What We Would Tell our 15-Year-Old Self About Training and Life After 40

We start with a disgusting Instagram ad and somehow end up in a real conversation about the advice we wish we could give our 15-year-old selves. We talk mindset, training basics, smart risks, and why we might not change a thing even after plenty of mistakes. 
• there is no time, start today and let consistency compound 
• letting the small stuff go, caring less about what people think 
• mastering basics that carry over into sport, work, and health 
• choosing the harder path on purpose and taking smart risks early 
• slowing down, resting, and balancing intensity with recovery 
• finding motivation through other people’s stories and building your tribe 
• regret, identity, and why your messy path still makes you you 
• upcoming strongman and Love Like Ben Foundation events 
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Transcript

Welcome And The Big Mission

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Masters of Athletics Revival, where we explore the secrets to thriving in sports after 40. I'm John Candelinus, and along with Scott Flick, we'll dive into training tips, nutrition hacks, and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes who defy age limits. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong, and motivated. Let's get started.

The Foot Straw Internet Rabbit Hole

SPEAKER_01 0:26

And we're back. Hi, I'm John. I'm still Scott. Hi. Um, Scott, so I was on the internet as people are wont to do.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

You weren't on those sites again.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

No, I don't I don't do that. I'm I'm afraid of those sites, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Like although this this came up. This is why we need a video podcast. Look on John's face.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

I have an incredibly tolerant like life. Like I people you you let your freak flag fly, whatever. Look at our friends. Some things I don't understand. I saw on Instagram, which tries to sell me things, tried to sell me a foot-shaped with an elongated big toe straw. So you put the foot into your drink and sucked on the toe to drink. And I honestly, it was probably a five-second ad. And I watched about two seconds of it, and I, me, disgusted.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Folks, yeah, at some point, you know, we've teased that we're gonna go video and stuff like that. Not that one. But to give you a quick description, John, we're sitting in you know Aurora Studios, and he has this very eclectic sort of collection of stuff. You know, he's got two dragon's claws holding a sword that he won. Doesn't everybody? It's it's super cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

But and where are we going with this?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

The fact that you turned off an ad for something like that are out of norm.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I tell you what, next time the ad comes up, I am sending it to you and I will share my disgust. Hi, my name is Mark Taylor. Yeah, hi. So because of that ad, I I sort of went down the garden path of you only watched it for two seconds. That's all it took. It was very triggering. Um it took about you know, I it took me down the garden path of nose. Boy, I wish I, you know, there are some decisions I wish I could change. I'm like, because thank god I never like I don't need I don't understand feet. Don't understand feet. They they help you walk, but in the multiverse, there is uh John that loves feet, I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

No, I I can understand what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

So anyway, so where are you going with this? I don't know. No, I do know.

The 15-Year-Old Self Question

SPEAKER_01 2:57

So, in the spirit of improving as an athlete and of getting way off the topic of feet, um what would I I sort of ask myself the classic question what would I tell my 15-year-old self? Who I chose 15 because I feel like you transition to high school, you you're a freshman, you know, you walk around clueless, thinking, you know, 10 seconds ago I was in eighth grade and I ran the school. Now I'm a freshman and I'm nobody. Sophomore year, I feel like you're kind of catching your balance. That's that's how I feel about this. I can see that. That that's how I feel about this.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

But you know, it's funny. No growing up in North Donnawanda, yeah, ninth grade was in the middle school, was in the junior high.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Yeah, the divisions of schools are inconsistent and confusing. What do you call the grades between, I don't know, let's go with one through six?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

To well, remember, we're old. That's elementary school.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

See, for me, it's grammar school. Well, which I don't know, I don't even know where that term comes from, and I hopefully I like more than grammar.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

It's the old Latin phrases.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah, I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

But it I know what you're saying, because I mean we were a six three three district, so one through six. Oh, I was gonna say what seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. So I mean, I I understand what you're saying, and I like the concept of exploring what I would tell the 15-year-old myself. Because you're right, you know, your last year, whatever it is, your last year in junior high, middle school now, whatever, you're you're the big fish in the little pond. And then if you're in a big city where you've got four or five that dump into one high school, you go from a class of 150 to a class of six hundred.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Oh, you're adorable. I think I went from a class of thirty to a class of a hundred and fifty, but you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Well, I went to we should explain that.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

I went to Catholic school, you went to heathen school. We call that public school. Yeah, same thing. Um no, but I I feel like it's a classic old man trope. Like if I could go back in time and tell my 15-year-old self blah, I would tell it blah. So, what would be the first thing? What would be your first blah?

