. This often becomes the thing that's like oh, I'll deal with that later. Do you see that? And how do you help them learn the importance of prioritizing this?

Johnny Els: 7:36

Well, you prioritize what's important to you, right? So, yes, your business makes you money, that's very important. Your family is very important. If you have hobbies, right, that's going to be important for your mindset, for your mental state of being. But a lot of people put health and fitness on the back burner because it's something that isn't affecting you right now, right?

Johnny Els: 7:59

You making money and growing your business is something you need to work on right now, and if you don't, then you're not going to have money, you're not going to be able to support your family. If you don't spend time with your kids or, you know, spend time with your spouse, that's a problem. That's right now, right, and I think it's important to make time for things that are important to you, and if your health and fitness are not important to you, you're not going to make time for it, right? So, just as important as your business and your family and your relationships and your faith may be, if you're not taking care of the one thing that's keeping all of that going, which is yourself, then it could eventually start to affect your business in a negative way, affect your relationship with your children, with your spouse, in a very negative way and, unfortunately a lot of people, it becomes too late right.

Johnny Els: 8:54

Now they are unable to focus on their business or their or their relationships, because their health is getting in the way.

Dr. William Attaway: 9:01

You know, I've heard, I've heard a number of people say over the years your health is your wealth. You know when, when you don't have good health, when you're struggling with health challenges, that becomes the most important thing in your world. You know, we take it for granted until one day we wake up and something has changed. Right. Right, as you, as you work with entrepreneurs, do you help them grow in their awareness of that truth?

Johnny Els: 9:28

Yes, and although that is probably one of the most challenging things that I have to do with my clients and with other entrepreneurs, is showing them and making them realize that this cannot be something that you put on hold. Right, you're not going to put your business on hold or your family and I know those things are very important but if you're not prioritizing your health, everything else in your life can go downhill. Right, let's just say, you tweaked your back and or your knee and now you can't go play with your kid. Or let's say, you develop some sort of heart disease and now you can't work as much as you'd like to because you're in the hospital.

Johnny Els: 10:06

So much, yeah, right, and people don't think about these things because it's maybe an issue for a later date. But I really think, especially in the entrepreneurship world, a lot of them do plan ahead, especially in their business, right? Booking podcasts, booking calls, making sure I'm doing this launch in 30 days, or you know whatever it is. So they don't have an issue with planning ahead or planning future goals. It's just, I think, about it's prioritizing what's really important to them.

Dr. William Attaway: 10:39

Hmm, you know, prioritization can be such a challenge. You know, we, we, we talk about this in the context of leadership and the importance of prioritizing what matters most, of deciding what are the deciding, what are the things that are really going to move the needle this week, this month, this quarter, and saying I'm going to put my focus there. But your health, your fitness this is critical because you can't bring the best version of you into your leadership work, whether it's leading your own business or leading a team or leading your clients. You can't bring the best version of you into that if you haven't created the best version of you. And it feels like that's so much of what you talk about.

Johnny Els: 12:24

Well, definitely A lot of the people that I've helped in the past. They go to speaking events, right, and they're on sales calls a lot. And, yeah, unfortunately in this world people judge, yeah, right, and if they see you as someone who doesn't care about how they look or doesn't care about their health, or maybe isn't willing to put in time to focus on themselves versus other thing that's going to make them money or or whatever, then it's hard to I wouldn't say trust, but it's then it's hard to I wouldn't say trust, but it's just. It's just hard to uh, be on a level with that person to where you are willing to work with them, you're willing to listen to them because, like, I'm not going to take fitness advice from someone who's you know 500 pounds. You know that's an extreme example, but you know what I'm saying I'm not going to take business advice from a homeless person, right?

Johnny Els: 13:18

So if I'm going to, if I'm going to look at you and and and trust you and want to take advice from you, I got to see that you're willing to put in the work in every aspect of your life, not just what's going to make you money or not. You know what I'm saying.

Dr. William Attaway: 13:33

Yeah, so it feels like you're describing an individual, a leader, as somebody whose life is not segmented, where every part actually touches every other part.

Johnny Els: 13:49

To be a person of integrity goes across all the different parts of your life, including this one, right, right, all the different parts of your life, including this one, Right, right, because, because, because in the past I've talked about my values and I, you know, I, your, your pillars of values, that kind of hold you and your and your entire being up Right, that's, that's, that's health, that's wealth, that's, that's faith. Um, I mean, I've got hobbies that that I like to that. I like to do that kind of take my mind off of the things that I find stressful sometimes, you know, yeah, sure, and if one is suffering, it's probably because you're not putting in enough time with the others or vice versa.

Johnny Els: 14:29

That's a good word.

