Double Edge Fitness
This podcast is dedicated to showcasing to our members and any of our listeners who are interested in how this northern Nevada gym operates. Our mission is to inspire others to bring health and wellness home to truly make a difference in the household with the ultimate goal of making Reno the healthiest city in the country.In this podcast, we will be talking about things that are on our mind and answering questions from our members and our listeners to provide a unique listening experience.
Double Edge Fitness
From Setbacks to Strength: Alex Smagala's Life-Changing Fitness Journey
Join Derek Wellock as he sits down with Alex Smagala, a dedicated gym member who transformed his life through consistency and fitness. In this candid podcast episode, Alex shares his journey from a D1 baseball career cut short by injury to overcoming personal struggles with alcohol and building a healthier life as a busy professional and father. Discover how one small shift—showing up at the gym—led to massive changes in his physical health, mental clarity, and relationships. From breaking personal records to fostering lifelong friendships, Alex’s story is a testament to the power of discipline over motivation and the ripple effect of fitness on every aspect of life. Whether you're looking to start your own fitness journey or seeking inspiration to stay consistent, this episode is packed with real talk and actionable insights. Don’t miss it!
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Well, just had the first foo-paw on the podcast in a while. I was flipping through trying to get the camera working and had some tech issues there to start off that I forgot to hit record on the actual audio recording.
Speaker 1:And I glanced down and I'm like the red button's not red, it's green. So we got to start over a little bit, a little recap of what Alex and I just talked about for the last 15, 18 minutes, and yeah. So today on the show we got Alex Magala. This is where you know I'm a real rookie.
Speaker 2:It happens.
Speaker 1:Shit, but so Alex is a member here for last year plus year and a half year and a half now and he's had quite an amazing transformation inside the gym and it's been really cool to be part of his journey as a coach but, more importantly to me, as a friend. He's become a good friend of mine over the last year and somebody who brings all the qualities of a person I want to be surrounded with, just like a real down to earth human being. And, uh, we'll recap some of what we already talked about, but, uh, yeah, I think it's very beneficial for our members in the community to hear from somebody in this walk of life who's just embraced the process and has truly had pretty significant life-changing situations over the last year, facilitated by him owning his health 100%.
Speaker 2:So he was on a bad path that wasn't going to lead to longevity in this world and ultimately made the decision to change that with one minor shift which was just showing up at the gym. And now it's bled into so many different areas of my life that I am forever grateful for just coming here and doing the first workout. I think I still remember the very first one I ever did and I was so sore afterwards I showed up the next day and was like I don't think I still remember the very first one I ever did and I was so sore afterwards I showed up the next day and was like I don't think I can do anything else, like I could barely pull myself up on a pull-up bar. Um, but now I look back on it and I'm like thank god, I just continued to show up because, no matter how sore I was, sit in the cold plunge, it might fix it. It really didn't. It was just a consistent soreness for the first like six months.
Speaker 2:But I don't get that sore anymore and I get such a high from coming here, getting my workout done and then being able to have lifelong friends that I've met in the gym. I mean, wayne and I are very close. We go out golfing all the time. There's a ton of other people Travis, brandon and so it's just like Carl Keone. You can't beat what this gym has to offer with just one small shift in your life of showing up doing something to better yourself, but then also being surrounded by everyone here that is on that same walk.
Speaker 1:Yep on the same walk and a lot of them. You talk to people. Everybody's got struggles, you know things that they're overcoming in their life, whatever that might be.
Speaker 1:I mean before know things that they're overcoming their life, whatever that might be. I mean before I realized that this thing wasn't turned on. We were deep conversation about both of us and alcohol in the past and alex, he has a, he's a sales job, sales guy and in the sales industry, uh, whining and dining and taking your, your clients out and everything is a big part of that culture, regardless of what you sell. Anybody I've known that's always been a huge part of that culture and it almost expected in that culture.
Speaker 2:Even detoxing, like our company calls it, like at the end of the week, go out with all your colleagues and just like detox. It's like have some drinks and talk about your work week and unload all the pressure and it's like I don't agree with it anymore when I was younger, I was like hell, yeah, this is just another time to drink.
Speaker 2:But I look back on it now. It's like we don't need alcohol to like deload on the week, like that's only going to cause more stress and anxiety once we get into the weekend and realize that we come back on monday and're still feeling like crap and we've got to do it all over again. Yep, and you've got to bring your A game without your body and mind being in that state and it's hard to sell to someone and sit there and have a conversation when you've got a foggy brain.
Speaker 2:You're sweating because you're still feeling the alcohol, it's just you are miserable and I quickly realized that liquid courage, as we call it in the sales world, was just a minor little bump. It wasn't something that was going to keep you up for a long time, building the skill set of communication and relationships. It's something that, if you do it without the alcohol, it becomes really easy and less daunting to do when you're older. So now that I've been doing it for six years, it's like it's all I know. It's just second nature to talk to people, communicate what do you do? How can I help you and build that relationship?
Speaker 1:So you were a D1 athlete, played baseball, oregon State, yep. You ended up having Tommy John surgery.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:That cut your career short. Graduated with a business management degree. See, I learned all this stuff earlier. Now I can just regurgitate it for the audience. Yeah, ended up in sales. Now you have a son. Yep, how old is he? Two and a half, two and a half.
Speaker 1:And what I was saying is Alex is like. Saying is alex is like, not just like my target market, but he has a big part of my target market, of what this gym was built for. You know the busy professional family life that you can get the best hour of your day, get a great workout in to facilitate long-term health and fitness, but you're in, you're out, you're on, you're on with your life. But and that, that was it and um, he's truly embodied what our we want to say business model and our goal was in helping people, particularly in his age.
Speaker 1:Demographic is something I've noticed from mid-20s to 40s. A lot of dads I mean dad bod's a real thing and I don't agree with it Just kind of letting yourself go to shit, and it's not the example that, in my mind, I absolutely don't want to set for my children. I don't think any anyone really does Like. The example that you should be setting for your children is hard work. Consistency pays off, doing the right things for your health. You know getting after your career but still being a father and being present and taking care of your health is a huge part of that.
Speaker 2:And they're just massive sponges. I mean my son's two and a half, and every time I bring him here he watches me work out. And then we go home and he's like grabbing on his little seat at the kitchen counter. He's like I'm doing a workout and he's like I'm doing a workout and he's like I think he's doing pull-ups and it's like the same. I've watched Jackson. It's just the evolution of how fast a kid wants to do what their dad's doing. It's so easy Just bring them around and show them you have. To lead is really the biggest thing.
Speaker 1:You can't just tell a kid to go work out if you're not doing it yourself. No, and I never forced Jackson to work out, not once, ever once In the last like six months. He just wanted to start doing it.
Speaker 2:It's funny to watch.
Speaker 1:I've worked out in front of him and around him many times and then all of a sudden, this light switch came on and now he wants to do it. He wants to be stronger, he wants to move weights, he wants to do it and that and the inverse of that like if he saw me drinking every day, saw me not taking care of my health, like the example is going to be ingested and imitated at some point in their life. No matter what. I'm not saying by any means I'm the perfect dad and do everything right, but I do feel in my soul exposing my kids to just watching me train and putting effort and intention into that part of my life has influenced them.
Speaker 2:In a major way. That part of my life has influenced them In a major way. I mean your stories of can't find Jackson in the house anywhere and you go out and he's riding the bike in the garage. It's like that's something that I hope my own son does, because he sees me working out and he sees me pushing. My dad worked out, but it wasn't in a way that pushed me harder to work out and try and surpass him at a certain age, whereas I know a lot of kids that I grew up with where their dad was super into weightlifting, super into looking chiseled, and those kids are now all huge in my eyes, like they've been lifting for 15 plus years and it's that's their identity now, because they did it with their dad and their goal was to get more weight than their dad did at a certain age.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And it's like that simple thing has set them up in so many different ways for success in life, because they know that hard work, consistency, will result in something, not just now, not a year from now, five, ten years from now. Yep, that's the cool part.
Speaker 1:It is. It's super cool. Jackson Jackson. He asked me. He's like dad. When will I be stronger than you like, bro?
Speaker 1:to be honest, it's probably not going to be that far away, like your high school years for sure, because I didn't start working out until I got serious with wrestling, like seventh, eighth grade. That's when, like, sport and exercise became like a part of my life. Before that I would fish and I was kind of a chubby kid, um, until I got into wrestling. So like, hey bro, if you, if you learn the fundamentals of movement, you're going to run circles around me at a pretty young age.
