The Dad Bods and Dumbbells Podcast

Finding Dad-Life Discipline: Why Fitness Fuels Success at 40 and Beyond

• Barton Bryan and Mitch Royer • Season 1 • Episode 73

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We thank the community, shout out premium members, and reflect on Ryon’s courage to share his story, share his race results to unpack a bigger theme: fitness as the most reliable common denominator of success. From dad-league soccer to strength training stats, we make a practical case for starting now and modeling discipline for our kids.

• gratitude for listeners, shares and premium support
• sponsor shout and link to Solutions Pharmacy
• Ryan’s interview debrief and race wins as proof of resilience
• college football talk as a lens on pressure and preparation
• dad soccer return, injuries and mobility reality check
• fitness as the success common denominator across careers
• discipline, boundaries and the trade-offs of ambition
• clarity at 23 vs balance at 40 with family priorities
• modeling effort for kids through training and competition
• start-now playbook for strength training and consistency

Hey, and don't forget, grab that premium subscription. Jump into our workout this October. Can't wait to see you guys.


Become a Premium Member of Dadbods and Dumbbells by visiting:

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To Learn more about GLP-1s and Set Up a TeleMed Call with Solutions RX, use this link:

https://solutionsrxaustin.com/solutionsrxaustin-dadbods-and-dumbells

To Learn more about Getting in Shape with Barton's company Team Bryan Wellness, check out http://teambryanwellness.com

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Visit Mitch's website: http://Bigboysruntoo.com

Visit Barton's Training Website: http://teambryanwellness.com

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Dad Bods and Dumbbells.

SPEAKER_00:

My name's Mitch. Hey, I'm Bart.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks. Thanks so much for listening, liking, subscribing, and sharing. We love you guys. It has been a fun, exciting time here at Dad Bods and Dumbbells. And Bart and I were just talking about it. Man, it's it's cool to see the growth, continued support. We love you guys.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, I mean just we are feeling the love from you guys and we appreciate it. Just uh more and more people checking in, listening to our podcast, listening to these episodes, clearly enjoying it because we're getting a lot of feedback about it. So just keep it coming, man. One of the best things you can do if if you're just looking to be a part of this a little bit more is just share an your favorite episode, maybe one of Ryan, one of the Ryan's episodes with somebody uh who might need to hear this type of thing and just gonna become a part of this community. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

I love it. Uh a good way also of supporting and making us feel really, really good is our premium membership.

SPEAKER_00:

Heck yeah. I love it. Yeah, it's like nine bucks a month, and it really helps us just uh you know, just kind of go to the next level, take care of some of the and we want to do start doing these big events like uh coming up in October, uh, you know, having like a workout, yeah, kind of boys event where we get together at a gym and just like work out kind of a private space where we can just have fun, cold plunge and big sausage party. Let's go. Big sausage fast. That's what we want to create. Sausage fest.

SPEAKER_01:

Sausage parties. Well, thank you guys so much for that. We we love your continued support. It is uh makes us feel really good about ourselves, but also really good about the community. So continue to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Let's hear about solutions.

SPEAKER_01:

Solutions Pharmacy. Here's our solution for you. It is Solutions Pharmacy. Thank you so much, Solutions Pharmacy, for everything you've done for my hairline. Uh, they're discreet, they're easy. Uh, I pick up stuff just in the drive-thru as my way home. Sometimes they deliver it. Um, they'll they can do anything to make your solutions be pharmacied.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, that there's a lot there. I like it. Yeah. No, they've been great. They've been really easy to work with. James and the whole staff are really just easy and take care of business. So uh yeah, shout out to them. Take advantage of what they've got to offer uh and check out the website, and the link is in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome. We'd also want to shout out our boy, Ryan.

SPEAKER_00:

Ryan with an O.

SPEAKER_01:

You know who you are. You oh it could be both. It could be both. Ryan, uh, what an amazing interview, man.

SPEAKER_00:

Man, such a good guy.

SPEAKER_01:

Sometimes when you get uh in front of a microphone, it's very difficult to like communicate and clearly define a lot of things, like I have a lot of times. Uh, but Ryan just I mean, jumped right in. I love the guy. He's really endearing.

