Episode 60 | Sean Thompson | From Badge to Barbell: Building Nine Realms Athletics

In this episode of Rain Brings Growth, Matt sits down with Sean Thompson, owner of Nine Realms Athletics in Caldwell, Idaho, for a powerful conversation about resilience, law enforcement, fitness, marriage, PTSD, entrepreneurship, and building something bigger than yourself.

Sean shares his journey from growing up in Northern California, working through a tough childhood, chasing his dream of becoming a pro wrestler, serving in law enforcement, and eventually finding purpose again through strength training. After years of physical injuries, mental battles, and the weight of the job, Sean discovered that the gym became more than a place to lift weights. It became therapy. It became an outlet. It became a safe place.

That same idea eventually turned into Nine Realms Athletics, a gym built for athletes but functional for everyone. What started as a garage gym during COVID grew into a vision to create a space for lifters, first responders, veterans, and everyday people looking for purpose, strength, and community.

Sean and Matt also talk about the realities of being a first responder, the importance of fitness in law enforcement, why cops and military should be treated like occupational athletes, the mental toll of the job, PTSD, testosterone, marriage, business ownership, and what it takes to keep pushing when quitting feels easier.

This episode is about chasing dreams, reinventing yourself, and building a life where pain gets turned into purpose.

Topics discussed:
Sean Thompson’s story
Nine Realms Athletics Caldwell Idaho
Law enforcement and PTSD
Fitness as therapy
First responders as occupational athletes
Pro wrestling and strength training
Building a gym from the ground up
Marriage, business, and support
Mental health, purpose, and discipline
Turning adversity into growth

Follow Sean Thompson and Nine Realms Athletics:
Instagram: @ninerealmsathletics
Location: Caldwell, Idaho

Subscribe to Rain Brings Growth for more real conversations about faith, family, fitness, adversity, and the stories behind the success people call “must be nice.”

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We end up getting a call. Door opens. I walk up the stairs. Door opens. Three women come like rush out of the door covered in blood. So we get them to safety. There ends up being an old man and a teenage boy in the house still. There's somebody inside who could be injured. Suspect supposedly has a gun. An officer in the back goes, hey, we see the suspect hitting an old man in the head with a computer. I look at a sergeant and I go, hey, we're going, we're going in. He's like, wait, wait, wait. I go, nope. My partner's in the in the front with a shield, and I boot the door, and you know, we all run in, we make entry. The older man's laying in like a puddle of like gelatinous blood coming from his head. We get medics in, they take him, the officer calls me and she's like, Yeah, the medic said he's not gonna make it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Dude, I'm just stoked that you came on. It's been cool watching you guys building in that whole the whole building and making your announcements from on Instagram and then being able to follow along, you guys ordering all the equipment and and all that. It's been it's been a cool process to watch, you know, not a lot of people document the whole thing from start to start to finish. So I I know there's a heck of a lot more behind the scenes that we don't see and stresses and stuff like that. And you know, people being like, oh, it must be nice to have your own gym. Don't see all the the shit that goes behind it. But um, I want to get into like what led up to this point in your life because I know you used to be in law enforcement and you were in California and all that, but like, yeah, so let's just start, dude. Where are you from? Who are you, and what's all that good stuff?

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Dude, I th I was thinking about it the other day. Um and I was like, it just kind of hit me. I was like, dude, I've lived a crazy ass life. Like, and not in a cocky sense, but like super highs, super lows. Um, it's kind of wild when you sit back and reflect. I'm sure you do that too. Like, you just have those days you sit back and reflect on everything and see where you're at, and you're like, fuck, this is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

It's interesting because you you're like, otherwise you just think it's normal. And then when you sit deck and you're like, holy shit, I've been through a lot.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Yeah. Um, so I'm from Northern California, wine country, uh, Sonoma County. CLB, what, 42, 42 this year? I can't even remember. Um lived out there for 37 years. Moved out here in February, uh, February of 22. Um childhood was kind of funky. Uh we lived we lived out in the country pretty poor. Um it's hard to tell when you're a kid, like, right? You really don't unless it's like really bad or you're like really rich, you kind of you just kind of go through life and you got food, you got clothes, everything's kind of normal, but you sit back and reflect now, and it's yeah, it was pretty pretty low income, um pretty poor out in the country, but you know, we made made it work and uh wasn't the greatest home life, you know, abuse in in the house and stuff like that. And um Oh really?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

From a young age, huh?