Speaker 1:Kids his age, I mean he's light years ahead of them already at this age it is fascinating to see him around other kids his age and other kids do sports and stuff. But I think there is something to what we do in CrossFit. That's just so much full body dynamics and the neuromuscular coordination Like watching him develop on an Olympic lift. I think it translates. I watched it in soccer this year. Like his agility and being able to twist, turn, push, explode. It was different. Now there are some kids out there that are ninjas with a soccer ball.
Speaker 1:They're just gifted athletes, but he only plays soccer during soccer season and he was hanging in there with the best of them, yep, and he doesn't get tired. He'll go a whole game nonstop, just running back and forth.
Speaker 1:Right back and forth and I don't know. It's an important aspect for me personally to be that example in their life. So over the last few years, just really owning that for myself because I've always obviously worked out but there's been times I've posted pictures of it while owning this gym that I kind of let myself go and during that time, like I still work out two, three days a week, get the bare minimum in, and that happens for everybody in life. You know you came in here 28% Yep and you've gotten it back down to 12% and you've added 10 pounds of muscle over the last five months. Five months, yeah, body fat crept up a little bit. Like I told you, you're not gaining muscle without gaining fat. It's very hard to do. You have to be in a calorie surplus to pull it off. At the rate you've pulled it off, which has been pretty awesome to see and witness, because you've been moving more and more weight in the gym.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's 30, 40, 50 pound PR after PR, after PR.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Granted it's. I mean some of them, I some of the lifts like push press I've never done yeah, it was something that we never did in baseball. So I mean even benching like the running joke between us was for the longest time, I was getting Instagram reels about not being a man that couldn't bench 225. So I made that goal of like I'm going to hit 29. I'm going to hit 29,. I'm going to bench 225 for the first time. I ended up doing it for two reps and it's like that's just how much stronger I've gotten because I always had such a fear of it.
Speaker 1:I haven't sent you a meme since then. No, because I can bench 225 now.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's just, it's fun and eventually I mean I talk about it with Faye a lot it's like I'm going to hit a plateau where then that PR isn't going to be the thing. But that's not what keeps me here. I'm not just here to hit PRs and lift heavy weights.
Speaker 1:I'm here to show up so that at 40 years old, I can keep up with my 16-year-old kid who's trying to run circles around me and that's like I want to race him to being fitter at a longer age so that he sees it and wants to do the same thing with his kids. Yep, so we're talking about your lunge, something that's been highly impressive to me. You just you got five out of the six reps at 335, like I was telling you. The fact that you even put that on your back and went for it is a little bit mind-boggling to me, will, you said Will did that. Yeah, you were coming in with the intention to lunge 315, right?
Speaker 2:315 was the goal and I smashed it.
Speaker 1:So you did hit that you didn't just jump to 335.
Speaker 2:No, I did 315, and I did it for six reps and it was like really easy. And so I was like, why not, let's just go for an even crazier number, 335 because I could have gone for 320, 325, whatever. So I just threw 335 on and repped it out five times and on the sixth one I got down, but I looked at Chase and was just like it's not going back up, so I bailed.
Speaker 2:But I think it was just because of same thing with my squat I went from 385 to 405 and it's like I got down and was on my way up and I just was tired, and so when we do these one rep maxes, it's like I have a goal and then eventually it's like, whoa, I can do more than that goal. So then I try again, and at that point I've warmed up, I've done three tests to get there and it's just I'm tired.
Speaker 1:A six-rep lunge is a really tough test to hit twice and the fact that you did 315 easier tells me a little more strategy in the weight jumps. So if we would have done like maybe 275 for four, 315 for two and those two just popped up, then that jump, but the fact that you hit six reps at 315 and then made that jump, that potentially was just a fatigue issue that you would have got that fifth rep and I think I could.
Speaker 2:no problem that was when I tested it the first time of 275. I had done 255 for six, 265 for six, 275 for six.
Speaker 1:You were doing 6 rep jumps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I was just not, I wasn't thinking about it, and so it's like this time around I did like 4. Well, that was the first time, gotcha, and then, when I got to 315, I was like I'm going to do 6 here so I at least can lock it in, and then, if I feel better, I'll go for another one. Got 5 out, if I feel better, I'll go for another one I've got five out of six.
Speaker 2:So next time I mean I don't know if there will be a next time Chase was saying we probably won't test that for a while, but it's fun for me.
Speaker 1:Single leg tests are going to be a part of our programming forever. I've personally found a tremendous amount of value doing more unilateral stuff. It's improved all my lifts. It's improved my back pain, like I have bad discs in my low back. That was years as part of that fat picture I posted that was me going through one of those injury crises. If I couldn't do crap with my herniated discs in my back.
Speaker 1:When I embraced training my hips and getting my adductors range of motion improved and just really balancing out the strength in my unilateral stuff, everything started getting a lot better. Pain started fading away. I stopped waking up achy in the morning and what I saw in the gym over the last year particularly since it's about the timeframe I really started to be really sick and tired of my back aching all the time. I was like I need to do something about this and it's not going to be giving up on training for many reasons, but just my own self.
Speaker 1:I love training, crossfit style training. It's exciting, it's fun, I enjoy it, I want to be good at it and, like we were talking about being dad, I think my son likes. He's attracted to it because it looks fun. You know, don't get me wrong, I love bodybuilding principles doing back and biceps, chest and tris, legs, doing, you know, three and four sets. I love that stuff too, and but my addiction to fitness is very much around what we do in our class but my addiction to fitness is very much around what we do in our class.
Speaker 2:Holistic. I want to be able to carry my son on my shoulder if I have to run with him for two miles and not be the guy that's like in the back of the pack. Yep, I mean, it's not something to like put your mind on and plan and prepare for it, but ultimately, like we're at a point in this world where you never know what could happen. So it's like I don't want to be the guy that's not prepared for something, and so that's what I like about this is it's like and I joke about it sometimes it's like I could outrun you with my son and we'd be safe and you wouldn't be. So it's like maybe you should think about longevity and not just pumping their bicep curls. I got buddies who look phenomenal, like super fit, but ultimately I don't think they could be in a cardio sesh.
Speaker 1:That's the side of bodybuilding Like I love it. For my joints, I enjoy a good pump, don't get me wrong but nothing. It doesn't translate into true work capacity and that's what I love, and a huge part of my training identity is on work capacity. If I can't move a good amount of weight for a long time, I'm not happy and that's another reason why I probably struggle to gain muscle, because I'm not willing to, and that's another reason why I probably struggle to gain muscle, cause I'm not willing to give up any work capacity.
Speaker 1:It's something I very much prioritize in my own health and training plan, which involves involves group, group class training and it's funny, as you bring that up, being thrown your son on your shoulder and being able to get from A to B, whatever that reason might be. That shit goes through my mind a lot Like if I'm in the mountains with my kids and I need to carry my daughter to the hospital, can I do it? Yeah, and I put my daughter, who weighs 70 pounds now, on my back and get her to the hospital If I absolutely had to. That was the reason I did Chad at her body weight 70 pounds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um to, I don't know, prove that confidence. But that's the shit that goes through my mind in a lot of workouts is like am I going to give up on this rep? It's that whole can't versus won't philosophy training which I've had to rein in some. I'm talking about addictive personalities earlier, but I love the push in training but I also found, for multiple reasons drinking being one of them I wasn't recovering from pushing like that and as I kept getting older, also recovering from pushing like that. But I get into this psychological space and hard Metcons of can't versus won't. Am I going to drop this barbell or can I go unbroken? Can I do these toes to bar unbroken or am I going to fall off? Can I squeeze out one more rep?
Speaker 1:My son's life depends on me doing this set of 30 toes to borrow and broken, and that shit goes through my mind and probably not healthy, but that is a driver for me. Am I capable of doing this? Can I carry my wife on my shoulders for a couple of miles? I mean, we're outdoors, people and having the physical capacity as a father and a husband to do that, run circles around people that just do bodybuilding splits, yeah, and I don't know of a better training methodology in such a short time period of one hour a day that builds that work capacity to that level. I might not be the fastest runner in the world, but I guarantee you there's a lot of runners faster than me that couldn't put their kids on their shoulder and get to help Mount Rose 100%.
Speaker 2:I mean, I used to love cycling and that's all I did and I used to tell myself it was like the best workout ever was just riding my Peloton, that's all I needed.
