Jonathan Goodman

Jonathan Goodman If you like to exercise and read books, follow me for simple ideas about habits, health, and money. Get my newest book (Unhinged Habits).
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✅Please follow me for career support if you work in health and fitness (or want to.) -I happily admit that my life is b...
05/19/2026

✅Please follow me for career support if you work in health and fitness (or want to.)

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I happily admit that my life is boring.

Most days I do the same thing.

And often when the time comes to publish content, I get stuck.

Do I really need to post again about the value of following routine fundamentals with fitness and business and how it leads to boringly predictable good outcomes?

But then I remind myself that there’s value in the mundane.

And so, I’ll keep talking about it. And I hope you do, too.

-Jon

I know a thirty-two-year-old small-business owner with five kids who reads a novel a week.His entire family shares two b...
05/19/2026

I know a thirty-two-year-old small-business owner with five kids who reads a novel a week.
His entire family shares two bedrooms on one rented floor of a house.
He's not rich. He doesn't have more time than you. He doesn't have help you don't have.
Here's his secret.
He's orthodox Jewish and observes Shabbat — Judaism's day of rest.
Every week, Friday to Saturday, sundown to sundown, he checks out of his life completely.
And he reads.
No phone. No work. No scrolling. No podcast at 2x speed. Just him and a book for twenty-four hours.
Most people say they don't have time to read.
My friend with five kids, a small business, and two bedrooms for his entire family reads a novel every single week.
It's not a time problem.
It's a priority problem.
Pick up the book.
-Coach Jon

A friend of mine wore a fitness tracker for a year.He told me: "I spent $239 to be told every morning that I sleep like ...
05/18/2026

A friend of mine wore a fitness tracker for a year.

He told me: "I spent $239 to be told every morning that I sleep like s**t."

You don't need a device to tell you that you're tired.

Go the f**k to sleep.

-Coach Jon

Most people know what good habits look like.The hard part isn't knowing. It's protecting them when life gets busy.Save t...
05/18/2026

Most people know what good habits look like.

The hard part isn't knowing. It's protecting them when life gets busy.

Save this post. Pick one habit from each slide. Start there.

-Coach Jon

In order to take care of others, you must first take care of yourself.This isn't selfish, it's selfless.- P.S. If this ...
05/17/2026

In order to take care of others, you must first take care of yourself.

This isn't selfish, it's selfless.

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P.S. If this resonated, please tap the icon to share it to your story.

Walk into any gym. Look around.You'll see people working hard, frustrated that their money and efforts aren't paying off...
05/17/2026

Walk into any gym. Look around.

You'll see people working hard, frustrated that their money and efforts aren't paying off the way they want.

I've seen it thousands of times.

Here's what I figured out after eight years of training clients and nineteen in the fitness industry.

Transformational change doesn't come about as a result of slow and marginal gains over time. It happens as a result of intensity. Of obsession.

Ask any truly fit person how they got into great shape and they'll tell you about a period of intensity. A race to prepare for. A photoshoot. A wedding. A moment where it became the thing — not one of the things.

Building a strong body requires intense effort. Maintaining a strong body requires consistency.

You can't skip the first part and expect the second to work.

Stop squeezing it in like grains of sand around the other big rocks of your life.
Make it the rock.

-Coach Jon

I've watched it happen to people I love.Slowly at first. A few missed workouts. A little more weight. A little less ener...
05/16/2026

I've watched it happen to people I love.

Slowly at first. A few missed workouts. A little more weight. A little less energy. A few more excuses.

Then one day you look up and the person you used to train with, used to push, used to compete with — has completely checked out.

And you try everything.

You invite them to the gym. They say maybe. You send them the article. They say it’s interesting. You tell them how good you feel. They say good for you.

Nothing lands.

Because you can't want it for someone more than they want it for themselves.
I've had to make peace with that.

What I won't do is let their decision become mine.

Your environment shapes you more than you think. The people around you set the standard for what's normal. If everyone around you has stopped moving, stopped eating well, stopped showing up — that becomes the water you swim in.

Guard your standards fiercely.

-Coach Jon

I took Calvin to the gym for the first time when he was five.He didn't lift anything. He didn't follow a program. He jus...
05/16/2026

I took Calvin to the gym for the first time when he was five.

He didn't lift anything. He didn't follow a program. He just watched. Now that he’s almost 9, he does push-ups beside me. What a joy it is to pass along a love for movement to your children.

-Coach Jon

My kids have never heard me say exercise is important.They've watched me lace up my shoes at 6am when I didn't feel like...
05/15/2026

My kids have never heard me say exercise is important.

They've watched me lace up my shoes at 6am when I didn't feel like it.

They've seen me come home sweaty and happy instead of stressed and depleted.

They've watched me choose the workout over the excuse. The walk over the couch. The hard thing over the easy one.

I started lifting weights at fifteen for the wrong reasons.

I keep going now for the most important one.

They're watching.

Every early morning. Every session I didn't want to do. Every time I come home with more energy than I left with.

They're not old enough to understand what I'm building yet.

But one day they will.

And I want them to remember a parent who showed them what it looks like to take care of yourself.

Not because you have to.

Because you respect yourself enough to.

-Coach Jon

I want to be very clear: the research on strength training and health is not ambiguous.3 hours a week. That's all it tak...
05/15/2026

I want to be very clear: the research on strength training and health is not ambiguous.

3 hours a week. That's all it takes to measurably reduce your risk of depression, anxiety, heart disease, diabetes, and premature death.

But here's what the research can't fully capture.

There's something that happens when you lift weights that no study has ever been able to put into words.

No matter what's going on outside the gym (the stress, the uncertainty, the pressure, the noise) when I pick up something heavy and put it back down, everything gets quieter.

The business problem that felt unsurmountable an hour ago suddenly has a solution.

The anxiety that was sitting on my chest when I walked in is gone by the time I walk out.
Like it's all going to be okay.

Because it is.

Modern life will try to break you. Your body is the best defense you have against it.

3 hours a week. 1.8% of your time.

That's the whole prescription.

-Coach Jon

I used to think the most successful people I knew had some secret strategy I was missing.A better system. A smarter appr...
05/14/2026

I used to think the most successful people I knew had some secret strategy I was missing.

A better system. A smarter approach. Some rare insight that explained everything.

Then I started paying attention to what they actually did every day.

They worked out. Not perfectly. Not obsessively. Just consistently enough that missing a session felt wrong.

They read. Not to be impressive. Not to post about it. Just because curious people read books and successful people tend to be curious.

That's it.

No secret. No shortcut. No hack.

Just two habits done quietly and consistently for a very long time.

-Coach Jon

Address

Toronto, ON

Website

https://www.unhingedhabits.com/, http://www.onlinetrainermentorship.com/

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