Dual Coast Podcast

Built Different: Ish Lopez Joins Dual Coast

• Russell Rogers and Dan Scoca

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In this powerful episode of Dual Coast Podcast, we sit down with Ish Lopez to talk about what it truly takes to build success through discipline, consistency, and relentless self-development. From the world of mixed martial arts and intense physical training to entrepreneurship, podcasting, and personal growth, this conversation dives deep into the mindset required to win in every area of life.
Ish breaks down how martial arts shaped his mentality, the lessons combat sports teach about resilience and pressure, and how those same principles apply to business, leadership, and everyday challenges. We also discuss motivation, building a strong personal brand, staying disciplined when nobody is watching, and the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people.
This episode is packed with insight for athletes, entrepreneurs, creators, fighters, and anyone looking to level up mentally and physically.
Topics Covered:
• Discipline & Mental Toughness
• Mixed Martial Arts & Training
• Business & Entrepreneurship
• Motivation & Self-Development
• Podcasting & Content Creation
• Building Confidence Through Adversity
• Success Habits & Daily Routines
• Leadership, Mindset & Resilience

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more conversations focused on health, wellness, business, mindset, and peak performance.

#dualcoastpodcast #IshLopez #Motivation #Discipline #MMA #Entrepreneurship #Mindset #MentalToughness #Business #Training #SelfDevelopment #Podcast #Success #MartialArts #Leadership #PeakPerformance #Fitness #MotivationalPodcast #PodcastLife #CombatSports

@Dualcoastpodcast @Movetoday365 @Danscoca

SPEAKER_00

What's up, Dual Coast family? Welcome back to another exciting episode of Dual Coast Podcast. Exciting. Exciting. I'm your host, Dan Skoka, joined by my West Coast co-host Russ Rogers, joined by very special guest this morning, straight out of Pittsburgh, Ish Lopez. Ish, thank you so much for being with us, man.

SPEAKER_02

What's up, everybody? Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01

Thanks for coming on, Ish. This is amazing. We just connected like a month ago.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's how I work. I work fast.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. That's awesome, man. Great having you on the show. And you got your own show, and uh, you're in your own studio, and we are going to be on your show in less than a month. Yeah, yes, I'm excited for that. It's gonna be awesome, man. Yeah, we're gonna be sitting right there in Pittsburgh as soon as Dan buys his ticket, and uh then we'll be ready to rock and roll.

SPEAKER_02

Just waiting on Dan.

SPEAKER_00

You know, no pressure or anything, but sorry, boys.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, the studio's open all day, so you're that's it.

SPEAKER_01

Hey, are you are you gonna go to the draft at all? Are you interested in that? Because it's gonna be right there in your hometown of Pittsburgh, right there. Home town of the last 10 years.

SPEAKER_02

I will be at the draft, either work or play. I will be at the draft. Um, I'm uh I'm a local law enforcement officer, so they've all hands on deck. I'm also part of the SWAT team, so I'll be there in one form or fashion.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Depends on what color you're gonna be wearing that day. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's it the draft is gonna be insane. They've they've built so many new like Pittsburgh, it's a beautiful city, don't get me wrong, but the amount of work they've done to prepare for the draft, and then they say it's gonna be between 500,000 and a million additional people. On a Sunday, on a Sunday Pittsburgh Steelers game, it's already gridlocked. So I'm interested to see how the influx of people coming in, how that's gonna do, how people are gonna get there, how things are gonna move.

SPEAKER_01

So oh, yeah. Where where is it gonna be held at?

SPEAKER_02

I have no clue. Somewhere downtown, somewhere down, as they say here.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we'll go ahead and where is it that we stay? We stay by the park. Is that that is that considered downtown?

SPEAKER_02

If you're by the park, yeah. Yeah, anything so Pittsburgh's weird, right? They have north side and north shore. When things are going good, it's north shore. When things are going bad, they call it north side. But uh, it's it's all it's all downtown. Oh, that's awesome. Everything's broken up. You have north side, you have Lawrenceville, the strip district, but it it's all it's all connected.

SPEAKER_00

Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01

All right, yeah. We we did a we did a podcast last year, was in Pittsburgh and jumped down to Miami, came back to Pittsburgh, and then we had a podcast, and I was on the top of uh the joinery uh hotel in downtown, up on this rooftop, and it was absolutely beautiful. The rooms weren't great, but the root, but the view outside was uh fantastic.

SPEAKER_02

Um you did the podcast on the rooftop?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I was there. He was yeah, he did. Yeah, I was back home at that point, but yeah, we he did the podcast from the rooftop. It was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01

We were um were you have you been a part of any of the marathons, whether work or fun?

SPEAKER_02

Uh I'm a big boy, so no.

SPEAKER_01

I don't jog.

SPEAKER_02

I support, uh you know, I download the app, I track my friends who who run it. Um, but me personally, I avoid it like the plague.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, the pounding of the joints, man.

SPEAKER_02

It's not fun, it's not fun, which which is interesting enough because I'm I'm I'm creating this challenge. So my podcast called The Relentless Project, it's all about discipline and inspiring those to kind of own their lives and take accountability. And I'm I was this morning at the gym, I'm coming up with a challenge, and it's like do one thing fitness related you don't normally do, right? So for me, unfortunately, it's gonna be running as much as I dread it. So maybe I get into a marathon. We'll see. I was actually gonna ask that question too. That's actually really funny.

