TRoe FBombs and Building Athletes From Average to Asset | Ep. 47 Thomas Roe

Co-Founder Spotlight: Thomas Roe on Character Development and His New Book "TRoe FBombs: From Average to Asset"

In this special episode of The Standard Podcast™, Erin Sarles turns the interview lens on her co-founder and partner in the Blueprint mission — Thomas Roe, Chief Athletic Officer of Blueprint to Bluechip™. This intimate conversation reveals the foundation of their shared vision and the operational excellence behind their movement.

Thomas brings a unique combination of professional expertise and personal experience to Blueprint's mission. As founder of TRoe Fitness-Sports Rehab & Recovery, he has spent decades building and repairing bodies while training athletes from professionals to weekend warriors. His personal competitive experience in Ironman Triathlons, endurance races, marathons, and Spartan competitions provides authentic understanding of what it takes to push through physical and mental barriers.

The Blueprint co-founding story emerged from Thomas's repeated observations of character crises among athletes whose physical capabilities far exceeded their personal development. This pattern led him to understand that sustainable success requires more than conditioning — it requires the integration of character development with athletic training.

In this episode, Erin and Thomas explore:

• The moment they realized Blueprint needed to exist and why
• How Thomas's endurance competition experience shaped his coaching philosophy
• The operational systems that ensure Blueprint develops complete athletes
• The launch of Thomas's new book "TRoe FBombs: From Average to Asset"
• What it means to build athletes who are assets, not just performers

This special co-founder conversation provides unprecedented insight into the vision, values, and operational foundation driving the Blueprint movement.

This isn't motivation. This is a movement.

Connect with Blueprint: Website: blueprintbluechip.com Book: "TRoe FBombs: From Average to Asset"

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the Standard Podcast, where we raise the bar, rebuild the culture, and call out the lies or misconception c or misconceptions. No one else will. This isn't motivation. This is a movement. I'm Erin Sarles, and today we're doing something special. Instead of interviewing an external guest, I'm sitting down with my co-founder and partner in this mission, Thomas Rowe, chief athletic officer of Blueprint to Blue Chip. Thomas co-founded Blueprint to Blue Chip after spending decades building and repairing bodies and witnessing the character crisis that comes when physical development outpaces personal development. As founder of T-Row Fitness Sports Rehab and Recovery, Thomas has trained athletes at every level from our professionals to weekend warriors and every athlete in between. What makes Thomas's perspective unique is his personal experience competing in Iron Manning triathlons, endurance races, marathons, and Spartan competitions. These experiences taught him what it he now brings to Blueprint's operational leadership. True performance is built on character, not just conditioning. As a chief athletic officer, Thomas assures Blueprint systems, partnerships, and programs are structured to develop athletes who are resilient in character as they are in competition. He understands that sustainable success in sports requires more than physical strength. It requires integration of a physical development with personal character development. Today we're also celebrating the launch of Thomas's new book, T-Row F bombs from average to asset, a raw, unfiltered look at what it really takes to transform yourself and raise your standard in every area of life. We're diving into the truth behind what it really takes to build identity, discipline in like and legacy in sports and in life. Let's get into it. Welcome, Thomas.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Wow, what an introduction. Thanks, Darren. I I think we could just end the podcast right there. That's uh that's a that's quite an introduction. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

You are so welcome. What a special episode we have for you today, guys. So I'm super excited to interview with Thomas and for you guys to get him to get him to know him better as well as I do, so you can really understand the passion and love that was poured into building blueprint and the standard podcast and everything that you see. So without further ado, my first question for you is Thomas, you and I co-founded Blueprint to Blue Chip because we saw something broken in how athletes are developed. You spent decades building and repairing body bodies through T-Row Fitness. But what you witnessed was character crisis when physical development outpaced personal development. Tell me about what you saw that made you realize you needed to build blueprint.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Great question. And I think it goes back decades, right? My goal as a kid was to always play in the NFL. And and that was derailed with a neck injury. I've shared that story with you, and I think a lot of people have heard this story. But basically, once I got back to Los Angeles, I started mentoring kids, and I wanted to be able to give kids an opportunity to play, play their sport at the next level. Whatever that meant, D1, D2, D3, NAIA. I mean, there's basically an outlet for any athlete to play at the next level if they want to. And they have to have realistic expectations. Are they actually going to go on to play pro or are they going to play or participate in the Olympics? Probably not. But it doesn't mean they can't play their sport at the next level. And for me, having worked with, you know, like you mentioned, weekend wars, professional athletes, and everybody in between, I was always focused on bigger, faster, stronger. So I would like to take the credit for it. But until you know, you came into the equation, you being Aaron, coming into the equation and saying, look, you know, all you focus on is bigger, faster, stronger. And I was like, Yeah, that's that's my job. And you're like, no, it's not. You need to form you need to focus on developing the full athlete on and off the field. And that was kind of my light bulb moment. And then that's actually where you and I started our conversation. So I really have to say that it was just, it was just the the the important piece that I needed to bigger, faster, stronger. And what you and I talk about is character integrity and discipline with every step, whether you step into the classroom, whether you step into the weight room and fill in the blanks. And the only way that you're going to get better at football or golf or tennis is you have to get the reps. And I think that that's where you kind of brought you brought that factor into it is like Thomas, you're gonna have to bring the reps of character integrity and discipline as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Yeah, thank thanks for being so kind to me. Um, this has really been a labor of love for both you and I.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