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Yeah, and it just seemed nothing nothing sexual, just you know, um parents were divorced, so we lived with my stepdad, and you know, he grew up in a little a little different different time in a little different way, like he lived on his own since he was 14. So everything he learned in life was just learning on the streets. So um did he have his own kids? No. So uh he's he's still he's still stepdad, or he's still or he's still dad. Like it's you know, I'm I'm I've been able to take kind of some of the stuff that happened and look at it from the perspective of um kind of how he had to grow up and and learn. And so I'm able to kind of compartmentalize and go, okay, I don't agree with X, Y, and Z, but but I understand the mindset or or how that would be normalized or kind of normal. So I've I've been able to kind of make peace with it, um, with some of the stuff and just kind of like you know, I've learned lesson learned. I I know what I don't want to do and things I don't want to do, and sometimes that's the best way to learn is go through shit, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:15

So yeah, um makes you stronger.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

So it's hard to understand when you're going through it.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Yeah, yeah. Um started martial arts man, like late 80s. I was born in 84, like late 80s. Um all my life did karate, baseball, some football in high school, soccer, um later in life jujitsu, pro wrestling, like kind of done at all.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Um at pro wrestling.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

So in high school, I wanted to be so we moved away from my stepdad's. Uh I was like, I think 12, 13. Um, my mom moved out. We moved with her. She ended up getting remarried and wanted to move. I think I was 15, my brother was 17, and we were like, nah, we don't want to move. So my brother and I lived by ourselves in in our house at 15 and 17 was kind of a wild, wild time.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

So your stepdad moved out, your mom moved out, and you guys kept the house?

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Or uh when I was 12, my mom moved to it, she got a new house. We all moved away from my stepdad's, and then she got remarried and moved about four hours away. And me and my brother just stayed at the house.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

How'd you guys make the payments and stuff?

SPEAKER_02 5:39

She she made payments. She would come up every couple weeks if we if she needed to do like big grocery shopping, but it was just she just trusted you and your brother to take care of business. And my brother, my brother's kind of a square in high school, and I was, you know, partied with friends and had fun, but like the house was always clean. Um so it was wild, like living, living by ourselves. Some of my best friends lived lived within walking distance, and we would just skate, smoke weed, like do stupid kid stuff.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

You were the 15-year-old or the 17 year old 15. Okay, so you're the younger one, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

And uh so did that. Um I love cooking. So, like in high school, I the goal was to go to the CIA, the Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York. Um, family didn't have the money for college for it was like $50,000 a year. Back then that's a lot of money. Yeah, my brother was at uh Arizona State, they were helping him, so that wasn't in the cards. And I was like, well, I've always loved pro wrestling. I would love to love to get into pro wrestling. So I found a school, uh, all pro wrestling in Hayward, California. It's about two and a half hours away. Um I think I was 17. I called, I left a message. I still remember to this day, and this will come in a lot later, but I get a I come home and I got a sticky note on my window or my mirror. At that point, I lived with my grandparents. Um, and it said Brian Danielson called. And if you if you watch wrestling at all, Daniel Bryan from WWE, Brian Danielson, he was like they had the uh was it the Bellas? Like they had their talk show, their reality TV show on E. So he was the head trainer at the wrestling school then. Um talked to him for about an hour and ended up going down when I was 17, signing up, and as soon as I graduated high school, started pro wrestling school. Dang.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

So yeah, it was uh What was it that won what what was it that made you want to get into wrestling then it was just watching on TV and just like that'd be cool?