Speaker 2:My buddy, who I used to podcast with all the time we'd do these little like you know, 90 day challenges, like bike a thousand miles in 90 days on our peloton and we'd, you know, document it and day one of 90, day two of 90. And it was to build that little micro habit of just doing something daily. And now that I'm in this CrossFit and I track all the data, it's like there's literally nothing better in an hour. I used to have to bike an hour and a half, two hours, sometimes three hours to hit the same, probably, strain levels that my, because I can just feel it in my body and it's a quick hour and I'm at like 13 strain. It's like whoa. And then I go and play softball and it gets me up to like a 20 strain and you're like whoa and it's just, that's like running. Plus this weightlifting and the cardio behind CrossFit, my strain is through the roof and it's just a quick hour.
Speaker 1:Yep, I tell folks and truly believe. I just had a little meeting summit with the CEO was there and his big wigs of CrossFit. I wasn't sure what to expect when I went to that thing in Tahoe the other week and there's only like 18 of us there, a couple of gyms. I don't know if I was like one of the only ones invited or they invited everybody and I was one of the only ones that showed up. I have no idea. But either way, they are asking us what our concerns are and, with CrossFit being an affiliate, what kind of road bumps that we're running into down here on the ground level. It is cool the CEO's here asking me where our struggles. Are them doing a better part of holding coaches to a higher standard of a quality product for less injuries, because I get so sick and tired of hearing. You know, crossfit is linear, equals injury, and I still hear it from medical providers, orthopedics, physical therapists and I don't know what all the other gyms do, but I know in our gym injuries are very, very low if ever.
Speaker 2:I mean, I rarely hear people complain about it. And when it is, it's gone quickly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the ache, pain, strain. That's going to happen with any training, it's part of being active. But I'm talking injuries Like broke something, you tore a ligament in half, you blew your knee out it just doesn't happen in here. In half, you blew your knee. It just doesn't happen in here. And I told them from a branding effort and marketing effort, putting out more education about the health of this, because I've been around this fitness industry now 20 years and I told them as I have, I thought, one of the new ways of fads of training that's popping up here and there, if I truly, truly believed that that was the better way of training for long-term health and overall physical work capacity, I would shift the gym to that model, because that's what the model I want to be a part of and I've seen it all.
Speaker 1:I've participated in it. I've dropped into various other classes around town. Uh, I've had other coaches drop into various other classes around town. I've had other coaches drop into various other classes around town and nothing compares to it what we're able to produce with this style of training that I've witnessed in 20 years of being in the fitness industry when it comes to overall metabolic health and work capacity. Now I'm not saying that other styles of training isn't going to be optimal for very specific reasons, for very specific people. People want to do a bodybuilding show. This isn't going to be the best training for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely not.
Speaker 1:Doesn't mean you can't get jacked, but you're not going to do bodybuilding successfully, doing CrossFit, simple principles of bodybuilding, weightlifting, which I happen to also be a fan of. But I'm not willing to give up my work capacity and metabolic health. And for one hour of training and you're a walking example of it because you do one hour of training, you come in, you do class. I do a little extra on class because, well, I own the gym and I live here all day A little easier.
Speaker 1:And it's something I enjoy. Right day, so a little easier and it's something I enjoy right. So you are walking testament to how effective, being consistent, three to five days per week for a year, year and a half now of what it does not just your body but your health, your mental health, and it's been truly rewarding for me to see somebody embrace the product and also engage with me in nutrition and to see that transformation take place. We were chatting earlier about Alex and I both have what's known as tendencies for addictive personalities. I have an addictive personality.
Speaker 2:I definitely do. I admit that to a lot of people.
Speaker 1:I mean we both talked about holes we've gone down with alcohol in the past and how negative that was towards life and me and him. He's in a whiskey club, yeah, I mean he's got me rare bottles of whiskey and usually texts me if something comes up and it's something that I do enjoy and I do enjoy it with friends. But over the years of building consistency we have both found that how negative just having some drinks affects your entire week and then you're not getting your. One hour a day is not being the most productive one hour a day for your health and how. I mean just in myself. And you're talking about data. I mean Whoop was an eye opener for me. I'm going on like 2,800 recoveries logged and I've lied to this thing, told it I didn't drink last night.
Speaker 1:I stopped doing the thing for a while, just to see.
Speaker 2:And it still catches it.
Speaker 2:And it's like you cannot hide from this thing which is cool because it's like it's my, it's on my wrist and it's my personal little you know sidekick. That's going to hold me to what my goal is, which is better health for long term, and I think, the new update, even with, like, the lifespan yeah, I get updates where it's like you're aging faster and I'm like, oh shit, what am I doing wrong? And it's like I go in and look at it and it's like sleep, like alcohol, basically the biggest thing, like cut it out and I'm like, all right, well, and then I go a week without it and I'm back into like 0.4 pace of aging.
Speaker 2:I got up to like a 1.4 after mexico and then coming back and kind of being in that same, like, oh, I'll have a beer here, I'll have a whiskey here. Now I'm like after July 4th, no more, we're not going to drink during the week. Cut it back out and see where it goes from there. And it has updated. It's just like it's quick on how much alcohol affects your body.
Speaker 1:Obviously, I'm a big fan of Whoop. You've embraced it. It's helped me for that very reason. It's just like my daily little reminder of being intentional being intentional with my training, being intentional with my meeting, being intentional with my sleep, being intentional when I have a drink. Why I'm having a drink? Because it is quite eye-opening to see the metabolic effects of what these habits do. And alcohol, for me, it affects my sleep. When my sleep is shit, my anxiety is up. I still want to train to beat down my anxiety. That's my number one way of managing stress is training and it becomes this very bad snowball effect of my body not recovering, breaking down injuries, aches, pains from excessive under lack of recovery. Trying to do the same training with the same intent and intensity that I would do if I was fully recovered. And over the last, you know, more than a year now. But it's been like I don't even have a regular beer in my house anymore. I like having a beer on a hot day.
Speaker 2:I've seen your stories recently of the zero percenters.
Speaker 1:It's all been in A's.
Speaker 2:That's a. That's a good shout, because I mean there's nothing better than an ice cold beer after some of the tough days.
Speaker 1:Do you go fishing? Are you doing some yard work when you get home, or mowing the lawn? I mean, my lawn takes me like 15 minutes to mow. It's a little guy yeah, mine's tiny, but it's still like it's hot, you're sweaty. Cold beers just taste it's great. Or?
Speaker 2:like you go to sit at a pool, it's like you're golfing. It's always centralized around everything that we do in our day-to-day lives, which that's the marketing behind it. That's what they want you to believe, but shifting that into like well, I'll bring a couple NAs and I'll have those instead.
Speaker 1:And then I feel great the next day.
Speaker 2:It's been something where I'm like I got to do that, I got to start doing that. And they've come so far, Like in the early days. It was like O'Doul's and Coors Cutter you can have an IPA that's literally 0% and it tastes the same exact as some of the beers you get on tap.
Speaker 1:And pretty damn close. And now that I've been drinking them pretty consistently as my brother quit drinking, just stopped we suffer from some similar uh traits and um. So he started just having nas and, like you know, I don't even need regular beer in the house. And then, like athletic brew, um, cronas are pretty damn close. You throw a lime in one of those non-alcoholic cronas. I can't tell the difference. It's's just as refreshing. I enjoy it, the habit, if you will. I mean it is, but I'm out fishing, having an NA. I feel great the next day. Now they're not calorie-free by any means. The new Michelob Zeros I don't think there's a difference in taste between the Michelob Ultra and the Michelob Zero. I literally think it's the exact same.
Speaker 2:Which is wild Talk about how easy it is to help with the tendencies Like now you have the opportunity to still be social, go out to the bar with your friends and have the same thing, but not feel like crap or not be a part of that. I mean it helps.
Speaker 1:It's going to help a lot of people and I think more and more manufacturers will shift to them. I've read that alcohol consumption maybe not my age group, but your age group has really gone down Drastic. I guess weed consumption has gone up.
Speaker 2:Guarantee that and that was a pillar in my life for a long, long time. I mean, I used to identify as a a very, very avid weed goer and for the first, I think, seven months of training. I was high before it, high during it, high afterwards, and like I finally told you about it and it was just like I'd literally come to the gym high and I'm working out high and like I believe I can push myself further high and then now it's been, I think I'm on like month eight with no weed at all. Okay, just cut it cold turkey. For my life it wasn't serving a purpose anymore.