There Is No Time Start Now

SPEAKER_01 5:21

My first blah, I think, is this is gonna sound awful because it's probably not completely true. But it's you, so it's there's no time. There is no time. Do it now. There is no time when when you are and I and I suffer from it now. You know, at 58 years old, I suffer from it now. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Tomorrow will be better if you start today. There is no time. That that's I think number one. Because think of the things that if you had started even in mediocrity back then, how farther you'd head if you just had some consistency.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Well, you and I have had that conversation many times for for multiple reasons. I I don't know how long ago it was, maybe within the last year when I was working, somebody said, Yeah, the days are long, but the years are short. Oh, and I think that fits with what you're saying because you wake up and like, oh Jesus, I got a 13-hour day, then I gotta work out, you know, I gotta cook dinner, I gotta this, I gotta that, and you know, I want to spend time, you know, with my wife or the kids or whatever. The days are long, but man, you blink. It's like like you said, holy shit. I I'm 55, I'm not 35 anymore.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

No, you're not. No, you're not. And think about the think about if somebody had come to you at 15 and said, You have 40 years to uh do this skill. Do a little of it every day. How how good do you think you'd be right now? Right? I mean moderately above average. Well, yeah, basically true, but still, and that's it's just not athletic stuff. I mean, no, life. Yeah, there's there's no time, there's no time. So that's my thing. That was my number one. There's no time.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

I think for me, my number one, and I like your number one, I really do. You don't hear me compliment John often, folks. Please make sure it's 704. You uh you realize Twitter into that yeah, footnote. And it's a book

Stop Caring What People Think

SPEAKER_00 7:38

out there. It's stop sweating the small stuff, man. Let the bullshit go. You know, because growing up in that moment, we always worry about what does Susie think? What does Johnny think? What you know, what you know, what am I gonna feel like? Who cares? You know, when I job I worked previous to at the college now, there was a phrase in a guy's locker that I worked with, and it was Diligaf, do I look like I give up? And I I think that's a great mentality. Live life is life.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

I don't think you could convince 15-year-old Johnny trying to impress 15-year-old whatever her name was at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Was it Karen?

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Not yet, no. Um that I shouldn't care what she thinks. You're right.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Well, we didn't say we'd accept the understanding.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

You're not wrong, yeah. But yeah, that might that might have been a stretch.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

But I think it to me that's something that yeah, yeah. Yeah. And some of that's a matter of the time frame, and we're talking the 70s, yeah. So some of that was a completely different mentality.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yeah, free love. Oh no, that was the 60s.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

That was the 60s. I wasn't alive then. Oh. You were three. I was three, but I was way into free love.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Hey, baby, want to change my diaper? Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

That was terrible.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

That goes back to the feet thing. Did you know that there's people that dress like babies, like adults? What's your second one, John? Because we're not going down that rabbit hole, so you knew. Oh, I may have touched a nerve. Okay. Um,

Master Basics That Pay Off

SPEAKER_01 9:22

dear John, dear 15-year-old John. Master the basics. I think I would be ahead of where I am now if I mastered how to study well in school. I suspect that I'd be a better athlete if I mastered cardiovascular health and movement. Uh, I think I would be financially better off if I mastered taxes and stuff. I know. We are sitting in Placial Aurora Studios. I know. I know. All right, but it took me a while to get here. Um, I think I think focusing on the the basics, especially at that age, right? Where you can I don't know. Again, you got time on your side. I'm gonna prove your point for you.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Okay. I had to take a class in business to finish a business major in high school. And the only class that would fit in was typing.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Nice. I blew off typing because I thought to myself, I'm not gonna be a secretary, I don't need to use keyboard skills. Dude.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