For for sure. So um, for those listening, this takes your blood, sweat, and tears, but it's so worth it.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

So I would love for you to kind of peel back and share for our audience what do you believe is the biggest lie that the fitness and athletic development industry has sold athletes about what it takes to build sustainable success?

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Wow, that's a great question. Another great question. I I think that again, it goes back to not everything is about D1, not everything is about NIL, not everything is about the transfer portal. You know, a lot of what you and I talk about is that some of these athletes today, they're not even motivated by their sport anymore. They're they're motivated by the NIL deals. And I think the biggest line misconception is what we see with the, you know, the Arch Mannings and the guys at Ohio State making these multi-million dollar NIL deals. And it's not really the case. You know, most NIL deals are anywhere from 500 to 1,000, if that. And what these young athletes need to understand is, you know, you're already committed to an education. You have to make grades to play whatever sport it is. And then you have to focus on your sport and your position, learning the playbook, learning that. So if you take on a third component, like you know, be trying to be an influencer or fulfilling your NIL obligation, that's a whole nother obstacle that you just created for yourself. So I think the biggest lie misconception is there's multiple there's millions of dollars out there, and there's not an NIL deals. Also, the uh, you know, another component of that is we talk about this, and you know, when I was coming up, when my brothers were coming up and all my peers, there wasn't a transfer portal, unless one, you wanted to sit for a year or drop down to division two, which was fine, but you were gonna sit or you were gonna go to a lower caliber of team. And also, look, we all know about the you know, the hundred dollar handshakes from the boosters and alumni, but now NIL has just exposed it. I don't want to get into whether athletes should be paid or not, because I think I'm in the minority. Should they get paid? Yeah, but you're also getting a scholarship and you're getting an opportunity to play the sport you love at the next level with the understanding that you're gonna go on possibly to play at the pros and make those multi-million dollar contracts. I think what, you know, Aaron, you brought up a good point. I think it was in a podcast, or maybe it was just a discussion between the two of us. And the difference that I could see right now, and I could be wrong, right now in the field of NIL with men and women, men, male athletes are paid for potential, where women athletes are being paid for production, right? We see these in the softball players, we see it in the gymnasts. So I think that's gonna have to write the course there. But the biggest line misconception is one, that in order to go pro, you got to be D1. That's not the case. And line number two is NIL, there's multimillion dollar contracts out there, and they're not.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah, I think I think as we've stepped into this work, I think that definitely resonates of what are the lies that people are trying to overcome, or maybe then what are they chasing? And I think what's so impressive about your background is you've competed in, I've probably lost count, 55 plus endurance races from Ironmans to marathons to Spartan. How did your personal experience with those grueling challenges shape your understanding of what true performance is? How did you understand character to be a part of that equation?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Wow. Yeah, well, for the record, I'm gonna take this opportunity to toot my own horn. Yeah, you're right. It's 55. I had a goal that I wanted to knock out 55 endurance races before I turned 55, and I actually did that. 30 triathlons, two include one full Iron Man, two halves, multiple Olympic or international different distances, sprints, and relays in there, 10 Spartan races, three full marathons, and a dozen half marathons, and then you know, a bunch of century rides and so forth along the way. We'll probably get into it, but one of my biggest, one of my proudest accomplishments is Route 66. But more importantly, was what I set up for Tanya. And I'm sure we're gonna get into that a little later. So that's kind of like a little teaser about what we're gonna talk about. You know, you and I talk about it professionally a lot, and I think that as my business partner, it drives you nuts that like like you're like, how can you bike across America? How can you train and prepare for seven, eight months to do an Iron Man, but you can't get focused for seven or eight minutes to get a task done, you know, regarding our business. And I wish I had an answer for you. I really do. I wish I could, you know, not necessarily pop a pill, but I wish I could just, you know, pop a pill and you know, then I'd be that guy. But, you know, some of us are just programmed differently. And some people I think are cut out to be athletes, and some people are just cut out to be great business people. I just don't think I'm cut from that cloth. And maybe some people might say, oh, dude, that's an excuse. You could do it. If you could do an Iron Man, if you could bike across America, then you could sit down and get focused. But I also think it comes down to, you know, what are you interested in? I'm not interested in sitting at a desk and looking at spreadsheets and, you know, putting together the things that you do. And I tell you this a lot. Like, I I watch you and I see the the work that you put pump out. And I'm just like, how do you do it? I mean, because it's so foreign, right? And like, like people will ask me the same question, how do you train for an Iron Man? Because you can't phone that in. You know, that's it's a six, seven, eight month process. It sometimes even up to a year, depending upon what your goal is. And but I'm just cut out for that. I'm just cut out for the physical aspect of it. I've embraced who I am, I like who I am. It and sometimes it's still, you know, my personality and my shortcomings gets me in trouble professionally with you and other people along the way. So as far as the I think when it really just comes down to character, you know, I think that was your question. It's just like, who are you when nobody else was watching? And that sounds like such a bullshit cliche, but but it is true because, you know, when you, you know, when you cut corners, when you look for a shortcut, you know, one, you think you're fooling people, but they can tell. Everybody can tell when someone's bullshitting you and and they've cut corners. So I think just the character aspect comes down to just, you know, my the I'll leave you with this. There's a great quote by my dad, you know, when I was early on. He said, Son, you live in a perfectly round world with all the corners you're cut. Just do it right the first time.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Such sound advice from your father. I love it. Yeah, you drop them a lot, and I love them because they're so good. Um, so as the chief athletic officer of Blue Printed Blue Chip, you ensure our systems, partnerships, and programs develop athletes who are resilient in character as they are in competition. So, how do you define the difference between building physical strength and building character strength?