Speaker 2:I was getting more anxiety when I was smoking than when I wasn't, and that that's when I made the decision. Like this is pointless. What am I doing? I, when I'm high, I want to be sober. When I'm sober, I want to be high. It's back to that like insanity circle. It's just something I didn't want to put in my life and I'm like way more fit in six months than I was. So you take a whole year and a half of training and it's like this past half year of no weed and I'm far, far, far ahead of where I could have or would have been if I cut it out a year ago.
Speaker 1:I mean, I remember us talking about weed and I was telling you that all the current sleep research because a lot of people think when they have weed they sleep great Well, you feel like you do.
Speaker 1:You feel like you do Until you get one of these, like during COVID, I wasn't sleeping at all. I was turning to alcohol a little more often than I like to admit, and I did. I tried various types of gummies uh, for sleep and you do. You feel like you're knocked out. But the get up and go for me the next day was gone the dank over.
Speaker 2:I used to call it a dank over. Like you have a hangover from alcohol, well, you have a little too much weed.
Speaker 1:And this would be one gummy.
Speaker 1:It's a struggle bus and I hate the weed high. I felt it maybe three times in my life where I took enough that I actually got stoned. It's weird it's probably not true, but I can get drunk and I feel like I can still make decisions Like if I ended up driving like. I know I made that decision. It's fucking dumb, but I still felt like I made the decision. The three times that I've had marijuana I just feel like I don't have like any sort of influence over my decision.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's scary.
Speaker 1:And that was a feeling that didn't mesh with me at all, and I hated it.
Speaker 2:And then the sleep.
Speaker 1:It wasn't really helping my sleep. I was feeling better on five hours of sleep than I was on nine and a half, facilitated by a. Thc and that was a very short period, like maybe three, four months. I was experimenting and trying different ways to help my sleep and it was a no-go for me.
Speaker 2:I used it from a very young age, started at like 15, 16 is when I got into it. Obviously, it was like the cool thing to do with your buddies after baseball and whatnot.
Speaker 2:But for me it helped shut my brain down because I think, I mean, my little brother has ADHD or some form of it. He takes something like some Vyvanse. I never I don't think my dad ever wanted to even see if it was something that I had but I definitely have strong ADHD. I mean I lay down after a long day and I'm sitting there and my brain is just thinking about anything and everything and it's like all I want to do is go to sleep and it's tough and it's something that for 10 years I facilitated it with weed and now the gym has basically taken all of that out of my brain.
Speaker 2:So I get home after a long day and it's like feed the dogs, take care of family, lay down and I'm out and it's wild to me that for so long I self-medicated with something that I thought was so good for me. When it all brings me back to, it's like the main point of this whole episode is just being consistent in the gym and watch how much around like your life will change. I mean it's, it's crazy in a year and a half how much personally I've changed, mentally, I've changed, spiritually, I've changed, and it's cool, and that's the addicting piece that now I'm like well, let's see how far I can take it it's obviously you're consuming the product I provide and seeing all the changes in your life has been truly rewarding for me and having a part of the community and being able to share your story has been super awesome.
Speaker 1:It's funny you bring up the ADHD and exercise, because one of my pet peeves is young boys being hyperactive, getting diagnosed with ADHD all the time, getting put on drugs at a young age and I see this with my own son and I think it is a boy thing. You can talk to many parents that have boys that are a little bit more cray-cray than girls. Claire can be very satisfied just hanging out playing with her dolls Jackson. He gets physical, violent, like shit in his room, starts flying like what the hell's going on in there and uh, and he's just a little tyrant in the evenings and um, you know these, even though they go to private school, they do have some pe and they do have recess and stuff, it's still not the volume that I think some kids need. They need a sport outlet of some kind at such a young age and since he's embraced exercise and he, he does wads at least one a day, but lots of times.
Speaker 1:He'll do three little workouts a day. You know some 15, 20 minutes he likes getting.
Speaker 2:I love when we're in class and he just pulls down a rower and starts doing the class with us. I'm like, do you need help with that? And he's like, nope, that's rewarding. I mean it's cool to see, and even Claire's been jumping in with him and doing some of them, so that's where it's like.
Speaker 1:It's funny, claire thinks me and. Jackson are crazy. She'll work out with mom because mom's, like Cassie, obviously believes in exercise but I understand I'm a little bit of off kilter.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:It comes with being a gym owner. It's just something from wrestling. I've always been a part of pushing my body and seeing what it's capable of. I enjoy it. My wife works out for health and Claire more identifies with that. She loves swimming, but I think watching Jackson and his personality and calmness in the evenings, he's not such a little asshole. Now, if he gets two, three workouts in while he's here with me during the day, I think he has such a joy to be around in the afternoon. There's days he'd get home from school and, like a tornado, just went through the house.
Speaker 2:It was a war zone.
Speaker 1:What the hell Like bro, suit up, we're going.
Speaker 2:We're going to the gym. Yeah, I had a teacher in sixth grade at Lenz Elementary School, mr Lindquist, and we always did a thing that was like a big running. You had to run across the state of Nevada and he put me on a team by myself and like looking back on it I was like that's kind of screwed up, like why is he doing that? But he knew that with how bad I was in his class and restless anytime he could send me out to go run an extra mile, he would do it, and so I wouldn't even be in class, I'd be out on the little track running a mile by myself and then I'd come back in and it was sit down focus and it was the best sixth grade teacher I ever had because I actually learned stuff, because I wasn't just sitting there fidgeting, playing with notes mind going a million miles a minute he figured it out and then to me that was should have been my sign at a really early age.
Speaker 2:Like you just have to be like tired, like physically tired, and not do all the other things that people in society tell you to do.
Speaker 1:And ADHD brain isn't a bad thing, I think you can channel that into very big weapon now. It can be a very big weapon.
Speaker 2:And that's where, like now, I'm very appreciative of it that I didn't get put on something and I tried to. In college I even went. We went to the NCA, we tried to appeal, tried to get me on, you know, some medication for it and, looking back, I'm like thankful that I was denied, because it's like I didn't ever need it. I just needed to hone in and channel it more into positive ways instead of let the negative side of it be like oh, you're a tear, you're trouble, you won't be able to focus in class. It's like I was able to. I just had to do things before class that got me in the right mindset to sit down and want to sit there and focus for 30 minutes an hour.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. And would you say, after you know baseball, you had your injury in college when that ended. Not having that sport outlet, was it? I would assume it was more difficult.
Speaker 2:I mean my first term after my surgery. I got like a 0.78 GPA but, granted, I came home for like six weeks of the 10-week term so I missed a ton of stuff. It was not good but, um, I quickly got back into the gym.
Speaker 2:That's, the cool thing about oregon state was is they had a state-of-the-art gym and so it was open to all students and found a couple buddies that lived in my apartment complex and I was like, when do you guys go to the gym? And they were 6 amers, 5 amers. And so I was like, consistent with what I was used to with sports, so I was let me ride along with you guys and start going to the gym. It wasn't anything crazy, it was just back and by chest and try abs every day, squats, the typical.
Speaker 2:But that got me into such a focus for my 8 to 10 am classes because I was showered, had to get home, had to make breakfast, had to walk to class and then it was like I was still like sweating, resting sitting in class. And that's how it was with baseball. It was like 5 30 am lifts. You're done by 6 30. You go to the mess hall, you eat your food, you're straight in class by 8 and you're out by 11. So I never changed my class schedule. I always did the 8 to 11 and then would just work out in the morning. So it didn't affect me too much in school because I knew that's how I was successful.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:But the afternoons where you're one to five, seven to nine in study hall, that was the problem, because I had a lot of time and with that time it was smoke more, sit, play video games, go out and drink Like one of three things, more video games than the other two. But a lot of it was just sitting there and not doing your schoolwork, not studying, just passing time by, because I was used to a 1 to 9 pm.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, it's pretty awesome that you figured that out with yourself and was able to channel.
Speaker 2:It Comes with a lot of self-reflection.
Speaker 1:And use it to your advantage now, because I mean some of the most successful people in the world on the spectrum of some kind struggle with these. I mean I guess it's called a disease, I guess ADHD, but is it? It's just not. You've got to make sure you're getting people into the right areas for them to be successful, the right tools, and I just find I mean with all mental health, but exercise being one of those all around blunt tools that helps with so many things mentally and obviously physically, that not doing it is not an option for me and I would love to get the message out that it shouldn't. That should be the situation for everybody. I mean, our lives nowadays are not physical oriented Like computers, desks, driving, we grocery shop. We don't grow our own food Most people don't even grocery shop anymore.