SPEAKER_00:

He really prepared too. I mean, we sent him some questions beforehand. He really took some time. He knew it was coming up, so he I think he really knew what he wanted to say. Yeah. And I think he but he told us this not on the on the interview, but but after, and I knew a bit already, that his dad had passed away four or five years ago. So he, you know, he he had some he had some closure with a lot of that stuff that he'd already kind of like dealt with and talked to him about or just like addressed as an adult. So I think sometimes that that's tough when like you know, your dad is living. Oh, like my dad's passed, or your dad's still here, yeah. And he listens, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01:

And my dad is number one. Number one listener. Uh love you, Poppy, Papa Royer.

SPEAKER_00:

So, you know, so you know, you sometimes you that can can get people to kind of hold back a little bit. But I think that uh, you know, not only did a great job, I just really feel like you know what happens when you have so much you know, childhood stuff is that you can kind of become a nice guy, but not really like live out your dreams, not really like like take those big leaps of faith to to become the person that you were meant to be. And I say that because he texted me on Sunday basically, I said, How did the race go? Because he went up to uh Oklahoma to do a bike race. And here's I'm reading verbatim. This is what happened. He won first overall in the 40k road race, second in the individual 5k time trial, and he lost by actually two seconds, and he got first again in the individual 10k time trial. That's incredible. So this guy is out there at like 55 years old, just doing his stuff. Whooping, just bringing a can of whoop ass. Yeah, no joke to everything he does.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I I think that's a good point of resolve. I I think what the cool thing about Ryan was just how open he was, because we weren't asking easy questions, these are really deep, hard-hitting questions. And it it noted what I noticed about him is yeah, the trauma is always gonna be the trauma, but he found a way to turn it into something that is positive, turn it into something that's productive. He didn't go, uh he didn't go the bad routes of a lot of things. He he learned from his mistakes and moved forward. So I thought that was really, a really cool interview. I want to have him back. I think there's so much more to kind of unpack and talk about. Um, but yeah, love the guy.

SPEAKER_00:

Maybe we need to give an interview with both Ryan's to need to get. Ryan. No, just just to have like an open, because you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of commonalities with with some of their story. Absolutely. Um, we just we wanted to reflect on Ryan again. Thank him again for an awesome job. He's also a premium member. Yeah. So he's gonna be at that amazing workout.

SPEAKER_01:

And you can also be interviewed if you become a premium member. We will have you.

SPEAKER_00:

We we definitely like to choose our premium members first. First, yes. As uh potential interview candidates. So nine dollars a month gets you in the window in the door.

SPEAKER_01:

There's a lot of stuff to talk about today. Yeah, let's dive in. I want to talk about one of my uh favorite things in the world.

SPEAKER_00:

Let me guess. College football.

SPEAKER_01:

College football.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, and you should because you're you're what a freaking game, bro. Your ducks were the ducks.

SPEAKER_01:

They, you know, the whole time I'm thinking, well, Penn State usually fails at these big games, right? That's their thing they're known for. They can't win the big one, whatever. But I kind of think the ducks are too. Yeah, they beat Ohio State that one time and a couple times or whatever. This was the first time they would really been tested all season, and dang, dude. They showed up, they showed frickin' up, dude. Now they're named ranked second, which is perfect because they're not gonna have to deal with Ohio State until at least the championship or at least the semifinals. And I'm already thinking profile. I'm already thinking, I'm already thinking playoffs, baby.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, playoffs. As you should. I think like it's very clear where I mean, you know, I'm just happy that UT is in the top 10. Yeah. I I'm concerned that we're gonna come across a team that's actually good and we're gonna find out that we're not a top 10 team. I hope not. I hope that we rise to the occasion that wingo can catch a ball and Arch can throw a ball and everybody else can do their part.

SPEAKER_01:

Have you heard this weird like theory that Arch has a rotator cuff issue?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I've heard injury, like he's got an elbow injury or rotator cuff.

SPEAKER_01:

Because when he tried to throw overhand, it was like he wins, drill bows, and he throws it to the side. I love it all, man. Like, I think I think he'll put it together.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean Yeah, I hope so. But I'm first season of real story. We got season tickets this year. I've been watching these games in person and I'm going like I think uh I think Mark Kenner from 1993 Davis High School football could throw better than Archie at this point. At this point, I mean, shout out to Mark Kenner.