It may be the best course I ever took in my educational career.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Can you type? Oh, exceptionally well. Yes, yeah. I I can type, but it's it's a weird hybrid of just 30 years of trying to type. Oh no, it's really I really can't like fingers on the home keys and everything. Damn. A S D F J K L Semi. Well, look at you being a baller.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Yeah, you know. Nice.

unknown 10:59

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Don't know if I'd quite equate those two, you know, learning to type, getting into the Arl ahead of all the other regular peon broccoli heads.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Whatever. It's still a superpower these days. Because it is honestly, when you took that class, it was filler. Now it's like essential communication.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

But you know what's funny is when we're on a phone, I can't do the thumb thing. But when I watch, you know, teens, 20-somethings, their thumbs move faster than I do with 10 fingers.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Oh, my dog, my daughters can text behind their back. That was Ben.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yeah, I mean Ben could do the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Yeah, I and I don't even think I use both thumbs. I think I use one. Now I don't I don't do the hold the phone far away, look down my nose, use my index finger. I'm not quite that old yet.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

I do the drag spell thing. Oh, I don't do that. Oh, yeah. If I like if I spell, you know, tomorrow, T O M arrow or whatever. Yeah. And it says, Do you mean tomorrow? Yes, I do. Nice. I wonder if that's what Mark does.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Is that why texting takes an hour and a half for you to reply? Because you're like every sounding out every word.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yes, I am. Excellent. All right, so my second one kind of plays with what you're saying.

Do Hard Things Take Smart Risks

SPEAKER_00 12:14

It's you know, literary in a sense. Take the road less traveled. You know, in my mind, we always look for that quick break, and it kind of plays on what you said. Master the basics, start from square one, do the hard things first. Because then when you can do the hard things over and over, everything gets easy. Yeah, they're not the hard things anymore. It it plays on something that Bruce Young said to us the one time practice failure. Shout out to Bruce. Shout out to Bruce with uh you know the mindset minutes. You know, when Bruce said to us, there are times I'll go and work out and I'll purposely forget a shoe, or I love that, you know, or something like that. And practice the hard things. That that's what I would have said to myself back then.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Would you have listened?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

I think so. Yeah. Because I I I always looked at it and you looked how not to do it, but then I would like take it apart and see where people were failing.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

So I think I might have yeah, I I'm sure I would, especially like so. My my college coach just came up to Western New York for uh the dedication of a new track at the college I went to, and he's 80. You know, he's he's 80. And if you know he does he have a deadlift world record, not yet. Oh, I should have suggested it. Um that would piss you and Doc off. He looks me like after he like, you know, we hadn't seen each other in years and years and years and years. The first thing he goes is, why were you always in my office? And it's like it's because if he had told me, you know, if you hit yourself in the head with a brick 18 times a day, you'll be a better athlete. Absolutely would have done it. I would have done anything he told me to do. So if if what's his number? Yeah, right. Well, now it's a little different. I'm old and crotchety and set in my ways. I have the Catalina uh like addendum to your do the hard things. Take a risk, take all the risks, yeah. You have time on your side, you are 15 years old. Take all the risks. You're you're gonna fail, and you have plenty of time to pick yourself up. And the and honestly, at 15, the consequences.

unknown 14:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Ask the girl out. Oh, she says no. Oh, my life is devastated. Nah, you probably won't even remember her name when you're 58. Susie. Oh, thanks. Um, you know, uh try the yeah, try the food. Uh do the do the sport that like scares you.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

I like that. I like that idea because you're right. At 15, failure isn't what it is in your 50s or your forties or your sixties or whatever. There's no consequence.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

You know, you don't have a mortgage, you don't have people really relying on you. You your parents are a huge safety net for the most part.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Well, let me put the uh the fight addendum on the Catalanus addendum. I like this. This is getting all legal. The fight, the fight corollary is within legal reason. Oh well.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

I'm sorry. The Masters Athlete Survival Guide is neither legal nor medical advice. I am a doctor, but oh, do I have to push that button over there? Oh, not a doctor.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Apparently, we need to now get somebody on who deals with Alzheimer's for John. I forgot what that was.