Speaker 2:I'm guilty as all hell.
Speaker 1:I mean, we use Instacart, I'd use it Amazon.
Speaker 2:Society's gotten progressively lazier. That's how people have profited and made a ton of money, so it's like you can see both sides. Automation helps.
Speaker 1:But at the end of the day, you have to still do stuff. That's the human body, the evolution of it's still one that requires physical stimulus to be healthy. And to avoid that I just I often go through the scenarios in my head like where's ai gonna affect the gym industry and I think it's going to wipe out nutrition coaching oh yeah yeah, you can simply plug in what you need right into AI and it gives you a fantastic meal plan variety.
Speaker 2:You take a picture of your fridge and it'll tell you what to make.
Speaker 1:Yep, it's nuts. It's awesome. It's freed up so much time for me and has allowed me to have more conversations with members about nutrition, because now, using that as a tool, I can create them a pretty awesome nutrition plan with their inputs. As long as you know the inputs and what you're looking for to get out of this nutrition dude, it's instant. So I think it's going to have influence in programming because, at the end of the day, programming is scientific. It's also an art, so keeping it creative and fun and engaging so you still need a human component to it. I personally have played with it and have found very it's faster for me just to write workouts still, but I think ai will have influence in program design, like, if you want a simple back by workout the more people use it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like the same as tesla's. And why? Tesla isn't an investment into a car. You're investing in full self-driving technology and it's, you know, the little bump in the road that when you're full self-driving, you manually correct it. That's data that they're tracking. That is only going to improve every single analysis and every future car that's ever sold. So that's the same thing with, like chat, gpt or any of the AI tools out there. The more that people use it, the smarter and smarter it's going to get. What's kind of disgusting to me is how much those data centers consume in water.
Speaker 1:Oh bro, it's nuts.
Speaker 2:Just like a hundred word paragraph is like a 16 milliliter water bottle or 16 liter water To cool, everything it's nuts. So we'll see, but I don't think it'll ever replace the coach and the community and the gym. I mean sure you can ask it to write you a workout plan, but are you going to stay consistent and do that yourself? If you're not motivated already. I think we've found that experiment out during COVID the importance of social interaction.
Speaker 1:Yeah, covid was wild. The biggest drive people helping me keep the gym open and getting back to it was people missed working out with their friends. I mean, you've made a lot of great friends here. You have a great social network that built inside this gym now and people miss that, the training, the camaraderie, the support and like that's just. I find it over the years, very few people find success in their health and fitness in a garage gym on their own, by themselves.
Speaker 2:Some do, some do.
Speaker 1:I do know people that do.
Speaker 2:They've got a different. They have something in their head that allows them to, because, like for me, I could have any piece of tool in my gym that I wanted and it still wouldn't motivate me to work out on my own.
Speaker 1:And not with the intensity, if you will.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, what motivates me is seeing other people who are fit and stronger than I am and it's like you come in and you joke around with them and they push you to lift harder and it's like any class that you come to 5 am, 6 am, 7 am, 11, 12,. I mean I've sprinkled in the base every single class and it's like there's people there that are willing to push you or they'll tell you like hey, good job, like keep it up yeah, and you're pushing them it's just like it.
Speaker 2:That's what keeps me coming to this gym and to these classes is like there's someone who is out there that wants you to be better, even if you don't want it for yourself. So it's really easy to get addicted to it and stay here, because it's like you've got the Sarah Grants of the world where you show up at 6 am and she's like screaming at you already for just showing up and it's like, well, I'm going to keep coming back at 6 am For the longest time I was coming in at 6 am just to sauna because it was like I would see her in the mornings.
Speaker 2:It's just like there's people in here who care more about you than you care about yourself. That's hard to beat.
Speaker 1:And that's 100% and that's what I was Kind of getting out. The AI is one. Ai is not going to make your body healthy and I know there's people out there talking about the way it's running algorithms on drugs and test drugs against your DNA and you might never have to work out again to gain muscle and all these new things coming out. But when it comes to you earning that and going down that road of training and this is going to bring me back to another comment you made about alcohol being liquid courage, building that confidence You're never going to build the confidence like that.
Speaker 1:I've seen you develop over the last year Myself, many other people by just taking a pill and having it given to you. That confidence is built in this grind hill and having it given to you that confidence is built in this grind and you handful of sales people and I follow and engage quite a bit of their content because I'm also in a sales job to a degree and fit people who have put in the work to get fit have a natural confidence about them. That's irreplaceable and people say it's ego or cocky. No, it's self-confidence, because the level of work and consistency and discipline to put in every single day. It's a big amount. It's just an hour, but it's still a big amount for very minuscule progress on a daily basis. We're talking about your year and a half journey.
Speaker 2:That was a year and a half.
Speaker 1:Looking back, it's not a long time. As I get older, you realize how short a year is now. It's like holy shit, it's already.
Speaker 2:July you blink and they fly by.
Speaker 1:It's nuts Watching the kids grow up Claire's telling me she's already going to be a damn teenager in three years. Kids grow up Claire's telling me she's already gonna be a damn teenager in like three years and pump your brakes, girl. Time flies by. But the gym, that daily effort, that effort you don't notice that outcome on barely even a monthly basis. It's an annual basis outcome that you're noticing from those daily efforts and the confidence that I see develop in people like yourself who embrace that it has to translate into all areas of their life, whether it be professionally, marriage, fatherhood.
Speaker 1:Like you, no longer need the liquid courage. You no longer need the liquid courage. Yeah, and I think that is a extremely powerful side effect that is taken for granted from what we get out of this. You know most people come in here for weight loss or their doctor said you're going to die in a couple of years unless you change your life around or whatever. Um, but we often forget about the subtle side effects that happen from the whole process, that influence various aspects of our life, and you've picked up on many of them and obviously self-awareness, self-trust.
Speaker 2:There's a ton of self-confidence, I mean a ton of different aspects that come up from literally just like I said it's. I look at it now as one simple shift. It wasn't that simple to shift it to start, but now, a year and a half later, it's like damn, that was easy. Like why didn't I do that sooner? And that's the only thing I kick myself for now, which is like I spent six years away from the gym doing nothing, building a career, drinking a lot, partying a lot. Do I regret it? No, but the only thing I'm like mad internally for is that I didn't start something like this sooner.
Speaker 2:Like I didn't come to the realization sooner, at a younger age, because again, all I look back on is like where would I be if I was sooner? Which you can't get too wrapped up in it. I'm just a a very growth-minded person when it comes to it, and so it's like I get addicted to seeing growth, and knowing that I've had this amount of growth in a year and a half, it's like, well, if I put three, let's stack three years on it like four years, five years, six years.
Speaker 1:It's just fun to see where it's at. Well, then you turn 50 and you're like jacked, healthy, capable. I mean for capable, I mean for you, potentially grandfather at that point, yeah, that is, that is a freaking gold medal, that's a trophy. Most people your age, our age, are unhealthy, uncapable and not in a good spot, and it takes like.
Speaker 2:I mean you hit that hump of probably 30, where most people are then like, okay, I'm assessing it, it's not looking good. 35 is when they finally make that decision and start getting over the hump, and then they hit 40 and it's like, oh my gosh, we're old, like I want to, like you said, hit 50 and still be like showing up to class, loving it, lifting weights I mean like the randy moms of the gym where it's like 605 pounds at 47 years old or something I'm like well, like wayne, he's 47 48 yeah, exactly jacked.
Speaker 2:You can't, you wouldn't tell that those guys are about to hit 50 no, and wayne?
Speaker 1:I mean he was doing crossfit. I have a picture of him somewhere my phone. He was thick boy like fat.
Speaker 1:He hates it when I bring it up, but it's this picture of him fishing at his brother-in-law sent to me a long time ago. But he's been at the gym since the day we opened. So 11 years working out consistently, five plus days per week. Yep, and just seeing him now still at his age, just slaying workouts and getting stronger and still performing, it's a testament to what consistency does. And now, us being open 11 years, I've witnessed in quite a few members who have been with us from the beginning the power of that and you bring up.
Speaker 1:You know I wish I would have started younger. There's a handful of things. I was in the gym industry five years ago. Somebody the other day messaged me like bro, you're so shredded now. What the hell happened? It's like well, this is the first time in my 20 year career that I've owned every aspect of my diet. For going on two years now Like I would live in that.
