Mike Adams: PTSD, Identity Crisis, and Rebuilding After Football

We sit down with former NFL tackle Mike Adams to trace how a random act of violence pushed him into PTSD, identity collapse, and a fight to stay alive. We also unpack how yoga, breathwork, better habits, and honest connection helped him rebuild his body, calm his nervous system, and turn pain into purpose. 

• surviving a random stabbing and the recovery that followed 
• living with PTSD, night terrors, and suicidal thoughts while still playing 
• using yoga as a way back to confidence and discipline 
• the role of sleep, stress, alcohol, and cannabis in coping and healing 
• career-ending injuries and the identity crisis after football 
• separating self-worth from performance to compete with freedom 
• breath as a practical tool to regulate the nervous system 
• why vulnerability creates ripple effects and helps other people speak up 
• simple practices for reframing, including “throw it away” 
• draft prep truths about willingness, body language, and habits 
• what Cam Heyward shows about focus and long-term greatness 

Check us out at athleticfortitude.com, download the pod, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Five stars only, baby.

Transcript

Country Sounds And Yoga Beginnings

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Those birds are peaceful in the background, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Oh, you can hear those?

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Yeah, yeah. I like it. Yeah, I think honestly, I think when I get when I edit this, it'll sadly actually probably get it taken out. You probably won't be able to hear the background noise, but I'm enjoying it as as we sit here and I get to listen to those birds chirp in the background.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Oh man, yeah, it's one of the best parts about living out in the country. I just I sit with my doors open all day when I'm in the house and just listen to that. It's great.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

That's awesome. It fits your vibe too with the you know the the yoga, the peace, the the nature. So I think that's uh that'll that'll do well for the the interview here.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

When um when did you get involved in yoga? Like when did that become your thing as you kind of shifted from football or did it happen during football?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Oh man, yeah.

Stabbed In Pittsburgh And Surviving

SPEAKER_01 0:49

So it happened during football. It was uh it was a a wild thing that happened. Um so after my rookie year in Pittsburgh, you know, I was out in the south side hanging out, ended up uh getting stabbed in the stomach at gunpoint and an attempted carjacking. Yeah, so um cut my colon in half. So I was like a quarter of a centimeter, like 10 minutes away from dying. And uh to put me back together, they had to open me all the way up down my stomach. And so this was about like a month before my second season, um, you know, which coming off of like a rookie of the year season for the Steelers, I had big expectations, all that. So essentially I was down pretty bad the first like four or five weeks. And uh so for the first time I got benched, and then uh I had a teammate, it was our center, Fernando Velasco backup center. Um he was going to his first yoga class with his wife, and they he was like, Hey, I hear it's good for your core, you should come with us. And so I went, uh, went to amazing yoga in the south side and got my ass kicked. It was like 20 minutes into the hour-long class, and I was just like laying there on my back, like, what's going on? Like, what is this? You know, um, but it was like it was the challenge that I needed at that time. You know, I was um, you know, like riddled with PTSD and suicidal thoughts and all kind of all kind of crazy stuff. Uh, and it was it was the practice that I needed to be introduced to so that I could, you know, start to remember how much I like to do hard things and um you know, and just build some confidence back in my body.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

What uh you I didn't know you got stabbed. What like what happened? Like, like was it random? Like where where did it come from? Like what happened?