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah, you're gonna have to get the reps. It's really that simple. I mean, I think that, you know, I should lately, well, let's let's bring in the the whole equation of NIL. And there is no strong allegiance anymore. I mean, yesteryear when the athlete committed to a program, he committed, he or she committed to that program for the full four or five years, or at least two or three years before they went pro. And in basketball, we see they you know they're one and done. But, you know, one of the things that we stress with our with the athletes and the families that we work with is how important your boosters and alumni are. You know, if you go to, look, I'm a wild cat, I love Arizona, you go to Arizona for four years, you know, five years, and if you go into the pros, or if you don't go in the pros, you have history there, you have roots. And so the boosters and the alumni, you know, they're happy to help out athletes. But if you're an athlete that has jumped around two or three times, you know, they, I mean, the boosters and alumni, they're gonna pay attention to that. They're like, oh yeah, he was here for a year, or she was here for a year. They, you know, they made an impact, but then they left for the dollar. You know, we couldn't match the you know, the NIL deal, so they just left, you know, and that leaves a bad taste in the booster's mouth. So the physical aspect is that's just it. It's focused, you got to hit the weight room, you got to really perfect your position, you have to understand your competition, and you just have to excel at a high level. I think that's pretty much cut and paste. We've talked about that, that one of the biggest obstacles athletes have when they're done playing is you know, they're told what time to go to practice, they're told them what time to go to study hall, what time to go to class, what time to eat lunch. But when they get in the real world, there's nobody there that can tell them that. So on the flip side of that, you know, learning character, integrity, and discipline, one, you have to surround yourself, you got to get yourself a mentor early on. You know, if you're playing a big team sport like football, it's great. You know, as an underclassman, let's say you're a you know linebacker or you're a you know you're a running back, you just gravitate towards the veterans or the the senior, the upperclassmen. That's your mentor. You look for your position coach, that's your mentor. You ask questions about, hey, you know, I need to build character. I mean, when I was coming up, we didn't have YouTube, we didn't have Google. Now you have these resources where you could really understand how to build character. Integrity, yeah, you know, I really think that starts at home. You know, we've talked about this before that, you know, I truly believe 90, 95% of the problems that we see in the outside world all stem from coming at home. You know, if there's a breakdown at home, there's a breakdown in that individual. You know, if you have strong parents and you have a strong faith-based home, then that athlete's gonna have strong integrity. The discipline aspect of it, you know, a lot of times people talk to me like, you know, when you do these races, where do you find motivation? I said motivation left years ago. It just if you rely on motivation, I will talk myself out of going to the gym or training seven days a week. I don't want to go to the gym. I don't want to do it. But, you know, I reframe it and say, I get to go and do these things. So that's where the discipline comes in of just knowing that you have to get the job done, whether you like it or not. So the discipline aspect of it, it I'm sorry, the physical aspect of it comes, you know, just with, you know, being in a team, getting yourself some mentors, great coaches, great teammates. That's the athletic and that's the physical side. The the character, the integrity, discipline of building uh an athletic individual on and off the field, it requires a lot more work and a lot more focus, commitment, and dedication.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