Speaker 1:80, 20, 70, 30, like eat pretty darn healthy all the time but go out for beers. You end up with the burger, the fries that's once a week. The yogurt beach, the what do you want to say? Microaggressions on calories in that you don't realize truly add up. And then you have kids and you can't out train your diet anymore. Sleep gets a little disrupted with kids and it just starts getting more difficult, more difficult.
Speaker 1:I think you're bringing up people in their 30s 40s it's like oh God, what do I do now? One, they're surrounded by a bunch of people that are in the same boat as them. So then, socially, you're okay with it, and that's one reason I like surrounding myself with people like you, people with growth mindset, people in this gym, people that come here every day. I have a growth mindset, or you wouldn't be here every day. You're trying to better yourself, and that's who I'm surrounded with, and that's who you should want to be surrounded with, because that is not. They're not going to accept mediocrity Like now that we're friends, you start slipping the other way. I'm going to be the friend until you fucking figure it out.
Speaker 2:And that's what is like you want in your life. You don't want the people that enable you. You want the people that kind of put you in your place and say, like dude, you remember where you were? Like, why don't you get back there?
Speaker 2:do better and that's a lot of people in this gym have that same mindset. I mean, I guarantee if I started to do something outside I mean when I first stopped smoking, it was I told Wayne and I was like, dude, hold me accountable. And if you hear that I smoked and we joke every once in a while where I'm like I might go back to it and he's just like he looks at me like I'm crazy and I'm like that's what I needed is someone. That's like why, why would you go back to it? Like you've talked to me about eight months of feeling so great and being so good and all these aspects like what's the point? But that's the part of my brain that I still have not mastered of. Like well, what if I test it? What if I try it? What if I see?
Speaker 1:I think in society too, there's this concept of balance, right, you know, a couple drinks is okay, a little bit of weeds okay. I mean for me and my personality, like, typically if I'm having a couple drinks it's to throw on a buzz and it's to feel good with my friends or whatever. Like if you come to me with a nice bottle of whiskey, I can sit there and have that one ounce and share in that tasting, if you will, yep, but in general I'm not having a drink without this intention of it's going to. You know, take the edge off, if you will. The stress, the brain, the brain running. You know, I just got fucking broken cold and plunge at the fix right now. I was like oh.
Speaker 1:You know, you have the drink to kind of kick that or the weed to kind of kick that. I don't know where I was going with this, but you found other tools to check your brain and to keep it in place and it's awesome. It's awesome, I mean pretty transparent about it. But I mean addiction issues are a big thing and I have to surround myself with people who struggle with the same traits, but we just choose to support each other and channel them into areas of our life that can have positive outcomes for us. But those around us, you know we're both dads.
Speaker 2:We're both very like-minded. I mean, we know a certain type of individual and I think we both put a lot of effort and time and energy into trying to better him. You in probably a lot more positive way, me kind of being a part of it and more of like an enabling way, but ultimately also pulling back and being like this isn't't like we're done, we're stopping and similar type of guy addictive personality to the max but couldn't channel it in a good way. And that's where it's just like sometimes I have done it many times in my life where, like I get too focused and fixated on helping someone that then they're, they don't want to be helped my biggest thing being in the coaching space is I do run into people who struggle with various things and I want to help.
Speaker 1:I genuinely want to help. But the older I get, I I will help, I'll put in the work, I'll be there in the darkest moments, but you also have to want to help yourself. Now I think that's one of my biggest frustrations, and overall in fitness too, is figuring out that light bulb switch for each person that gets them to have that drive to want to help themselves more than I want to help them. I don't expect everybody to be like me and just love the aspect of training. I understand that it can feel like a chore and I'd be lying if every day I wanted to work out. Every day I want the outcome of how I feel after the workout that I want, but to get the shoes on and to get going.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to pretend every day is fucking easy it's not.
Speaker 1:But I always remind myself like after this workout I'm going to feel better, I'm going to make better decisions, my brain and get through the warmup and you get through into a workout and it's like this might not be your best day, like that's something I've had to learn and let go of for myself.
Speaker 1:Hey, this might not be your best performance, the weights aren't going to be as easy and it's okay to back off and I've had to do that but it's not okay not to show up, unless that not showing up was very intentionally planned as rest and recovery, because you may have pushed the limits too far four, five, six days, two weeks in a row, and it's time for a full body recovery, being intentional with that. But you know people that struggle with addiction. I do believe fitness is a great, great tool. It's been a great tool for me, it's been a great tool for you. But you have to want to help yourself and make that decision that I'm going to own the personality trait that I have and I'm going to channel it into the right things to help myself so that I can be better for those around me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it's one of the things that I had written down before this podcast was. The biggest thing is, for me, it's never been just a 12-week program that I was like I'm going to give it 12 weeks and see where I look. It's a game that I wanted to be in for life, and so it wasn't about like the after photo before and after photo that I could post and be all glamorous about it. It's genuinely something that I want to do and be in for life.
Speaker 2:And it's like I don't want to give it up. So that is what helps. Consistency is like if you look at it in a different way of like it's not, don't just try and be consistent for 12 weeks because you're going to burn out. Like put your mindset in like this is for life and just show up and start showing up and showing up and stack those days on top of each other and next thing, you know, you hit a year and a half and it's like it's your identity. It becomes such a habit that you look at the clock and you're like I'm going to be late, I got to get there.
Speaker 2:And it's like I stress, I sit at my desk sometimes and I'm like it's 930. Okay, shit, I got to, I can do a little bit more. And then it's like next thing, you know, it's 1015. You're like I got to go and it's like see ya and grab a bag and you're out schedule so that you're not making an excuse like can't go today. Well, that one day you just gave yourself. You know you just killed your self-trust because if you let go for one day, well, what's the next day? What's the next day after that?
Speaker 1:I think, like you bring up, you kill your self-trust and you build your self-confidence, and it's in those one days of those single moments of keeping your promise to yourself and not keeping your promise to yourself, and that one day might not feel but it makes the next day so much easier. So much easier. I mean I intentionally went three days camping this weekend, didn't do any exercise, didn't. Sometimes I take gym equipment with me when we camp, just do a little something. So I'm not going to, I'm going to rest, be present. Ended up having a couple drinks that I was not excited about because once again whoop showed me fucked up.
Speaker 1:Next day I wasn't feeling great and whatnot. But coming in Monday it was difficult. It was hard for me to get it going. To want to work out and keeping momentum going, even if it's at a less scale, less intensity. I have found in the last five years of my life is the single most important piece, even if it's just a little bit, a little five minutes, a little 10 minutes, something, something to keep the momentum going, of keeping that promise to yourself. But your body and mind will thank you for it and I've preached it on social media and the classes and what intensity matters in results, but consistency is the single most important aspect. And if your intensity is so high but consistency is the single most important aspect and if your intensity is so high and I think this is one of the foo paws of CrossFit we got addicted to intensity as a culture CrossFit culture that we're pushing high intensity too often and too much to where burnout happen.
Speaker 1:People just get cooked doing CrossFit and original CrossFit methodology didn't have Metcons every day, but we do at the gym because our average member works out 3.4 days per week on average. So like it's okay if you're averaging three to four days per week cause you're getting full rest days between there to hit high intensity and higher volume with that. So we're we're programming towards our business and members needs. But those of us that train five days a week, it's okay to have a workout. That's low intensity, that you're kind of just checking the box because you stack up that win versus not stacking up that win.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it, it's. It's not a crazy concept. I know a lot of people look at it and are like it's wild to think about consistency or being consistent with something. But I think a lot of people use motivation to try and become consistent and ultimately discipline is going to outperform motivation 10 out of 10 times. So the more discipline you can get with it, the easier it is to stay consistent. The small wins are big when it comes to consistency. It's not about hitting a 45 pound pr every single day. You come in the gym, granted a year and a half in. I'm getting there because I'm starting to build strength up. But just showing up for the first whole year was my win. Like I did not care what the workout was. I actually didn't even want to be on sugar wad for the longest whole year was my win. Like I did not care what the workout was. I actually didn't even want to be on sugar wad for the longest time because I didn't want to see beforehand.
Speaker 2:I still don't even look at the workout a day ahead I wake up, I usually look at it, so I pack whatever I need in my gym bag. But for the longest time I just walked into the gym and looked at the TV and that was the first time I saw the workout and there was a lot of times where I was just like God damn it, this is going to suck.
