Old Men With Microphones

We record from the Arnold Sports Festival and use open-ended questions to get honest about meaning, friendship, and what we want our lives to add up to. The talk goes from jokes to real “old man wisdom” on leadership, legacy, aging, and staying in the game as masters athletes. 
• moments we look back on and smile, from family milestones to shared stories with friends 
• “meaningless” activities reframed as recovery, connection, and stress relief 
• traits of leaders we admire, especially humility and empowering others 
• the legacy we want to leave through service, caring, and showing up 
• what we will not regret, including risks taken and sport-driven community 
• family histories that shape scarcity mindset, resilience, and survival 
• energy, self-belief, and how humility can help or hinder us 
• desire as a window into priorities, from travel dreams to pain-free training 
• staying authentic to goals through accountability, flexibility, and returning after setbacks 
• lessons learned about mortality, time, and refusing to give up on ourselves 
If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share with others, post it on your social media, or leave a review. To catch all the latest from us, you can follow us on Instagram at Masters Athlete Survival Guide. Now get off our lawn, you damn kids.

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Transcript

No Intro, Just Arnold Energy

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey guys, it's John, and there's no fancy musical intro. Sadly, there's no Scott, but I think this is an important episode. Just some of the uh training group got together after the Arnold sat around with some uh pre-written questions from a game called How Do You See the World? And uh some old men talking about it. So uh I hope you enjoy this. It's a little insight in how old men are gonna solve all the world's problems. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

And we're back. Hey, we're back. John. What? This doesn't look like Aurora Studios to me. It's not Aurora Studios, as you can probably you can probably tell by the sound quality. Where the fuck are we? We are at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, in a amazingly fancy Airbnb that we rented that has its own like soundstage. This may be the best Airbnb we've ever recorded in. Oh, good point. Of all the two. Of all the two, yeah. Yeah. So who are you? I'm John. Who are you? I'm still Scott, but I'm seeing more bodies here. It's weird, isn't it? Who the fuck are these other people? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Oh, look, we were in for three minutes when you dropped. Oh no, I've already dropped a couple of them. Yeah, okay. Just checking. All right.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Who's this guy over here on my right? Looks like he's got a tuma. Two weeks. Two weeks. We are joined by our friends. Well, my friend. Wayne and uh Shecky. She introduced yourself over here, brother.

SPEAKER_07 1:38

Ryan. My name's Ryan. Oh. Ryan what? Ryan Chi. Not of the Chi family. No, not of the Cheese. I love I am of the Chi family.

SPEAKER_03 1:51

Isn't your wife's name Ty?

SPEAKER_07 1:53

Nope. Her name is not Ty Chi.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

And who's this guy next to you, John? I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

And I would be Mark Taylor. Hi, Mark Taylor. Hi, John. How are you? I'm good.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

How about you? What? Isn't he a repeat guest? Theoretically, he is. I think he's the first repeater we've had. Theoretically he is. What about the one? What? Huh? Because he won't go away. Oh, it's like that rash you had. I'm a hangar on. Exactly. So, all the silliness aside, of which there's probably gonna be too much. Jocularity. Jocularity. We decided to do a remote episode. I got some fancy microphones that hopefully sound better this year. Than last year's. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

And I did sort of a silly, semi-serious thing where I bought the game that I have to go look. How do you see the world?

SPEAKER_03 2:48

Because what I was thinking that since you have four masters athletes stuck together in an Airbnb drinking Johnny Drum, um the nature of this game is sort of these open-ended philosophical questions. And we're gonna open some questions to the floor and talk about them. So what I've learned in my 55 plus years of what philosophy is, yeah, it's a bullshit artist. Mel Brooks History of the World Part One taught me that. I'm a stand-up philosopher. You're a bullshit artist. I'm hearing cricket. I'm just letting you go until you get it all out because I know you felt like you were.

SPEAKER_04 3:33

I didn't want to disagree because he's telling the truth. Well, it's from History of the World.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

But still, but he you know, if he doesn't get it all the way out, it it constipates his sister. He gets cranky.

SPEAKER_07 3:44

It constipates my system. I don't think constipation is his problem.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

All right, Mr. Cheese of the uh the Cheese family.

Memories That Still Make You Smile

SPEAKER_07 3:55

Why don't you start us off here, brother? Describe a time in your life that you look back on and smile.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Oh. Mark. Any thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_04 4:06

I feel we need to ponder these things. It's kind of a ponderable one, but honestly, this might be the easiest one I've seen yet. Okay. The birth of both my girls and my wedding. All three fall right under that. You didn't see the question, you heard it though. What? I read through a lot of these cards when I was asked to pick questions, so I saw a lot of them.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

All right, so the birth of your children. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

All right. Were they natural or cesarean? Natural. Because one of mine was natural, one of them was cesenarian, and they're very different experiences.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Um, especially the cesarean where they're like, I feel like I was standing there as they're operating, and I like my ex-wife's liver is like pushed out of the way and kind of leaning over in the corner, and it's like, why am I in here?

SPEAKER_04 4:52

I am I am not qualified to be here. Just I will take the result. Thank you. I applaud you for keeping your feet though. How many, how many dads went down during that?

SPEAKER_03 5:01

It's like both of my kids were natural. In both cases, you know, they they clamp off the umbilical cord and they said, Do you want to cut the cord? I know there was little to any feeling to Gene during this time. There was not a chance that I just could not do that. So what you punched her in the face and then cut it? No, I punched the doctor for doing it. Yeah, I there it's I mean, we're all old men, so we're probably not qualified to talk about childbirth other than seeing it, but I I I I do agree with Mark though. I think the best thing that's ever happened to me, meeting Mary, my wife, and you know, the birth of my two children. Now, if we get past that obvious answer, to me, it's some of it, it's like whenever a group of us get together, you know, in our in our sort of friendship circle, the shared language of the stories that are building those memories, whether it's the stupid movies we quote or you know, the experiences of somebody, you know, like falling through a cinder block wall or not being able to like climb a driveway, you know, those those goofy type of things that you get out outside of your family, those are the things to me as an old man that kind of put a smile on my face. That's fair. Ryan?

SPEAKER_04 6:28

That's I actually like how he thinks on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

Your your own question.

SPEAKER_07 6:31

Uh, well, my wife and I don't have kids, so I just live a life of hedonism. Uh no. So I I I don't have any answer. I don't that can't be my answer. And I don't know. Um, but no, when I see look back on and smile, I don't necessarily think like the best, you know, awesome moment in my life. It's just something I look back on fondly, and really it's my college years. It's a it was a weird time of uh having the freedom of an adult without the responsibility of an adult. So you could do largely whatever you wanted as long as you kept your grades up. And I was fortunate enough that my parents took care of me completely, like financially. So as long as the grades were up, the money kept coming in, and I could keep having fun while working hard and making memories with friends. And yeah, it's a time I look back on and like just when you're that young and that inexperienced, the future seems limitless. But the older you get, the those number of possibilities dwindle rapidly. And the truth is the possibilities were always really limited uh to a few options, but you didn't you just were too young and uh ignorant to know it at the time.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Um where'd you go to college?

SPEAKER_07 7:48

I started out at Miami University uh in Oxford, Ohio. Miami of Ohio. Miami of Ohio. Yeah, and I honestly I did not want to go to college. Okay, in spite of um being Chinese, I hated.