Old Training Culture And Strongman Stories

SPEAKER_00 15:52

All right, so I then went into sports because I mean it it it's kind of my catharsis right now for everything. And it's a lot of, you know, what's it's how our whole friend group really met was through, you know, Highland Games and that type of stuff. Our phrase now is embrace the grind. You know, so it goes back to your cardiovascular health understanding. Do hit training before there was such a thing as hit training. I think that's something that back then, you know, in high school, it was all about all right, so measure out a mile in the city streets and know where the mile is so you can run it or run it twice or whatever. So it was just having a heart that would go, but the muscles didn't follow.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

I don't even think like there was not the general awareness of athleticism.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Muscle and fitness, and um what was the other one? The powerlifting one.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Powerlifting USA.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, that's where everything came from.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

From and and the insight, don't let's not forget Arm Schwarzenegger's encyclopedia of bodybuilding.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

But those things I can remember taking Latin in high school and walking around with my copy of Muscle and Fitness because my mom got me a subscription too. Oh, yeah. We were begtime, we were we were balling back then, and I sat down in class and I'm talking with some friends, and Dr. Franzette comes over and he says, Scott, I got a question for you. I said, Yes, sir. Do you think that you're gonna look like that if you do what they say? And that was kind of a smack in the face. Yeah, why he he was trying to get me to think out of more than just the sales. So he said, Oh, you know, work out, yeah, but be the best you. You're not gonna look like you know, Lee Haney or Dorian Yates back then or those types of things. So it's it's do the things, but do them with intelligence and an open eye.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Does it hurt your heart that I think a lot of that stuff was either wrong, false, or ghost written? No. Oh, it bothers me.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Not at all. Because I think I was hook, line, and sinker. Not at all. Because when you look at it and they're saying I do six six sets of 20 repetitions per set at this low weight. I mean, we understand the concept of hyperpot hypertrophy. I can't say it. I can't say it today. But I'm sorry, you don't get legs like Tom Platt's and be doing six sets of 20 with 250 pounds. You're moving a mountain when you're squatting, you need to bust those things up. And I think that's where I sort of understood that. That was my first question when I looked at those things. I never had powerlifting USA, but yeah, see, I was never skeptical.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

I I Flex magazine, Muscular Fitness. I got a bridge. Muscular fitment. Yeah, I was all in.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Well, muscular development was the precursor of personal fitness, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

I have I have. I can't believe I even hung it up in this uh studio. I have a copy that's framed, and on the front is Franco Colombo, and on the back is Dave Draper. And I got autographs from both Franco Columbo and uh Dave Draper. Was that before or after Franco broke his leg carrying a refrigerator?

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Oh, that's brutal. I can't watch that. I saw it and I'm like, oh no. Yeah, that's why we will never have a refrigerator period.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Yeah, uh folks, we we talk a little too much about strongman on here, but look back at some of the strongman competitions from the 80s. Were they called they weren't called World's Strongest Man?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

It was World's Strongest Man, but it was held, it was 10 events for the finals, and you didn't have all the the sort of preliminaries, and they were held over multiple days, in some cases weeks.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Oh, because in my head I think I'm mixing them up with Battle of the Network Stars. Yes, that was great. Did you know they're bringing back American Gladiators? I did. Did you know that your friend Danny Spiegel is going to be in it? She's not my friend, but she looks like Zap. I think Zap was her.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Oh, yeah, that monstrously large jack blonde woman. I think so.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Yeah. I wonder if they're just trying to recreate the model. That's cool. I'm gonna have to watch that. Yeah, that's cool. All right, what else you got?