Speaker 2:But that's what kept me from not making the excuse of like I don't have to go today Because, looking at it ahead of time, you hear a lot like oh, I looked at the workout, I didn't want to come today, and it's like, well, you still showed up, good for you. I looked at it. I looked at it, I didn't want to come, I still showed up, good for me. So those small wins are something that helps build consistency in a lot that we've talked about here. I mean, my biggest thing is don't look at it as a 12-week transformational program.
Speaker 1:That's why we got rid of all of our challenges, because I got tired of that mindset. It's like, okay, I mean, over the years we did challenges eight-week, 12 week challenges and you see a ton of motivation and people stick. They do really well, right they. They lose weight, they gain muscle. They do really well for the 12 weeks and then it disappears every freaking year. It's like, okay, we, those same people come back to the next 12-week challenge we do in January or whatever, and they're right back to where they were. They didn't take those habits. They built in the 12 weeks because those were extreme. You elevated your diet, you elevated your training volume, you went hard for 12 weeks, you got to go.
Speaker 2:No, I'm just looking.
Speaker 1:My watch has been buzzing. And then, if you're not taking those habits with you for the rest of your life, don't expect those changes to stick. And somebody the other day asked me to evaluate their diet. Like I was, you know, losing weight really well, feeling really good, training better, and this was my diet. And they literally followed up with and I, you know, I backed off a little bit under this disguise of finding some balance. You know, being able to go out with friends and do these things, which I get Okay, but they're like, oh, I'm gaining weight again, I don't know what to do. Can you look at my diet? And I'm like, well, that was working. So that's what you got to do and that's what you got to maintain.
Speaker 2:I feel that screaming at me right now because I was so good. If you want that outcome, If you want that outcome.
Speaker 1:And now my big motivation is obviously my daughter's illness. Crohn's is like we have to eat a certain way all the time or it could flare up, and she's thriving Not just doing okay with it, but thriving. Not just doing okay with it, but thriving. And knowing where she was and where she is now has been hugely influenced by how we live and eat. It's very easy for me to do it on a daily basis because my motivator, if you will, is pretty freaking heavy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know it's not just doing it for looking in the gym or whatever. Those motivations do disappear. I've watched it with many people over the years Right here and it is. It disappeared. For me, there are seasons of being more fit and less fit, but now the way we've owned our diet as a family has been the biggest contributor to my change and how I look at 40 when I'm 41 years old, and that's just like you want. This outcome, which I like, my outcome that I have right now Don't get me wrong from performance, physique, how I feel, how I'm sleeping, like the whole thing, all of it. One, I'm not going back because I'm going to be there supporting my daughter in this. I'm not just going to start eating like an asshole and she can't. But that is if this is the outcome you want to achieve or maintain. This is the life you need to live, not the 12-week challenge that you need to live and the fittest people that I know and been around. Fit shaming is a thing Like being consistent with the gym.
Speaker 2:Social media doesn't help with that.
Speaker 1:No, and just like I will say at 40, not giving a fuck anymore about what people think about you really did elevate to another level. I just I don't have time for you. I'm potentially halfway done with my life. I don't have time for your bullshit. This is what I'm doing. You upset that I work out every day. You upset the way I eat my diet and it makes you feel bad about yourself. I don't give a fuck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, when I was steep into my thing, I was posting like what I'd eat for breakfast. You, when I was steep into my thing, I was posting like what I'd eat for breakfast.
Speaker 2:I was having six eggs half pound of ground beef, some cottage cheese mixed into those eggs, a protein shake. I mean I was hitting almost 300 grams of protein daily for a consistent like four months and I started posting on Instagram like this is what I'm eating, this is what I'm eating. And the amount of comments I got were like dude, that's insane. You're like you're overeating and it's like how do you know? How do you know? I don't post what I'm training. But like I look at the data, it's pretty consistent with what I'm doing and it fills me up and it's not processed foods, it's not bad. I mean, that was like my peak but, granted, that's a hard, it was hard.
Speaker 2:I was at the store every week getting 60 eggs. I was getting all the beef from here and then it's like cottage cheese. I absolutely despise, but it's something that I was willing to put into my diet because of the benefits of it and talking with you about it, and I've never felt better. It's like cottage cheese and your eggs. You'll never taste the cottage cheese. That's how I figured it out. Scramble it up. You'll never taste the cottage cheese. That's how I figured it out. Scramble it up. You're good. The ground beef, it's like whatever. And then you have ground beef and noodles for lunch.
Speaker 2:It was so nice, but it's just a lot to do and so when you adopt it and you're good with it, you'll feel better. But it's again, something that, for me, I've got to get more consistent with, because for now I'm back in the same boat where it's like it's 2 o'clock, I didn't eat yet. I'm going to go to my next meeting. I'm going to probably pick up something that's quick on the go and I can eat it, but I'm a lot more mindful of like I'm going to have a taco instead of six tacos, a Crunchwrap Supreme, everything that I used to eat.
Speaker 2:I mean I'd get like $30 to talk about and eat it by myself, so it's like I'm an overeater to the max. That's how I've always been raised. It's just something that eat, eat, eat. You want to put on weight, put on muscle, eat, eat, eat. And I've never been able to hone that back.
Speaker 1:Which is true. But if you want to manage body fat, you also have to manage calories. There's no ifs ands or buts about it. And increasing 300 grams is a lot of protein. Now I'm 200 to 250 a day. On a heavy protein day probably 250. It makes a difference. It makes a huge difference in your satiety and cravings and recovery.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a big thing when.
Speaker 1:I'm under protein for a couple days straight, cravings start kicking up. It's very hard for me to feel satisfied from a meal that Chick-fil-A starts smelling really good when you try it, oh yeah, and then it's like harder and harder to make those good decisions, and again it happens to all of us. And, like you said, discipline is more important than motivation, because motivation always disappears. I've seen it more and more and more. But you can use seasons of motivation to elevate yourself to the next level.
Speaker 1:And you've done that for a lot of people. You've done it for me and, like I tell other members they might not believe it I do try to be motivational, inspiring for members and lead a lifestyle that people want to, you know, maybe emulate parts of it. But I also feed off people like you who are in here putting in the work, who have a job that has to go out and about like fit access to fitness. Access to fitness is relatively easy for me. It's the career choice and path that I went down.
Speaker 1:But seeing people fully embrace and have amazing transformations physically, mentally and every aspect of their life, as is one of, it's a reason that I want to keep fighting for this place and bringing other people in, for the opportunities to have what you have, but you've put in the work and that is the aspect that people have to wrap their heads around. It doesn't matter how many times you read my story, like my posts. It doesn't Whatever influencer or anywhere magazine article you read. It doesn't matter how much knowledge you consume. If you're not putting in the work consistently, both fitness and nutrition, it's just not going to happen people like working out their thumbs these days.
Speaker 2:They like that's all they're doing scrolling, playing on their phone. It's like the hour that you spend on your phone. I mean you get a screen report. Dude, it's easy, the doom scrolling, it's the amount of time you got into your phone if you take an hour away from that Yep and put it into it something positive and you're prepping meal prepping.
Speaker 2:I mean it's crazy how fast things change and that's what is Channeling that addictive mindset towards is like I want these positive things. So it's like here's my mindset. I bring this up on the podcast and I'm probably going to go home and look at my screen report for the last week and see it's like I guarantee it's probably six to eight hours.
Speaker 1:Probably more than that. Let's have ourselves a live honesty session here. My Instagram is disgusting because I bounce between the gym one.
Speaker 2:See, my daily average is seven hours and seven minutes that I'm on my phone. My daily average, what did you just say? Seven hours, seven minutes.
Speaker 1:My daily average is three hours 15 minutes.
Speaker 2:So if I can allocate four hours of not being on my phone, think about how much I could get done in a day. Granted, I use my phone for work and I'm on it for like calls and emails, but that's a big, like, big excuse. I can start to track like how much each app is and I guarantee it's. A lot of social media, a lot of like doom scrolling on Instagram, because I'll get caught in it every once in a while, but that's like seven hours, seven minutes is crazy. Just to pull it up and look at it.
Speaker 1:What's your number one?
Speaker 2:What is it on?
Speaker 1:Pornhub.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Where do you see? It so if you go.
Speaker 2:Oh, see all app activity Maps and Instagram. So maps is like getting me around the different businesses that I have meetings at Instagram is a three minute Behind it, 55 versus 52, and then messages.
Speaker 1:I don't understand why wallet is my number two, like the wallet app that you pay for shit with. I never opened that. It must be running in the background, probably. But X is my number one most used app last week, which makes sense for me because I caught myself doom scrolling camping.