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Yeah, I don't like thinking back now, I don't even know. I can't pinpoint something that was like, yeah, that's what made me want. Like I just loved it. Like just the everything about it, the theatrics, the like the physicality, the it was just it was cool. So I want to I want to do that. Um were you built? Like, were you a big guy? Not really. Um, I mean, so I have this argument with my wife constantly, constantly. It's a it's a constant battle with her and my best friend. She goes, You're a large human. And I'm like, I'm not, I'm just a normal size person. She goes, No, you're not. You're you're a big, you're a big human. I'm like, no, I'm just a regular size guy. And realistically, like, so me saying I wasn't very big, even then, I was probably 230. Out of high school, that's yeah, yeah, 230, 6'1, 230. Um, but I I didn't work out. Yeah. So um, so I did that. Um within about a year, dad died. So took a little break. Wrestling school is like I said, about two and a half hours away. So I drove round trip three, four days a week. For like I said, I'd I worked at Home Depot, I'd work there, I'd get off, drive two and a half hours each way, go to wrestling school three, four days a week, sometimes five if it was a week we had shows. Um, drive home, get home like midnight, go to sleep, wake up five o'clock in the morning. That's like 18, 19 years old, go back to Home Depot, have my little my little notebook of moves, uh things I'd learn, and I'd like wrestle. I called it wrestling the invisible man, and I would just sit in the back in the the tool rental where I worked and just practice wrestling moves with the invisible man. So it was it was pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Um dad that died, was that your stepdad?

SPEAKER_02 9:46

My real dad. Your real dad. So he had he had a he had a hard life, a lot of drug use. Um ended up having one leg amputated, and then bad circulation, the other leg had that amputated, and then there he lived about a week after that, and then he passed. So then at 19, I'm in wrestling school trying to figure out, you know, my own shit, and now I gotta take care of my brother's in school in Arizona, so I got to handle the estate and deal with all that stuff at 19, which was uh a fun, fun learning lesson.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

I mean, you've pretty much already been an adult since you're 15, though, at that point. Yeah, not like that's any easier, but like you've had a lot of pressure on your shoulders already for years.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Yeah, yeah. So it's I'd I'd worked I've worked pretty much every day till since I was 15 and a half, whenever you can get a permit. Um, even younger, worked with my stepdad doing construction, things like that at you know, eight, nine, ten years old.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

So was that something that your stepdad really ingrained in you and your parents just in general? Is hard work?

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Hard work, work ethic. Like summer, we're up at six o'clock in the morning and roofing, doing yard work, getting ready to go do jobs. Um he was just like an under-the-table general contractor that just kind of did odds and ends stuff. But um, yeah, it wasn't we got to play after all the stuff was done. Yeah, it wasn't sitting down playing video games all summer and going to the water park. It was we got work to do, and after that we can do the fun stuff.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

So it's where all of that How did you take that as a kid versus like looking back at it now? You probably appreciate that now, but as a kid, were you not appreciative of that?

SPEAKER_02 11:27

It's weird, honestly. There was I remember one year, I want to say it was like sixth or seventh grade, or I was getting ready for the summer, and I'm sitting there and I'm going, okay, I can do these jobs with my stepdad during the summer, and if I make a dollar an hour, like I had no concept of like what money, like what you made an hour. I think then it was like three something an hour's minimum wage. But I was like, if I work this many hours, I work a dollar an hour, I'll have this much money by the end. So like it sucked because like you want to do you know stuff as a kid, but like we lived in the country, we didn't have um pretty much made your own fun anyway. Yeah, we didn't have neighbors, but like on our property we had a uh like a double wide trailer that friends of ours, we call them, I just call them our cousins now. Um they moved into with their dad, so it was four boys. I was the youngest of four, which was a challenge. Um and we just plum wars, we had plum trees, we'd pick old plums and fill buckets, and we had a three-story fort in the yard, and we'd chuck plums at each other and play tag in the middle of the flashlight tag in the middle of the night until like we just made our own shit to do. Yeah, so not a tablet insight. No, we we obviously there's no tablets, but yeah. I remember saving up for our um shoot Nintendo 64, and we had one in our room, but we didn't play that till night. Yeah, like once if it's too hot or it's you know nighttime, then you come in and play video games. But we weren't sitting there playing video games all day, like we're outside doing shit. So it should be. Um so yeah, 19 that sucked, took a little break from wrestling um to handle that, came back, had my first two wrestling matches, and then felt funky, went to the doctor, and was diagnosed with three herniated discs. So that was beginning of twenty five, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Was that like an injury that happened instantly, or is that something that built up over time?

