Fatherhood shapes the way a family lives, grows, and stays healthy. In this episode of Frameworks, I’m sharing three simple, powerful frameworks to guide health as a dad. Hear honest stories, get tips on setting family values, learn why being a real example matters, and find out how to make daily health a normal part of life. No fluff, just straight talk about what helps families thrive. Whether you’re a dad, future dad, or just someone who cares about raising strong kids, there’s something useful for you here.

Today we’re tackling a myth that creeps into both coaching and life: the idea that if something is simple, it must also be easy. The truth? Some of the simplest things are the hardest. Simplicity strips away distractions. It leaves you face-to-face with the work, with nowhere to hide.

Get an inside look at why the OPEX Method was built and what drives the passion behind it. In this video, you’ll hear about stepping back from day-to-day coaching, launching a new fitness concept, and returning to lead coach education at OPEX full-time. Learn how the course and community are evolving, why the fitness industry needs stronger principles, and what sets OPEX apart in the world of coaching education. If you’re ready to reconnect as an OPEX coach or looking for a new direction in your coaching journey, discover how you can join a supportive, thriving community focused on helping you make a difference and build real value as a professional coach.

Today, we’re stepping back from the tactics of program design and nutrition to talk about something deeper, the foundation beneath it all. Inspired by C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, this episode explores what I call Mere Fitness: the fundamental truths about health and fitness that every coach and client must recognize. Because here’s the reality: you can’t talk about training cycles, macros, or recovery hacks until you acknowledge the ground all of it stands on.

We’re breaking down the OPEX motto: Teach. Learn. Move. Create. This wasn’t just a slogan. It was born from James Fitzgerald’s vision of what it really means to be a coach and it’s become a guiding framework for how I approach coaching, leadership, and even life.

Ready to help your clients become truly independent? This episode takes you through the key coaching framework for building lasting autonomy. Learn why teaching your clients to think, not just follow instructions, leads to real results and sustainable habits. Discover the step-by-step stages your clients move through, from not knowing what they don’t know to becoming fully confident and self-sufficient. If you want to make your coaching stick, this one’s for you.

Make real change with your clients by focusing on habits that actually last, not just checklists and rigid plans. In this episode, you’ll learn how to coach nutrition and lifestyle habits your clients can stick with, inside and outside the gym. Get step-by-step strategies for building habits, real talk on what actually works, and practical examples you can use right away. See how to treat habit-building just like training design, break down your own coaching roadblocks, and find out how to get buy-in from every client. If you want to go beyond surface-level results, this episode is for you.

If you’ve ever felt like your programming is solid but your clients still aren’t progressing, it’s probably not the exercise selection that’s holding them back. It’s the prescription. Any coach can build a workout. But professional coaching isn’t about throwing together exercises. It’s about delivering the right stimulus to create a specific adaptation.

In Episode 12 of Frameworks, Carl Hardwick sits down with OPEX & CoachRx CMO Kandace Dickson to unpack how coaches should market themselves in 2025. Kandace, brings over two decades of hands-on digital marketing expertise and breaks down essential insights specifically tailored for fitness coaches.

This week, Carl is joined by physical therapist and OPEX coach Frank Tardi to take on a topic that’s long overdue: the overcomplication and overcorrection of movement in the fitness industry. The truth? The corrective exercise world has become a minefield of pseudoscience, fear-based assessments, and paralyzing protocols. We’ve turned normal human movement into something to be afraid of.

In Episode 10 of Frameworks, we’re getting into the overlooked engine behind long-term success: the systems and behaviors that make showing up inevitable, not optional. This episode isn’t about motivation. It’s about what works when motivation fades.

In Episode 9 of Frameworks, Carl Hardwick zeroes in on a truth many coaches overlook, not because they don’t know it, but because they don’t emphasize it: The best program in the world won’t work if it’s executed half-heartedly. This episode dives into why effort matters more than perfection, what real effort looks like, and how coaches can teach it, track it, and train it.

In Episode 8 of Frameworks, Carl Hardwick cuts through the noise and breaks down five simple, science-backed habits that drive real, lasting change. No gimmicks, just clear actions that improve digestion, energy, recovery, mood, and overall performance without needing to overhaul your entire life.

In Episode 7, Carl Hardwick breaks down one of the most overlooked—and misunderstood—aspects of program design: training phases. Specifically: Accumulation. Intensification. Deload.

The healthcare system is shifting. Reactive care is no longer enough. Precision, prevention, and behavior change are the new frontier. And fitness coaches? We’re not just part of it—we’re essential to it. In Episode 6 of Frameworks, Carl Hardwick sits down with Dr. Jesse Greer—physician, systems thinker, and co-founder of Preamble—to unpack what this shift means and where coaching fits into the future of health.

We’ve all seen it—and maybe done it: Writing programs filled with exercises that look cool, feel hard, or follow the latest trend... but lack real purpose. In Episode 5 of Frameworks, Carl Hardwick gets straight to the point: Great coaching isn’t about being impressive. It’s about being effective. And it starts with choosing the right movements—for the right reasons.

Coaching is more than sets, reps, or cueing movement. It’s leadership—and in Episode 4 of Frameworks, Carl Hardwick (CEO of OPEX & CoachRx) unpacks what it truly means to lead your clients with integrity, clarity, and purpose.

When coaches think performance, they often think power, speed, strength. But in Episode 3 of Frameworks, Carl Hardwick makes a bold and necessary statement: “Aerobic work is not optional. It’s foundational.” Far from being just “cardio,” aerobic training plays a critical role in everything from recovery and stress regulation to mood, cognition, and long-term health. And yet—it’s often misunderstood, misapplied, or ignored entirely.

In Episode 2 of Frameworks, Carl Hardwick peels back the layers on a topic most coaches think they’ve mastered: strength training. But this time, it’s not about reps, percentages, or program hacks. It’s about principles—the foundational ideas that separate short-term progress from sustainable, long-term development.

Welcome to the debut episode of Frameworks with Carl Hardwick — a podcast built for fitness coaches who want to go beyond surface-level tactics and start building a coaching practice that actually lasts.