Dr. William Attaway: 14:48

So when I see someone, on stage and I see that they are, you know, in shape and they have high energy and they know what they're talking about. I'm definitely more willing to listen and buy from them, because they're presenting themselves as a leader. They're presenting themselves as someone who can do everything. That's really good. Thinking about your business, thinking about the overall health of your business, if you could say, hey, if I could fix this one thing, this one thing, I could snap my fingers and solve one problem in your business, what would that be?

Johnny Els: 15:11

In my business.

Dr. William Attaway: 15:13

Yeah.

Johnny Els: 15:13

That's a really good question. Well, over the last five or six years, I've gotten into this world and started connecting with other entrepreneurs and online leaders and things like that, and I've gone to many well, not many, I've gone to a couple and I have many on the horizon events that I want to go to. I have many on the horizon events that I want to go to. I think having the right connections with the right people who, like you, trust you, value what you have to say, that's really, really important, and I don't think it matters what business you're in. I think that's true for everybody.

Johnny Els: 15:52

Yeah, 100%, yeah, you know a hundred percent. Yeah, and over the last couple of years, I have my own podcast now, and so connecting with these people, understanding who they are and just kind of building that relationship is is is huge, right, and it doesn't always have to be like I want to sell you or you're going to sell me, or whatever it is. It doesn't always have to be like that, because I feel like we're all here helping each other, but in my business, it's it's it's very clear that if you don't want help, then I'm not going to give you help. I'm not going to force this upon you. If you know you're not in the right head space, or if you're not, you know you're not ready for this kind of stuff.

Dr. William Attaway: 16:29

I'm very similar, johnny. You know the. The one non-negotiable that I have in my work as an executive coach is that the client has to have a teachable spirit. If they don't, we're not going to work together. That's not going to be a good relationship. It's not going to be where I can add maximum value. I totally get what you're saying there. That is a non-negotiable. So how many people come to you ready and they are teachable and they're like man, I don't know what, I don't know Help me.

Johnny Els: 17:01

I say quite a bit. I mean I post on Facebook and Instagram and all the social media stuff and just talking about healthy habits, how to boost your metabolism. I'll talk about how to take your business and your life to the next level if you focus on yourself, and that hits a chord with a lot of people.

Johnny Els: 17:19

Not that I'm trying to hit a chord or nothing. I think it's a very real reality. And some people will see that and they come to me and say, johnny, I don't know what it is about you, but I like you, I trust you, you know what you're talking about and I'm ready. I'm ready to go.

Intro/Outro: 17:37

Right.

Johnny Els: 17:37

So those types of people are amazing to work with, because they're ready to go, they're going to listen to me and usually, when they're coachable, they see the best results Right and then there's other, another group of people who will have questions.

Johnny Els: 17:52

They'll see what I have to have to offer Then. Maybe they're not ready for it or they didn't think eating healthier was a part of being healthy and whatever. So, again, they may not be in the right place in their life or in the right headspace to commit to something like this, which that's okay. Maybe you will be in the future. But to anyone who's not ready, I just I encourage you to look within and look in the future to see who you want to be, how you want to, how you want to live your life, because I want to start this journey now so that by the time I'm 50, I feel amazing, I look amazing and that will easily transition into my older years. Let's say I'm 80 years old. I still want to be able to play a full round of golf when I'm 80 years old, and not a lot of people can say that.

Dr. William Attaway: 18:41

Sad, but true.

Johnny Els: 18:42

Right.

Dr. William Attaway: 18:44

If you could go back to before you started your business, before you started coaching, if you could go back knowing what you know now and tell yourself one thing what would you love to go back and tell yourself?

Johnny Els: 18:58

Start my business earlier. That's good, why and I tell, I have a couple, I have a buddy who's thinking about starting an online business and he's just kind of freaked out and doesn't know what to do. And I'm like, dude, it doesn't matter, just start, because you'll figure it out. You know, um, I mean, although I was coaching in high school and college, it was just a coaching gig, right. It was like maybe a summer job or just something I did on the side, but then I'd go to my real job. You know, that wasn't coaching, and I just never really thought a coaching business would take off as well as it as it has. And I kind of beat myself up sometimes saying I could have started this 10, 15 years ago, right, um, but you don't, you only know what you know and and that's okay. So I'm, I'm, I'm really glad that I did start and I'm glad of how much I've grown over the last couple of years and I'm I'm really excited about the next 50 years of me growing this online business.

Dr. William Attaway: 20:03

Yeah, and I think that that perpetual growth mindset is what will get you to a level of success that you're aiming for Right. You know you've you've got to constantly be growing, you've got to constantly be learning. So let me ask you how do you do that? How do you stay on top of your game? How do you level up with the new leadership skills that your business and your clients are going to need you to have in three, four, five years from now?