I love that. I think this one kind of dovetails off of that one. So you worked with athletes from professionals to weekend warriors and everyone in between. What separates the athletes who achieve sustainable success from those who peak physically but struggle with identity and purpose? And what's the character piece that most development programs completely miss?

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Wow. You you have to have a plan. You have to know exactly what you're doing. I mean, you and I have like when we were putting together blueprint, we hashed out, you know, what does an athlete look like? And once we once we pull back the layers or peel back the layers, we realize you have your blue chip athletes. We know they're gonna go to, you know, Notre Dame or Michigan or Arizona, that your top-tier school. And maybe they just have, you know, they just need to be polished on their character because they have so much athletic ability. But sometimes that could be a blessing and a curse because some of these athletes believe their own press clippings, and they could be a bit of a pain in the ass and a bit of a prima donna. And then we have you and I we we coin the fringe athlete, which has the physical, but not the mental, or the mental and not the physical. And those are where like I would have to say that probably 80 to 90 percent of the athletes fall. That, you know, we've seen a lot of athletes that have tremendous physical gifts, but they just don't know how to, you know, bring it all together with the emotional side. And we have athletes that that understand the emotional side of it or the mental side of it, they understand how to a playbook, they understand showing up to film sessions, they understand how to break down film, but they just don't have the physical. And how do we mold those two and be you know, build them to be, you know, one superhuman athlete? And you and I have kind of really perfected that. My favorite is the underdog, which I call the worker be, right? These are the athletes that are probably never gonna put on a football helmet or dribble a ball again after high school unless it's intramural sports, but they can, and that's what you and I have built. And that is, I'm a big fan of the underdog. You know, now I didn't know about D2, D3, NAIA. It was like it was Arizona, Arizona, Arizona, Arizona, but my brothers, it was San Diego State. You know, it was just like you got to go D1, and you don't. So we have these athletes that we work with called the worker bees, and they could play at D2, D3. They, I think they have real much better realistic expectations because they know that they're not gonna go to the pros, but they can still continue to play this for their love and get a good education. I'm at the mindset now, and in you know, present-day 2026, that unless you're going to Harvard, and even that degree has been questioned, just get a good college education, get a sound education, you know, whatever that might be. And the landscape of education has changed so much. You know, now I didn't have social media when I got my marketing degree, right? There was no social media, there was, you know, no digital creation or content or anything like that. So my marketing degree for the most part is obsolete, you know, whatever it is 30 years later. So I just think that the the athlete has an opportunity. The athlete today has more resources and opportunities to be great by surrounding themselves with what we just discussed. And if they fail or if their life, if their life becomes unreailed, it's on them. It's the it's their responsibility to to be better and get better.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Well said. Yes, we all have to take incredible personal ownership over who we want to become. So, what's one truth you wish every coach, parent, athlete understood about not only the physical development, but the character development that isn't being taught right now in the industry?