SPEAKER_04 8:03

Wait, wait, what?

SPEAKER_07 8:04

You're Chinese? When that happened. I was and am and remain uh yeah. I am DNA says I'm 100% Chinese.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

So it's not a conversion.

SPEAKER_07 8:14

No, no.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

Did you convert some Chinese? Okay, that was pretty good. Yeah, is it a religion?

SPEAKER_07 8:20

Um but I did not want to be in college, so in the second year I transferred to uh Cincinnati Christian University in Cincinnati. That was more at least that was something interesting to me. So I have a question. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Why is it Miami of Ohio? Is there a town in Ohio called Miami?

SPEAKER_07 8:36

Or I've never been to the there's like uh the Miami Township, I think. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:41

So this is not like a part of the Miami University of Florida.

SPEAKER_07 8:45

No, that is University of Miami, and this is yeah, Miami University of Ohio.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

That's where Ben Rathless was.

SPEAKER_07 8:53

Ben Rocklitzburger. The cradle of coaches.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Yeah. Oh yeah. Well, have other people come through there? Yeah, a lot of uh football coaches of uh war. And did uh hockey tournament there at the rinks there. Yeah, nice, really nice barns. You're welcome. The official word for hockey hockey rings.

SPEAKER_07 9:13

It is a beautiful campus. I has I still have friends I made there that you know I I'm in touch with regularly. And yeah, it's always it was a cool time in my life, and I look back on it and I smile.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

I'm still friends with a lot of my college friends, actually. And uh that that it feels good. Yeah, that feels like one of the bigger takeaways, honestly. The making some of those accidental, on-purpose friendships, and that they stayed friends with me through a lot of dog shit. Yeah, that's yeah, yeah. And that goes both ways. Yeah, yeah. That speaks to it. Can I ask a question? What do you got for us, Johnny? I don't know. I gotta put glasses on.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

Can you find the glasses?

Meaningless Habits And Hidden Meaning

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Yeah, I'm look- I'm looking. I am looking, I am fine. Oh, this this sounds like me. This is why I picked this question now. I remember. What is one meaningless activity that you engage in? One?

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Yeah, see. I have several. Oh my god. I need a lot of time to think about.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

John, how many times have we pivoted in the years we've known each other? No, I know, right? Oh, if you just want to talk sport, yeah, I burn through sports. Like people burn through sports parts. Okay, I think John's gone through more than you and I. Do people, please? Okay, I gotta put my glasses back. My Alzheimer's was sitting there for a second. What is one meaningless activity you engage in? So it's something you do regularly, but I don't know. I mean, we're sitting here after the arm lifting conversation, and I mean, is arm lifting meaningless? Like, we're not making the world a better place by doing grip. But do you make yourself better by having goals and stuff like that? Yeah, that's true. I guess it's a health thing. All right, so that's what I'm saying. I don't know, Bruce. I'm not talking about sort of changed our perspective on goals. Yeah. I don't know. Meaning meaningless. Meaningless? I you know what I I'm gonna sort of piggyback on what you said there because you said is arm lifting does it have any meaning? Okay. I don't I might agree with you that uh the sport, no, but the sport is the reason that we're sitting here. Truth. The sport, you know, introduced us to Tony King. Also to oh, shout out to Tony King. Shout out to Tony King. Right on the box. Down down in the holler, up on the room. Down the river in the holler.

SPEAKER_07 11:31

Down the river in the holler. Number one fan. That's it. Always watching, always listening.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

Tony, you're gonna get a super fan fadge after this, you know. Yeah. Um, who else? Grace, Anna, I mean, you know, just some of the people we've met. So I think the activity might be meaningless, but the superficial parts of the activity are meaningful. There, I answered the question because I did not know what the hell else to say that was.

SPEAKER_05 11:57

Oh, it's right.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Right, it's right, but at the same time, oh wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He just gave me credit? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Well, you know, I as you said it, I realized that, like, it's for example, this my very flippant conversation is wrong.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

It's meaningful because all the ancillary effects, the the meeting people and the going to the Arnold with, I don't know, 100,000 of our closest friends. Today, maybe 150? Yeah, eating eating way too much German food today. Sausage, sausage, and too much sugar and caffeine.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah. All right. So I gotta find here. So I guess maybe this is the bigger philosophical question.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Is any activity meaningless? Like, what is meaning? Wow, okay. Wow, no, no, hey, should probably have more bourbon before we get into the cont. We ain't going there. Yeah, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_07 12:53

I'll say right out all the time I kill on social media and thought he was gonna say all the time he spends with us. No, no, spending it's funny because you mentioned arm lifting because we were talking about this earlier. You know, my my first experience at the Arnold was great coming down and going there and hanging with you guys. But after the crowds yesterday, I thought I will never do this again. And then we did the arm lifting. I thought, okay, let's do it again. And it wasn't because you know, arm lifting's fun, but it wasn't like, yeah, it was it was hanging with you guys and making memories and meeting Tony and Adam and spending time with them and all that, and yeah, the shared experiences and the bonding, like that was awesome. Uh yeah. So far from meaningless. Marcus?

SPEAKER_04 13:42

Um, I have to agree.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

That was a great answer.

SPEAKER_04 13:45

Um, thank you. It was the best one I had. I agree with Ryan. Like, my social media scrolling is the most worthless amount of time I do. Is it meaningless though? Because like I bet you I have a handful of friends that that's the only way to stay in contact with me. Now you call me out, and when I think about it, there's also a lot of I do a lot of scanning for articles. So I guess it's not meaningless. None of them are true, but yeah, yeah, it's the real articles are true. Right. So don't give me an idea.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

Well, what couldn't be true about this, John? R.I.P. Rob Marv Levy. Wait, Marv Levy's dead? No.

SPEAKER_04 14:20

But he is a hundred years old. Facebook thinks. It's a reasonable thought when Facebook says so.

SPEAKER_07 14:24

It's not a bad bet based on the numbers. Thank you. I knew I'd like to for a reason.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

Um I think the bigger question, like, what is meaningless?

SPEAKER_07 14:35

I think we can find value meaning in most activities.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

I think you're right. Which is silly and weird. And well, even something stupid as playing a dumbass game on your phone. Yeah, that has meaning in relaxing, zoning out, whatever you do when you do it.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

I'd agree with that. And John, to your point.

SPEAKER_04 14:53

Because that would have been my other question or answer.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Yeah, I think to John's point. Even that which others may consider meaningless, if it brings you some sort of relief, joy, you know, mind away type of thing, you know, turning I do a lot of stupid, uh affective class starters where I tell my students it's to turn your brain off from everything else. And it could be simple as simple as nine pictures of Shrek saying, which Shrek are you today? And it's just to turn your brain off because sometimes we need that. And where some may be considering it meaningless, it does serve a purpose. Yeah, that's that's that's a flippant question. It's a weak-ass question. It got real deep real quick though. We took it to a whole other level. Yeah, you suck Channelinus. Mark, you got a question for us?

Leadership Without Titles Or Ego

SPEAKER_04 15:49

Well, the one I had on first is not quite as good as I expected, but it ties in with my world anyway. Describe three traits of a leader you admire.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 16:00

Don't have to name the leader, just their traits.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

I I, you know, I've always appreciated the people that don't think of themselves as leaders, the people that just lead.