SPEAKER_01

What now? How often, how often do you have to do something of something new? Are you looking at doing it for the year? Are you looking at for a day, for a week? What do you like? What's what is the plan?

SPEAKER_02

So the plan, so habits are usually established between 60 and 90 days. Right. So my goal with everything is just to help kind of people uh push into new arenas, push into their, you know, whether it's faith, family, friends, or fitness. Um, these are the pillars of my life. And I think if people own these pillars and and push in these pillars, they're everything in their life begins to change. So I'm thinking between 60 and 90 days, I'm trying to find a sweet spot. You know, Andy Frisella started the 75 Heart Challenge, which is an amazing challenge. I've done it multiple times. And you learn a lot about yourself and you learn a lot about your capabilities. So definitely inspired by by Andy and then his approach to that. But I'm I'm trying to add it in things that I've that have helped me develop as a person and those around me, and just trying to broaden that horizon to hopefully inspire and help others. So between 60 and 90 days, I'm still still a work in progress.

SPEAKER_01

Nice. So um I'm gonna come back to that. But tell me, tell me the most difficult challenge of the 75 hard for you.

SPEAKER_02

The most difficult part of the 75 hard was at the time I did was the diet. Um, you know, I always prided myself in uh I work I train two hours a day at the gym. I do jujitsu for an hour to two hours. I can eat what I want. Um, I ignored the the entire um thought process of good fuel, right? Like in my mind, I'm like, I can eat whatever I want because I I look all right. But the whole point of uh of eating good, you know, it helps your mind, it helps with clarity, inflammation, or so many other things that eating healthy does for you rather than just lose weight, right? In my mind, I didn't need to lose weight, I wanted to bulk up. I like being bigger, I like you know, so the the diet part, honing in the diet, uh was probably the toughest for me. And then reading, I'm not a big reader. I listen to audiobooks, podcasts. Either I have to watch it or I have to listen to it. I can't sit and just do one thing, I have to do like multiple things at once. So reading uh between the diet and the reading, those were the hardest that I had to constantly start over the 75 hard. It was more like 150 hard for me because I had to restart so many times.

SPEAKER_01

And running. Let's add running to that.

SPEAKER_02

The running, the running, if I I can shut it off and do it, not for long distances, you know, but it's boring. So if I have like something in my ear or I'm watching something, like I can tune out for you know, it takes me about maybe nine, ten minutes to run a mile. I can tune out for nine, ten minutes. But like a marathon, you're doing that for 26 points. There's no way there's not enough Netflix or the motivational podcast to get me through that.

SPEAKER_00

I can't just see it long enough for that.

SPEAKER_02

I can't.

SPEAKER_01

Oh hey, you know what, Pittsburgh. We so we were at the uh we were at the kids' marathon last year, which you're gonna be a part of with us for a few hours, which is gonna be fantastic. We'll get you, we'll we'll do a little uh jogging segment for like a hundred yards. So we'll get a clip of you running, you know, maybe across the bridge or something. Um, and that'll be cool. But there was a guy used that forever. There was a guy that um he was the oldest. The real marathon is the next day, 26 point whatever miles it is. And he I believe he was in his 70s or 80s, something like that. And he ran the 26 mile marathon. Um, and he was the last guy, well, the last finisher, not guy, but the last finisher of the day. And it was like dark when he came in, but there were still fans that were there just cheering him on. There's a whole video of it from the um, yeah, from the marathon, from the P3R. It was absolutely amazing that this guy will, his will to do.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's insane, right? He finished. That's wild. That's a feat. That's a feat, honestly. Like running a marathon is not something you just decide to do one day and show up and do. Like it requires effort, intention, intentionality. Like you're constantly battling your demons to get to that end goal. Yeah, so that that's that's amazing. And then at that age, it's impressive.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly. We have a mutual friend, Craig Siegel, that uh he's a runner and he runs a New York marathon every year. And you know, it's ups and downs, even for a runner, right? To run the 26 miles, because he says, you know, sometimes I hit a wall at five miles, like and I the last 21 miles are like uh just like a barrier to try to overcome the body and the mind. And then sometimes I can just he goes, I can just breeze through it. It just uh your body, you know, is going through whatever it's going through, and then your mind has to really click in, right?

SPEAKER_02

You ever heard of the principle of the next mile? I don't think I have. So it's essentially um instead of a big goal, right? When you look at it, we'll look at it as a marathon, 26 miles. If you're sitting there, how am I gonna run 26 miles? It's daunting. A lot of people will not even start because of how how crazy it sounds. But if you just think I gotta run one mile, and then once you pass that mile, just realign your goals. I just gotta make it one more mile. One more mile. That is the perfect place to test that principle and that theory. Um, I apply it in like, let's say you're you're trying to get to the gym, right? You want to lose a hundred pounds. Yeah, you just gotta make it to the next gym session. Right. And then after that, okay, I just gotta make it to one more gym session. So that's the principle of the next mile. You you make things and smaller, uh, you dissect things in smaller goals that lead to this big daunting goal of 26 miles or whatever it is. So maybe that's a good place for me to to test the principle of the next mile. Yeah. In a quarter marathon, because I ain't doing it.

SPEAKER_01

We'll get you on the kids' marathon, which is a mile, and we'll smoke principle of a quarter mile.