Slow Down Rest And Train Smarter

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Uh okay. So I get in the DeLorean, I I feed it with 1.21 gigawatts, gigawatts of electricity. I go back to what would that be? 1983. Um No, it'd be earlier for no 83, yeah, because you're three years older. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I jump out of the DeLorean, I run up to myself. What would I say?

SPEAKER_02 21:00

You should slap yourself for that mullet.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

All right. Yeah, I'd probably give myself a checklist. Do not do these things. Don't do them. Um I think I'd slow down and enjoy the ride. I think at least until I was 30, there was this sense of wanting to turn a page. Wanting to get to the end of the chapter, wanting to Oh, high school, gotta get out of high school. Yeah, push fast. College, gotta get out of college, you know. Although for Karen's behalf, get out of college took five years, but you know. It was a good fifth year or two, so whatever. But no, I think and I and I think it decreases as you get older because there's less, you know, the the weight of time is behind you. A little bit But I had such a sense of I do want to grow up. I don't want to be a Toys R Us kid.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

I'm so glad you went there. I was singing that in my head.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

I've I've actually been singing Taylor Swift when you're 15, and someone tells you they love you, you'd kind of believe them. I hate you right now. That's fine. I don't even know if I got the line right, but that's what's in my head.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Enjoy the ride. I think mine again plays off of that a little bit. Slow down. You move too fast.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Gotta make the this is clearly music driven.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Feeling groovy. Yeah. Too often, you know, we get stuck in the mentality when we're kids and in our in our teens. If one is good, two is better, ten is best. You know that sounds like my stag party. We're not talking about bottles of uh bourbon, are we? Oh, well I still fight with a mentality, and I think it's because I've been doing it since I was a kid. You don't rest, you don't take a break, you don't slow down. Because when you slow down, that's when everything bad happens.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

So I mean Oh, see, that's that that look, there's a whole episode and of itself, because I think I'm the opposite. I think if you do things slowly and avoid the opposite path, you're avoiding bad things. Um Wow, this sounds I we should have Bruce back on. I feel like this This would be a Bruce conversation. It does sound like a Bruce conversation.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

But I mean, I'm not saying slow everything down. You know, it's I can remember even up until like three, four years ago, training five, six, sometimes seven days a week and the toll that it takes on my body. You know, don't don't avoid the rest.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Yeah, that that's yeah, that's hard. That I think because at least in my experience when I was that age and and semi-lifting, you're you're like I wish I could go back, especially in my early twenties, and and be able to have sort of the knowledge and horsepower I have like now. Oh 100% because I think I think I took it easy on myself a little. Like it was more formulaic. Like I'm going in the gym, I'm gonna do three sets of ten in a squat. That day probably could have used five sets of ten, or maybe seven sets of four, plus supersets and everything else. No, agreed. Yeah, it was uh my training was very formulaic until God, until I was four. Actually, so when I turned 40, my goal was to bench press 500 pounds, and literally I went to the gym to bench press. That was that was my training, and it was very I in fact I probably stole something out of an online article from T Nation or one of those places, on and that was it, but it was super formulaic. Now I looking back, and I I did it, who cares? Um I think I could have got there faster and easier with a little more intelligence.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

You see, and I was the opposite. When I worked out through my 20s, it was working out to exhaustion, like muscle failure, because you know, with wrestling, with martial arts, that type of stuff, you you want to go longer. So I was I was laying the foundation for the gas tank that I I rely on now. But then from probably my late 20s to my 40s, I wasn't doing that anymore. It was that formulaic type of thing. So I I think if I need to find some sort of a happy medium is what I would tell myself.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Yeah, I guess when I was 15, I I still I was shot putting, and I had I was the stereotypical 80s teen movie shot putter. Big baby Huey MFer, who I would stand up, I would throw, I would sit back down. I would take the comb out of my sock and comb my hair. Do you remember that trend?

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Yeah, okay. And yes, I had hair back.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Yeah, me too. Me too. I had I had I had wings. I'm like Red Bull. I had wings. I did. I looked like Farrah Fawcett. It was adorable.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Oh god, that is a visual I do not want.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

But you got it running down the yeah, no, that's Bo Derek. I don't care. Okay, I still don't want to see it. That's not nice.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

What do you got for me?

