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How does fitness affect every aspect of your life? What does it mean to be mentally tough? Can progress be more important to your fitness and health journey than achieving perfection?
In this podcast episode, Melissa Vogel speaks with David Pereira about life beyond fitness.
Meet David Pereira
Navy Combat Veteran, personal trainer, and business & mindset coach. David uses the principles and experience that he learned in the military to help coach people through adversity, deal with stress, and master execution.
David owns a high-end personal training facility in New Jersey (FENIX Englewood) and is the creator of the BEYOND FITNESS Program.
Visit his website and connect on Instagram and Twitter.
In This Podcast
Summary
- “Perfection isn’t progress, progress is progress”
- Use failure as data for progress
- Fitness is more than just ‘fitness’
“Perfection isn’t progress, progress is progress”
When things are out of my control, like low and behold, life and COVID, shit gets out of your control, what are you going to do about it? How mentally prepared are you to deal with that stuff? … what is the biggest hurdle, I think it’s getting started and understanding that perfection is not necessary in the beginning, you just need to start. (David Pereira)
For each person, perfection will look different. Not only does it not work to compare your level of perfection with someone else’s, but it also doesn’t work when you attempt any kind of perfection before failing a couple of times.
At the beginning of any change, having the end goal in mind can motivate you but it can also make you feel stuck just when you have started because focusing on the end goal is more difficult than focusing on the next step in front of you. Do not think about the perfection you want before you have fallen in love with the progress, because ironically that perfection lies in the continual shift and change of progress.
Use failure as data for progress
In any fitness or healing journey, your mindset is as powerful – if not more powerful – than the strength of your body. You can utilize the strength of your mind to create incredibly impactful mindset shifts that will keep you going even when you experience failure. The mindset and strength of your thoughts will also dictate how you make choices in tough periods, because how you do one thing is how you do everything.
Fitness is more than just ‘fitness’
You have to understand that fitness is one of the most controlled environments of stress that you will ever face … the more I get myself in front of stress and understand where my mindset needs to be as it pertains to that stress, well now I start to adopt more mental toughness and principles on how I am affected in my life. (David Pereira)
Fitness, tough fitness that pushes you to your limits, provides you with a frame of reference. You can remember and use this frame of reference when things get tough in your life and remember that because you have experienced this grueling fitness, you can get through the tough things you are facing now.
You can use the lessons of perseverance, mental toughness, and physical power that you garner from fitness in any stressful or tough situation you face in your life. In this way, fitness is more than just fitness, it is training for surviving life without you having to actually be in a dangerous situation.
Useful Links:
- How to live a HEALTHY LONG LIFE with Daniel Kennedy | BM 52
- Healthy Long Life App
- BTBFM FREE EMAIL COURSE
- Sign up for Busy to Bomb Fit Mom
- Connect with Melissa on Facebook and Instagram
- Email Melissa: info@melissavogelfitness.com
Meet Melissa Vogel

Melissa Vogel is an energetic keynote speaker, business owner, certified personal trainer, certified group fitness instructor, 1st degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, a mother of three, and a podcaster.
Melissa has been voted as the Best Personal Trainer for 2020 by Inland Empire Magazine, and Built the Busy to Bomb Fit Mom exercise system.
She is quickly becoming recognized for her expertise and influence in her field!
Melissa has contributed to numerous publications and has been featured in the Trail Blazer Magazine, and published in the April 2020 edition of Health Magazine. Her approach incorporates personal experience, energy, humor, and charisma.
Thanks for listening!
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