Most people know how to exercise in the gym. That’s not the problem. The thing is, they don’t know how to talk about it.
This is something that stood out in conversation with author and keynote speaker Jen Gottlieb. Before she became a speaker and entrepreneur, she was a personal trainer—someone who understood work but struggled with the part that really brings people in: communication.
“You run away from being able to hide behind a role,” he said Muscles and Fitness, “Actually be yourself and you risk being judged.”
For many fitness trainers and creators, this fear manifests itself in familiar ways – overthinking, hesitating, or waiting until everything feels perfect before posting something. But as Gottlieb sees it, finding your voice isn’t all about confidence. It’s about putting repetitions until it happens. And in a space where attention is directly tied to opportunity, learning how to communicate can be just as important as knowing the mentor.
Why do people stay quiet?
Gottlieb doesn’t think the problem is a lack of skill. This is more internal.
“There’s so much noise,” she says. “I actually refer to them as signs of fear.”
This “voice” manifests as perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and the constant feeling that someone else is more qualified. In fitness, this is reinforced by the environment. This is a results-driven environment. People are used to measuring progress, seeing improvement, and knowing when something is working.
But communication doesn’t work that way.
“You risk people thinking you’re sad or saying, ‘Who does she think she is?'” he says.
That’s why people hesitate to post. They provoke. They are waiting. In most cases, they do nothing.
The irony is that the same mindset that helps people succeed physically—the attention to detail, the discipline, the desire to get it right—can actually hold them back when they see it.
Why is Game Safe no longer working?
A few years ago, you could only grow by posting consistently and staying online. This has changed.
Gottlieb calls it the shift from social media to “social media.” Content isn’t just shown to your followers anymore – it’s pushed to people based on what they’re engaging with.
This means that if you don’t feed the algorithm, your content will disappear.
Her term for what doesn’t work: vanilla content. “It’s basically content that everyone likes,” he says. “Just good content. Doesn’t really express my opinion.”
The problem is that no one cares about beauty.
“You only want people to say two things,” he said. “You want them to say, ‘Oh my God, me too…’ or you want them to say, ‘Not me.’ I hate it.”
This is uncomfortable for many people, especially in an industry where likability is important. But being stuck in the middle—trying to appeal to everyone—is what gets overlooked.
With a crowded space like fitness, being overlooked is a bigger risk.
Repetitions are important – on camera too
For anyone who’s ever put on a record and felt immediately uncomfortable, Gottlieb’s point is simple: That feeling of nastiness doesn’t go away on its own.
“It’s the most amazing thing to talk to a camera,” he says.
Even for someone with a background in acting, it took time. The difference is that he treated it like a study.
“I press every morning when I put on my makeup,” she says. “I do it to talk to the camera like a normal person.”
This idea of treating communication as a skill that you learn is where most people fail. They wait until they feel confident before they start, instead of realizing that confidence is repeatable.
He also offers a practical fix for the robotic tone that many people fall into when they’re on camera.
“I think about someone I love and imagine sending them a video message,” she says. “So I’ll be like, ‘Hey, (name)’ and then I’ll edit the ‘Hey, (name) part.’
It’s simple, but it works because it changes focus.
“If you think about how you look or sound, you’re thinking about yourself,” she says. “It shouldn’t be for you—it’s for the person on the other end of the phone.”
Consistency is the real differentiator
In fitness, endurance is understood. You don’t expect results after just one workout.
But on the Internet, people expect coffee almost immediately. When it doesn’t, they stop. This is one of Gottlieb’s biggest mistakes.
“You might be posting for a long time before you get your first hit,” he says.
His approach is to remove emotion from the process and treat it as a habit.
“Posting once a day … should be a non-negotiable habit,” he says.
Not because every message will work, but because eventually, one can.
When it does, it can change everything.
“It seems like an overnight success,” he says, “but for me it’s been years.”
This is the part that most people don’t see.
Power is not about being an expert
One of the biggest obstacles for fitness creators is the idea that they are not yet “ready” to speak.
They haven’t done that in a long time. They don’t have enough customers. They are not the best in the room.
Gottlieb completely reversed this.
“You don’t necessarily have to be an expert,” he says.
Instead of trying to position yourself as an authority, she suggests documenting the process.
“You can travel,” he says. “Come on the journey with me because I’m doing it.”
This shift from teaching to sharing is what is happening right now. People are not looking for perfection. They are looking for real.
People who grow up are not the ones who wait to have everything figured out. They are the ones who start talking when they find out.
The responsibility that comes with seeing
At the end of the conversation, Gottlieb comes back to something that brings back the whole idea of an online show.
“If you have a service, a story or a product that helps people, it’s your responsibility to be visible,” he says.
It’s not about ego or attention for the sake of it. It’s about access.
Every day someone doesn’t share what they know, someone else fills that space. Sometimes with less experience. Sometimes with less maintenance.
This is the true value of staying calm.
In a space like fitness where the barrier to entry is low but the impact is high, being good at what you do isn’t always enough.
People need to know about it and that will only happen if you want to see and hear.
Follow Jen on Instagram @jen_gottlieb