SPEAKER_04 16:10

So, can I in my thought expand on that? Absolutely. The ones that think of themselves as leaders, yeah, they're managers.

unknown 16:17

True.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

The ones who lead don't need a title or rank, they can be from the bottom and still take a leadership position unofficial all day long.

SPEAKER_03 16:25

And age doesn't have to dictate that. Uh sex most assuredly does not dictate that. I think it's you I agree with you. It's the way they establish, like we had like Ty's episode just came out. Ty Wilson, Dr. Ty Wilson's episode just came out. Is he a doctor? No, he's a fake one like me. Okay, good. Um he is one of the most transformative leaders I know. Yeah. Because one of the things he does well, no matter who you are, he makes you see your purpose, what drives you, what sort of fulfills you and then empowers you to reach it. He has a line at the college and it's hashtag no excuses. And that's what he tells the athletes, that's what he tells his faculty. But he's not my coach. Oh, he would not accept you. No, he shouldn't.

SPEAKER_04 17:25

So you said three qualities, three traits of a leader you admire.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

I think one of them, without a doubt, is somebody who empowers other people. I agree. By their presence, by word, whatever. I think it's someone that empowers. All right, I gave mine your trait. Three traits of one you admire. I said I gave one. He gave one. Yeah, there's two other people to answer the question. Oh, I thought we were going all answered the whole thing in the he can't think that much at one point. I'm a fake doctor. He doesn't work.

SPEAKER_04 17:56

He's on a second bourbon.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

Yeah, I'm on my first. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_04 18:00

Catch up then.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

No. Mr. Cheese?

SPEAKER_07 18:03

Uh humility. Nice. Yeah, being able to do it. Yeah, admit you're out, Canneline. Yeah, I'm not with you know, the high the higher you go, the lower you need to be able to bow.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

That is true. That's an ancient Chinese proverb, isn't it?

SPEAKER_07 18:17

That is actually one I read. The higher yeah, the higher the bamboo, the lower it bows. Really? I think I read that in a book. Yeah. I like that.

SPEAKER_04 18:26

I do too. That actually is I'm a big fan of nuts on.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

Yeah, and you know what the knots on. Okay. The other side of that is far worse. Meaning what? Where he started. Some leaders are just managers. Like uh someone in a leadership role that can't lead is actually a hindrance.

SPEAKER_07 18:47

Yeah, the Peter's principle.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

What is the Peter principle? I mean, I know it exists, but I for less. I've never heard of it.

SPEAKER_07 18:53

Promoted to the level you become incompetent. Yeah. But there you stay. Just incompetent, useless, and getting in the way of progress.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

I think a good leader knows who the real leaders are. So you're put into a position where there's uh leadership by title, but they know within the department or the program or the business who the people are that can get the job done, and they let them be the leader. In my experience, that's always the busiest person. Busiest person always tends to be like meaningful, meaningfully busy. Tends to be someone that is has because people tend to rely on them.

SPEAKER_05 19:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

The the people that are just taking up space, I don't know. In in my in my experience, you tend to avoid. Like I'm not giving it to him, it'll never get done. Yeah. I I I guess I can see that.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

There I've had bosses where I did all the work because I knew it wasn't gonna get done if I had to go up higher. Right. Even if it wasn't in my pay. Yeah.

Legacy, Regret, And Taking Risks

SPEAKER_03 20:04

Cool. I guess it's my turn. Sure. Y'all y'all wanted to go deep with these questions, huh? Apparently. What legacy do you want to leave? Wow. Or do we want to push that one off? Because I've got others.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

Oh, that's fine. No, we have to go roll and roll with it.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

What legacy do I want to leave? Wow. No, I don't know that I've ever considered that in my life. 50 years from now, somebody says, Did you know or do you know of John Catalinas? Yeah. What do you want them to think? I think the I mean the standard come to the front of your mind answers like, oh, I want to be a good person.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

No, fuck that. Fuck that.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

I I like the charity work. I like I like the fact that I'm on the board of the American Lung Association. I like I like the Love Like Ben Foundation. I love the charity work. I think that is the stone that makes ripples in the pond that last forever. Um, I think good works are a foundational principle for me that I really both enjoy and I hope has leaves some fingerprints on the world. All right, I'm I'm good with that. Are you? Is that acceptable?

SPEAKER_04 21:25

Thank you. Mark? It's probably gonna go deeper than you want, but agreeing with John only because one of my other volunteers rolls into this is one person one day stayed on this earth because of me. Instead of taking their own walk off.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

No, I'm yeah, hey, there ain't nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that at all. Right?

SPEAKER_07 21:50

Uh so at the risk of getting religious, but your beliefs are what drives you. That's your software. Um, Jesus said first commandment is to love your Lord your God with all your Heart, mind, soul, second is to love others as yourself. And when my time comes and I'm off, uh people who knew me can say, Yeah, you did alright. You did alright.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

I like that in a bronzy kind of way.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

In a bronzy. I think for me. Should we discuss that?

SPEAKER_03 22:21

No, no, no. I think for me, what legacy I want to leave. And this is, I mean, you guys know me. You know me, and two of you know a lot about me. To me, I think the legacy I want is I don't know that I necessarily want people to know it was me. But I want them to know that someone cared. There's a humility.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That's awesome. I got that.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

Mark, we're gonna jump back over to you there, my friend. Wait. Shut up and read your question.

SPEAKER_04 23:10

Why does he do that? Why did he do that? Yeah. Didn't we skip somebody? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

We're not going in particular order. It's not like it's a test.

SPEAKER_04 23:17

I guess this is I picked this without knowing anybody else's, so it kind of ties in the last one.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:22

What is the one thing you will not regret at the end of your life? Oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Oh. First thing that comes to mind is sport. I think sport, competition, whatever has enhanced so many aspects that I never would have planned for.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Friendships, experiences, health, uh so much, you know, it's just a whole panoply of things that I, you know, it's not just the score at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

In fact, those are the things I tend not to remember. I don't remember my performances, but I remember the stories. I remember the teammates. I remember you idiots. You know, and I love that because some of the stories that are sort of our language come from some of the sporting events that we've all shared.

SPEAKER_04 24:15

I think a lot of them come from the sporting events or shortly thereafter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

Well, I I fondly remember a man singing in front of 1,500 people on a stage with 300 pounds in each hand, trying not to get torn in half. I remember learning a valuable lesson about maybe not training as hard because maybe someone got the Browns medal when for the record, we're not talking about Scott this time. We're not Ryan G. I'm just calling Brian G. I think I like him as Brian G better. No, he's Wayne.

SPEAKER_07 24:49

It's Wayne. You can call me whatever you want. It's all right. Except late for dinner. Yeah, it's not late for dinner.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, as I sit here and his metal may or may not purposefully be like totally. Aim right in your face. How about you, Ryan?

SPEAKER_07 25:04

Um, I won't regret taking risks. And I don't mean like riding off a cliff on a motorcycle. Like there's so many times in life when we have a chance to do something that we want to do, but we're scared. We're scared of what will people think? What if I don't do well? And you just don't know. And at the end of your life, I I would regret saying I never wish I had, you know, I didn't do straw man when the chance came up. I wish I had. I never tried powerlifting, I wish I had. Um, yeah, taking those chances, trying something. So what if you suck at it? So if you hate it. No regrets there. But as it turns out, like those things lead to the most rewarding experiences sometimes right now in this moment is proof of it.