SPEAKER_02

I will smoke those kids. I I would I would be at last, and then I'll use the excuse of I can't beat a kid. Like, they're kids, you know. So I could get by on that one.

SPEAKER_01

That's it.

unknown

That's it.

SPEAKER_01

We're gonna have ish at the starting line right in the fairy front in group A, man.

SPEAKER_02

That's my starting position.

SPEAKER_01

Quick twitch right there. Quick twitch.

SPEAKER_02

I can go A to B pretty fast, but as long as B isn't too far away.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So uh Ish, you've been in Pittsburgh, I think you said 10 years, huh?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, what do you what do you love about Pittsburgh?

SPEAKER_02

Honestly, the thing that I love the most about Pittsburgh is the the people, the blue collar, grit, hard work, like just get things done, mentality of of the people here in Pittsburgh. Um, it's something I've always resonated with, especially the more I'm I aged and matured. But then coming here and seeing like that's just how people were wired. Yeah, like I have no excuses because like especially when I talk to these fighters, like they'll work construction all day, they'll go to the gym and and fight and spar and lift, they'll run, and then they'll go home to their their wives or their husbands and and then allocate time to family, and then they wake up the next day and do it with a smile, and it's like how you know when you talk to them, it's like what do you mean, how? It's just it is what it is, this is what I gotta do. Yeah, like that mentality is what I love the most. And the others like it's it's the biggest, smallest city. Yeah, it is big city vibes, but everyone's connected, everyone knows each other. Like it's all it's also interesting. I came here from I'm from Erie, which is a very small city. And you come to Pittsburgh, you're like, wow, big city. But it's it's it's uh it's segmented, right? Like Lawrenceville, you have the strip district, you have obviously downtown, you have Little Italy, you all these all these little neighborhoods within Pittsburgh. And when you go there, the people who grew up there stay there. Like, like everyone was everyone from Lawrenceville, like grew up in Lawrenceville, stayed in Lawrenceville, watched it bloom. There's also Bloomfield, that's another one, and like they never moved to like another part of Pittsburgh. That's what blows my mind. I'm like, you know, everyone in Lawrenceville, but then you go to like downtown and you're lost, and it just blows my mind because it's all connected, it's one street over.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um definitely the blue-collar mentality.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, sure, sure. Yeah, I I was um when I went there a little over a year, about a year and a half ago for the very first time. Uh, I was I was blown away because you you you come over this little hill and then you see the bridge, you see downtown. It's absolutely beautiful. And I've seen it at different seasons. I've seen it at minus seven degrees, I've seen it at the fall when all the colors are changing. You know, I've seen it all. The river, I've seen ice over it. I've you know, I've seen it flowing, blue skies. I mean, it's just it's a beautiful city, and you can walk it in no time. Like you can go from the point to the strip, you can walk it.

SPEAKER_02

You blink, you missed the downtown.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But they just redid the lights on the bridges, too. So, like you're you know, if you're especially you're coming from the airport or you're coming down 79, and like there's this beautiful curve. I would always drive from Erie, which coming south, there's this curve, and then there's this big bridge above you, and then as you you keep navigating 79, the city just like emerges in the in the back, and it just seeing that, I'm like, it's it's such a beautiful city, and then you're in it, and the bridges are lit up, and there's life in the city, and everyone's out and with their families and walking and the points, you know, the the the fountains going. It's a beautiful city. I love Pittsburgh. It's I hate the cold, but I I do love Pittsburgh, and it's hard to leave because it's such a beautiful big city in a small in a small facet.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Well, we were blown away, Dan, uh, when we got to the starting line. We got there before actually mayhem erupted, right? And and when I say mayhem, it was orchestrated mayhem, but it was like, you know, we get there by PNC Park in the parking lot across the street, and you know, there's a lot of people, you know, and then all of a sudden, man, it just filled up, and it was just a sea of kid little kids, I mean little, little kids and parents, and we're going around interviewing, that whole wave takes off, and then a whole new wave comes in. And it was just like this, uh, you know, for we were there for probably about an hour, and then we, you know, ditched over to the to the point, and where everybody's finishing, right? And so everybody's coming in, and it's just 20,000 people converging on the point, the point park there. It's just it's amazing. So when you talk about families, like these families like are tight-knit, they love it and they love outdoors and they love activity, you know? And that's I I love that about Pittsburgh and just learning it for a short period of time.

SPEAKER_02

I I I love driving. I do a lot of driving, and one thing I envy is, you know, I'm going through downtown and I see like the couples or the families, and they're walking the point. Like, I'm on the bridge and I'm looking out and I'm seeing this, and I'm like, that is so cool. Like, I need to be more intentional with doing that. I never get around to it, but it's like I envy that, right? These families who drive downtown, park their cars, and they just they just walk together, they explore nature, they touch grass. Like, that's something we don't see anymore. And the point's the perfect place. Like, Pittsburgh's a mini concrete jungle, but now you have the point with grass and the fountain, you're overlooking the the rivers, like you can see the stadium from across the point. Like such a beautiful, beautiful thing, and it's something I feel like if you're in Pittsburgh, you need to do. And then we have Mount Washington. You can walk Mount Washington and look over the entire city. Like, yeah, it's something that's me, me personally, I'm guilty of a need to do more. Enjoy, enjoy what's here.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, one place that I went to, uh have you been to the bicycle museum? Uh it's it's past the football stadium.

SPEAKER_02

And it's like I didn't even know there was a museum for bicycles.