SPEAKER_02 13:29

I think it was over time. Um, but at that point, like I just got scared, and so I just I quit wrestling.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Um now is this like WWE kind of stuff or style, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

On the independent scene in Northern California. Oh, okay. So yeah, T T V wrestling, the the fake, the fake stuff. Yeah. Um I describe it as physical theater. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

I mean, I don't know exactly how you guys do it, but it it looks real and it looks it looks like it hurt.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

The one of the first um so there's a thing in wrestling called heat, and that's like your chops, your punches. Um the first day we were learning heat, we were doing forearms to the back, and it's like hit with your forearm right across the shoulder blades. So I go, have a guy bent down, I hit him, and they're like, No, no, no, dude, don't don't pull back, just hit him. And I was like, okay. So like I I hit him and he like hits the floor, and I was like, Oh shit, dude, you okay? And he gets up, he's all man, that felt great. And I was like, Oh, okay, this is this is how we do it. So it's like it's it's physical.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Um, so is it like fully rehearsed, like what you see on TV? Like they've already done the full scenes and all that beforehand, or is it kind of like impromptu, but you guys know what you're doing?

SPEAKER_02 14:45

So fast forward now, I actually work with a wrestling company. I tour the world and do security for a pro wrestling company. Um, TV style and what we did are a little bit different. Um there'd be times with matches on the smaller circuit where you'd be, you go to your guy and be like, hey, let's uh let's talk about our match. And I remember one of my trainers, he'd be like, Ah, we'll we'll figure it out in the ring. And we're like, Yeah, so I want to do this and this. He's like, Don't worry about it. We'll we'll talk it. We'll we'll talk it out in the ring, we'll figure it out. And there's just a you just it's like a dance. You just you learn to dance with your partner and you you feel out the crowd, you feel out what they're doing, and that you have you'll have little spots during the match where you can call what you want to do, and you're the veteran will usually call the match, and you know, they'll tell you tackle, drop-down, hip toss, this is what we're doing, and you're talking during the match in super secret ways, and figuring it out in other ways, you're just kind of feeling it out, and it it's it's really cool. Like it people don't give it enough credit for for what it is.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

I loved watching it as a kid, man. I always had like the raw hoodies on and stuff. Like, did you ever have like a signature move?

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Uh so fast forward, um, I didn't then 20s 2007. I got into booking and promoting shows. Um because I wanted to be part of wrestling, but I couldn't wrestle anymore.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

You still want to be a part of the world, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

So I I booked and ran a couple shows, which was super interesting. Um it would tie a lot into this stuff of with like um owning a business now was like I didn't know anything. You just I just picked up and started doing it. It was like started emailing guys, and you know, what do you charge? How much do you charge for this? How much is this? And um in typical fashion for me, um, I ended up buying a ring instead of renting one. And so I owned a pro wrestling ring and um ran some shows. Ended up when I finished that, ended up having an opportunity to buy a house at like 21. So it was either keep pumping money into wrestling or do the smart adult thing and buy a house. So I stopped wrestling again. Um, let some people use my ring for their shows, and they were like, hey, why don't you come down and do some manager stuff? And I was like, nah, I don't know. You know, get I'll get too involved. Next thing you know, I'm doing matches again and wrestling again and taking taking bumps and getting the shit beat out of me and uh getting knocked out in matches.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Did you have to get surgery on your back beforehand or anything?