SPEAKER_01:

Um he was a good thrower, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00:

He's okay. But but that's all you need to be to be better than than Arch Manny right now. Yeah, there's gotta be something else. And nothing against Arch. He can run like a big dog. Like his running game is fantastic. Um, I just don't I gotta see him figure it out. Yeah, and I don't know why it's as hard as well.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, it's his first season uh really of starting. You know, he did a couple games, but like this is and there's so much hype. Oh, yeah, like there's never gonna be an expectation that meets, but the ducks are gonna win the the college football. Right. But here's the problem with that that scenario.

SPEAKER_00:

Here's the problem with that scenario. Yes. Against Georgia or against uh Ohio State, nerves. Big dig game, too big, you know, moments a little too big for him. I understand that. They played Sam Houston, yes, San Jose State, UTEP. Oh I mean, these are these are borderline high school teams. Like compared to what MGT juggernaut is.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they won. They won.

SPEAKER_00:

But like Sam Houston, they finally won like 55 to 7 or something like that. It was like a bullet.

SPEAKER_01:

But that was uh, but that was not the first half, it tells the real story. It's scary.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'm scared. You're like, ah I'm not scared.

SPEAKER_01:

I hope they lose. I hate Texas.

SPEAKER_00:

So we gotta move on because we can't overdo the football. Yeah. But I I do think um I do think that there's some concern in the old great great city of Austin, Texas.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, a little bit. But and Eugene, Oregon, we're just fine, baby. We're gonna just find we're sleeping great at night.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you should be. You guys are crushing it.

SPEAKER_01:

I've looked forward to catching up with you because I do have something that we didn't talk about in pre-production.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh.

SPEAKER_01:

And you're not gonna be happy with me, but I I joined. I didn't join. It's like a cult. So I joined a cult. Let me tell you about it. It makes sense.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm trying to think like, why wouldn't I be happy? Oh, wait, wait, you join I know what I I got it. You joined the YMCA.

SPEAKER_01:

I do, I do have a membership. I've been a member of the YMCA for a while, but also You joined? I've already been a part of the YMCA. Okay. Are we talking about the gym?

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know. You're if I say I'm not gonna be happy, you joined and then dot dot dot.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's okay. So it's easier. Um, so the soccer dads of my you know, my son's soccer league, we all played soccer. Most of us played soccer in high school and college.

SPEAKER_00:

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01:

So now we're bringing it all back. Oh I had to buy cleats. Oh, okay. On Tuesday nights, we play pickup games at the field. It's official, bro. We have to pay a fee.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So so listen to the case. This is why you were listening. Listeners, I want you to send your your guests how many weeks before Mitch blows out his ACL. Okay, you want to three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, nine weeks. You want to even have it. I'm taking bets. The person who's the closest is gonna win a prize.

SPEAKER_01:

You won't have to be super close. Oh, God. Please do not blow out your. I just don't have any speed, but like all out.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yeah, and you and you're so you're a big man.

SPEAKER_01:

I busted my knee up so bad on Tuesday. I mean, so bad. It hasn't hurt that bad since I torn partially torn my meniscus marathon three during the marathon month. And I had to wear like a straight hard brace to get it. I was like, what damage did I do?

SPEAKER_00:

We're gonna get a bunch of emails. Like they're gonna say one to one to two weeks.

SPEAKER_01:

Here's the truth.

SPEAKER_00:

You're not creating any confidence for longevity.

SPEAKER_01:

Today we're filming, we're gonna do it. Oh, it's tonight.

SPEAKER_00:

So so right now it's Tuesday. So if this comes out Thursday and he's already blown out his ACL, I will find a way to drop that into the internet at the end of the episode so you can all rest assured.

SPEAKER_01:

The funnier thing is here's what happens. So I forget, you know, it's muscle memory. You go out, and we only had six people, so it was like 3v3, but we got small goals. It was fun, it was quick though. And I made a move, broke away, and I look up to pass to one of my teammates, my two teammates, both bros. And these bros were back by the our goal, just on their hand. Like we had just started. They were like back resting on defense. And I was like, Well, I guess I'm on my own. And that's how most of it was. One guy on my team, 15 minutes in, just left. He didn't.

SPEAKER_00:

He was like, This is not not for me.

SPEAKER_01:

The guy that came to replace him.

SPEAKER_00:

That sounds like good this is good thought. He's like, he's like, wait a second, I'm 40 now. He's smart, he's probably the smart.