SPEAKER_01

They have the most bicycles. You get you got it, you have kids.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You gotta take the kids to the bicycle museum. They have like the most bicycles of any museum, period.

SPEAKER_02

And they've got I didn't even know there was a market for museums and bicycles.

SPEAKER_01

I just I'm learning to see. I'm glad you came on the show. Yeah, yeah. Let me tell you about Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna have to check that out. I'm gonna have to have you heard about the bicycle museum, like people gonna look at me like I'm crazy.

SPEAKER_01

You gotta go, you have to go, it'll blow your mind.

SPEAKER_02

That'll be the first thing I Google.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it will blow your mind. I mean, that doesn't have anything to do. Well, it does have to do with health and wellness because if you get on a bike and ride it, that's good for you. But this museum is just like you gotta take your time and go through it because I have no I thousands of bicycles. Yeah, that's insane from way back, like 1900s, early.

SPEAKER_02

My people's bicycle in there, the low riders with the there you go. They got everything suspension, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Man, they've got they've got the old Schwins, they got the little the you know, gear shift on the front, they've got um they've got the um who was it? The uh the Beatles, they have the Beatles bicycle there, which has got like uh four seats on it, or five, four or five, something like that. Four, right? Uh, you know, it's just unbelievable. Elvis Presley got a bike from him, it's just it, yeah, you just it'll blow your mind.

SPEAKER_02

So you're saying I didn't make it until I get a bike. I will have a bike in that museum, the relentless bike.

SPEAKER_00

If you're looking for a podcast guest, you can maybe have the curator of the bicycle museum on it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know what, you know the questions I will have for that person. Like, what inspired you to start this, first of all? And let's talk about I love the behind the scenes of businesses, right? That's one thing. How do you monetize this? Can we can we talk? Give me some advice I can use for the podcast.

SPEAKER_00

You get people like Russ Rogers inside. That's it, man.

SPEAKER_01

Promoting it right here on Dual Coast, yeah, sponsored by that's interesting.

SPEAKER_02

I'll have to Google that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Ish. So, you know, you always put yourself in a lot of uncomfortable situations. You're in law enforcement, you're in jujitsu, you have the podcast, things like that. What's something that's going through your head when you're putting yourself in an uncomfortable situation, and how do you override any hesitation?

SPEAKER_02

So I think I have the thoughts that everyone else has. How am I gonna do this? Um, what's the next step? How do I start? Um, you know, that how, how question is I think what differentiates people getting started and people who never start it. Um some people ask how you know, how how am I gonna lose weight? Or how do I get to the gym? And they're asking of good intention. Um, other people ask the same exact question, looking for a way out. Um, so my my mindset is always like, is this gonna am I gonna have to barrel through? Or are there avenues I can that someone has already established that I can explore? So I guess the the best way that I do it is just going in with this will be done. It will be done, and it will be done as soon as possible. And then just finding out uh probably the best way that to go about it. So I like to ask people, like for example, skydiving. That's something that was very daunting to me. And a good buddy of mine, uh Mike Fisher, gotta shout him out because he's talking about one of the most disciplined individuals I know. He woke up one day, decided to run the Iron Man. Moved to Texas where the Iron Man was gonna be for three months to just train. Wow. Like that's a that's a perfect example of just you just have to do it. And then while he's training for the Iron Man, he decides to get his uh his skydiving license. Like um, so that's what kind of influenced me, right? So he's hitting me up. Oh, you gotta do it, you gotta do it. I I fly down there to support him for the Iron Man, and here comes the task. All right, we're driving to go skydiving. And fun fact the scariest part of skydiving is the drive there and the flight up. It's not the jump, it's the fears we put our we tell ourselves, it's the situations and scenarios we create in our head, it's uh all the questions we have what's it gonna be like, what's is is the worst case gonna happen? It's like the worst part of skydiving and the worst part of anything new, honestly, is our thoughts about it. Yeah, because we've never been there, so we create the worst case scenarios that uh will unfortunately let a lot of people never explore something new or never try something new.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I can see that.

SPEAKER_02

So, you know, you get there and you know, I I ask myself, like, man, what's it gonna be like? You know, and I'm asking because I want to get it done, not because I'm looking for an excuse. So if you find yourself already looking for a way out, you're probably not gonna succeed in whatever it is you're trying to do. If you're if you're asking the question to find a way through, that that's a good start. So he tells me it's not and of course they tell you this is how he describes it it's like nothing you've ever experienced. I know that. I I I uh obviously I need something tangible to like help me get through. It's freeing. You're not really helping me here. So at that moment, you know, you go through the ground school and they're telling you, like, all right, when you're up there, you're gonna have to you're gonna have to find your flight pattern, you're gonna have to do this. And I'm like, man, this is insane. Like, I'm not a pilot. We're talking flight patterns, we're talking with the wind, not the wind. If your chute doesn't open, this is what you need to do. I'm like, this is a perfect class to give someone who's that's free hesitating, right? Yeah, but in all this, I'm like, okay, if my chute doesn't open, I have a reserve. Like, I'm going through this so I can have options in the air. Yeah, and then comes, you know, you go through all this, and then comes the moment, right? Like the first jump you have to have a tandem. So you're attached to an instructor, right? Which is a perfect metaphor for life, right? You're on this plane and you're climbing up and it's loud, and there's like 10 people behind you, um, and 10 people in front of you, right? The people who are jumping at a lower altitude go before you, the people are jumping at a higher altitude go after you. So you're in the middle, and the instructor's like, Hey, you good? Yeah, all right. I'll I'll ask you again in in a couple minutes. So he's checking in with you. You get to this point, door opens, everyone jumps out, door closes, you're left, you're coming up, and now you're like, if I don't jump, the people behind me can't jump. So I have to jump. But what if, right? We create these scenarios. Gets to the point where the door opens, he kind of crawls you to the end, your feet are at the end, and you're staring at the curvature of the earth. That's how high you are. And then when I jumped, it was 14,000 feet. And he's like, Are you ready? And they won't push you, they won't force you, they won't. If you say no, you sit back into the safety of the airplane, you land, your life goes on, no one makes fun of you because you're trying you're jumping out of an airplane, right? Minus your friends. Your friends will make fun of you who skydive. So the whole the whole point of this is there's no there's no pressure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02