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Wow. Let's start with coaches. Coaches have a huge responsibility. They have the ability to make or break an athlete's career, both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. But it's also uh coaching is a really tough job because when the team wins, I'm sorry, when the when they win the game, the team takes the credit. When they lose, the the coach, it falls on the coach's shoulders. And sometimes coaches even get fired for it. So I think there's not a one size fits all with coaching athletes, and that's a huge responsibility for those coaches to understand that how I coach this athlete is going to be entirely different on this athlete just based on personalities. And then you, I mean, you could get into all the other equations, you know, where were they raised? What's their background? What's their cultural background? What is their experience and everything in between? The one thing I do like about sports is it's the last frontier of meritocracy. We don't care if you're black, white, green, or blue, can you play? Are you the best at your position? And if you are, you're gonna get the job. Plain and simple. You know, we don't give a shit about your pronouns, we don't give a shit what color you are, we don't care where you grew up, we don't care how many, you know, if your parents are gay, if you're gay or straight, just can you do the job? That's all we want to know. And if anybody tells you otherwise, it's 2026, we're past this shit, we're over it. No one wants to hear it anymore. So there, that's my soapbox TED Talk moment. So let's get back to parents. Parents, again, we talked about it. You know, one of the things you and I deal with a lot is parents living vicariously through their kids. If they're living vicariously through their kids, it's gonna derail real fast. I mean, the the parents are there to support their athlete in any way, shape, and form, but they just cannot coddle. They can't, you know, they can't do the hard work for them. And when they mess up or when they make a mistake, the parents can't bail them out. They have that's the only way that I've learned was through my mistakes. And trust me, I've made a lot of mistakes. So that you know, that's the best way to learn is you know, through the adversity of you know, uh, of failing, of making a mistake. There's a great book by John Maxwell You win some, you learn some. And uh it's probably one of the most important books I've ever seen. Right. As far as the athletes go, you got to do the work. You know, one of the things that you and I talk about a lot is, and it actually spawned that webinar that we have, Paths to the Pros. There is no secret sauce. There's no magic bullet. Every athlete has a different path, but you your path has got to be structured, it's got to be focused, and it's got to have benchmarks, it has to have mentors, it has to have coaches, it has to have a good support team around you. And that sounds a little daunting, and it is because no one's going to believe in to believe in you just because you say you're going to do it. You're going to have to do a lot of things alone. And that's going to require a lot of work. You know, as far as back to paths to the pros, I don't know what the secret sauce is. I don't know what the magic bullet is, but I tell you what, you can't do is you can't cut corners, you can't look for shortcuts, you can't check a box, and you really have to embrace the process or embrace the suck.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Embrace the suck. Just life is your greatest time, I would agree, is uh when you are gonna learn is when things aren't going well because you're being faced with adversity and having to think through how you're gonna change. So that leads me into let's talk about your new book, T Row Epons from Average to Asset. This isn't your typical motivational fitness book. What made you decide to write something raw and unfiltered about transformation?

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Well, great question. Thank you. But let's not forget this is my second book. You know, if somebody would have told me five, 10 years ago that you're gonna write two books, I would have been like, you're out of your mind. Not that I didn't think I was a well, I don't think of myself as a writer or an author. I just think of myself as a really good storyteller. And, you know, at 57, at 57 years old, I've got a lot of insight. I've got, I've I've I've lived a great life. My first book, which is Swim Bike Run Date, My Road to Iron Man Fueled by Cocaine, Booze, and Sex, I don't think I need to tell you anymore. The title kind of tells you what it's all about. I really want to address that because, you know, one of the things I've shared with you off camera, Aaron, is the people back in Los Angeles, they know that Thomas. And, you know, in you know, my elevator puts for that book is yeah, sex, drugs, rock and roll, and murder. And people are like, wait, what? You know, it's pretty heavy. It's entertaining, it's a head scratcher, but that Thomas doesn't exist anymore. One, I was heavily dependent on drugs and alcohol. I I think that while I was I, you know, I've always been an exceptional fitness trainer, but I think a lot of people in LA, they just tolerated me because I had a great gym, because I had a great product, because I had a great service. But I don't think a lot of people liked me. And and why should they? I didn't like myself. And that's why I was doing what I was doing. So that's enough about that book. If you want some insight, go read that book. It's it's entertaining. And what I need to also stress that all proceeds from my books go to silencedhetoise.org, which is a foundation I set up for my sister who battled mental illness. And I'm sure we're gonna get into that. If we don't, you know, we'll get we could tie it up at the end. But T Row F Bonds to average the asset, there's actually 10 principles, and it's followed, you know, it starts with faith. You know, you have to have strong faith in your life. And, you know, then you have to have family. You have to forgive your family or you have to embrace your family. Then it goes into finances, you got to get your financial shit together. You know, from there it goes into fitness. You know, you you you got to be fit. Maybe you don't have you, you you don't have to do Iron Man's and you know, bike across America, but just be fit, do something, whether it's Pilates or yoga or just walking and fuel, not just what you eat, what do you put in your head, right? You know, and then fighting. You know, I grew up in Hawaii, this and I was the minority, I was a Howley, and I got my ass kicked a lot. And you it's not just about self-defense. You have to know how to fight, how to throw a punch, how to take a punch, whether it's boxing, karate, martial arts, jujitsu, you really do need, I mean, we're we live in a dangerous society right now. You could just go on YouTube or you can go on social media and you see all types of crazy shit, violent shit going on. Firearms. I'm a big fan of a handgun. I'm not saying that it's the wild, wild west and you turn it into tombstone out there on, you know, on the 470 here in Colorado on Wilshire Boulevard and out in LA. But you need to know how to use a firearm. You know, I really do. I'm probably gonna get some pushback from people on the left on that one. But, you know, it's dangerous out there, you know, in fashion. You know, what when we traveled as a football team, when you dress like a gentleman, you act like a gentleman, right? You you know, you go to the airport now and you see people in, you know, sleeping slippers and pajamas and you know, hoodies, and they bring their pillow with them. Dress for the occasion, you know, don't just don't look like a slob. And the last one is fear over focus. Are you gonna leave your life, lead your life with fear or you're gonna lead it with focus? I, you know, I strongly believe that fear is most of it is what we just you know conjure up in our head. So if you have a plan and you focus, you're gonna nail your goals every time. Lastly, the kind of brings everything full circle. And you know, having now that I'm a Christian is forgiveness. And look, guys, I do not have that part figured out. There's a lot of people that I have not forgiven. I think there's a lot of of me that I haven't forgiven from my past. So once I, you know, nail that in, forgiveness is huge. You know, you gotta be able to forgive your faith, your family, your fitness. It just go through all the F bombs and you you gotta lead with forgiveness. So the book is fantastic. I'm very proud of it. I peel back the I pull back the curtain and kind of expose, you know, personal accomplishments and personal failures. I, you know, I really introduce you to the makeup of who Thomas is from my brothers to my sister to my parents and to my upbringing. So I really pull back the curtain and I kind of bring everything full circle. So is it a motivational book? Yeah, I mean, there's definitely principles in there that you can apply. There's you know, at the end of each chapter, there's kind of a checklist that you have to say, hey, look, how how do I size myself up, you know, based on my faith, my family, all the other stuff. So I wouldn't call it, you know, a you know, a Tony Robbins book or my attempt at being Tony Robbins or David Goggins, but it really does give you fodder to think about becoming a better person.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Awesome. Thanks for sharing all of that. So the subtitle is From Average to Asset. What does it mean to become an asset, not just physically, but as a complete person? And why did you choose to make this so direct and uncompromising?