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah, it was totally random. Like uh it was crazy as could be. Um, I was out in the south side drinking on a Friday night, you know, and I would valet park my car in a comma, and uh I had a Ford Bronco, so you know it's got like the number pad where you could just unlock it with that. And so I would tell the valet guy all the time, like, leave my keys under the seat. And I lived right up 18th. So, I mean, admittedly wrong, I would drive home drunk, like, you know, six blocks, but straight up the mountain um on the slopes. And so when I got in my car that night and my keys weren't under my seat, I was like, alright. So I got out of the car to walk to a buddy's house on 18th in Wharton. And when I got out of the car and just started to walk to the sidewalk, two dudes like approached me like from the side and like got in front of me. And one dude was like, Is that your truck, man? And I thought he was gonna be like, nice truck, because I mean it was a sick truck. And uh and I was like, Yeah, yeah, it's mine, and he was like, Give it up. I was like, Oh, what you mean, give it up? Like, back up, bro, you know, and uh and there was another dude in front of him at that time, and he or next to him at that time, and he was like, I said, give it up before I shoot you in your face and kill you in front of everybody. And I was just like, Whoa, dude, like, come on, man, like, don't shoot me, please don't shoot me, you know. And at that point, the other guy is like, nah, bro, let me kill him. And I'm just like, man, come on, bro. Like, like y'all tripping, like, please don't shoot me, bro. And then I hear a third guy who's standing on the running board of my truck jumping up and down. He's like, Yeah, we got a nice one, boys. So I look over and I'm like, man, fuck you. You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, come on, man. Like, there's three, y'all, there's one of me. Like, if y'all want to fight me, like I'll fight you, but please don't shoot me, you know? And uh, and right at that moment, I heard the third guy then walking up behind me. So I knew he was probably gonna try to sucker punch me. So I put my dukes up the block. He tried to punch me, I blocked it. Uh, and at that moment, when I put my hands up, the dude, the second guy stabbed me right in the stomach. And uh, I then went to grab the guy who tried to punch me, and dude tried to stab me in the heart, but it hit my arm right here and saved my life. Um, and then they just took off running. You know, they were they took off running. I had no idea what happened. Um, back then, Cambotican Kitchen had like all glass, uh had an all-glass wall. And so everybody who was in there was watching it happen. And uh the people who own that place, Mr. and Mrs. McSwiggins is their last name. Um, I I had got pretty tight with them because I would eat there a lot. And I called them mom and pop. And mom ran out and she's like, Big Mike, big Mike, you got stabbed. And I looked down, I'm just leaking everywhere. And uh at that point, I like picked up the first person I saw because I was just like freaked out, was in shock, and like put them on the wall. I was like, Where'd your friends go? And he's like, Big Mike, we got to get you help, man. I'm like, I'm so sorry, bro. I'm so sorry. And they uh they walked me in the restaurant, gave me a towel, I put pressure on it, and she just started pouring peroxide all over me and uh called 911. Um, police came down, uh, ambulances were on their way. And as we walked outside to wait for the ambulance, um, you know, the cops are like, Can you show us what happened? And I'm like, Yeah, like and I mean I'm in like the craziest pain and a little bit of shock. And when we walk outside, there's like my blood is everywhere. And in my puddle of my blood lies the guy's cell phone because he was so short. When he jumped up to punch me, his phone fell out of his pocket. And uh, so they grab that and they're like, Well, look what we found here, you know. And so they end up picking him up the next morning. The the guy who stabbed me actually ran and was on the run. They caught up with him in Jacksonville, Florida with his baby mom. And then uh the other guy, when they went to go find him, he took off running, but then later turned himself in. Um yeah, the the court, the court thing was was a huge, you know, public trial, all that. Um these guys all end up basically getting off because I was drunk. Um and yeah, there's like perjury investigations for, you know, like paying witnesses on their behalf, all sorts of stuff after the trial. And then about a month after they get let off, um, they each get re-arrested for like, you know, things like robbing someone at gunpoint or shooting uh shooting a girl outside of a convenience store or uh or for a murder case. And so it was just like the system, system really works. Uh but it was wild. But that was what got me into you know the whole practice of mindfulness and yoga, meditation, all these things. So whereas it was definitely the most trying time, you know, I got benched for the first time in my life. I was suicidal. Um, I had PTSD so bad I couldn't sleep for more than like 15, 20 minutes at a time, unbroken. Um, so it was uh it was pretty tough, but it ultimately led me into exactly what I'm doing now, which I wouldn't change for the

PTSD In The NFL And Hiding It

SPEAKER_01 7:49

world.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

How did you take those initial steps to process everything that was going on while simultaneously trying to be one of 32 starting tackles, you know, in the NFL, which is a prestigious job. So like how did you balance all that?

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Yeah, dude, I didn't. I straight up, I just didn't. Um, you know, mental health was not an initiative in the NFL at that time. If anything, it was like I was afraid to go to a therapist because I didn't want to seem like a liability, you know what I mean? And like whether it was a therapist connected with the team or not, it's Pittsburgh. So I knew that like, you know, they would know that I was feeling a little jacked up. And uh so basically I tried to compartmentalize it, I tried to ignore it. And really what happened was um I was in the NFL drug program, so cannabis wasn't wasn't a thing for me. Like I couldn't use that, um, which is you know, does really good with like PTSD and sleep and stuff. Um, so I put a band-aid on it with alcohol, and I started going out and drinking all the time, and there was like a really angry part of me that wanted to prove that I wasn't afraid to go back out in public, you know, and like um, and so I was drinking a lot just so that I could sleep, you know. I'd go out till you know 11, 12 in, you know, midnight and then come home, wake up at 6 a.m. or wake up at 5 30, be a football at 6, and you know, hit the hot tub, hit the steam room, sweat it out, and try to be ready for meetings. Um, but yeah, that just wasn't sustainable, you know, wasn't sustainable, wasn't healthy, and before I knew it, I was like just you know, in a whirlwind. And um in the offseason after that year, I uh I just went to Columbus, where you know, where I went to college and all

Training Reset And Sleep Recovery

SPEAKER_01 9:35

that. Um, my family, we still had a house there, so I kind of just went into Batman mode, went in the Bat Cave, started training two or three times a day, doing yoga every day, um, hot power yoga, um, and got in the best shape of my life. And at that point, I also then got out of the NFL drug program. I had done my two years or whatever. Um, and I'll tell you, the first day that I got out, I had I had a fat doobie waiting for me, rolled up, and I smoked the doobie before bed, and for the first night since it happened, I slept the whole way through the night, and I didn't have one night terror. Uh, because my thing with PTSD was I had recurring night terrors every night, like every 15 minutes. Every time I'd wake up, I'd fall right back asleep, be right back in the night terror. So um that first morning when I woke up after sleeping the whole way through the night, I just cried. Like I cried, I cried, I cried, I couldn't believe it. Um and at that point I stopped drinking, all that. So it was uh, you know, there was a combination of you know, being in my own space, you know, where I had time to just go go in, you know, um starting to practice yoga, um, being in like you know, total go get it mode, training twice a day, working out in my high school. Um, and then you know, the use of cannabis uh really helped me get back on track. And after that, I I started to, you know, speak as an advocate um for cannabis with like veterans groups and um you know different populations that suffer from PTSD and things like that. So it was uh it was an interesting ride.