Everything's internal, everything's a decision you have to make. As you're standing at the edge of this, it's simply one step that's gonna change the outcome of your life. It's gonna change the outcome of skydiving. So, yes, are you ready? And I literally just like I do with everything, I say, I don't know if you can swear on here or not, so I'll keep it clean, but I say, F it, let's go. You sure? Like, let's go. And I take one step, and then next thing you know, I'm staring at the airplane, continuing going, and I'm free-falling in the sky. So all that to say, how do I approach things? I approach things with ultimate intentional intentionality and with the mindset of this will get done, this will be done. And if I find myself making excuses, you kind of throw those, throw that noise away, and you look for solutions because at the end of the day, what you think is what will happen. If you want a solution, you will find one. If you want an excuse, you will find one. So, what do you truly want? If you truly want it, you're gonna find a way.

SPEAKER_01

Love that, man. Love that. You know, we face we face fears all the time, right? We face fears, you know, and and people that are you know really trying to start in their willing willingness to want to go or unwillingness to want to go and to work out or go to the gym or get started somewhere in life when it comes to fitness, when it comes to health, right? We we put these things in our mind, just like you were talking about in parachuting, the drive there, right? And then the fear of just being there and knowing I'm next. That door open, I'm next, right? And what am I gonna do? And pushing you know, past that. What are some of the things that you, besides the you know, the parachuting, but just in your life when it comes to wellness, what are some things that obstacles that have stood in your way that you took that next step to help you in overcoming?

SPEAKER_02

I mean, it depends on what avenue we're talking about. You know, the gym is always daunting. Um, even even to me, I've been probably training, strength training for over 15 years. Going to a new gym, there's always the what are people gonna think? What is this gym culture like? Uh, are they are they looking at me? Are they staring at me? Like, I want people to know like your first day at the gym or the person who's been there for 20 years, like these are all thoughts that that occur in our minds. We just learn to listen to them and go, ah, that's that's silly. Everyone's here to to train, to work out, to better themselves. They're not worried about me. So what was the question again? Sorry.

SPEAKER_01

That's all right. No, so people face fears all the time, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So in in your own life, you're not not parachuting, but just in your own life, like those obstacles that stood in your way, what was it that motivated you to take that next step to help you to overcome? Whether it's in a gym or whether it's jujitsu or what whatever it is in life, what really helped you, encourage you to take that next step? And maybe it was the fear of going to a new gym. What helped you? What encouraged you?