SPEAKER_02 17:25

No, we never did surgery because at that time, disc replacement was like a brand new thing. Um, but you could only have one bad disc. It was like experimental in the US, so like you could only have one bad disc, and I had three. So the only thing I was eligible for was fusion, and I was like, yeah, that's not that's not gonna happen. So I just dealt with it. Um because of that I was like too scared to do anything. So I ended up getting up to 310, 315 um just super obese, uh terrible shape, but yeah, I'm depressed because you're all um big fat mess and you know, everything hurts. Always tired, can't breathe. Um but yeah, I got back into wrestling then and did that for um until 2012, I think, and then I like I had my like retirement match um in my hometown, which was super cool. Um after that match, I couldn't walk for like a week. Oh went hard. My back just wasn't having it. Um and that's kind of where so that chapter of my life was uh I'm really, really blessed. That was like dream number one that I achieved. I I never I never to be honest, I never wanted my goal was never to be like on TV. Like I it's like I was never like I want to be in WrestleMania. Like I just wanted to be pro wrestler, like I that's I just want to do it. And so I got to achieve that goal. Um that dream. I ended up, it's like 2012, went through a bad breakup, lost my house due to you know bad economy, lost my lost my career then, was depressed, obese, and I was like, I can't do this shit anymore.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

So was the injury what made you lose your career then?

SPEAKER_02 19:35

No, that that was the economy. Like I ended up really, it was that shitty, was that 20 um 28 to 2020? 28 to that, yeah, that that area, the super bad economy ended up. That was part of it. Um ended up losing that, so I was working like three jobs. I was bouncing, I was working doing appliance installs for a um power company basically for like low income uh all over Northern California. Um and I ended up um injured, and shit, during that time I broke my back in a car accident. Um and I just it was like I can't do this shit anymore. And I knew nothing about fitness, like absolutely nothing. So I actually started, I had this conversation with someone the other day. I started with P90X, and I don't know if you remember the P90X videos.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

It was like an eight eight disc series or something, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Yep. And it was I I just didn't I didn't know what to do. So like I ended up ordering that that shit off TV and online and started with that and just did that in my garage. And I remember days doing you know, working out for five, ten minutes, and you're like fucking dead. Like I couldn't do anything. Um then you start getting your cardio up and start shedding some weight, and I ended up losing I think like 25-30 pounds doing that. Um and was like, I kind of like this, like learn more. So then I go joined a gym and again didn't know a fucking thing, and just like like a sponge, I just watched, watched and learned and listened, and we were talking earlier about iron wars that we had, and two people that I grew up and like I learned were like instrumental in my my journey in fitness uh was Kai Green and C T Fletcher. So getting to like getting to do an event with C T was like full circle, god tier. Like and it was like I got to tell him on the phone, I was like, hey man, here's here's a story of like you were the guy I looked up to. So like getting to, you know, do an event with him was just a bucket list item that I didn't know I had on my bucket list. Yeah. So um yeah, so then I just started watching and learning and lifting and making mistakes and creating my own programs and um trying to figure out fitness shit on my own.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Were you just trying to lose weight at that point? Was that your main goal?