Back Injury And Football Exit

SPEAKER_01 11:14

But after that, I was able to get back in year three um in the best shape of my life, played some of the best ball of my life, uh, and then going into year four and OTAs, I had a non-contact uh injury where I blew out my L5S1, massive herniation, it blew up into like a million pieces and got stuck on my sciatic. So then I was uh, you know, down again, and I ended up developing drop foot, which you know, I went in for the test. They're like, hold your toe up, and my foot just went like that, and I couldn't move it. And so they're like, All right, man, you gotta have back surgery tomorrow morning. And so it just kind of, you know, there was this cascade of like ups and downs and ups and downs. And uh that back surgery happened in a contract year where you know I was ready to go, um, excited. Uh, the guy who had filled in for me while I was hurt, um, who was starting over me at that point, was then like out for the year. So I literally had the green light to go ahead and, you know, do my thing. Um, and this happened. So then, you know, right back in the ringer again mentally. Uh, and at this point, I had bought a house up here in like the Youngstown area where my family, like most of my family lives, and uh a small farm like this one, right up the road, actually. And uh I just started spending a lot of time in nature. Um, I'm a big bow hunter, so I was just like out in the woods hunting all the time. I had one of those like huge ground, huge blinds that you can sit in. It's basically like a tree house. Um, since I wasn't that mobile, I could just like climb up the ladder in that thing. I had a nice cushy sort of chair in there, um, like therapeutic chair, and I would just sit in there all day and just you know be in nature, and then you know, I'd go to yoga, work out, all that. And uh so I really really found myself at peace with nature and yoga, and it kind of formed this whole new identity for me, um, where football started to become like it was more or less this thing I wanted to do again just to prove to myself that I can make it back. Um, but it it wasn't what was like it wasn't what I like really wanted to do anymore, you know. Um so I ended up going playing one more year for Chicago and uh after week eleven, started against the Giants week 11, and then um this the Monday after I ended up blowing my back out again and walkthrough. And it was, you know, at that point it was just like all right, uh the writing's on the wall. I think it's time for me to hang it up, you know. And so that uh after that I just I went back to Ohio and you know, kind of went into recluse mode. Um you know, just started to hate talking about what I do, you know, going through the identity crisis that everyone goes through when ball's over. It's like, who am I now? You know? Um, so that that that was a wild ride.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Going back to when you were having the night terrors and you were, you know, in a stage of PTSD, was there ever like an inflection point where you were like, I I need a point of change, I need to do something different, or did it just kind of happen when you went home that one off season to to start training again?

The Bridge Moment And Choosing Life

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Oh man. Uh yeah. So I lived up in the slopes, like up off of Mission Street, like way up on the slopes, and there's a Mission Street bridge, and uh the bridge is like a it's probably like a 150-foot drop-off to a parking lot. And I found myself sitting there, you know, on the side of the bridge, legs dangling, just thinking about jumping. And uh, you know, I started thinking about my mom, you know, and then my dog that I had at my house and uh my buddies that lived with me, and I was just like, man, I can't, I can't can't fucking do this, you know. Like I got I got too much, too much to live for. And at that point, I was just like, man, I gotta, I gotta like take this thing head on, you know, and so at that time I was that's when I really made the decision, you know, not to give up. Um and just kind of took baby steps, you know, each day, just going to football, trying to get better, trying to work out a little harder, trying to um go to yoga as much as I could. And at that point, I was like 340 pounds and you know, had no core muscles. So going to yoga was a really hard thing, um, especially hot power yoga. And I remember being in a class, and like at this point, I couldn't make it through a full class without like, you know, taking a taking a seat, taking a break for a minute. Uh, but I I would take my cross off, this one here, and I would set it at the top of my yoga mat. And I just remember like being in a warrior two pose and looking down at the cross and thinking, like, man, like if he could go through all that he went through for me, I can fucking make it through this yoga class, dude. Like, I can push, like, this shit's tough, but I'm tough too, you know. And uh, and that that was a that was a pivotal point for me.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

I think about just like that transition, you know, being 340, you know, to getting to the the lean guy, I don't know what your walking weight is now, but like the lean guy that you become, the type of transition and discipline and fortitude that takes, what kept you going from being that size to uh making it all the way down um to what you are now? Like how did you overcome the ups and downs of that?

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Yeah. So I mean, at that point, when I went back to Columbus in the offseason, um, I was like all in, you know what I mean? I had something to prove, I was ready to get after it. And so I also went all in on nutrition, you know. And um, so I came back for my third year and I was like 300 pounds with like, you know, my top four abs poking out a little bit, really feeling myself. I was working out with my shirt off and stuff, and um, and Coach Tomlin and uh Todd Haley were like thoroughly impressed. Like they were like, oh yeah, big Mike's back, you know. And uh so at that point I started to just kind of make a life change um where I was just eating better, you know, training better, doing everything at a at a way higher level. Um, and then when I got done playing football, it was one of those things where I had established good habits, and I was also um training with Steelers legend John Kolb. Uh, he was the one who got me back to play for Chicago, got me through my back surgery, rehab me, all that. Uh, he became a great friend and mentor of mine. And so when I got done playing, I spent so much time with John, just you know, working out, eating, uh, studying the Bible, all types of different things, and was just really locked in. And I mean, dude, it was like I think I lost like I went from 300, 310 to like 250 and I mean a matter of months, like three months maybe, and just was absolutely shredded, like 5% body fat, freaking had a 10-pack, and I've been a chubby kid my whole life. I never saw a real ab before. And uh, so it was it was pretty wild. And at that point, I was you know, I was locked in on just being a healthy person, you know. Um, I was dealing with the whole transition out of ball, you know, and um like not really doing much other than training and hunting out in the woods and doing that stuff. Uh, so yeah, it was just kind of time for me to to go inward and decide who I wanted to be. And I knew who I wanted to be wasn't a fat, lazy old offensive lineman, you know, and so um dealing with depression and anxiety and stuff as well. I knew that like the better that I ate and the the better the things were I put in my body, the better that I would be able to kind of combat those things. Um so yeah, it was just that was like the whole thing, you know, career-ending injury, all these things was like the catalyst that I needed to just walk in to be the best version of me, period, you know, with or without football.