SPEAKER_02

The thing that helps me the most, it's all I try to be internally driven because external factors will fade. Um, and that's where discipline comes in. The thing that gets me through things is my word. Um, my word is my bond. I won't break it for anyone. Um, so if I say I'm gonna do something, like the last person, I don't want to lie to anyone, but the last person I want to lie to or disappoint is myself. Um, so I I will make a conscious decision. Let's say I want to I want to lose weight, I want to drop 15 pounds. I will lose 15 pounds. I won't break that bond with myself. Now, how do I lose 15 pounds? I have to go to the gym and I have to start eating healthy. I will do this. Well, now I've made a promise to myself and I and I don't want to break it. Um, with you know, a big hurdle was uh joining the SWAT team. I had two previous attempts, which I failed, um, past the fitness portion, which I was the most concerned about, and then failed the the shooting portion, which I was a firearms instructor at the time. How did that happen? Um, but I'm going into my third attempt and I tear my knee in jujitsu. So I gotta I I I tear my meniscus, I have surgery, I'm rehabbing it, and now the SWAT trials are coming up, and my PT's going, we haven't even started running protocol. You you can't try out. And I looked at him and I said, That's not, I I promised myself I'm like this is happening. Yeah, like I have to do it. And he looks at me, he goes, I can't tell you you can do it. And I look at him and I'm like, is that code for you're just you're just you don't want liability? Because like, if that's what you're saying, I'm cool with that. Like, I won't blame anyone. And he just looks at me like, dude, you're nuts. And I'm like, nah, I made a word to my I gave I gave myself my word. So unbeknownst to him, I I go and I try out, and I'm with two of my buddies. So the way it works here in the region, it's you try out within your department. If you pass, then you go to the regional tryouts, and you have to try out then. So I'm with two of my buddies trying out. Our department has three seats at this time. There's three of us trying out. So if we all make it, we can all keep going. And there's two, there's two portions to this fitness test. After the first portion, I can't feel my leg, it's completely numb. And I'm having these, we'll call them coward thoughts for for to keep a PG. So these coward thoughts, I'm like, I can't, uh, there's no way I can do the second portion. Like, I can't feel my leg, it's numb. My knee is like killing me. There's no way I can do this. And it's good to have good people around you because when like people think relentless is that I'm gonna smash through. Like, that's not what relentless is. There are times where these thoughts creep in on our minds, like, am I good enough to do this? Am I fit enough to do this? Uh I don't have you know, there's no way I can keep going. Like, we we tell ourselves these lies and we sometimes believe them. At this point, I'm telling myself lies. I don't know how I can get through this, I'm not gonna be able to make it. My buddy comes over and he's like, bro, like, get up, let's go. It's time to start the second portion. And I look at him, I'm like, uh, there's no way. So, what do you what do you mean? I'm like, there's no way. And he kind of, you know, gives me a speech that's uh probably not good for this platform, but um, he's like, dude, you're gonna hate yourself if you don't even try. Like, try and fail, then not try at all because you're always gonna wonder, like, what if I could have?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And I looked at him and I'm like, you know what? You're right, I'll go until my leg falls off. Do the second portion, pass. And he's like, see, and you were you were you were concerned over nothing. At this point, I can't even stand, but I passed, yeah, you know, and then two weeks later is the regional tryouts, and now I'm like, I did it two weeks ago. I've rehabbed, I've trained since then. Like, I'm gonna be able to do it now. Yeah, and I passed. Um, so my biggest motivation is keeping a word to yourself. Like, if you make a promise to yourself, keep it. Because if you break the word to yourself, you're gonna lie to anyone, you're gonna break, you're gonna break your bond to anyone. Like, if you don't respect yourself enough to keep your word, what value is it to anyone else? To your bosses, to your wife, to your husband, to your children, to your co-workers. Um, keeping that bond to yourself starts to build something within you that you tend to honor your word to everyone because you will not break it for yourself.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. That's powerful. Yeah, yeah. Awesome, man. Awesome. Ish, a lot of people always say they want to improve themselves, whether it be in finance, business, networking, fitness, losing weight, but they use time as a constraint on themselves. They always say they don't have the time to do it, or they don't have the time to create this, or the time to get in the gym. What would you say to those people who use time as an excuse or a constraint?

SPEAKER_02

You're lying to yourself. I'll say you're lying to yourself. I always say everyone has the same 24 hours. Elon Musk, me, you, the listeners. We all have a 24-hour bank that we get to time, is one of the only resources we never get to renew, right? You spend money, you can make it back. Um, your network, you can you can use your network or you can give to your network. Time will be spent, whether you want to spend it or not. You don't sit on your couch and pause time. When you sit on your couch, you're you're using time, you're wasting time. Yeah, so my you're you're lying to yourself, right? And I'm I'm nothing great. I'll be the first to admit, I am nothing great. If I can juggle a family, real estate, full-time law enforcement career, uh, SWOT operations, media, podcast, um, intentional, you know, networking, traveling, I'm part owner in multiple businesses. I just uh uh teamed up with Seminar Stack, which is a great organization offering training uh to law enforcement and first responders. Like, if I can do all this, you can make time for the gym. Oh, also gym, jujitsu. Like, if I can do all, and I'm nothing great. If I can do all this, there's no there's no excuse. It's all about priority, right? Prioritizing. If you want to get if you want to get healthy, if you want to get fit, make it a priority. The same way you make going to work a priority. We don't have to go to work. We have convinced ourselves we do because we have bills to pay, but we don't have to. If you don't go to work, your bills don't get paid. So what? Your bills don't get paid, you get sent to collections. So what? I'm not saying this is the way to go, but I'm saying like at the end of the day, you're still alive, you're still breathing, you can there's other options you can do. How many people live their days without any responsibility? Doesn't amount to anything, but like people do it. You don't have to go to work, you've made it a priority, you've made it a priority, so you go to work every day, you're not late, you show up on time, you pay your bills on time. If you can make that a priority, you can make the gym a priority. Like, are are you sleeping in till eight and you start work at nine? How about you wake up at six, go to the gym at seven, so then you're home and ready by eight, which is the time you wake up anyway.

SPEAKER_03

Right, right?

SPEAKER_02

Like, make it a priority. Yeah, small that that the the principle of the next mile, small steps. Like you go to the gym zero times a week, go two times this week. Yep, see how that feels. You know, do that for two weeks in a row, then three times a week. Then it's like, oh, let me start eating a little healthy. That's not saying get crazy about it, but just watch the calories you're intaking. Just you know, studies show just by being mindful of what you eat, you will start to eat healthier. Not changing your habits, not just looking at how many calories I'm taking in and going, man, that's 300 calories. This same option over here is 200. Let me take this one. Yeah, something as simple as that. That behavior builds up. So I would say stop lying to yourself. If you want to make something happen, you will. If you don't, you won't.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Totally true. Yeah. So you you have spent so much time training in jujitsu. You have you know hours and hours and hours that probably have accumulated to you know, months, years, I don't know, you know, but you have spent all this time in training. Take us to the time that was the most rewarding for all of the hard work that you have accomplished. Take us to that moment. And how did you feel in that accomplishment?