Motivation Stories And Finding Your Tribe

SPEAKER_00 27:09

You know, knowing that we were gonna have this conversation, I reached out to one of our platinum listeners, Tony King from downholler in Kentucky. Oh shout out to Tony King. Shout out to Tony King. And I asked him this question, and he said I would seek more motivation from others. Oh, you know, because he talked about the the stories about people who are doing the right things and were doing good and stuff like that. And I I don't disagree with him because we're we're kind of wrapped up in our own microcosm. If we could see that in others and sort of steal it, I mean, granted, we're talking the 70s, the 80s, you know, Al Gore hadn't invented the internet yet, and we didn't have the sort of at your fingertip access to everything, but finding those right stories, which I think is translated today into you are the average of the five people you surround yourself with, or more.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

I think there's a little bit of that. It's a it it it speaks almost to tribe, like right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

We beat that up a lot, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

But I mean, right, again, in the eighties, how would you build you you you you got lucky?

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Well, your tribe in the 80s was the people literally around you in your hometown, yeah, and probably in school, right? That that's what I mean. Yeah, you know, your high school. Maybe if you were in some sort of uh, you know, an elite sport like you played hockey or baseball or pickleball. Uh no pickleball. Hey, pickleball wasn't in the 80s. You can't I I get that one, I get that one for free. I know that's not true, but it wasn't a thing. But I mean, all those types of things you might have traveled with some kids that might have been from two towns over or something, but again, you're still talking a very close two towns over.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

People now go like two hours on a plane to go to a tournament as opposed to hello, preaching to the choir over here. Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

But yeah, I mean, some of my closest friends are people that live, you know, well out of state.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Shout out to Tony King. Yes, shout out to Tony King. Well, he lives well out of state, which is both uh down down by the holler. Yeah, it's actually for safety reasons for us. I think so. So it's good to keep him at a distance. How about you? You got any

Would You Change Anything At All

SPEAKER_01 29:44

more? I don't know that I I mean here's the other thing. I let me flip the coin. If I could go back if I could go back and tell my 15-year-old self things, yeah, I'm not 100% sure I would want to. I have made a shit ton of mistakes. I have had horrible days, horrible upon horrible days, but I've also had some ridiculous adventures and some fantastic and I have seen the world's largest ball of twine. I mean, it's across the street from the studio, John. It is in Cawker City, Kansas, people, and I recommend you go there.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

I don't disagree with that because I mean I I go back to the the time you and I were in Colorado and we're driving out of Rocky National Park, and you basically punch me and say, Back up! Oh, yeah, and there's this like 800-pound mule deer.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Oh, you mean that dinosaur with horns? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Chewing its cud next to the road, and it's looking at you and it's like, What's up?

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Did you see this? Is this for no one except for you and I? So if if you're listening, now's a good time to go get some Cheetos. Yeah, go get some not a sponsor. Um, did you see the video I sent you of driving up that road in Rocky Mountain National Park in the winter time? It wasn't winter, it was like well two weeks ago. Yeah, I mean, it was still snowing up there.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

And I sent you back. I said, I know what those poles are for. Right. Stay between the poles.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

So if you've never been to Rocky Mountain National Park, highly suggest it's like a one and a half lane road up to the Alpine Visitor Center, is what they call at the very top. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Time out on the field, though. Yes, sir. The one and a half lane road is for both directions, though.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

So you may have other cars. And there's a there's a wall on one side and there's a cliff on the other, and there's these bamboo poles, and they're what 20 feet tall. Oh, easy, yeah. So every every 10 feet, there's a 20-foot-tall bamboo pole. And we asked somebody at the visitor center where I almost died because I was underdressed. Why? So fucking and they said it there's snow markers, and I kind of chuckled because that felt like overkill. And then in I don't know, what was that, March?

