Shirts Off Challenge (non-fitness, group coaching)
Details
Dudes: why do you spend so much time outside with a shirt on? Do you wear a shirt at home when nobody's looking? What's behind the worry of anyone looking at all? A few years back I stopped wearing a shirt basically anytime it wasn't actually required and since then, I've received comments from friends, close relationships and more. "Why do you always not wear a shirt?"
Why does it matter to them? But the bigger question is, why do YOU care so much? And if you don't understand it one way or another, this is for you.
The Room's Shirts Off Challenge is a twelve-week group coaching container for guys who want to actually feel good in their own skin—not by changing their body, but by changing their relationship to it. This isn't a fitness program. Whether you're in the best shape of your life or you've never stepped foot in a gym or you think you're too hairy or too skinny, the work is the same: getting comfortable being seen.
I'll be honest about why I built this. I spent most of my life as a fat kid, then a fat guy—maxed out at 253 lbs in my twenties with no muscle to speak of. I lost it, gained it back, lost it again, more times than I can count. And then at 39, I finally took control of my body. As the scale changed, something else did too: I let go of my old image of self, and with it, the picture-perfect one I thought I needed before I'd allow myself to feel good, be seen or take my shirt off at all.
It started with permission. Then it turned into enjoyment. Then confidence. Then defiance. And finally, love.
Not wearing your shirt—while walking your dog, while watching TV, while playing a sport not in your backyard, hell, while playing a sport IN your backyard, on one dating profile pic, etc.—is such a statement on how you feel about yourself, your body and honestly, your relationship to what others think of you.
What I've realized since is that none of those things are determined by any one body type. They're determined by you, the man and how you inhabit your body.
The point of the Shirts Off Challenge isn't a transformation. It's learning to enjoy what is, instead of staying tied to what isn't, and to everything the world and your life have told you that means about your body and you.
Over twelve weeks, in a small group capped at eight guys, we go deeper into where the fear of being seen actually came from, what you make comparison mean about your own body and what it would take to stop giving your power away to what anyone else thinks. We hold each other accountable—not as individuals white-knuckling it alone, but as a team, checking in on each other week to week, seeing each other's growth and pushing each other forward.
By week twelve, the goal isn't a photo. It's a choice. Maybe you'll learn you love your body as is. Maybe you'll decide it's time to tackle your fitness. Maybe you'll decide the gym isn't giving you what you thought it was at all. Maybe you'll post your first shirtless pic to Instagram with pride, instead of worry. Whatever you decide, it'll come from a place of empowerment, not comparison or fear.
My assertion is that clarifying how you feel in your skin clarifies what you want from your body. And all answers are the right ones.
This is a paid coaching container — Founding Cohort rate: $200 per month, three months, one-hour sessions weekly for twelve weeks ($600 total — $550 if paid at once), small group of up to eight guys. Each individual will be screened prior to joining, to maximize the integrity of the group container throughout.
RSVP for interest. Members aren't officially "in"until screened, I've granted approval and payment is made.
Hosted by Joshua Koenig, ontological coach, personal trainer and founder of The Giant in the Room.