SPEAKER_03 25:55

Yeah. I think to your point, and I couldn't agree more with that. I wouldn't regret the choices I've made as friends, even though I've made some colossally bad choices, because those choices, good and bad, keep leading me in directions. And Ryan, to your point, one of them has led here. You know, so it's uh I think he's right, those choices we make, they really do define who we are. So here's the thing, and let's bring it back to masters athletes and old men in general. Do you think we had this perspective at 20? Nope, not at all.

unknown 26:35

Nope.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

That actually is my question. How has your life purpose changed over time? And I think that that life purpose is your perspective as well. Maybe.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

I know at 20, like I would I wouldn't even have been able to answer that question because I'd been like, life purpose. I you know, I was 10 years old.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Oh, I've had a purpose, all right. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_07 26:59

A lot of beer stay out all night.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Yeah, I couldn't see past the end of the weekend.

SPEAKER_03 27:04

So because everybody's working for the weekend. Exactly. I definitely wouldn't have answered this even slightly meaningfully at 20. Um, and I guess part of it is just the life lived, like you, you know, you talked about taking risks. Um looking back, you can see how so many things worked out or did not, but you can see the result. But man, some of those risks when you're a kid, you they they feel like 30-foot walls that you just can't possibly scale because it your your life is so narrow then, right? And now we're old and wise and we're old. Thank you, experienced. Yeah. I don't even know that we're mad. What do you think, Mark? You asked the question, but what do you think?

SPEAKER_04 27:56

I don't know if this will be a cop out or not. It is, but really, there's nothing in my life I'll regret because everything built me into the person I am sitting here right now. Wow, that's every single thing. We are getting way too deep. Well, that's very centered. Think about it. The good, the bad, the ugly, the bourbon. Put us here. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

SPEAKER_03 28:19

The good, the bad, the ugly, and the badbone. It's a sequel.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

Answer some of the questions that's some of the stuff that when it happened, was it good? Hell no. But it still put me where I am now on the track I'm living.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

All right. Wow. I just I just wanted this game to kind of direct us. I didn't realize it. Dude, you know. We didn't know I could be some bullshit philosopher. I guess, I guess we don't. Who do you think there, uh, Mr. Ryan? What do you got a question for us? Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 28:50

Uh going in a slightly different direction. I suppose this could be uncomfortable. So if you guys want to say no to this, no, that's fine. Tell us something about your family's history.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

Deep sigh. My dad's a tough one. My not my but like my parents, like my parents grew up poor. My dad grew up during the depression fighting in bars with his friends for the pennies that the guys would throw. My mom was one of 12 children, and the first gift she gave my daughters when they were born was a cradle made out of a Quaker oats tube that she cut out the middle to make like a rocking thing because that was the only like baby cradle she could have as a kid.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Wow. So that I mean the and they were so afraid of scarcity. Like, which is probably why I have too many t-shirts.

SPEAKER_03 29:55

It's probably genetic, it's probably genetic. But yeah, they they grew up, and I kind of grew up poor-ish, poor adjacent, maybe. Uh, you know, I'd never really wanted for anything, but I can't say there was always an abundance. I guess I was in the same boat in many ways. My parents divorced, I think I was in sixth grade, and you know, you always think, oh, you poor kid, you had one parent. I think I had a better upbringing with separated parents. And when I say divorce, my father moved down to Georgia. So they weren't really goals to see you, huh? He was in a binding. He was in a bind, he was way behind, and he was looking to make a deal.

unknown 30:37

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

Sorry. I so badly want to start breaking out in that song right now. Yeah, you can do it later. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

I don't think we meant to derail your story.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

No, yeah, we did. But it was like same thing. Never wanted. Yeah. I knew we weren't rich, but I mean, sort of the the family side of things. You needed something, you'd talk to somebody who's in your family. You know, that sort of maybe if it wasn't the first circle, it was a circle right outside of it, like your immediate aunts and uncles. And you had a great childhood. I didn't have much like relationship with aunts, uncles, and cousins. So I uh I don't know that I had that extended circle. See, ours was only I mean, it was only my mother's brother, because my mother was one of two children. It was my mother's brother, okay, but I mean he he really turned on my surrogate father. Yeah. It was just and he's still a very big part of my life, both like physically and metaphorically. That's cool. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take this moment to mention that not only did Ryan in his first arm lifting competition outlift me for a bronze medal, but he's currently sitting there smugly polishing it and occasionally uh kissing it. You can't see that it's like shining on the wall out here.

SPEAKER_04 32:17

And he's shining it in my eye just and also just the fact he's wearing it right now, more than 24 hours later.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Yeah, yeah, exactly. He came down from after taking a shower this morning, shirtless with the metal on. I'm gonna need psychological help after this.

SPEAKER_04 32:34

Oh, you've needed psychological help. Ryan came down shirtless. We all need psychological help.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

Good point. Um good point. Um, where are we on this question? You and I have answered. We haven't heard from Mark or Ryan on it.

SPEAKER_04 32:49

That's there's a lot of stories. But I suppose to me, the most impressive one would be of my father. Left home at 16. He had adults that did help guide him, because his home life wasn't the greatest, being a dairy farmer, and there's a mass of other reasons. And he picked himself up by the bootstraps and made a life for himself, happily retired. He works at a school in his retirement just because he wants to be around people and doing something. But he could have been a lot worse. My life would have been drastically different if he had not left home and did what he did. Because I've seen it in my uncles and cousins. He was a dairy friend, his father was. This seems like hard. Like I gotta assume like there's no days off, right? Because the cows aren't like there are a few days off, but he I'll tell you what Christmas and Easter. No, I don't think the cows care. You still gotta do chores, you still gotta milk them.

SPEAKER_07 33:40

Cows don't know it's Christmas.

SPEAKER_04 33:42

He always loved telling me as a kid his favorite time was either when his dad was making doing milk pickup because his father did the drove the milk truck, yeah, or during maple syrup season when they were collecting sap because they were they'd be out all night, but they were always moving, having fun, hanging out with his father. And when they drove the milk truck, he would take one kid each time he made his run. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

So that would be their time with him. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

It reminds me, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

You know how many times my father, when he was alive, said to me when I would say, I'm going to the gym, he'd be like, Why don't you get another job? Why are you going somewhere to pay and do fake work?

SPEAKER_04 34:18

It's like, go get a construction job. Well, my father still to this day has no clear understanding of what we did going to the gym or this, but he'll tell me you did a great job. Even if I didn't, he don't know.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

You don't know. Yeah, I think you did a good job, Mr.