Identity Beyond Sport And Healing

SPEAKER_00 19:30

You know, uh the work I do is in like identity and sport, right? And so like when I work with athletes on like engineering that identity, that's like the hardest part is always the the transition. And because all you've known your whole life is athletics, sports, the higher you go, the higher level that you play at, the more it accumulates, the more it compounds on top of one another. And the more you become attached to both the external ego side and the internal self-worth side to that sport or whatever it is, and it is so hard to separate. But I think the part that people misunderstand too is like working on that identity while you're playing actually helps you to perform better and actually enables you to enjoy it a little bit more as well. Yeah, because not everything is attached to who you are. You can compete without feeling like if you lose a rep, it's not an attack on you. It's just, oh, I like that play sucked. I need to fix it, right? Or that game was a bad game, I need to fix it. You know, it as opposed to it's like now it's the when you get into like that internal side where it's your self-worth is tied to what you do, it's hard to compete and do well in anything, whether it's sport or not.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Yeah, it you know, for your nervous system, it just completely fries you because you don't realize at the time, but you're just going through life in survival mode every day. Um, you know, just totally in your sympathetic nervous system, fight or flight, which isn't sustainable, you know, not if you want to live a long, happy, healthy life. And, you know, for me with that identity piece, you know, we learn so many incredible lessons in life from football. Um, but if you don't heal the part of you, like everybody, whether you retire after a Hall of Fame career of 15, 20 years, or you know, you play five or two years, like when you're done, it hurts. You know what I mean? Uh whether you can say you walked away on your own terms or not, it hurts, dude. And the part that a lot of guys, I think, struggle with and don't realize is the sooner that you heal your relationship with how your career ended, the sooner that you'll be able to implement all of those incredible lessons you learned up here to whatever you decide to do. And like I tried a few different things, you know. Like I started a trucking company where we were shipping cars nationwide, had some semis and some hotshot trucks, you know. And what I learned from that was that I didn't like dealing with truck drivers, you know. And so, yeah, so I was like, all right, next thing. I sold that, bought some apartment. Buildings, you know, and um that did that for a few years doing the whole landlord thing. And I realized I didn't like dealing with tenants, you know. And so um I decided to just kind of you know sell those and put my money into other things. And uh and at that point I was just doing an insane amount of yoga. Like, I mean, a couple times a day I'm at the studio practicing and all that. And I was just like, or I had a friend um who was also, you know, a pro athlete who just got out of the soccer world, and she had just become a yoga teacher, and she was like, you know, you should you should try this, you know. Like, I think this is this is like what you're built for. And uh I was like, man, well, you know, my teacher in Pittsburgh was uh they were husband and wife combo. The husband was a former NFL player, they own amazing yoga, um, Sean and Karen Conley. And, you know, I really looked up to Sean a lot, you know, and the way that his life was and how in how much of an impact he had on, you know, the people in the city and all that. So I was kind of like, man, well, yeah, I mean, Sean does it. He's an incredible dude. I I would like to, I would like to live a life that's sort of like that. You know, they're hosting retreats all over the world, you know, spending weeks at a time in Costa Rica and Italy, and you know, just teaching yoga everywhere. And um, so I went and did a yoga teacher training and uh started teaching that amazing yoga and teaching at a studio up here in Youngstown. And um, before you knew it, I was like teaching everywhere I could. It was like, you want to teach, you want me to teach yoga? Yeah, I'm there. No matter if it's an hour away, two hours away, whatever. I'm just like, yeah, I just I just want to do this and I want to have an impact on as many people as I can. And it's grown into such an amazing thing, you know. So it's yeah, it's been it's been really cool.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

So it just happened by accident. You had like no intention when you left, yeah, I'm gonna be a yoga instructor. It was something that just happened organically for you.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Yeah, you know, um, I don't really believe in accidents, but God, you know, God was like, yeah, you know, you got work to do uh on yourself so that you can you can help people every day. You know, uh it would have been really easy to just kind of get into, you know, multiple passive income streams and just ride off into the sunset, you know, farm, you know, do work on my farm all the time and hang out. But uh I I just had something in my heart that was like, nah, man, like you you love people and you need to be helping people, you need to be serving people. And so that's that's what I decided to do.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Now going back to the the playing days, how aware were was anybody aware of what you were going through? Or were you internally just fighting this all on your own?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Oh, dude, yeah, I was like totally on my own. Um, the only person I think that that I ever confided in, um, and he was my best friend, you know, in pro football, uh, Dave DeCastro. Um I would I would talk to Dave about a little bit of the stuff, but uh, but really, yeah, it was it was more so like I'm trying to hide this from everybody, you know. I didn't want people to know, you know, because you know, the starting left tackle for the Steelers, you know, it's it's also it's a persona too, right? Like you have to be this this big, tough fucking, I can do anything kind of guy. And um, and so, you know, to be able to get vulnerable and open up and like share about that stuff was like, uh, I don't know, not yet, you know. So that was that was definitely like the hardest battle. Um, because I was also like afraid to talk to my mom about it, who's like my best friend, um, because I didn't want to make her sad, you know, and I didn't want her to be worried because I knew that like there was definitely something for her to be worried about, and she had already gone through enough with just all that had happened over the last few years. So yeah, it was