SPEAKER_00 32:06

March or April, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Yeah, they show the snow up there, and they needed 20 foot. How did people do that in covered wagons?

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Well, and the thing was, it was it marked where not you stay between the wall and that pole because if you don't, you die, you've got a hell of a trip for about a half a second.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

But I can't recommend it enough. It's really beautiful, it was really beautiful. And the best part was Scott drove.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

We're at one point, and we're and there's a cliff on both sides of us, and we're driving along, and we're we're in a Jeep, and I'm driving. And John goes, You watch the road, I'm gonna look at the scenery. Yep, I'm like, don't worry, I'm not fucking moving my eyes. Yes, no, it was that was terrifying. But it was it was so worth it. I mean, you know, seeing the the the bighhorns on the side of a sheer, yeah, like sheer mountain, yeah. Something that you would need a rope to climb up, yeah. And they're just like walking around, chewing, talking to each other, hey, you know, what are we doing tonight? Type of thing. It was hilariously funny, but breathtaking.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Yeah. So I mean, think about it. Like it there's probably six decisions that I could have made differently that I would have never been there.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

You know, I can remember when Gene and I first got married and she was working for a different corporation. Um, Scott? Yeah, we're we're recording this.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

So if you're about to say I'm not, okay, I'm not.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Okay, because I'm not the studio. I could put a cot in the studio, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

No, it's uh, you know, she would come home, and one of her dreams for the longest time was to own a clinic, and you know, we currently do own a vet clinic. She would come home and she would, God, this happened, that happened. So back to your point about having those terrible days. But to sort of reinforce it, I would say to her, learn from it. And that's what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Some of the decisions you've made, they suck. Ladies and gentlemen, I just want especially for our married listeners, are you are you sitting here screaming at your listening device as you can picture Scott Fike's wife coming home exhausted, horrible day at work, and Scott looking at her and saying, Yeah, learn from it. How did you live this long? Like, did she? I'm sure she threw something at you.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

No, because what she would say is she goes, Yeah, I'm I'm not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Yeah, you know, I'm not gonna learn from that. I'm going to take a bubble bath and I'm going to shoot you later. You're making your own damn dinner. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

But it it's you're right. We learn from the decisions. We are a result of the decisions we've made throughout our lives. So, you know, we've entertained this sort of whimsy because you didn't want to buy a foot straw for oh, foot straw, you lost me.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

I'm like, what is a foot straw? Oh, yeah, but I started with that. Oh, it's so disgusting. Folks, do not Google it.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

Please Google it because I want I want the comments lit up for John planting the wormhole in your ear.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

No, but if you do need a white elephant gift for somebody, guess what y'all getting for Christmas next year?

SPEAKER_00 35:22

Oh my god. But I mean, it's I guess the question to ask, John, is would you tell yourself anything? You know, we we've each given four or five things that we would say, but would you really?

SPEAKER_01 35:37

I mean, I don't I mean, here, let's get all philosophical. Like, we've bought something that at Home Goods that's written on there. Like live, laugh, love, love. Yeah, yeah, basically. I like who I am today, and I'm a product of all that bullshit, good and bad.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

I so badly want to skewer you and say you're the only one that likes who you are today.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Oh, oh, I was like, you want to skewer me? I felt like I was on a pig roast or something. I did not my brain went in the wrong direction. Sorry. But I mean, I agree. Yeah, I I'm comfortable in my skin, but damn, it took a lot of work.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

My brother Timmy will say often, he says, I sleep very well at night. And I think it's being comfortable with the decisions that you've made, and good and bad, because you deal with the consequences, but they make you who you are.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

Yeah, I I certainly went through a period in my life where I think I said out loud that my Achilles heel is regret because there was a period where I probably would have told 15-year-old self, go left. Just go left. Why don't have you considered prospecting for gold in the middle of the desert by yourself or something? So yeah, but again, here we are today. I don't know that I would say anything to myself. Self I'd said to myself, self? Self, I said, nothing, nothing, you're good. Um you're good, kid. You might want to avoid that. I would say enjoy the ride. That Brian Bosworth mullet haircut that you're gonna do a couple years from now.