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Well, I I've shared with you all the F bombs, right? If you're if you're phoning it in, you're average. If you're that guy that I even touch about it, touch, touch on it in the book, and that is, you know, average is somebody that shows up at work at like 8 55, you know, and they go to work, they they take their lunch promptly at 12 30, and at 5 02, they're walking out the door. You know, that's just you're doing just enough not to get fired. An asset is somebody that understands that you're not entitled to anything, you got to earn it. You and being an asset is you become so undeniable in whatever you're doing. You know, if it's on the on the playing field, you're such an asset to the team, you're such an asset asset to the coach. Coach can't even replace you. That's being an asset. In the workforce, same thing. You look at and you go, this individual is goes above and beyond. Not only do they kick ass, but they just kick ass and take names. So you're unreplaceable, you're undeniable. So that's pretty much we and you know, I even talk about it in the first couple pages of the book. If you take time to just pause and think about everyone in your life that is average, I'm pretty sure you could put the list together of five people. And if you can't, then you're probably average, and that's a shitty place to be. So, you know, the the how this hit home for me is, you know, I've shared this story with you before, Aaron, where we were playing a football game, we were in a dogfight, you know, the game should have been over it in the first quarter, definitely the first half. And the game just went on all four quarters. And at the end, we barely squeaked out a win. And the coach called us in the next morning at 6 a.m. and said, the world is separated into two peoples, two people, assets and liability. If you're a liability, I'm gonna cut you. I don't care if you're a starter, I don't care if you're on scholarship. The world, you know, go home and let your parents and girlfriend tell you how great you are. If you're a liability, I'm cutting you. All I all I need in my locker room is an asset. And I never forgot that. And I was like, okay, that's my bar. That's what I have to aspire to be, no matter what I do, is be an asset.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