Vulnerability That Helps Other People

SPEAKER_01 26:00

tough.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

When you finally did start talking about it or revealing the story, what was the type of feedback or reception that you got when you did start talking about it?

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Oh man, uh just overwhelming acceptance and love um from everyone, you know, it was one of those things where people started coming out of the woodwork, like, man, I dealt with this kind of stuff too, and I'm going through this right now. And, you know, thank you so much for sharing your story because it gave me hope and I was like on the edge, you know. And um once I started to realize, like, damn man, like this is a story that can help people. This is a story that can, you know, let people know that like they're not alone. You know, other people are also dealing with like crazy, traumatic, random acts of violence, you know, and um so at that point it was like, man, I gotta, I gotta figure out a way that like I can use the lessons that I've learned from this happening, like the mental shift, the identity thing, um, you know, the reminder of you know, loving to do hard things and um, you know, being able to kind of being able to kind of connect the dots with, you know, a real strong yoga practice and you know, the things that life throws at you. It's like when I teach a yoga class, you know, I'll put people in a plank or a chair pose, some some things that are highly uncomfortable, right? And I'll hold them there for minutes at a time and I'll tell them, you know, like this plank pose is like that uncomfortable conversation that you need to have with a loved one, right? Like it sucks, but you can't run from it. You just gotta be in it. And, you know, a a really good buddy of mine, Jordan Williams, also an NFL player turned yoga teacher now, um, he had a really great quote, and he's like, discomfort is gonna meet us. It's gonna come at us from all different angles. And the key to this practice is learning how to uh meet that discomfort with a nice calm breath, you know, and because the breath is, you know, you can go days without food, you can go days without water, all that stuff. But like you can't go very long without the air, right? And uh your breath is also, you know, not by coincidence, the thing that can steer your nervous system. Like I can, we can take three breaths together right now, and I could put you in sympathetic fight or flight or in parasympathetic rest and digest like that. Um, so the whole stress management side of things was just like light bulbs going off.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

The humans in in general, from like a behavioral standpoint, are like super interesting to me. And I love like that study of it because it is simple an act of you just talking about your story, your experience, what you went through, and how you solved it just sparks like a a tidal wave of impact across people who, because they have now seen something, they now feel comfortable in stepping out of their own uh their own skin, right? And being willing to share or open up about what they're going through as well. But have, you know, people like you not ever spoken out, right? People may never share because they've never seen it before. And so, like the you know, the courage it takes to be willing to be vulnerable in a space or to be able to be open or talk about certain experiences creates an impact that you that people don't know. And I always like encourage people, like obviously there's things that you'll want to keep close to you that you may not want to talk about, and that's okay. But when you get to a a certain standpoint, as hard as it is, like and it's not about everyone else all the time, but like the type of impact that you can make in empowering other people is like it it's it's hard to measure, it's hard to put like a number on it or a tangible thing. It's it's you'll see the ripple effects that you can create by being willing to be open about your own experiences.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Yeah, 100%. And you know, like those things that we keep in, I mean, there's so much liberation and freedom in just like letting it out. You know what I mean? Um it's it's like forgiveness, you know what I mean? Like we hold grudges and you know, we we're angry at people and like for so long, and it's like, nah, man, like you gotta let that out. Because when you hold all of that like dis-ease in your body and it festers and it builds up, it manifests as disease, you know. Um holding those things in is like what makes people sick, you know, along with all the food and stuff that, you know, everything with that. Um, but like your nervous system quite literally will turn on or off bad genes that you have. You know, like genetics, you know, in sports and all that, we play, we put a big onus on genetics and all that. Um, but a lot of people don't realize that like you have the power to turn on or off certain genetics expressions that you have in you, um, depending on the type of stress that you have, the oxidative stress that you carry, all those sorts of

Breathwork And Stress Management Tools

SPEAKER_01 31:09

things. Um, so I would say to anybody, like, and if you're holding on to something, let it out. Find someone to talk to, a therapist, a friend, uh, talk to God about it, you know, like you're never, you're never alone, you know, and you don't have to be. And I think as men especially, it's such a sad thing because, you know, we all feel like we have to be like this, this like all stoic, all-strong thing that never is vulnerable. And then look at us, you know, the suicide rates are through the roof, and you know, three out of four suicides are men, you know, and so um I encourage, you know, I've had multiple friends take their life and all those sorts of things, sex teammates and all that. Um, you know, so I put a really big, big onus on men speaking up, speaking out, um, you know, calling and checking on your boys. Tell your friends I love you. You know what I mean? Like, I don't hang up the phone with my homies without saying, love you, man. You know, because I mean, I want them to know. I want there to be no doubt. Like, whenever you're going through something, I want you to think, like, oh man, Mike always says he loves me. Maybe I can call him and talk to him about it.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