SPEAKER_02

I think the most rewarding from especially jujitsu would be being able to apply it at work. Um, you know, obviously, in law enforcement, you never want to hurt anyone, and you never want anyone to get hurt. Um there was a there was a call of uh someone going through a mental health episode. Um, you know, the family screaming, don't hurt them, don't hurt them. You know, everyone's watching you, and just being able to comfortably, and I say comfortably because that's the that's the biggest thing when you're dealing with with especially people in law enforcement. Oftentimes we see these egregious videos and and these horrific videos, and not to take away from the experiences, but oftentimes it boils down to an officer was in fear. Is it justified? Is it not justified? Is it warranted? Is it not warranted? At the end of the day, the officer was in fear, so they escalated their use of force because they were scared. However, that that that plays out. So if you are equipped to better manage your fear, you're coming in comfortable, you're coming in prepared, you're less likely to escalate that use of force. Um, and in this moment, it was me and a uh partner of mine who also trains, and we do a lot of defensive tactics at work too, right? Because training yourself and then training with a partner to understand each other's communication, their cues and stuff. Um, so we kind of give each other the look of, you know, I'm gonna go up, you go down, and we're able to subdue this guy. You know, we get him help and all that stuff, and that you know, we go back, and some people at the department are like, wow, like we just watched a body cam on that. Like, how did you guys do this? That's crazy. And in our minds, we're like, yeah, we just came in and you know, a couple control techniques, and you know, nothing to it. From that moment on, our chief actually developed a like, we need to make defensive tactics mandatory in our department. We're gonna train quarterly, we're gonna make this a priority. Like, that was the light bulb moment for me. Like, wow, because I decided to do this, I exhibited a good example, it worked out. I have a passion for this, and now like I get to help others in my department be a part of this process. Like, that is the biggest part for me. I love instructing, I love training because I love learning, so I love being a part of that process and seeing the light bulb go off for someone else. Um, it's leading me to a story. So, one of my captains, I'm training, we're training one of our captains in the shoulder pin, which is a very simple technique. So, we do this class, we teach the shoulder pin. Two weeks later, I'm coming into work, he's like, You won't believe what happened. I used the shoulder pin, like it worked, and I'm like, What? And like, if you look at this guy, no disrespect to him, love the guy, but he's what people would call a nerd, right? He's a uh like he he doesn't I love the guy, he's the smartest dude I I've ever met, like human calculator, just his brain works in ways I could never, he's forgotten more things than I'll ever know. So for him to say, like, he got hands-on with someone and he was excited about it, because you wouldn't think someone like that be excited about you know, altercations, physical altercations, that being the captain, he's not supposed to be getting hands-on. So, to see like him so excited, we showed him a technique, we drilled it for about four hours, and he was able to utilize it and apply it effectively. Seeing his excitement, all that was worth it. Every time I got submitted in the gym, every time I tapped out, every time I got choked out, every time I didn't want to go, every time I went when my body hurt, all of it was worth it. Biggest light bulb moment right there.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I love that. And it you know, it just takes me to you know to the point park next month. And I want to get on film, you doing a shoulder pin on Dan. Yeah, I knew that was coming. We're gonna get this. Not only gonna get you running, but we're gonna get a shoulder pin of Dan in the park in the grass in front of our table.

SPEAKER_02

You you I just want to it's not painful, Dan. Don't worry. Just a little top pressure.

SPEAKER_00

But I'm thinking those videos where you know the guy runs on the field and you see all the security guards just level.

SPEAKER_01

If that's not the shoulder pin, we'll do that one too on you, Dan. That one's tackles.

SPEAKER_02

Open field tackles. We're at uh last August or last November, we're at a seminar stack event, and we're we're downstairs at the bar, at the it's at a casino, we're downstairs at the bar after everything, and we're like going over like the techniques and stuff, and like uh it's me and one of the other instructors, and we're like choking each other at the bar and stuff, and like security comes and they're like, Hey, uh is everything and we're like, What what? And like we're confused, and then the security guy knew we were a part of this organization. He's like, No, no, the other guy's like, No, no, no, they're fine, they're with they're they know what they're doing, they're with uh there were seminar stack upstairs, and like the other guy's like, Oh, I thought you guys were like fighting and like choking each other. I'm like, Oh, we we were, but like like we're having fun, we're not like we're not mad at each other or anything. So, like, then we start teaching the security guy a couple of these principles and stuff. I mean, you can use this, like someone gets ruly at the table, unruly at the table. Like, these are some, you know, so it's just funny because like if you're in jujitsu, you know, like you'll you'll these are the guys and girls at uh at the barbecue or at the family event or at the party on the ground rolling or at the beach, and like they're choking each other and stuff, and everyone's like, What's going on? And they're just having fun. That's it, it's like talking shop, just with your arms around each other's necks and stuff.

SPEAKER_01

That's all we're gonna be doing, Dan. We're just gonna be talking shop on that Saturday. Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_02

He says we, but he means you.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I'm gonna be doing the talking, yeah. Exactly. The shop work is on Dan.

SPEAKER_00

I'll be in the headlock talking.

SPEAKER_02

Use me, use me.

SPEAKER_00

Ish, we'll probably close it out with this one, but we uh, you know, we always have a saying or a quote that we end every single dual coast podcast with that we'd like to ask our guests, and that quote or that saying is wellness is not about perfection, it's about progress. What would you say that quote means to you?