Speaker 2:I average 187 notifications daily.
Speaker 1:That's your work.
Speaker 2:Between messages and Outlook. Yeah, it's disgusting.
Speaker 1:But that's just. I wish I had two phones.
Speaker 2:That, yeah, social media is today just alone. Today has been two hours and ten minutes.
Speaker 1:So that's where it's like. Mine's been 20 minutes.
Speaker 2:I catch myself like in the morning. I was supposed to wake up at 530 this morning. I woke up and I laid in bed until 6.30 scrolling social media, so that's where it's like you'll catch yourself. That whole hour I could have meal prepped something because I woke up wanting to meal prep so that I had something to eat before we sat down for the podcast, because, knowing that my schedule 2.30 next meeting, I planned it all out so this didn't get affected.
Speaker 1:And I got to let you go because I blew 13 minutes of our initial conversation. You said you have a 2.30 meeting. Yeah, oh shit.
Speaker 2:It's just on team, so we're good. That's. The beauty of my industry is a lot of stuff has moved from not in person to virtual.
Speaker 1:It became acceptable to have a virtual conversation, which I think it's important to have, both.
Speaker 1:Yep, I think it's important for people to be flexible and have a virtual conversation because even for me, with my kids, their sports coaching classes, I think I'm here from 4.30 am until 2.33 every day.
Speaker 1:That's 11 hours. Granted, two hours at that time is my workout and eating window, yep, but I do nutrition consultations with people and I hate going home and then coming back to the gym because people need an evening meeting and this, and that it has become acceptable. We can jump on FaceTime and have that conversation and I already have your InBody because it uploads to the cloud FaceTime and have that conversation, and I already have your in-body because it uploads to the cloud and we can have that conversation. It's allowed me more access and people are good with it, and that wasn't the case before COVID, which has been cool for me. To create more availability for people to have conversations that don't come to my class I coach five and six AM only, and to be able to touch members and that sounds weird but have conversations with members outside of my two classes has been very important for me and that accepting that society societal wise yep, has been cool. So, bro, thanks for being on.
Speaker 1:I mean like yeah, uh, thanks for being a part of my life, not just as a member, but as a friend. You have become a close friend of mine and somebody I do truly value having in my life. Um, I want to see you keep crushing it, all aspects of your life as long as this place is open, I'll be here bro, I fight like hell every month gym life and gym entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1:I know on the outside looking in it seems simple and one of the hardest things to do is take something you love doing and turning into a business and then getting those two to work together. I struggled with that.
Speaker 2:There's a lot that goes into it. I mean even just before we were getting ready, I was looking up at the schedule, like the cleaning schedule, and it's like I don't even know. I don't think about it as a member, but like as a business owner, like got to have something that's like a routine and a schedule so that things get done and shit stays clean Towels, toilet paper, broken things. And towels a lot.
Speaker 1:It's nonstop here. Eight plus loads a day.
Speaker 1:And it's an amenity we want to offer. It's something I find value in. It's important. I mean, we are a premium gym. I'm not trying to be the cheapest place. As you've mentioned to me and I've heard from other people, even in the sales space, if you want to network, go find the most expensive gym in your town and sign up there and network with those people because they value their health. That means they're going to value all the other things in their life just as much. That's the people you want to surround yourself with.
Speaker 2:That's a spot on analogy, because anywhere you are, I mean a lot of people if you're in sales, you're at the most expensive gym because that's where your colleagues and contacts are going to be. I've met more people in here and accounts that I've wanted to get into that it's like didn't know you worked there, Didn't know you worked there, and that's what's wild to me is it's just like they've they're here every single day and you're trying to call them out there, go knock on their door and get into their office, but they're here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think when you train next to somebody and you're putting in the work that builds rapport in a way that can't be built any other way.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you're not showing up and doing it and you only do it for like five, six months, it says a lot about who you are, versus you're here consistent for a year, year and a half, two years, three years, like it's a lot easier to go up to that person and be like hey, bob, let me sit down and talk about your business, because he sees me here every single day and so that's where it's like I don't, it's not something I'm like pushing down people's throats, but eventually, with my consistency, I'll sit down and start to ask these people like can I get 15 minutes of your time? We've been working out, we're doing workouts right next to each other. I'm going to be the same way. I am in business as I am here.
Speaker 1:No, and your lead. I mean, we've just never been able to find many products that you that I need. Yeah, for you're going for a gym. It's hard, but you're always trying to improve somebody's life through the products you sell. I mean, at the end of the day, isn't every single person that goes to work to earn money get value out of their job? Because they're doing something that improves something in your life and it's a value transaction. You know, and that is life and your approach to sales. I've witnessed it in the gym, the relationships you've built, and it comes down to trust in taking care of people. I've seen you get spanked on deals to do the right thing to take care of somebody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I. I lose a lot of money sometimes or I will spend money to get that business like that, because the longevity of the account is more important to me than the quick buck that I can make.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, for example, I closed a very big deal this past month and it's like they spend $26,000 a month to process all of their invoices. They spend $26,000 a month to process all of their invoices. I could have charged $14,000 a month for a product that costs $3,600. But I want more of their business, so I put it in there for $3,600. $68 a month of profit is what I'm getting on it for 60 months.
Speaker 2:Not a crazy paycheck, but it's something that I'll go and get their printers, their copiers, their security cameras, more software all because I brought value to the organization and didn't want to cost more money. But most people would get the $200,000 paycheck from selling it at you know, 15 grand a month and all the profit in there. It just doesn't sit well with me long term. I'm working with the Boys and Girls Club trying to optimize their printing and save them some money, and it's just like I've got you know, 60 grand in there where it's like we'll just give it right back to you, let's spend it back.
Speaker 2:You guys are spending so much and you want to keep your payment the same, We'll just spend it right back in sponsorship. That could have been money that I'd take home and feed my family with, but long-term there's more opportunity there.
Speaker 1:And Reno is such a small town that network and doing the right thing. I mean, I've witnessed you in your job, doing your thing, and you get a thumbs-up from me, bro, and so a lot of times people don't like salesmen, but everybody's a salesman, no matter what you do for work if just can't be a used car salesman.
Speaker 1:No, that's my rule and the concept behind that is you're you're lying, you're saying this is a good thing, a quality product. That's really a piece of shit that you just put a little bit of polish on and that gets found out really quick, especially in this town yeah, and when you run away from problems like if there's always going to be a problem in my industry of selling someone something.
Speaker 2:It's a matter of how you show up and fix it. And so it's like do people call me? And I don't answer Sure, but it's, can I call you right back? And then when I get done, I'm calling them right back. It's like what's going on? Let me help you with your problem. I don't want to be the one that runs away.
Speaker 1:Dude, your best long-term customers oftentimes will come from a problem you solved for them, or like you fucked up and you owned it and you fixed it and loyalty grew 10, 20, 100 more because you owned it, because people realize that fuck ups happen.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I mean, if you own it, people spend a little bit more money to be with someone like myself, like managing their account. It's like I have a lot of customers that are like, well, we could go to this company and save money, but we'd rather be with you. And it's like customer service, customer support and actually taking care of people and doing what you say you're gonna do is the biggest thing. That's like anyone who's under me and I'm trying to help train them. It's like, if you say you're gonna stop by their office at 2 15 pm, stop by their office at 2.15 pm. Stop by their office at 2.15 pm.
Speaker 2:Don't be there at 2.16. Don't be there at 2.17 with the excuse that I was next door talking to another customer. Be there when you said you're going to be there.
Speaker 1:Respect their time.
Speaker 2:Because people take notes and it's like oh he wasn't here no-transcript. This guy constantly and thinking about like if I told you that I've got to finish that and follow through with it.
Speaker 1:Yep, and that goes back to all things consistency. That kind of brings it a full circle. Wrap up, if you're keeping your promises to yourself, keeping your stuff in check and consistency, that's going to translate into habits and discipline and all other aspects of your life, spot on. So all right, buddy.
Speaker 2:It was fun Appreciate you being on here. We could talk for hours probably. Yeah, appreciate you getting through my initial struggles fumbling the the start button but um I had one of those same uh road devices and many times did we do that and it'd be even worse like you'd have a guest and be like a two-hour podcast and none of it was recorded I was glad I caught it 13 minutes in. Yeah, very good.
Speaker 1:Alright, buddy. Well, thanks for being on. Go get on your call, appreciate your time and keep doing awesome things.