I have this rule now where anytime I think of a former teammate or a friend or family member, I text them. Like that is like that is like my new thing. Like, because the reality is people like like to be heard from. Like, whether we haven't talked in five years or 10 minutes, like if you pop on my mind, like it's good to hear from people. And it, you know, gives them a sense of of warming as well when they just hear someone just checking in, like, hey man, thinking about you. How are you doing? It just gives you a greater sense of purpose in the world as well. Mm-hmm. 100%. And uh, you know, the other part of that too is it's nice to connect with people, like like the there's a it's it is a big like cyclical nature of just like I don't actually I don't I'm not big on using like words like positive and and negative. I'm I'm big on like storytelling. Like there's like a positive cyclical nature that comes with you reaching out to someone solely because like you were thinking about them that feels good, and it just creates this this really nice flow um within your own life.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Absolutely, you know, and like like positivity uh and energy in general, just like say you call a guy and like everything in his world has just been like heavy and he's really down and all that, and you show up and you're like, hey man, you know, like how's it going? And you like you bring this this fresh enthusiasm to his life. Um, it's one of those things like physics, like biggest energy wins. You know what I mean? So like if there's a bunch of negativity around, like you gotta have more positivity than the negativity, or you will turn negative. It's just how it works, you know. Um, it's the same thing with like who you surround yourself with, right? Like if there's five dudes, three of them are really awesome husbands, great fathers, and two of them are kind of shitheads, like they'll turn into better dudes from hanging out with those good guys, you know, and vice versa. Like, if there's two pretty good dudes who three of their best friends are crappy guys, like over time you're gonna turn into a crappy guy too, you know. And um, so energy matters, attitude matters, you know, and like two things that you can always control that take zero talent that can make a world of difference in life is your attitude and your effort. So if you've got an attitude, like a positive attitude and you give a better effort than, you know, the best effort you can, like things are gonna go your way. And even when you like fail, it's never gonna be a failure because you're gonna have the mindset to be able to take lessons from it and to move on and grow.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

There's something you talked about earlier where it's like you have to make peace with like how your career ended. And I look at some of the conversations we're having right like like tangential off what we were just talking about, and the the energy aspect. And for me, it was like my career had technically already ended, but I had started to to make a a comeback, a comeback to try and play again. And I completely shifted every way in which I thought because I had gone through that identity crisis. You know, when I got sent home from Buffalo, created, I was like, well, now what? So there was a year in between, and I had just done all this work on who I was, my identity, and how I shifted it. And when I came back to train, I'll never forget my first day back training again. I had PR'd in everything. Everything. And it was just like this like eye-opening moment where I was like, okay, like this stuff is like obviously you believe in it, but then to actually see it take place, you're like, now I know it's like extra real. And so I started to change. I became more open about my stories. I I became an open book. There was nothing I held back. I was willing to talk to anyone about anything and sharing my story, my experiences. I began to shift the way that I would think. I began to be a higher energy guy, like always smiling, always in a good mood. Like, and I actually became more competitive too that way. Like in the way that like it shifted was I PR'd in everything. Month after month was just new PR, new PR. And I became, like, from an athletic standpoint, someone I never thought I could ever get to. And then it was the day or two days before I was supposed to fly out to California to work out for some NFL teams. I pulled my hamstring. And the thing was though, like my first daughter was due to be born in like two months. I was just so at peace. Like I was just like, you know what? I was like, I was like, I'm good. Like I proved to myself everything I needed to prove. I don't care if anybody else sees any of the numbers or anything else or says I sucked. Like it, it doesn't matter to me because I had done everything that I needed to. And from that point on, I was just so at peace with like how my career ended. I didn't need to prove anything to anyone. It was that I just like filled that void by just shifting the way that I operate.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Yep. Yeah, it's it's such a cool thing. Like a lot of people don't realize the power. I mean, like it says it in the Bible, power of death and life in the tongue, right? And so it's not just what you speak, but what you think, right? And a lot of people don't realize every thought that you have sends a message to every cell in your body. You know what I'm saying? And if you're always in survival mode, like worrying about what's going to happen next, it takes away a lot of your body's ability to heal, right? And so when you're feeling good and you feel safe and your whole, like every cell in your body feels safe, then you have that opportunity to like get the most out of your training. You can heal better, you can perform better. Um, and it also eliminates brain fog, you know, and so um that's that's a huge thing. And I mean, I'm happy that you kind of figure that part out. Uh, and because like, you know, what happens if you don't figure that out? Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, who are you as a husband, as a father, you know, if then you're always in survival mode, you're always worried about, you know, like it I don't know. For me, it's just like that piece alone, just reframing, you know, learning how to reframe and um all that stuff. It's it's one of the single most important tools that I teach people uh when I talk about stress management and all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

Yeah, reframing and storytelling to me are two of the most definitive ways, like from a thought process perspective, to really shape your experiences, to be able to tell yourself a particular reason and weave that into the fabric of like the chronological order of your life of why something did something for you. I think when you can master that skill, you know, master quotations, you don't know if you fully master anything, but like to be really good at that can really change your thought process and your your changed behavior downstream from that.