Johnny Els: 20:28

Well, like you said, you always got to be growing and you always got to be learning right. And, although it may seem uncomfortable, a lot of people don't really want to keep growing, keep learning or changing, because what worked for me three or four years ago is not really working anymore, right, yeah, yeah. So figuring out what's going to work. I love reading. I have a lot of different you know, marketing and and human body type books, so I'm constantly educating myself on making sure that I know what I'm talking about, but also figuring out. You know a lot of.

Johnny Els: 20:58

Sometimes it's trial and error right, I've been doing this podcast, and this is something that's somewhat newer and I love doing it. I can see it growing. I can see that that being something that's going to work, but then there's other other things that I've been trying out that maybe didn't work. So, definitely, definitely. Just you know, I feel like if you, if you have a goal and you don't really know what to do, get help, right, yeah, like, get a coach, get a mentor, get someone who knows what they're talking about to help you.

Johnny Els: 21:32

And I'm going to be honest, there's a lot of coaches out there that are pricey. They're expensive, but you need to put it into perspective. It's not like I'm paying for a three months or six months of right now. It's more, I'm paying for the education that I need. That's going to keep me going for the next couple of years, right. One of my favorite stories to tell about investing in myself is when I was, when I was training for the Ironman triathlon. For those of you don't know what it is, it's 140 mile race that took me about 12 hours, and I was 20 years old when I did that and I didn't have any money when I was in college. I mean, I was working, but I was also paying for things, so it's not like I was saving up a bunch of money. And that race was a thousand dollars to sign up for.

Johnny Els: 22:21

I told my dad. I'm like can you please pay for this? Because I don't have money. And he was like if you want to do this, you gotta, you gotta pay for it. So I put it on my credit card, not knowing how I was going to pay it off. And I'm so thankful that he made me do that, because if I, if he paid for it, or if I only paid like, let's say, a hundred bucks, I would not have trained as hard for it.

Johnny Els: 22:44

I probably would not have completed the Ironman, and just completing that alone gave me so much confidence that I was able to start a business. I can tell people what to do and it's going to work right. Like I have this experience and it just kind of transitioned into starting a business, starting to coach people and it just kind of blew up my entire life. So that was a huge turning point in my mindset and just what I wanted to do moving forward in my life.

Dr. William Attaway: 23:17

You know I love hearing stories about those catalytic moments that change the course and trajectory of your life, and I think you're spot on. I think you know, finding somebody who can help you to go faster than you can go alone and who can help you go farther, is Then you might go alone. I think it's so critical and I love that you keyed in on that.

Johnny Els: 23:39

Thank you.

Dr. William Attaway: 23:42

You're constantly reading. You were there's.

Johnny Els: 23:43

These are a lot of my wife tells me I need to stop reading so many business books because that's all. That's all I'm about. She, she reads a lot of fiction books and I have a fiction book that I should probably get started with, but, um, but no, it's, it's all. The educational books, although, are very, very helpful, um, it's, it's hard. They're harder to read for me, at least for me. I don't know how anyone else reads, but um it, it just takes me a little bit longer, because sometimes I have to reread passages because I'm like I didn't fully understand that. So I got to reread it and and make sure that I understand what I'm reading so that I can apply it to other situations or whatever. Especially, the persuasion book is a really good book. Just listening to people, understanding what they're saying which I feel like some businessmen or salesmen don't really do is listening and understanding who you're talking to. That way, when you ask questions, they're deep and they're meaningful questions, not just whatever questions about you.

Dr. William Attaway: 25:04

That's good.

Johnny Els: 25:05

Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway: 25:07

Johnny, this has been fascinating to hear more about your story and what you do, and I know our listeners are going to want to stay connected to you and continue to learn more from you and about what you're doing at TruFit. What's the best way for them to do that?

Johnny Els: 25:22

You can follow me on Instagram, trufit Academy, and that's spelled T-R-U-F-I-T. I post a lot of stuff on there Some stuff you know my workouts, nutrition, healthy habit type stuff. Most people have a slower metabolism, especially when they get older, so one of the big things that I try to focus on is how to naturally boost your metabolism so that you don't have to worry about doing a bunch of cardio workouts or anything like that. Your body will actually just start to lose body fat and have more energy at the same time, which I feel like a lot of people are struggling with. So that's kind of like knocking out two birds with one stone kind of thing. There's a lot of stuff that goes into it, but a lot of stuff is highlighted on my Instagram page.

Dr. William Attaway: 26:09

Nice. We'll have those links in the show notes.

Johnny Els: 26:11

Perfect, Thank you.

Dr. William Attaway: 26:13

Johnny, thanks for your time today and your generosity and sharing from what you've learned so far, and I can