SPEAKER_01:

He acted like he was hurting, and then uh the guy that came to replace him, he showed up and uh he he wore Crocs the entire game. He was that was my teammate. He was pretty good though.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. But wearing Crocs is kind of a flex. Yeah, it's like I'm that good that I could still like I'm gonna score goals and go.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but the reason he did it was his he had too many blisters and he couldn't put on his cleats from because I think he's pretty anyway. So I'm trying again tonight. I gotta get permission from the wifey first. I haven't told her that I'm gonna go back. And she's like, dude, you were hobbling around for a week. Like, it's a problem.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Send in your thoughts and prayers for listener because I've said things on here as Easter eggs just to see if she's gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00:

Mark Royer, please call your your boy. Don't do it, Marky. Don't do it, Marquee.

SPEAKER_01:

He tried to get me to stop running marathons. That didn't work.

SPEAKER_00:

That will never go well. That'll never stop. In fact, if you tell him this is my only reference to Trump. If you tell Mitch he can't do something, oh buddy, he's gonna he's going all in. Yeah. Tariffs are called Mitch. Tariffs. Mitch tariffs are on the on the docket.

SPEAKER_01:

So uh so we can move on from my soccer experience.

SPEAKER_00:

I love hey, no, no, friend, friend zone here. Let's go. Yeah. Um, good for you. Yeah. Don't get hurt. Yeah. Mobility. When you get there, you do not do shit until you do a whole bunch of like warm-up activation mobility stuff. Like, take care of your body. That's please.

SPEAKER_01:

That's very good because I did not do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Nobody ever does. Yeah. Like you do it at the gym, you don't do it like at the most intense sport, like for your legs ever. Type thing, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

I will I appreciate that. That is great advice for a 40-year-old man. I appreciate it. We'll see how it goes tonight.

SPEAKER_00:

You guys hear that? That's the ticking time bomb of his knees. I'm gonna go 100% no matter what. I know you are. And we'll see what happens, baby. There you are. So I have a friend who will remain anonymous because I I would have to throw it, you know, to drop his name. But he was What does it rhyme with? No, he's he's in his 20s. This is the thing. He's in his mid-20s. Yeah. He went out with his boys to play soccer. Right? He wasn't a soccer player, but he's an you know, he's athletic. He can play. He worked out and he was he he somehow wasn't there, so I can't imagine how this happened. He blew out his ACL, his MCL, and his PCL on one leg. And as he's going down, I swear to God, this is not this is not like a fake thing. As he's going down, he blows out all of the ligaments in his other knee. Both knees? He's one of the three people in the entire United States to ever like just destroy all ligaments in both knees at the same time. So he was in a wheelchair for a while, then he got his one knee done. Oh my and then he had to let that one fully recover before he'd get the other one.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my goodness, that's horrible.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, it was like mid-20s. Nine months before he was like all the way through it. I'm maybe a year. How long ago did this happen? About a year ago.

SPEAKER_01:

This is like recent. Oh, I want to know who this is.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I saw, I saw him. I went I went to a Christmas party and saw him, I was like, man, how does this happen? He's like, I don't know, bro. Just happen. I don't know, bro. I mean, but this guy was in his mid-20s. Dang. And it just, I mean, it was must have been a freak accident. You know, like you plant wrong, you turn, and it's like, oh, dude. And then he, as he was falling, all ligaments just just busted. Like a kid with a big scissors just clip clipping a bunch of rubber bank.

SPEAKER_01:

That sounds like hell, dude. That's scary. I'm gonna do mobility, I promise. Mobilize. Mobilize.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, yeah. If you have any thoughts and prayers for Mitch, please send them in. I appreciate that. What do we got next here? So um This is to me, I don't, I mean, listener, you can tell me, but very entertaining episode so far. I really like where this is going.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, what's funny is about it was I would brace up real bad. This one knee, I would brace all day, limp all around. But we still had soccer practice for the kids. Yeah. And so I knew I'd see the dads that were there. So I'd take the brace off and I'd walk it slowly without a limp to my seat, sit down, not talk about the pain, like really play it off and cool.

SPEAKER_00:

So we'll see how much everything about this is just delightful and also yet very, very, very alarming.

SPEAKER_01:

It'll be funny when I just blow out my Achilles.