Reframing Thoughts And Throwing Them Away

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Yeah. I so for anybody listening, I um I've got a really fun tool, uh like a thing that I developed to like really help myself with that. Um and it seems silly at first. It helps a lot if you've got a buddy with you who you can like also get on it. Um, but what I would do, I got a buddy Will Davis, play corner for the Dolphins and the Ravens. Um, we started doing this thing where if we heard one another like talking bad to ourselves or being like, oh, I'm so dumb, or like, you know, anything like that, like I would capture his thought out of the air and I'd be like, you want to throw this in the trash or what? You know, and so then like I would also do that to myself, you know. Anytime I would catch myself having a bad thought, I'd grab it, throw it away. Grab it, throw it away. And you know, I mean, I literally did that all day, you know, because I was in such a bad place mentally. Um, I did that all day, and then it started to just become muscle memory where I didn't have to grab it anymore. I could just be like, whoa, dude, what are you talking about? Like, throw that away. And uh yeah, it's just, you know, that little, that little thing right there, just throw it away, changed my life.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

I love that because there's there's like processes and systems that you can utilize and build that are unique to individuals. And some people, it's so hard to find like a physical thing that can help them escape from a bad performance, a negative thought. You know, I I've heard you know, people come on the show and talk about they have athletes who will won't get out of the shower until they feel that they've showered off their performance. And like it's different for everyone, but that it's it's really it's super powerful and impactful to have a physical action that can help just get the thought out. Like, I just gotta get this out of here, whether it's what you just did, or whether it's the shower, or whether it's, you know, giving yourself like a chest bump or a handshake with someone or a visual anchor, like whatever it is, right? And that's like the exploration becomes like fun of it, is like figuring out well, what's what is gonna work for me? What is actually tangibly gonna help me shift thought and get out of current state into state I want to be as quickly and effectively as possible. Um, that's like the fun part of it is figuring out what's unique to you. But I I love that like you have a specific one.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Yep. Yeah, I had to have it. And as athletes, we're we're like such physical people, you know, football players. Like, you know, for me, it was like I had to have some sort of like physical tool, like something, you know, something that took action, you know, and it's yeah, I love that. I I teach that to all of my high school students, especially. Um, because like, you know, the world that these kids live in these days is so crazy. I mean, like social media, wow, could you imagine growing up with social media where like something embarrassing happens or whatever? Like, it's not just over when you go home. Like for us, you go home, it's done, you're good, like live to fight another day. But for these kids, you go home and then oh, it's on Snapchat, oh, it's on Instagram, oh, so and so put it on Facebook. It's everywhere. Yeah, it's crazy.

Draft Prep Willingness And Work Habits

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Um, you have some of these like really good powerful messages, you know, with draft prep uh as well. How quickly can you tell if a kid has it or not when it's in draft prep on whether or not they can play in the NFL?

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Um I mean, so I'd say what you can tell really quickly is is what a guy's willing to do, you know, and Mike Tomlin used to say there's a whole lot that are capable, but there's a whole lot less that are willing, you know. And so with that process, you can tell really quickly, like if a guy's moping around, he's all like, oh, I'm sad, I miss my girlfriend, I miss this, like, you know, you can tell real quick what somebody's got in the tank, you know, and it's like, dude, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It happens one time. If you're not able to completely put everything else aside for this, then like, yeah, I don't know that you deserve a shot. You know what I mean? Because these guys who are doing this, like, this is life. You know, this is everything. You know, like that survival mode stuff we talked about, like guys are out here, this is how they're feeding their families. Um, and if you're gonna get on a team, you're taking someone's job. Like, you know what I mean? Like, don't get it confused. Like, nobody new gets on a team with somebody old getting off a team, you know? And so it's like if if I see that a guy is walking around with bad body language and he's like acts like he's not happy to be there, it's like, well, dude, then go home. You know, like you don't have it. So um, yeah, I think body language tells a lot, you know, and just Especially when it's like, you know how it is, like the middle of draft prep. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:06

The mundane redundancy of it all, yes.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

Yeah. And so one of the beautiful things, like one of the things that I say is like, you got to find the magic in the mundane. Like, because this, like draft prep, like this happens once. But once you get into the league, like your life is going to become a monotonous cycle of just constantly getting your body ready, beating your body up, getting your body ready, beating your body up. And you're going to have to be able to like stay sharp and stay happy and enthused with that, or else you're going to like, I mean, it's going to end real quick.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

That's the biggest thing I always notice is the guys who are committed and the guys who are just interested in how quickly you can decipher between which ones which by body language, you know, uh eye contact, willingness to to listen, take coaching, whatever it may be. The one of the biggest lessons that I I work on with guys too is like you gotta get rid of the mindset you're just training for eight weeks or 12 weeks, whatever it is. It's like you are training for 10 years. Now there's ways to simplify that, but you can't think about this as, oh, I have to just get through this. It's like, no, it's like this is the beginning. Like everything that you've done up to this point, you know, you can't change and really doesn't matter. It's starting now, it's like you are training for the next 10 years, and you really have to figure out like where where is the pull coming from? Because it can't all be push. There has to be some type of pull that's keeping you in this game. Um, or else you like you said, you're not gonna last very long and you're gonna fizzle out pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, uh, it's yeah, it's one of those things like you you gotta have a a strong love for the game in your heart, you know. Like I don't think that it can just be a money thing or any of that. Um like you gotta have a really strong intrinsic uh you know compass of where you're going. And I guess I guess with it is kind of like you're training for the next 10 years, and in that it's that you're using draft prep to build the habits that are gonna be the foundation of your training in the league because you're not gonna have a strength coach like you did in college who's there every day. You're not you're not gonna be going to class and hanging out with the guys, living with the guys. You know, it's like, dude, like you're gonna go to football and you're gonna go home. And when you go home, you're gonna have a decision if you're gonna do more studying, more work, or if you're gonna, you know, turn it off. And uh, and you're gonna have to, you know, you're gonna have to be concrete in your work ethic and in your little habits that, you know, make it so that there's no option for you to turn it off. Like you got to just be able to keep going all the time.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