SPEAKER_07 34:35

G's. Uh my family's history. So this is pretty. My dad and I have uh a good relationship now. We didn't always, but as a Dulcie, he he's a pretty cool guy. Um, was done a very brave man. Uh so when he was little, he was born in China, and his dad was a uh merchant captain, so he was never home. So it was just mom, my dad, and his two younger siblings, my aunt and my uncle. And he's like eight years old, and the communists had just taken over. And that's at first they were like, Well, they're gonna be better than the old regime, and you know, we're all Chinese, so it can't be that bad. Well, it started getting that bad, and my grandpa said, You guys need to get to Taiwan. So they were they had to get to Hong Kong, which is on the other side of China from where they were. And so my grandmother and three small children and a distant relative of some kind um got all the way across China to Hong Kong. And my dad tells stories about railroad explosions and blah blah blah, like insane stuff for a child to be going through to escape a country, and the guy that went with them he didn't know who he was, and he could not go with them. So, somewhere in our family's history, there's this unsung hero who helped get my grandmother, my father, and his two uh siblings out of China, but was not able to leave himself. Well, that story trumps all of our.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

I was just about to say where it went. Who invited you? I we couldn't afford G.I. Joe's I was feeling pretty good about my furnism.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

Jesus.

SPEAKER_07 36:19

Yeah, I have a made-for-tv movie in my history, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

Nice. I got nothing on that.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

No, well, that's just my family. No, no, that's great.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

No, dude. No, that's aw that's actually a really good story. Yeah, for once being a wise ass. Yeah. Does do you find that shapes you?

SPEAKER_07 36:38

Like Yeah, um, knowing what uh my parents endured and their families endured, uh, you know, a lot of things we we hate our parents for, and I don't just mean like us, but like through generations, yeah, we don't realize that they needed certain traits to survive. And well said once those conditions have passed, they don't change because that's just what they know. Right. But that's what we experience, you know. Like our parents are terrible, and we you know try to see it from their view, and it doesn't make what they did to us okay, but you understand a little more that's what they had to do in the past generations. Yeah, I had to do just to survive. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Is it my turn to read something?

SPEAKER_00 37:22

I got I gotta find something.

SPEAKER_04 37:23

Well, I'm down to one more question.

Energy, Humility, And Self-Belief

SPEAKER_03 37:24

Oh, I got I grab a pile, so I'm good. I've got a couple on this card, but I could do many. Oh, I could do some. Oh, let's do one, ladies and gentlemen. Let's lighten up the conversation. How would you describe your energy?

SPEAKER_02 37:38

What's your aura?

SPEAKER_03 37:39

So what's your energetic feng shui? Yeah, what do you how would you describe your? I mean, I know how I would describe all you idiots, but um how would you I think I want to hear that. I'm kind of curious. Yeah, what?

SPEAKER_07 37:52

How would you describe all usually your own? Tell us exactly what you think about comments.

SPEAKER_03 37:58

Wow. A little aggressive there, Mr. Chi, for your first time on the show. Somebody hand him the bottle.

SPEAKER_04 38:03

He's gonna need a little liquid.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

I'm gonna need more bourbon. Um Scott doesn't believe in himself as much as he should. You're a water balloon. Brian tried to hold everything in until he doesn't. And when he lets go, he lets go. And Mark doesn't realize how strong he is mentally. That would be my first blush on the three of you idiots. I think. My turn. No, you can't go. Wait, are we doing it on our own or each other? I don't know, just did you guys because you called me up? Well, you called you out. The original question was described yourself. Yeah, but then you called me out. I I think you two called them out. Yeah, but I think we need to look you were two. Oh no, I I just joined in the bandwagon. Oh, is that what it is? But I'm gonna sort of throw it back at you. You know, you it's how do you describe yourself? And I I think I think you hit us pretty well with what you said. I know, I'm great. That's my energy. I'm great. I think for the 412 time in this podcast series of what'd you say? We're just over 50 episodes. Yeah, we just over here. I'm gonna say I fucking hate you, but I love you.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

Man, that's gonna cost me another dollar. We've already been there for the dollar.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

Oh, yeah, I've I've been. I offered to pay you up front.

SPEAKER_04 39:25

I'm really fucking dead. There I go, I earned it.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

But I think with you, you your greatest trait is the way that you build others up. Sometimes like direct aggressive, other times sort of introspectively, but you you you said to me or about me, how I I'm sort of don't know where I'm at, or something along those lines. Yep. I think you are the same way with yourself, you don't want to, or you downplay what you do or bring to it. Thank you. That's very kind. There's a lot of shit you could have said right then. That would have been true as well. I'm I'm trying, is that what it is? I'm actually trying for once to be nice to you. Oh. It's only taken us 50 episodes, but um I'm trying. That's enough.

SPEAKER_04 40:27

No, I don't I just stopped pouring, of course it's enough.

SPEAKER_03 40:31

Okay, for those of you, because we're not in the visual podcast zone of Aurora Studios, as John is saying that's enough. Mark was pouring himself a uh a bourbon and he just looked at him like I there's nothing in my glass.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Yes, yeah, of course it's enough.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

How do I see myself? Was your question? Yeah, what's your energy?

SPEAKER_04 40:49

Well, that was your question.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

No, no, you asked the question. No, I did not. Oh, Marcus or John is. Hi, Mark. I'm John Brian. We're all confused. How do I see myself? No. How would you describe your energy? Oh, that's right. How would I describe my energy? I don't believe it's there. I don't have enough faith in myself to know how much is there.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

Cool. That's sad and untrue.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

Oh no, it's true. That that's not true.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

No, no, what I'm saying is that I'm not saying it's not there.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_07 41:26

Your self-assessment is accurate.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

Yeah. But we just did that podcast with Bruce that's not going to be released until April-ish, I think. Well, it will have been released. By the time this one's out. I think he has already started bringing that out a little bit. Yeah. And I think to sort of tease a little bit, we're going to work with Bruce a little bit more. Yeah. Bruce is uh Oh, I guess we know this. I guess the listeners know this already.

SPEAKER_04 41:57

Yeah. By the time this comes out? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

Yeah, they will. So go listen to the Bruce episode, Bruce Young. Definitely, definitely. Ryan, how would you describe your energy?

SPEAKER_05 42:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

Boring. Deep and instructive. Yeah. Boring. Eh, whatever. Mark?

SPEAKER_04 42:17

That's it? You've given him a one-word answer while the rest of us are there. I'm letting him go. I am letting the new guy go. Because he gets a bronze medal yesterday. It's like you moved on. It wasn't gold. It's like you moved on like it was like just that was the right answer. At least not sitting on the couch eating Cheetos. Not a sponsor.

SPEAKER_03 42:35

Still not a sponsor. We got to start working on that. Where's our PR guy? Uh Tony King's our PR guy. Yo, Kentucky. Yeah. Get that shit going. All right. I am apparently not allowed to give your bronze medal a pass. Okay. Boring is not a good enough answer. You believe it. I believe it. These two don't believe it.

SPEAKER_07 42:57

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I bring a ton. Uh, whatever I'm accepted somewhere. Uh I feel so lucky. I feel so blessed that people see something in me, whatever it is, to uh you know join them.

SPEAKER_03 43:15

John can't see anything because that bronze metal keeps shining in his eyes. It does, actually.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 43:23

Now that we just turned his hair against the microphone.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

I know, right?

SPEAKER_04 43:27

Marcus. Spread thin would be the term I would use. I've got a lot going on.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

So here's the thing, and this goes back to something Ryan said. Um as we are older and wiser, can our inherent humility be a hindrance? Because I think all three of you are very humble. Any strength can be a weakness if overdone.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

Yeah. But you can reverse that. Yeah. Any strength can be a strength. No. Any weakness can be a strength because I think I'm working on a weakness I had a long time ago to put myself in a position of strength to help others and keep them out of where I was. But that's again why I say my energy is low and spread thin is because I've got I try to do this to keep myself centered. Or not centered, but sane. Sane. I've got work. I've got things I vol multiple things I volunteer for. I'm going back to school. So yeah, my energy's real low some days, if you want to put it that way.