SPEAKER_00:

Please don't.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh man. Well, uh, yeah, so there's been some cool things happening. Of course, you know, growing the business, working with athletes. Um, I've started to notice a common denominator with people that are successful, what which I would deem successful, whether in business, whether in athlete space, or whatever they're doing, they're typically successful in all those things. Now, some of those people can be complete a-holes. Some of those people, I've always determined that like I want to be successful in business without being a total a-hole, right? Like that's kind of my mentality. But yeah, some people, their personalities are very a-hole-ish. Some people are super kind and they're successful. But I was talking to my wife about this. I think there is one common denominator, the one thing that I see with every single successful person in my interactions with time I've spent, it it always revolves around the fact that they are fit. The one thing that I see in the common denominator of all of them. And I can I could rattle off a ton of names and you could go, they're all successful in different ways in different uh industries, in certain certain places where you're like, oh, I I wouldn't have guessed that that's even an industry. They just always have a fitness element that they are they are put together, that at any point they could go and run a 10K. Not that they're runners, they just are that athletic enough and they're that fit. And I was wondering what your thoughts were because you've been in this industry forever. Like it for you, what do you see? And ultimately, like talking about that element of discipline, because I think that's what it comes down to, is they're so driven and disciplined, they first and foremost focus on them, they invest in themselves first. But what do what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, it's it's one of those things where I think different people have a have different types of motors. You know, like there's there's always that kid that you're like remember who could just party all night, drink like endless alcohol, and then like wake up the next day and like do it again. I mean, Charlie Sheen, clearly, like I mean, like, I mean, not a successful athlete, but like I mean, 99 out of a hundred guys dies five years into what he did. Yeah, he went like hard for 25 years or so and like I mean, the worst possible drugs, yeah, and all the like debauchery. Like, you know, it's like so I think not not that like successful people are like Charlie Sheen, but just like I think sometimes you gotta you gotta like factor in, like sometimes the reason people are successful is that they have a motor that doesn't allow them to want to sit on the couch and not be productive. Because I think so much of pro productivity and like the consistency it takes to work harder than most people to get the thing you want, whether that's at a job and becoming like a high-level executive or starting your own thing or becoming an athlete or you know, excelling and becoming an expert in some field, like you have to have a driver that other that that other people don't have. Yeah, and that separates yourself from them. But I think Chris Williamson uh modern wisdom podcast, yeah, he said something I very physically fit. Yeah, very successful too. Yeah, but he said the things that tend to make you successful are the exact opposite things that make will make you happy. And he's talking about like the feeling of not being enough, the feeling, the drive to be better than or to to like gain notoriety, respect, money, you know, all those all those drivers that that push people to be much even greater than like than they than what would be kind of normally like thought after. Like, you know to want more money than everybody else, or more, you know, and some people just kind of happen upon it because they're very smart and they kind of create something that just happens to like turn them into a millionaire or whatever, and they're successful, but they they're kind of like they kind of got there through more of a like an an innocent approach, but the people that are super driven, they tend to also be super driven in in in some way through their physical fitness. And they probably have a lot of energy, which they don't get out just by working, they need to have another outlet. Yeah, so that was sort of like working out, running marathons, uh doing some sort of crazy ultra or or you know, bike ride, whatever whatever it is, like they find some outlet that helps them kind of direct that energy. Yeah. So that would be my guess, is like um, you know, so much of I think part of our DNA, whether God gave it to us or it's just in our DNA, is like we grow up feeling like we're not quite enough. Yeah. Like when no matter how much our parents love us, we still feel like, man, I'm I need his approval, I need her approval, I need the world's approval. I need to feel uh better than enough. And and so though those are those are very strong drivers in us that push us, I think, to to achieve extraordinary things, but also can can push us to be very egotistical or be mean or just a jerk. Yeah, you know, because we just don't have time for anything. We don't have time for that, yeah. You know, I'm not I'm not about being kind. You know, the the I love that expression, let's make friends next year, guys. We're here to win. Yeah. You know, like that mindset of like, you know, I I'm driven. Yeah. If you're in my way, fuck you. Yeah. Right? And I think some of these ultra like athletes or ultra entrepreneurs are wired that way, and it really supports their success. Yeah. And probably really fucks with their relationships.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I I think that's a key factor uh is those also those people that are successful, ultra successful, not overusing the word ultra, but are successful that are physically fit. Typically, they don't have really big friend groups that they hang out with because they are too focused on eating clean and not wasting their time and going to bed early and waking up early or going to bed early and waking up early and and doing these things that they care about and they're focused on. So I I think the thought experiment for me was I was just trying to find a common denominator. And whatever the reason is that psychologically gets people to be that, I think it in all of our lives, I I think that there are there are ways of movement forward because what happens is people say, well, genetically, or my DNA is this, or genetically I'm this, or they make excuses. And the people that are making excuses are just people that don't understand yeah, we understand how difficult it's gonna take time, energy, and effort. It's not handed to you. And so the people that are generally wired towards, I'm going to cut out all the BS in my diet, I'm gonna cut out all the BS in my workouts, I'm gonna cut out all the BS in my personal relationships are zeroed in in focus. Does that mean they're that fun to be around? No, typically not. That's a whole other story, you know? Yeah, do I want to be fun to be around or do I want to be ultra successful in my fitness, in my life, in my businesses? Because that is an extra gear that you have to go to.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And well, I would say like humans are such social creatures that for most of us, like like being fun, having community, having a lot of friends that you that you feel connected to, close to, like, is is a really important part of just feeling human. And I think uh if you if you're somebody who kind of gets your gets your need of your connection need and your like significance from being a part of of a group, that's different from somebody who gets their significance from being advancing beyond the group. Yes. Like I'm not like them. I am better. Like I'm I want to be more intense in the gym. I want to be like winning, you know, bodybuilding competitions or powerlifting, like you know, and so I don't not one way is not better than the other, it's just a choice that people make. And I think whether that's business, whether that's fitness, whether that's you know, competitions or or even like you know, looks, yeah, you know, it's the aesthetics. Yeah, you know, some people, men and women, are spending a lot of money on hands and hair and makeup and botox and fake this and fake that and like and it's fine. I mean, go for it. Yeah. But like it's all a lot of it's just to reach some sort of place that they think they're going to be like the the the the version of themselves that they believe is there. And oftentimes that that place is not as interesting or as exciting as you really think. Yeah. You know, I mean but real this at the same point, like when you have kids, yeah, and you have a wife and kids, like your world just gets smaller because it's like they they become so important, yeah, that like okay, my first circle is wife, kids, right? My second circle is like friends at the gym, guys that do what I do, yeah, right? You know, I mean it's in a sense, like because I'm gonna work, I'm gonna hang out with my family, do co do fun stuff on the weekends, and go to the gym. That's generally my day. Um, so where am I gonna make and hang out with most of my friends at the gym doing the thing that I like to do anyway, and we can like have that camaraderie. So I mean that's a small circle. Yeah. So you know, and it's and it I think it's it everybody has to make the choice, like you know, do you want are you searching for kind of happiness in community or are you searching for significance and and a feeling of like notoriety or fame or like better than I'm like I'm so I'm I made it to here. Yeah, I only hang out with people who've made it here too.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, I don't know if it's a conscious thing, uh, because the the majority of people that I talk to that I would look at, like I had a meeting on uh Sunday. I met with you know a guy I've been following on Instagram for a while, and from all appearance sounds really awkward.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I've been following forever.