That's how I love watching guys and listening to guys like in the league that have been there for a long period of time talk about like their routines, their strategies that have kept them in there. And it it it's no shock that they're still there. The the part that's always interesting to me, and part of this is too like why I'm in the work that I do is like to help change identity, help change behavior, change habits, you know. But like, like you said, Mike Tomlin said it, like so many are capable, but few are willing. And like figuring out why are so few willing when in particularly now, there's more information out now than ever. And yet you still have only a few people that are willing to do it. And that's the part that's like fascinating to me is like trying to figure that out, like why, like, why are so few people actually willing to do

Cam Heyward And The Cost Of Greatness

SPEAKER_00 47:47

it?

SPEAKER_01 47:47

You you know who is the greatest example of of this whole thing who embodies it the best for me is uh Cam Hayward. So I played three years at Ohio State with Cam. He got drafted the year before me, and then I played four years in Pittsburgh with Cam. And when we were in college, you know, we're at Ohio State, 60,000 kids on campus, you know, like we're all going out, partying, doing the thing. You know, we're kids, right? Um, but the one person who literally never went out, like never, ever, ever went out, Cam Hayward. He he met his wife in the dorms, and Cam's best friend was his wife. You know what I mean? Like uh she kept him, you know, kept him motivated, kept his him on the straight and narrow. And I mean, I'm sure she wasn't the only thing, you know. Like Cam comes from a really awesome pedigree with his dad, and his mom's an amazing woman as well. Um, so he had great people around him, but like Cam was the guy who was like the picture of dedication. And then when we got to the league, you know, same thing. We're a bunch of young dudes who got money for the first time. You know, we're flying to Vegas, partying here, doing this, doing that. And like Cam never went out. I think, I think there might have been, there was maybe like one one time, one day where Cam went out and had like a beer. Maybe I don't even know. I'm like, he he just all he does is family and football, family and football, and that's him. And that's why he is a the best defensive tackle in football, like hands down, and he's in like year 15 or 16. Like it's crazy. You know, people don't do that at that position, but he's out there just crushing it.

SPEAKER_00 49:28

I think of uh this quote. I think it's I don't know, he's an entrepreneur, his name's Alex Armosi. I don't know if you're familiar with him, but he says this quote that I love, and it's like, think of everything that you're not willing to give up to be successful. Well, the person that's gonna beat you is willing to give up those same things. And so like I think about you know, the partying, I think about you know, all the things downstream from there that people aren't willing to give up the status to be great. Well, Cam Hayward's gonna beat you, right? And like that's like what I what I think about. And I think we we have so many distractions now. And you talked about early social media and all these other things. There's so many more distractions now than there were previously. But we get into this trap of having too many desires or too many things that we want when the reality is you can only have so many things. And so for Cam Hayward, it's like it's it's family and football, like that's that's what he has, and everybody's a little bit different on kind of what they want. And you know, it you really have to determine the things that you want because it's a recipe for unhappiness and desire, and uh in it's a recipe for unhappiness, excuse me, to have too many desires. And so if you think that you're gonna perform for 10 years in the NFL and like you said, be flying to Vegas every weekend that you can, uh you're setting yourself up for failure there.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Yeah, 100%. 100%.

Studio Info And Final Sendoff

SPEAKER_00 50:51

Well, hey, man, I appreciate you. I want to be respectful of your time. Uh, I can't thank you enough for coming on, man. And people want to reach out to you, they want to come to your studio. Where can they find you? How can they hit you up? And uh, if you're working on anything else, please you know, share with us.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

Yeah, so uh you can find me on Instagram. It's Mike underscore Adams75. You just type in Mike Adams, usually the first one to come up. Um, my studio is in Boardman, Ohio. Um, right around Youngstown Boardman, it's Home Yoga Co. Uh that's Home Yoga Co is a home yoga company. And uh currently uh the thing that I'm working on right now is opening up a wellness center in my hometown, uh Sharon PA. Uh, you know, this fall we'll have everything from cryo, sauna, red light beds, float tanks, fiber acoustic beds, all the like all kinds of different things. You know, we're we're looking to serve people and you know help people find a whole new level of optimization and health in a holistic way, you know, and you know, with that, um, I'm just really excited to see how it how it takes off, who I can serve and uh the impact that I'll be able to have here in my hometown. Um, where you know, we're an old Rust Belt steel mill town. Wellness has never been like, you know, wellness has never been at the forefront of the initiative. And uh I've got some a really great business partner and some great friends who uh that's what we're pushing for. So come see us up here, Elevate Wellness Center, opening up September, October.

SPEAKER_00 52:26

That's awesome, man. Well, hey, Mike, I appreciate you, brother. Um, listeners, thank you for tuning in. Tune in next week. Check us out at athleticfortitude.com. Um download the pod, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Five stars only, baby. Appreciate you, Mike. Yes, sir. Dream big.