SPEAKER_03 44:46

Oh, mine's simple. I'm an overcaffeinated golden retriever most times. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

No, I know. I'm completely sure. I love shiny, crazy, stupid, moving too fast things. Yeah, exactly. I am easily distracted. I am overly enamored by the dumbest of things.

SPEAKER_03 45:08

If any of y'all ever get the opportunity to get to get to Aurora Studios.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

Oh, gotta stop by.

SPEAKER_03 45:17

Or if we win a lottery in Aurora Studios becomes a uh visual podcast center, you will 100% see what John is talking about with the uh shiny thing comic. I have shiny things. I like shiny things.

Defining Success After You’re Gone

SPEAKER_07 45:37

Success for me would be defined by filling the blank. Ooh.

SPEAKER_04 45:46

I'll go. This is like matching being remembered for the good.

SPEAKER_03 45:51

Which goes back to how we kind of started this.

SPEAKER_04 45:53

And I think this is a good thing. And that's gonna keep rotating back because honestly, I think that's where we're in our own way.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

Foundational principles. I accept that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:05

I thought this, I honestly thought that this would not get this deep and philosophical. I thought it did. I think success for me. Yeah. And this is gonna be a little bit counterintuitive to what I said to the first question tonight. Is it's actually a line in a song.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Sorry, I just went to the case. No, that was not cough, cough. That was poorly timed. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 46:33

I think it's when somebody after I'm gone and somebody hears my name, they smile. Is that a song? There's I hope you smile. It's uh um that was I hope you dance. There's that one too. Ohise by Alan Parsons Project. Oh, nice. I don't really know their music. I am Sky.

SPEAKER_00 47:01

Yeah, I know the I know the hits. I know the thing that Michael Jordan used to come out to. I think it's called Serious. Um Alan Parsons.

SPEAKER_03 47:12

Well, that's that's a cool answer. How about you? I think I've started the ball rolling, and I hope it's I hope it's my daughters doing epic shit.

SPEAKER_05 47:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:25

That that that's it. I made it this far past the baton. I think that's I think that's the answer. I think that's a parent answer. And that's that is far from a bad thing. That's true. Is that my children are better than me. Yeah. Right? Your your answer.

SPEAKER_04 47:46

No, your answer, Ryan, not the next question. He's looking at the question.

SPEAKER_07 47:50

I thought he was trying to evade just trying to make it a little different from the uh, you know, a variation of the other uh question. Uh so we don't have kids, but I have two nephews, um, ten and seven. I don't get to see them much, they live in Philadelphia, but uh they they love me, they think I'm awesome. You are awesome. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_06 48:10

And I love them.

SPEAKER_07 48:11

They're both great kids, they're different boys, but I see they're great in their own way. And um if I could have some positive influence in them, um in their lives and in the men they become. Yeah. Yeah, I uh I yeah, I think so. That's cool. That might be it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:37

Yes, sir. Think past the wording of this question. How do you practice agility in your life? Mental or physical? How do you practice agility? How do I practice agility? I am bad ment I am not mentally agile in sort of the task switching, juggling nine tasks at one time thing. So do not practice it well. How's that? Yeah, I think that's a big part of what you and I have talked about in The Master's Athlete, where the focus in you know it's high school stud benching 800 pounds, and then life happens, yep, and kids happen, and job happens. And I think that's the agility of time. Yeah. And we've we've spent a lot of episodes talking to people about that. How do you practice it now that I mean we're all in our 50s? Yeah, I mean, some of us are damn near 60.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

I know. This is making sense.

SPEAKER_03 49:43

No, because I'm not that far behind. I said one of us, I meant one of us. Yeah. That's how are you practicing? I mean, what can we say to other masters athletes out there so they know almost like they're not alone in that sense? So, how do you practice agility? I can't say that I practice agility. I think I strive for agility in a meaningful way. Um, the ability to task switch from meaningful deep work at work to fostering good relationships, both with my girlfriend and you idiots. And I'm really glad you delineated that. Yeah, yeah. Karen would have killed you. She might have. She still might anyway, but she might anyway. She probably should. We know you. There's no problem with it. Yeah, if I had to, if you gave me a thesaurus of all the action word words in the universe, I think agility would be very low on the things I've accomplished. I I think it's not my skill set. Still working on it? Yeah, but I mean, meaningful agility. Going back to the golden retriever brain, I can go from A to B to C to D seamlessly. Dude, you're not a Jack Russell territory. Not in a meaningful way.

SPEAKER_02 51:02

Ryan, how are you?

SPEAKER_07 51:04

I don't even know what this means. This feels like corporate business.

SPEAKER_04 51:08

I was about to bring up another point for John, but he steered it away.

SPEAKER_07 51:11

I stared it right away so we can move on. A company I used to work for, I'll say it now because I don't care, but they'd have these your yearly personal evaluation. You have to answer these questions that like I would have to decipher, I would have to type out in like regular English so I understood it. Like someone just used as much corpse as they're like you could sound back and put a pin in it. Yeah, like I was like, this is all English, but I don't understand. Then I have to translate it into regular English. And agility is one of those words. So as you can tell, I don't have a lot of love for that part of my life. So like I I don't know what agility means in this context.

SPEAKER_03 51:52

I think that's a very great answer because I think I sort of bullshitted my way through it. Oh, we weren't going to accept you, so we're just lying somebody else to oh, nice, thanks. But I think you hit on, at least for me, and Mark, please chime in. At least for me, it's sort of defining what it is for ourselves, too, no matter what stage of life we're in, because it isn't plain English. You know, okay. And I didn't, I kind of chose it for that reason, because it's that sort of introspection of what does it mean to me? You went into the idea of changing from work to Karen to us to you know training or whatever. You know, we've all sort of got those things in our life, those pull factors. But I agree with you, Ryan. I think it's what does it mean? Because I I I don't know that I know what it means. And maybe the question was more for myself, too. Mark?

SPEAKER_04 52:55

You went deeper on that than I was thinking. Because for me, it's gonna be and I'm not great at it, but prioritizing and juggling everything in life. I mean, you know what we all have multiple roles we play. This this game that I got these questions from.

SPEAKER_03 53:11

Like, if you went to a party and I'd they'd be like, uh John brought that game.

SPEAKER_04 53:17

And we've now spent what, an hour almost, I'm guessing.

Desire, Aging Joints, And Training Goals

SPEAKER_03 53:20

I have no idea. We don't have the uh the wall analysis clock. Lord. Um, I'm just gonna move on to another question because that was you suck. I know. I know. I'm gonna change the the words of this. Name one thing you desire. It says five. I don't think Ferapossa counts anymore. So no, she's way past us. Isn't she dead? She's dead. Yes, yeah. It makes it both worse. She's dead, dude. That's disturbing, brother. Yeah, I was gonna say it makes it better and worse, but that's not true. Oh when being chased by Narcophilix, I repeat, do not play dead. I will tell you an absolutely superficial thing I desire with my whole heart. That's okay. A Lamborghini jutski? No, I want to spend a couple of weeks in an overwater bungalow in Tahiti. Oh, dude, you put that up all the time.