SPEAKER_01:

Marathon runner does like cool marathon things. This guy runs like he ran 50 marathons in 52 weeks in 50 different states. Yeah, like just different. But when you watch his content, you think, man, he's carefree, free loving, it's no big deal, whatever. No, this guy had a when I was talking to him, he's like, no, I had a specific plan. I knew exactly where I was gonna go. Yeah, some things didn't go to plan, but I saved my money, got ready for it, and that's what I did. Just like his plan for the next 10 years is very zeroed in and focused. He knows what his mission is, he knows what his his uh content's gonna be like, he knows exactly what his message is gonna be. And I looked at him and got like, wow, I wish I had that kind of clarity at 23. Yeah. What I had at 23 was I just want to be with my significant other. I just want to have kids. I just want to make it, like make a living so that I can get through the day to day. It wasn't I'm gonna hitchhike across the United States because I've always wanted to do that, but I have an actual plan to do that and how I'm gonna create content and get sponsors and do it's just a very different mindset that I never thought. And talking to those people, what you realize is most of them are confident, first and foremost, in what they're doing and their plan. They're less worried about the people that are with them or around them. Not that that's a bad thing, I think that's very cool. Yeah, this is the vision. Yeah, like and I I love bringing people with me. I'm gonna build relationships, but ultimately if you get in the way of that vision and not saying that this is that guy that does. That's the perfect time to have that too.

