A certified personal trainer’s 4 essentials for staying consistent with exercise

Before he even hits the gym, consistency starts with his mindset—and a good read. 

James Clear’s book immediately clicked with Kasee because of his time in graduate school. “My grad program was actually sport and exercise psychology,” Kasee says. “So I’ve always been kind of interested in this side of it all.”

“It teaches people a lot of those really basic habit-change things, because habit change is the hardest thing we do whenever we’re doing anything fitness-wise,” he says. What resonates with Kasee is the focus on starting small instead of expecting your end goal to appear overnight. 

“Starting at point A, you don’t need to go to point Z [right away],” Kasee says. “Let’s just get that first step going.”

“[The] biggest thing he talks about is habit stacking,” he says. Kasee explains that it’s the idea that “you can tie in a reminder for the next action or tie actions together.” 

It’s something he’s put into practice himself. “When I gave myself some of those guardrails,” he says, “it really helped my consistency and my output in work.”

That small-step mindset fits neatly into Kasee’s own philosophy around consistency. “Any small change is a shocking change to our system,” he says. “So getting those basics and essentials in I think are really important for people to start that journey, to make it consistent, make it be able to stick.”

Part of what makes the book work for Kasee is how approachable it is. He says, “it is just very tactical. It is very easy to implement. It is a very easy-to-digest book. I think it opens people’s eyes.”

Kasee's favorite part of the book may seem a little cliche at first, but it’s the way Clear presents the concept that stands out for him. 

“I really enjoy the graph in there about that one percent better every day thing, but it’s kind of a cliché, one percent better every day,” Kasee says. “But [Clear] kind of compounds it where if you look at just that one small action that you can consistently do over time, it is exponential growth and trajectory.”

“[It’s] like, if I do this one small thing, read ten pages a day, all of a sudden you’re like, ‘I’ve read a book a month.’”

“I’m Team Vuori for my clothing—I’m a thick boy with some thick thighs,” Kasee says, adding that, “I’ve torn every single pair that I have,” about other shorts he’s owned. 

“My Vuori shorts tend to last a little longer, so I’m going to go to the Vuori shorts,” he says about why they’ve become his workout pick.

Aside from holding up longer than all the shorts that came before them, there’s more to love about these shorts for Kasee. “They’re super comfortable. I do tell people I get paid to wear pajamas every day, so it’s not a bad gig,” he says, joking. 

“It’s one of those things where I think that having a resilient pair of clothing that is comfortable, fits you well, [and] makes exercise way easier,” Kasee says. “It’s just one less hurdle that you have.” 

Their lightweight feel is another reason they work for him when he hits the gym. 

“They’re very breathable,” he says. “They have almost like a little bit of a texture to it. Kind of like a matte finish almost.”

Even with that matte texture, Kasee says, “they’re super thin,” yet “they’re sturdy.”

His loyalty to Vuori now goes well beyond just one style of shorts. “You get a discount working industry,” he says about some athleisure brands. “I just have overhauled basically my entire athletic wardrobe. It is now basically entirely the Current Tech Tee, those core shorts, and then Sunday Performance Joggers in the wintertime.”

And, his Vuori shorts still pass the tearing test that his other pairs of shorts that came before them didn’t. “They are holding up great,” he says. “I’ve not had that incident happen with any of the shorts. They’re really sturdy.”

That idea of removing workout hurdles extends to what Kasee wears on his feet, but finding the right pair to fit his wide toe box needs was a little challenging at first. “I was dabbling in a couple of different [shoe] brands, and hadn’t found one that I liked,” he says. “They tend to look clunky and goofy because they’re a little wider toe box.”

“In the gym, I want to have the [Adapt Graphene XT] for a little bit more stability in it,” he says. “It gives you some good lateral support too, where it's not enough to constrict your feet, but it’s just enough to kind of keep you steady.”

It’s very versatile for Kasee, and he uses it as a catch-all for his gym routine, giving him one less thing to think about when it’s time to work out. “It handles everything I do in the gym, from running to jumping, to sled pushes to squats,” he says. 

That sturdiness doesn’t come at the expense of breathability for him, though. “It’s pretty breathable, but it’s fairly sturdy,” Kasee says. “It almost feels like—plasticky is not the right term—but it feels a little sturdier than a normal fabric on a shoe.”

Recovery is another piece of Kasee’s routine, and he likes having a tool he can easily bring along when he wants to roll out his muscles on the go. “You can’t always carry foam rollers around,” he says. “They’re easy—they’re portable,” he says about The Original Stick Travel Stick. “If I’m traveling, I throw it in my carry-on.”

“Especially if you’re hiking [or on] an adventurous trip, you want to roll up the calves a little bit to help recovery,” he says. 

Before finding the massage stick, Kasee got creative with other options. “As a resourceful meathead, I used a rolling pin for a while,” he says. “I’ve done all types of things.”

“But those aren’t portable,” he says, which is one advantage the Travel Stick has for him. “It’s a little more precise than the foam roller as well, so you can kind of really dig into some of those knots.”

“I think people tend to overvalue maybe some soft-tissue mobility work here and there. But I do think having that in the routine is essential.”

Portability hasn’t meant sacrificing durability either for Kasee. He uses the stick both personally and professionally. “We have some at the gym we use with our members, I have some at my house for personal use,” he says. “It holds up through pretty regular, rigorous use at the gym.”

Even his personal one gets more than its intended use. “My travel one at home has held up really well,” Kasee says. “My daughter plays with it. She likes to foam roll out her little Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal sometimes.”