SPEAKER_00 54:24

Because that's it, that is a foundational thing I want in my life is to be in an overwater bungalow with the cloud in the floor and seeing the fish and waking up and having coffee in the Tahitian sun and living on mangoes and really not giving an F about what Natashin? No, however you pronounce that silly spice. Yes, that that is a thing I desire.

SPEAKER_04 54:51

Give me the question again. I'm sorry. Name one thing you desire. That's tough. Is it? It is for me. Oh my god, I am so superficial then because I can't. No, you're not. I actually liked your answer. I could give you a hundred.

SPEAKER_03 55:03

I mean, I could probably give you a thousand, maybe, if you give me enough time. Maybe a two graph to pirate ship. We've seen that, dude. Yeah, exactly. The Gravitron 3000. The Big Mac from Burger King. Big Mac slide. Playground slide, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:19

Oh, I like that one. Yeah, uh, dude. I I really don't, I don't know how to answer that, honestly. I really don't. That's fine. Ryan.

SPEAKER_07 55:30

Since this is the master's athlete. It is survival guide. Survival guide wants to survive plug. Yeah. Um, I want to, I think 100%, and if you're not in that 100%, God bless you. Um, tell me your secret. To be able to train without with abandon, without thinking about, oh, I have to be careful because of this joint or that thing I strained. I just want to be able to cut, you know, turn that turn it loose and just go go like I used to be able to.

SPEAKER_03 56:05

That that speaks back to the episode with Eric Jensen where he's gonna definitely sent the 80 year old deadlift.

SPEAKER_04 56:13

I loved that when he said that too.

SPEAKER_03 56:15

But here's the thing that's great, that's a great line. John's like a year older than Doc. Yeah. So John wants to set it, but he doesn't want Eric to break it. Make him work for it. Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. No, you know, I get that because that's really a great that that bundles a lot of things, right? Because that means you want your health to be reasonable pretty much until it's not.

SPEAKER_07 56:38

Yeah. Here's the thing: so many people start breaking down and they stop. And that's why there aren't that many masters athletes, right? That's why there's one and maybe two weight classes once you get to our age. And the fact that we're still here is awesome. Um, it speaks to your character, the strength of it. But man, it would be great not to have to think about those things anymore. Have you had any injuries, like like significant injuries? There was a time where I was like, I don't know if I can walk again without agonizing pain. Oh, so that's a yes. Yeah. So yeah. Say more. Oh, I mean, a hundred percent. You know, I pulled 405 from a deficit this today without a warm-up. Yeah. Just walking through the Arnold, like, hey, that's my my mind said, no, this is a terrible idea. My body said, Yeah, yeah, let's do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:29

And it went. The best part is when you go up there and you do it, and those kids are looking at you like, fuck did that old guy just do?

SPEAKER_07 57:38

I had a friend, uh, a powerlifting partner, he's like 32. Total freak. Bench is 600 raw, um, that kind of guy. And he he looks at me, he's like, I can't believe you're like a hundred years old, and you can still do this.

SPEAKER_03 57:54

I'm like, I'm a hundred? Really? Ryan's like, in this one group I hang out with, I'm the youngest. Yeah, I feel 100 some mornings, but yeah, I I love that. That's a that's a great thing because that just speaks to all of it, right? Why we're why we're doing this master and athlete survival guide thing is the ability to do it and like meaningfully do it. We've talked about it how many times where it's the person can't get off the couch, they can't move, they can't tie their shoes. What are they doing on the couch? Huh? What are they doing on the couch?

SPEAKER_07 58:27

They're eating something, right? But um look at the like snacks?

SPEAKER_03 58:31

Pop tarts, some sort of snack, nutty buddies, swinklies, cheetos! Ah, not a sponsor. Oh, damn. At some point, we really need to no, wait, no, they're just not a sponsor.

SPEAKER_04 58:46

I think Brian, you and I should email them on behalf of the Master Athletic and Bible guide.

SPEAKER_01 58:50

Oh my god, I was listening to this podcast and they kept asking you, they're the best. I bought so many Cheetos because they kept saying not to buy Cheetos.

SPEAKER_03 58:57

You know what's gonna happen? They'll do that and they'll send us like a free bag of Cheetos. No, they'll send you a season distance letter. Do we need to then say a sponsor? Like hashtag, a sponsor, Stokehouse, yeah, sitting on the couch eating Cheetos, currently a sponsor. Hey kids, this is John speaking. I think hungry right now. Have you considered a crunchy cheesy snack? Well, according to our buddy Hal, not all the time, but every once in a while. Scott, is there a thing you desire? You know what's funny without going too too deep into it. We joked about it two days ago, I think. We were either just getting here or we had just gotten here. I would love to open a place where people can just go somewhere and do stupid stuff. And everybody knows your name?

SPEAKER_00 59:54

No, and they're always glad you came.

SPEAKER_04 59:58

Sometimes you want to go.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:00

Where? To Funky Town. Oh, nice. Thanks. He's fun that up. I was going, I just turned left. You know, we we had we jokingly had talked about you know building a trebuchet and a shape bar.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:17

Oh, wait, we were joking about that?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:19

Shooting a Gatlin gun cannon full of paintballs or something. Yeah, just that stupid thing, you know, for a long time. Ryan, this kind of speaks to what you're saying. You know, you you talked about the physical side, or I'm talking about sort of that stress emotional side of it, where you can let it go and you're not worried about it. The the smash room. Oh, I've got that with Tim Lilly.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:40

Yeah, Tim Laley.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:42

Just the ability to not have to worry about it relatively easily, be able to afford to do it, where people just let the steam off because there's so much stress in the world right now.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:57

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:59

I applaud that. And if this if this podcast gets me to Tahiti, all the better.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:05

You have a question there, big guy?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:07

Gonna go fund me for John's Tahiti project.

Staying True To Goals In Real Life

SPEAKER_04 1:01:09

Yeah, right. I do, and I think this will run more into the master athlete side. How do you remain authentic to your goals? Ooh. Athletic, professional, personal. I don't care. How do you remain authentic to your goals?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:22

I'm gonna go first on this one.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:25

The people I surround myself with.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:27

Because I say my goals to get them to hold me to them for those moments when I start waving. You know, we we've talked about our tribe, our community, our supportive group of other people when I get yelled at for saying tribe too often. You do say tribe a lot. Tribe a lot? What's a tribe a lot?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:48

It's a little tribe shy.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:50

Nice well done. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:52

It's I think it's the people that surround us because it allows us to hold ourselves accountable without personally holding ourselves accountable. I think that's that's what I use to sort of reach my goals. Cool. And if we can inspire, if I can like push Ryan or John or you, Mark, to push yours a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:13

Oh, I've got text messages for you going, why aren't you coming out today?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:19

Ryan, what do you think? Uh flexibility. Maybe this is the answer to the agility part. You know, when you're younger, uh, you don't have family or you know, job or you know, like big job responsibilities or anything. Um you can just go all out all the time. You're consistent, you eat the same. But when you're older, things come up. Family stuff. I went through a family thing recently, um, and it just wore me down mentally. So I had to change things up. Um, and I was working with a coach at the time, shout out to Johnny Shreve. Uh, anyone looking for a you know, lifestyle, nutrition, exercise coach, whatever, he's great because uh he worked with me mostly on the psychology and the emotional side and being able to be consistent with what you can be consistent with when things are hard. Maybe you can't do 100%, maybe you can't do 50%, but if you're still showing up, part of the time there's something. Uh maybe you don't do the things you don't like. You show up and you do the things you like, which is better than not showing up at all. Uh so just being able to be flexible uh when things are hard, and so I'm still chasing the goal. Maybe not as hard, but I'm still in the race.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:35