SPEAKER_00:

Like when you're 23.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but what kind of vision did I have at 23, dude?

SPEAKER_00:

That's okay. You the this is a different, it doesn't, you're not don't compare yourself. First of all, it was a different world 20 17 years ago. Like right now with social media too, like and and just the way that people can kind of like tell their story while they're doing their story, you know, there's there's an ability to make money in while you follow your dream and fill out and f fulfill your vision for yourself. I think uh you know that's that's that's an interesting way to to kind of engage in life right now. Like yeah, when you're when you l achieved a certain level of fitness uh in your twenties and and uh you're just kind of like how can I monetize this or or how can I let bring people along with me and create something out of this? So you know when I was in my twenties, all I wanted to do is travel. Yeah, I went to France, I went to Morocco, and then I was like, I gotta go to the Peace Corps. Yeah. And it's like I remember just I had great friends, and you know, I but there was nothing that was gonna stop me from getting on a plane and going to Mauritania, West Africa when that because that was that was gonna define my. My life. Yeah. That was going to change me. I was going to go there. I was going to do development work in this village, and I was going to find out what I would become from that. It's like you know, like I was going to get something, I was going to give something. Yeah. This was this is kind of like the this the story that I wanted to like live through. Yeah. And I think it's a very powerful thing as a young person to do. Uh as you get older, there's more people involved. Yeah. Kids, family, significant other, older parents. So being driven and selfish in in a specific pursuit could be totally justified. But sometimes when you're 40 and you've got a bunch of kids and you know, a mortgage and other like sometimes, you know, you have to make decisions that are based on like what's the greater good.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, I I think the balance of that is is we're talking to a lot of 40-year-olds and a lot of men in our position between the ages of 40 and 50. Is I don't regret any decision I made getting to where I'm at. And we I think we talked about that early on in the podcast. Was like, I I wouldn't change anything. Uh, but I would have made a certain decision here and there that might have changed the trajectory. But like the trajectory that I'm on is great. I think it seems like at least the men that I talk to a lot is they're struggling with that piece of now. I'm here. I got a mortgage, I got kids. Like it's not a positive, it's a it is a burden.

SPEAKER_00:

But look at look at the people we've interviewed just so that's not about us. Like Ryan, we'll call him Big Ryan. Yeah, big rye. Big Ryan. I mean, he's a he's a father, you know, he's got kids, kids in school. He's it's important that it has it has a relationship with them. He's obviously got work, and he's pursuing a bodybuilding show. Is he pursuing Mr. Olympia and like putting all his eggs in the basket of like I'm gonna be the greatest bodybuilder of all time? No, he's doing a bodybuilding show. He's he's putting his mind, his body, his his soul through through a very challenging thing to show up on stage and do his best. Ryan, same thing, but it's bike racing, right? He's and that illuminates for for their kids successful behavior. Yeah. So I think what what dads, you know, the the dads out there listening, it's like how can you know we if we tell our kid, hey, you should go work out, it's good for you, but we're sitting on the couch watching Netflix. Yeah, absolutely. No, they're not gonna hear it. Absolutely. But if they see, oh, dad goes to the Come with me. Jab dad blows out his neat ACL playing soccer. I shouldn't play soccer. No, I'm kidding. Um, if they see, if they see that behavior and they say, Oh, dad did a powerlifting show. I went and saw my dad squat, yeah, you know, 400 pounds, deadlift 500 pounds, like, cool, I want to do that when I'm older. Yeah. Oh, all of a sudden that's transformational. Yeah. And your story impacts their story. Yeah. And I think that this is the time when for those listening who have kids, like there there can be multi-layers of like impact if you do it right, if you have the right intention and the right goal and you bring your family along for the ride. Absolutely. It's a cool thing.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that. I love that. Well, I hope this has been an encouraging uh podcast for you. I think there's for the listener, I think there's a lot of takeaways, but ultimately I think as long as you continue to better you uh ultimately be a better person every single day and try to impact the world for the better. I think we'd all be better off.