I love that story. That story is so great. And I think it's so true for all of us to think about. You already took us through um all the F-bombs that you are dropping in the book. What are the hard truths you're trying to tell people that maybe they're not hearing? Maybe in other books, uh, you know, about what it takes for real transformation.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Yeah, you know, I've kind of stolen that line from you that we're in a trust recession right now, maybe even a depression. Everywhere we turn, we're met with lies. You know, from our politicians with, you know, both sides of the aisle to podcasts. You know, now we're at the point where we're like, that doesn't sound right. I mean, ever since COVID, everybody, every American, at least it should, at least everyone in my circle, has a really heightened sense of spidey sense, we can call it, right? We could sense bullshit a mile away. So, you know, to use your term of being in a trust recession, you you just you know, I I've said this before. There, I truly believe there's there's only two truths left in this world. Everything else is bullshit, and that that is number one is the Bible, and number two is you. I'm gonna go deeper into that. If you're not living in God's word, you yourself are living a lie. So when I say the Bible, I truly mean that. I'm a Christian by faith, I'm a strong Christian, I'm an advocate for the Bible. And I do, no, I'm not talking about the Quran or the Book of Mormon. I believe those are lies. I know I'm gonna get pushback on that, you know. But, you know, as a caveat to that, is don't be a dick. You know, if you're, you know, I respect all faiths. What I don't want you to do is one, tell me how your faith is better than mine and how I'm going to hell and I'm shitty because I don't follow your faith. And and I won't do that to you. I won't do that to you. So I think really it comes down to, you know, we're in a trust recession, nobody is coming to save you. If you're relying on other people to pick up your pieces, I mean you're in a for a rude awakening. You've gone, you're gonna have to do it. It all responsibility falls on you. If your life is a dumpster fire, it's your fault. If your life is super successful, it's your response, it's it's on you. Yeah, that's really now it doesn't say that you can't surround yourself with you know good people to help you get there. I talked about that about having mentors. And look, I understand, I don't want the astericals to come at me and say, well, what about this T R oh? You know, I you know, I I broke my arm and I lost my job. I get it. There's a lot of bullshit that goes on. You know, life isn't fair. But at the end of the day, you have to do everything you can to set yourself up for success. You know, I touched on it earlier. I'm not gonna preach, you know, if you're still dependent on drugs and alcohol, which I was, you're setting yourself up for one failure and just a longer road to get to be to be becoming better. So get that shit out of your way. Don't you gotta surround yourself with people that you know that have the same dreams and goals as you or push you to be better, and you could do the same for them. So I I I think that, you know, really to sum up, we're in a true, we're in a trust recession. You can't really rely on too many things other than the Bible and yourself, and surround yourself with some really good people to help lift you up. And you gotta do the you gotta return that favor, you gotta lift them up too. I think you're on mute.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

That I am. What is one story that you think is gonna really hit home or challenge people the most in the book?

SPEAKER_00 34:34

I've got so many, so many good ones. And and you've heard me quote my dad so many times. You know, I think the one that just comes to mind is uh, you know, my dad would share with me, Thomas. If you have a problem with John, Paul, George, and Ringo, maybe you're the problem. So before you start, you know, looking at other people or other situations as, you know, why me or poor me, it it falls on you. Every take, you know, what is that book by Jocko? You know, extreme ownership. You really have to take extreme ownership. You know, you gotta own your shit. And if if it's a mess, you gotta fix it.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

I love it. Take extreme ownership, own your shit.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Okay, we're gonna get into the rapid fire round, and then I'm gonna let you, we'll kind of close it out, and you get to share a lot more of other the other things you've worked on as well. So with that being said, rapid fire round. Here we go. Ready? Discipline equals focus, leadership equals.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Faith equals Christ, Christianity, legacy equals what you leave behind that leave a favorable impression with others.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

What is one thing that you would never compromise on?

SPEAKER_00 35:59

My faith.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

And if you could write a uh billboard for the next generation of athletes, parents, coaches, what would your message to the next generation be?

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Oh wow. You know, life's about choices. Life's about choices. Think it through and uh don't take the easy road challenge yourself every day in any circumstance.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

I love it. Okay, so before we wrap up, I want to just open the floor to you. Is there anything that we have not covered today that you want our audience to know about?

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Well, first of all, you gotta ask me my favorite movies. I mean, that's you know, I always ask every athlete, you know.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Okay, let's go with you're now on the hot seat. Okay. Art imitating life, Thomas. What are your top three sports movies of all time?

SPEAKER_00 37:08

You know, it's crazy. Number one is miracle, and I've never played hockey in my life. As a matter of fact, my first hockey game was at college. My roommate was an ice cat at Arizona. And Miracle. I I mean, what an epic movie. I mean, never mind the fact that uh, you know, we won a gold against in the 1980 Olympics, and we didn't get the gold against the Soviets, it actually came later. I think it was either Sweden or Finland, can't remember. But, you know, that it was just such an epic story about you know teamwork and rising up when it counts, you know, and we we all could do it, you know. And these are just these were all a bunch of misfits that came together at the right time. So miracle. Number two is Rocky. I mean, the original Rocky is to this day, uh if it's on TV, I will stop what I'm doing and I will watch it, you know. And if I have to, you know, push a meeting or if I have to, you know, just come up with some bullshit excuse, hey, you know, something came up, give me, you know, 45 more minutes. I gotta watch Rocky, you know, and that's what 40 years later. And number three is Hoosier's. You know, it's kind of ironic, you know, football and track has been all part of my life, triathlons. Well, they don't make movies on triathlons, but I there's not one football movie in there. And you know, so for me it's miracle, then it's the original Rocky, and then it's Hoosier. Everything else is an honorable mention.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

Okay. Well, I didn't forget the question. I had it right in my pocket when I was supposed to pull it out. So, with that, what would you like to share with our audience that we have not covered so far?