So what and part of what I got out of what you just said was you have to show up. Ladies and gentlemen, this silence is brought to you by John Kettle and his own.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:45

With Scott boring guys boring to his potential. Mark. Um using yesterday's example, I got in my own head. Now I have to come back Monday, back to the gym, and fix it. I gotta get myself back where I was and keep going and keep pushing. Tell us. Last event I was set up to take third, going into it. All I needed was one lousy rep on the grandfather clock, and I could not pull a single one because I didn't set my grip properly. It slipped, and after that, I was a hot mess in my own head and couldn't recover. Okay. So now I've just got to get back in the gym and push harder.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:26

But I think the growth is in the recognizing that. Because you could very easily pile on the excuses. Slippery implement, I was tired, I didn't get enough sleep. You're right, you through all of this. Got it in my room. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:43

I mean, you guys, as I'm walking off the platform, you got Scott was. I thought you were gonna say let's not go to the next one. Scott definitely looked at me and went, You got in your own head, and I'm like, Yeah, I know. I blew the first lift and I was done after that. Yeah, I just as soon as I felt a slide, I knew I didn't take the time to set properly.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:03

Jonas? What you're doing? Are you gonna answer this one?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:06

What's the question?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:07

No, authentic. I can here's it. The short answer is a long answer. We've had a few of them.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:15

I competed this week way below any potential I have. Way below 40% of what I can do. It's a function of both the reality of work's been burdensome, and that's probably not always gonna change. And like Ryan said, I probably should have done what I could, as opposed to not doing anything. So there's definitely a like Ryan solved it better than I did. Half steps are better than no steps. Yeah. And that is a painful bronze colored pill to swallow. And it's a big one, too. Oh, I know. See, this is the best metal I've ever seen a big shiny one. It's the best metal I've ever seen. That I don't own.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:01

I'm actually a little jealous.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:04

I'm not. Oh, oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Captain Gold. We should acknowledge the fact that Scott won his uh age group.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:13

I would, except I'm in his age group or weight class, rather.

Lessons Learned And Final Goodbyes

SPEAKER_03 1:06:16

Yeah. I don't know. I'm looking for something to wrap up on because we're kind of getting into wrapped up land. And like I'm not gonna ask this to the group, but like one of the questions is why do people crave attention? And I'm not gonna open up the doors. We do not have any time for that for you. The way I would answer is people crave attention because why wouldn't you want to be attentive to me? I mean, duh. Have you seen me? Oh my gosh. I know. All I do is I know that's why I wear this metal for you. Thanks. I appreciate that. I'm gonna steal this one from you. Okay. What is a lesson that you've learned that you didn't know, or that you think is gonna help you grow? Oh, wow. This is that's a this is a foundational master's athlete thing. 100%, I think so. Wow, a lesson uh that fake doctor worked a little bit this time. It did it. Well, you're an education doctor. This feels very educational. I mean, it wouldn't stop, you know, it wouldn't help me if I was bleeding, but you know, whatever. You want to start us off, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:07:33

Sure. I don't know if this is fits exactly, but uh, you know, we we all think we're immortal on some level as as we, you know, when we're young. As we get older, for many reasons, we realize that's not true anymore. At some point we know we're going to die. And there is some some uh comfort in that because we all we're all gonna hit the same ending. It's the time between when we realize that and when that happens is the difference. What do we choose to do? And yeah, what am I gonna make of it? It's gonna end. What am I gonna do with that time?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:18

That's pretty damn good. That is really good. That's a pretty damn good answer. I don't think I can follow that.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:30

Don't give up on myself, because I have before. Even and that probably goes back to my qu last answer to the last question, and even yesterday, I gave up on myself with that one slip. But there's that can go anywhere in life with that.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:46

I think as long as you keep realizing that that's okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:51

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:51

Because there are gonna be times we're gonna quit in our head.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:54

Correct. Which, like I said, it goes back to the other answer. You've got to recover and keep moving, even if it takes a couple days, or whatever amount of time.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:05

Really? I have to talk about a lesson I've learned recently that I and I and I didn't do that to beat you off. No, no, no. No, no, I'm being an ass. Because here's the reality. Wow. These are my friends, people. Love your body. Thank you. Wow. Um, I think the lesson I've learned through sport is we waste our lives. How so? We either fill it with nonsense, social media scrolling, Netflix, just spending ten times more time on some detail that didn't require 10 times that time, starting, stopping, starting, stopping, which is not nearly as efficient as just taking half steps forward. I think we waste a lot of time. And then we say to ourselves, I don't have the time for X. When you really need the time, you always seem to find it. I think there is the time. I think we just fill it inappropriately. And I I that is that is the boat anchor that I drag through life every day, I think. You learned anything? Yeah, I I think I got one. Do you? I mean we recently hired a new academic advisor in the Western New York campus. Okay. Okay. And she said something that was simple but but profound and sort of led me to something I've circled most of my life. She said, Scott, the thing I've learned, and she's young, she's in her like 20s, maybe, maybe her early 30s. She said, the days are long, but the years are short.

unknown 1:11:06

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:07

And I've never heard that before. Really? Yeah, I've never heard that before.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:12

No, right. I I firmly admit there's a lot of the things that are, you know, pretty common knowledge, but to me, it's that, and it led me to believe that, you know, John, like you said, we do a lot of doom scrolling or or stuff that we waste time on. I think to me, and it goes back to one of the first questions we've talked about tonight. I don't know if anything is a waste if I get to spend it with people I love most. My wife, my daughter, my friends. That guy over that guy over there. The guy over there with the bronze medal.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:56

Well, did you notice the room is split metal, no metal?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:00

Oh, oh, is that what you don't have? I think we've been segregated.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:03

This is the winner's circle of it, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:05

But I think it's just it's that that sort of and you and I have talked about it forever. Surround yourself with your people. Yep. Yep, that's absolutely true. I had not heard the whole days are long.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:21

Yeah, I've never heard that one either. I always think I'm the last person to hear something.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:24

Oh, you were you were early on on this one. I'm an early adopter. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:28

Yes. You know what I think? What? I think I'm still Scott.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:32

Oh, is this where we do the thing where uh still John?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:36

Are you John?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:37

They should probably say their names. Who are you?

SPEAKER_07 1:12:40

I'm Ryan.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:42

I thought you were Wayne.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:43

I as long as I'm not late for dinner.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:46

Uh-huh. I'm still Mark, but I want to be Ryan because he got a medal.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:50

No. You do not deserve a medal.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:54

Ladies and gentlemen, that was some old man wisdom here in Columbus, Ohio. Thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:03

I think that's in the beginning. I thought we did it at the end, too. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:07

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:08

Bye. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:10

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share with others, post it on your social media, or leave a review. To catch all the latest from us, you can follow us on Instagram at Masters Athlete Survival Guide. Thanks again. Now get off our lawn, you damn kids.