SPEAKER_00:

Tuesdays with Mitch.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm good at strong enough.

SPEAKER_00:

No, man, this this is good. I like where we ended up here. Um yeah, I I just think uh you can look back in your life and say, Man, I wish I had dot dot dot, right? But there's always time. Yeah. If as long as you start now. Yeah. If you say, Oh, there'll be time 10 years from now, you may have to be able to do it. Oh, when I get X, Y, and Z. Yeah. And and so I think that's that's always the thing we gotta figure out. It's like, what am I doing that I think is furthering myself, my family. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, some people have the opportunity to not work 12 hours a day or ten, you know, and come home exhausted and and then like got three kids that just all they want is their his that that dad's attention and and and they don't feel like they have enough time to do all the things. Yeah. And that if you're in that situation, I I I sympathize. That's that's that's I don't know what that's like, but that's obviously a hard place to start planning bigger goals beyond that. But you know, I mean, I think the first thing is always getting to the gym. Yeah. Or getting getting to do something that that is physical that works. Get active. But I do think like strength training, uh there Peter Tia was talking about this on a on a panel about longevity, and you know, there's numbers on like how many people have gym memberships or just like fitness memberships, and that's about 22%. But people that actually strength train is five to fifteen percent of the entire US population. So if you are you want to level up, go do strength training. Yeah, you will be in the top, I mean, just 85 to 90 percent of all people in the United States.

SPEAKER_01:

It's wild. It sounds crazy, but it is also hard. Like the fact that, especially people that have never done that or did that in high school, X, Y, and Z, uh, strength training is simple. It's like four exercises or five exercises. And a lot of the times it's just getting there. I remember when we first started the podcast, I was struggling with weight training. I was doing a lot of running, yeah. But you were like, you got to get in the gym. It's like, oh, I just like doing buys and tries, and like then do that every single time, and then you're at least there, you're doing something you love first. And if you do that, then you're already there.

SPEAKER_00:

You're 15 minutes in it's like if you're having trouble getting in the gym, just do the go in there and do the thing you want to do first, yeah, and then maybe add one exercise.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, stop overcomplicating this bullshit. You know, it's like, and that changed it for me. That honestly changed my perspective, where now I'm I'm much more likely to go, I I I'm miserable if I don't hit strength training. You know, I'm miserable if I don't lift. And uh I think that's a pretty cool thing to remember.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

We could if I can do it, anybody can do it. That's true.

SPEAKER_00:

It's true, it's true. Cool. Mitch, you've come a long way from that place mindset-wise to doing a powerlifting show to being who you are right now.

SPEAKER_01:

So and you've always remained consistent, so I'm very jealous of I'm very trainer.

SPEAKER_00:

My trainer back in high school, it's got Gary Mann. You'd say, Barton, I'm a constant in a world of variables. That's great.

SPEAKER_01:

That's that's great. That's who I want to be.

SPEAKER_00:

I want to be a constant in a world of variables.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you're you inspire me to do more in a lot of different ways. And I think it's easy for people to make excuses like, oh, he's a fitness guy, so he's always in the gym anyway. It's still hard. I mean, I've worked out with you multiple times where you have to put in the time. You have to put in the work. It's actually probably a little bit even harder for you to get in your workout because you're working with so many different people. Um, so I think that's why I think it's the one thing, it's the constant with a lot of these successful people I've seen is make yourself excellent, undeniable, as you told me the other day, where you're like, be undeniable in your industry, be undeniable in the the weight room, in on the track, all those different things. As a 40-year-old, like, why not? Why not go for it? Why not get a little uncomfortable and do things you never thought you could?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And if you dude, if you have a six pack at 20, so what? Yeah, six foot at 40, dude, you're like the top two percent of the world. Dude, so if you're looking for significance, soccer moms, bro. Get a six packet 40. That's perfect. All right, let's wrap it up here. I love it.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you guys so much for listening, liking, subscribing. We love you guys. Thanks for listening to dad bods and dumbbells.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Hey, and don't forget, grab that premium subscription. Jump into our workout uh this uh this October. Can't wait to see you guys. And uh we'd love to have you. We'd love to have more there. We've got we've got several coming, but uh we're also anybody who's been a guest is gonna be invited too. So so if you want to meet some of the guests that you've uh you've heard from lately, another reason to join. Let's go. Let's go.