SPEAKER_02

That quote means being relentless in your pursuit. Um, if you remain on your pursuit, if you remain relentless in your pursuit, you're bound to find success. Um, success being whatever that goal is. It goes back to that principle, baby steps. Take to like a goal is daunting in and of its nature, or you would never strive for it. Like it's something you strive to reach for, whether it's health, whether it's fitness, whether it's getting bigger muscles, whether it's getting better at jujitsu, whatever it is, getting your black belt, it's daunting. So back plan, do it, break it down into steps that you can digest to the point you break it down so far that you can start right now. Right? Something as simple as I want to be able to hold my grandkids or be able to walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath. What can I do today? Today I won't take the escalator, I'll take the stairs. Today I'll park further away from the grocery store and walk, do that extra walk. Today, I'll do a lap around my neighborhood. Just one. Today I'll make the decision to get better at whatever it is you do. If you look at it as like I want to run a marathon, you will sit there all day in. Your head and you will hype yourself out of doing it. 26 miles is a long time. I've never run. That's far. My body hurts. I have inflammation. I have this. I don't have the right running shoes. I don't have the money to get into. I looked online. It takes a lot of money to run a marathon. You have to have the right suit. You have to have the right socks, the right shoe. You will talk yourself out of doing it. But if you just go, what do I have today that I can start doing this? I have shoes? You know, thank God I have shoes. I have clothes. I gotta have clothes. I have outside. Awesome. Do a lap. Next week, do two laps. Yeah, build your build yourself up. Next thing you know, you're gonna be running five miles, ten miles a day. And you're gonna be like, how did I even get here? Well, you got here because you broke it down into steps. You can start now. Yeah don't hype yourself out of whatever your goal is. An idea, uh a goal that you think about is just an idea, right? Put action. Action kills fear. Action, like inaction fuels fear, action kills fear. As long as you're taking baby steps towards whatever your goal is, you will find success, or you will learn another way to do it better. Regardless, action will get you to where you want to be, inaction will will fuel, will fuel fear, which then fuels you never getting your goal.

SPEAKER_01

No, yeah, very well said. You know, I I'm just amazed at uh everybody's um response to that statement or that question, you know, and it it just it amazes me what people come up with and how they live their life, you know, and and ish, I I so appreciate your words on that, you know. I love the the inaction part and the creating the fear and everything. It's just like it's so true because those kinds of things keep people in sedentary positions throughout life, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02

It keeps you in paralysis, yeah. Keeps you in paralysis. If you think, if you think here's the thing, I'll I'll end it with this. People are so scared to start because they're not good enough, they're not great enough, they don't have the right things. It stopped me from starting my podcast before I started it, it stopped me from getting fit before I started it. Like we will psych ourselves out um because we're not good enough to start. But to start to be great, you can't be great if you don't start. You have to start if you want to be great, right? And successful people, we look at these successful entrepreneurs, these athletes, they have failed a thousand times before most people ever even made the decision to get started. So fail fast, fail often, learn from those failures, and then use that and apply it so you can find your success, whatever whatever field that is health, fitness, business, relationships. Um, I I never look at failure as a loss. I always look at it as lessons and framing your mindset into that, you will never lose again. You'll never lose again. If you look for the lessons and failures and losses, if you look for the lessons and apply it to the next thing you do, you will never lose again.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, so true. Amazing. Wow, words of wish and wisdom by ish. Totally, totally agree. Seriously, wish up, man.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. Ish, where can people find you?

SPEAKER_02

Uh, Instagram, YouTube. So um, my personal page is the ish Lopez on Instagram, uh, YouTube, follow the relentless project. We talk about similar things, and I appreciate you guys having me on because you can never have enough podcasts talking about stuff like this, right? Like we all as hosts, you guys have different experiences that you bring in. And my whole goal is to talk to everybody, learn from everybody, and share it with the world. So I appreciate you guys having me on. It's relentless PRJCT on Instagram, YouTube, X uh the Relentless Project.com. You know, if you follow that in a month, you'll be able to listen to Dan and Russell's episode because they'll be on. So uh a little self-plug, but also promotion. Um, yeah, I'd appreciate if you guys give it a follow. Uh it's just interviewing every day, quote unquote, because I don't think everyone has a short a story to tell. So just interviewing people and their stories and and their in encounters with relentlessness, how they got through hardships and what how they found success uh in different industries.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome, man. Awesome, man. I'm so glad we connected. Yeah, so glad uh big Dan, uh not little Dan, but Big Dan introduced us together and and uh we got connected and to to have this time together on Dual Coast is it's very meaningful, and your words are powerful. I love your stories, and um I love just you know how you simply bring things across, but yet in such a powerful way, and so your your words mean a lot, and and the way that you live is even more powerful.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I appreciate that because English is my second language, so I always trip up on words, so I was always self-conscious about it. So I do appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01

You're what you're well spoken.

SPEAKER_00

They were well spoken, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, awesome podcast. Ish, thank you so much for being on, too. We really appreciate it, guys. Please check out the ish Lopez on Instagram, check out the relentless project. Me and Russ are gonna be on in a couple of weeks. You guys check that episode out. Ish, thank you so much again for being with us. Please rub Bicycle Heaven. Bicycle Heaven. This is a quick call from Bicycle Heaven. Shout out Bicycle Heaven simultaneously. Please check out Dual Coast Podcast on all social media handles. Check us out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening. We'll see you guys next week.

SPEAKER_02

Appreciate you guys for having me.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks so much, man.