SPEAKER_00 37:17

Oh maybe I would say that no. For you, yeah. I I never had to worry about that. Yeah, no. I mean, I think the one thing I would say in and I I stand by this is enjoy the ride. You know, it it you're only gonna get it once. And and what's the the Robin Williams quip? I think it was Robin Williams. You don't get out of life alive.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

Oh, I was thinking of the weird office quote that says you know, if you only knew you were in the go good old days when you were in the good old days. Yeah, that's great. I like that. Yeah, so I don't know. I think we're okay then, Scott. We're good. I'm normal. I don't know about normal, but I don't know about normal, but we're we're okay. I said it on the internet, so it's true. The inner webs. The inner webs.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Um wrap this up. So I I guess, folks, I think the question that you have to ask yourself is would you say something? You know, would would you ask that question of yourself? What would I say to myself?

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Oh my god, I'm I'm gonna perseverate perseverate on this forever now. You're welcome. Not what would I say, would I say?

SPEAKER_00 38:30

Yeah. Ugh. I think that that's the mixing.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

How dare we be thought provoking? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Don't worry, folks, it's not gonna happen all that often. This might be like the third one in three years. Maybe you're welcome. You're welcome. Um, you want to tease anything coming up yet?

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Nope. I got nothing to tease. I'm teaseless. I'm without tease. I am sans tease. Sans tease. Well, oh, I have something.

Summer Events Love Like Ben Updates

SPEAKER_01 38:57

No, I do. This has got nothing to do with anything, other than I'm the evangelist for this. In Mexico, they really don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo. No, they call it the 5th of May. Yeah, they really don't celebrate it, folks. They are not running out for tacos and margaritas like we are. Um, we do that on a Tuesday now, John. Yeah, I know. But Cinco de Mayo is not, it it celebrates some battle in one of the Mexican states. It's not a huge mongoose deal. They're independence days in September. So um, when you go to Mexico on Cinco de Mayo, do not walk up to the bartender and ask him for the Cinco de Mayo specials because he'll just look at you. We call it tequila.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

And it was good. Well, the only thing that I have is, and this is a little bit of a tease, is I'm sure that this is gonna air sometime, probably late June, early July. Yeah, I think that's where we're going. Well, August 8th is the third annual Love Like Memorial Strong, man. Yeah, stop on by. Yeah, sign up. So if you're uh so if you're listening anywhere in you know Western New York, we've we've got folks the western, the the northern hemisphere, the western hemisphere, all the hemisphere. Yeah, I was gonna say because we got folks that come in from Texas, the woods. Yeah, you know, Shelby and Dan come in from Texas with their neighbors who I cannot remember the names, but I can see their faces. Uh they come up from Texas to compete. So yeah, compete, come on down. There's lots of great stuff there, lots of great raffles. We've already got a television that somebody donated a brand new large screen television as one of our raffle items.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

Do you remember when TVs had built-in VCRs because it was the coolest technology ever? I might tell myself to not buy one of those. Because at some point I'm just going to throw it out. I might tell myself buy Apple stock. Oh, there's that too. Um, oh, I also have something else. Uh starting this Thursday, Scott Feck will be competing in the Masters National Strongman.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Well, by the time this airs, Scott will be done competing in the Masters National Strongman.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

He probably won't be recovered yet, though. So oh, entirely possible. We all wish Scott well.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Thank you. And and the week after that, we have the uh the truck pull, the second truck pull.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Oh, we have all sorts of things going on. Yeah, a lot going on this summer for the yeah. Yeah, you won't hear this in time, but uh pay attention. Pay attention. We're gonna we're gonna have a truck pull. You're not gonna be there if you only learned about it from this way, but yeah, it's fun.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

We have a lot of stuff going on for the Love Like Ben Foundation this year. A lot of cool things were uh lot of cool things.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

You know what? What I'm still Scott. I'm still John. Thanks, folks. Hey, 15-year-old John, go to bed. Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it 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.