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Okay. Yeah, I kind of hinted at it and alluded to it a little a little bit earlier. You know, for all my athletic accomplishments, and there are a lot, I've already listed them, and my brothers who were high school Americans and, you know, college division one on the road to NFL, the the athlete, the best athlete in the family was Tanya. My older sister was just a remarkable basketball player, tracked athlete, and volleyball player. She was a three-sport athlete before three-sport athletes were a thing. And at 17, Tanya was diagnosed with manic depressive schizophrenic, and she died at 57. So for 40 years, Tanya battled the demons of schizophrenia. And I talk a lot about it in the book. I refer to her and I draw examples to her. So, you know, throughout the decades, my family upbringing was not your traditional upbringing. Holidays were very stressful. We never knew which Tanya was going to show up. So it created a lot of resentment. And I felt like I was robbed of some of the important things. But later on in life, I what I realized is Tani didn't happen to me, she happened for me. And, you know, there's I talk about Route 66. I created a foundation in Tanya's name called silencedhenoise.org. And everything that we do under the umbrella of silence the noise goes to a partnership that I've created with NAMI, which is the National Alliance of Mental Illness. So read the book. I'm not going to bore you with the story about Route 66 here. Just suffice to say that Route 66 was really important to Tanya because of the song. And I knew at some point I needed to do something basically for closure and for forgiveness for myself. Some of the horrific things that I said to Tanya, the the saving grace is the fact that she had no clue what I said the next day. It was in one ear and out the other, but it stuck with me and it haunted me. So I was able to get closure by doing something that she wanted to do together, and that was she wanted to drive Route 66. So I chose to bike it earlier. I was talking about do hard shit. And I that was 100 miles a day for 25 days, and that was some hard shit. We raised money for NAMI. Uh, we brought brought awareness, uh, mental health. You know, it's not something you should shy away from. You should definitely talk about it. I mean, if you look at your network, I'm pretty sure within two to three degrees of your immediate friendship or your family, you're gonna run into somebody that battles some type of mental health issues, whether that's anxiety, imposter syndrome, depression, fill in the blanks. It's a lot more prevalent than you think, and we definitely need to talk about it. So with silence the noise, I've I have created a platform in Tanya's name to make sure that we do talk about it, that we do address it, and that it's something that is it's okay. It's not a negative stigma.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Last question where can people get a hold of you? Where can they get your book? How can they connect with you? Where can they find T Row?

SPEAKER_00 41:43

Blueprintbluechip.com. Uh all my links are there. Uh, you can go through blueprintbluechip.com, the website, uh blueprint bluechip on the social media of Facebook and Instagram. And then there's my own personal website, t rowfitness.com. That's on Instagram, as well as on Facebook or Thomas Rowe on Facebook, R-O-E-N-W. It's kind of like roe versus Wade. It's amazing how people still mess that up. Let's see what else. We did a webinar. I'm not going to give my phone number out. I don't want anybody calling me. I'm sure that my wet my phone number is on my website anyway. If you if you really need to reach out to me, you can. But I think that's the best way to do it. It's just almost all on LinkedIn, Thomas Rowe. And uh you could just search with blueprint at bluechip.com.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Awesome. Thank you for so much, Thomas. Uh, what a special edition that we had today. So thank you for building this movement with me and for showing, I think, the world that the athletes need more than just physical development, that they need character development as well, the foundation of who they are. If this conversation hit you, do two things, do two or three things I'm going to tell you to do right now. One, share this episode with somebody who needs to hear it. A coach integrating character with conditioning, an athlete who needs more than just physical development, a parent raising a complete competitor. Two, get Thomas's book. It's on Amazon. T Row F bombs from average to asset. This is raw, unfiltered truth about transformation that goes beyond your typical, most of your typical books you're going to read out there. And three, I want you to join us in our movement at blueprintbluechip.com. Find us, we want to connect with you, and we want to be in service with you. And if this episode resonates with you, leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps us reach more athletes, parents, and leaders who need this message. This is a standard podcast, and this movement only grows when we raise the standard together. Talent fades, but truth endures. Raise the bar, rebuild the culture, and become the standard. Thank you, Thomas.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Awesome. Thanks so much, Aaron. I really appreciate it. Appreciate it.