SPEAKER_02 22:18

That was my main goal. Um I didn't know anything about nutrition. I'd eating rice, broccoli, sweet potatoes, chicken. Yeah. And that was just that was my staple. And um ended up getting down to the lowest I got down to was 211. And I ended up breaking 10% body fat. First time my only time in my life. And uh um, but yeah, lost weight, and then kind of started liking lifting heavy. Um generation iron came out around that time, and I had had buddies that were powerlifting and and lifting heavy, and I just started again like watching them, learning from some bodybuilders like uh branch Warren and just watching what they did and just kind of picking up and emulating things, and realized I like lifting heavy stuff and doing stuff that doctors said I shouldn't be doing like deadlifting. Um and what I found was I hurt sitting at home, I hurt going to the gym, but after a while you lose weight, and that hurt turns into just being sore from lifting, and then that pain goes away. And so, like I've I don't I don't know what my discs are like now. This is what 20-something years ago, but it just you you strengthen your body, you use the muscles, you build, build around it, and it's really not an issue anymore.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Isn't it weird how doctors don't prescribe working out and they'll just prescribe you to medic medication instead? Yeah, it's like even even depression stuff. I remember when I was working in the prison, like they would be so quick to give an antidepressant rather than just saying, hey man, you need to get outside, you need to work out, you need to like go on a walk, get some get some vitamin D from the sun. But they're like, Here's your here's your doping meds. Yeah, and then you're gonna gain all this weight, and then you're gonna be depressed because you're fat, and then you're gonna be eating because you're depressed, and it's like Yep.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Vicious cycle, everyone pumps medication.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

Yeah, yeah. It's it's interesting too, trying to take like weight loss advice from a fat doctor, you know? It's like versus like the gym bro that everybody looks down on because he's maybe on a cycle or something, but he can tell you a hell of a lot more about how your body works and how your body reacts to certain foods versus other things, and like he never stepped inside of a university for eight years, and yet he's very, very knowledgeable, way more knowledgeable than the doctor, and like people will always take that piece of paper over this guy's real life experience.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Like you're saying with a cycle, it's it's so stupid to me. People are like, oh, they just take steroids. That doesn't that doesn't mean you don't have to work, it just allows you to work harder.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

I was that ignorant guy that thought that you just took steroids and then you're getting big. But as it was explained to me, and as I've learned over time, is that when you take steroids, you can just instead of being three days to train, you can now train the next day. So you just you just recover quicker, but you still have to be eating right, you still have to be doing everything you need to do because you can take steroids but still eat like shit. Yeah. And now it's not gonna do anything. Like you still have to do the work. I'm not saying that there's probably some kind of like protein synthesis where it doesn't get a little bit quicker, right? But you still gotta be inflicting damage on that muscle to get it to grow.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

100%. Yeah, you can't just there's there's a lot of people that take steroids that don't look like they take steroids because they think it's just a magic pill. Right. And but I don't take them. I don't care if people do. Does it doesn't make a difference to me? It's not it's not my not my deal.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

You're gonna do them at least irresponsibly, get your blood work checked.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Right, 100%. There there's there's correct ways of doing it, but it doesn't negate hard work. Exactly. Like you said, it's people see that piece of paper and they're like, oh, that guy's a doctor, he knows. Right. No, they don't. Yeah, they they they don't know. Comes to hormones, you know, going to your general practitioner for your family doctor for like testosterone stuff. Yeah, not a chance.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Yeah, I'm on TRT from my family doctor, which was surprising because everybody says like your family doctor won't even prescribe you because they they're like the worst ones that do it. And he did, but he wants me to be between like a five and eight hundred TRT level, and then the guys at the gym are like, man, if you can hang around like a thousand, you'd be you'd be chilling. Yep. But like I get it close to a thousand, and my doctor just drops me. So it's interesting, and he's a big dude too, and so it's not like they're just reading out of a textbook, right? But then you talk to some doctors or you listen to some doctors on podcasts, and they'll tell you in doctorate school, like they hardly do anything on nutrition, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

So it's just general yeah, fitness, or gener, not not even fitness, just like how the body works, wellness, yeah. I've been on TRT for five years, and I'm I'm a huge proponent of it. Like for me, for me, it was like the mental side of it. It wasn't even the the physical for um you know being in law enforcement and you know, all those battles. Like, my I was like, why do I feel like shit all the time? Like knowing now, going through processes, the you know, trauma, anxiety, PTSD, all that stuff is part of that. But the physical part, like testosterone helped a crazy amount. And my doctor who I was going to, um, I recently switched, not for any any bad reason, but his like he hated. If you asked him, if you brought up like normal levels for testosterone, he would he'd get furious. He's like, normal's bullshit. Like the drug industry and researchers and and you know, labs and whatever, they've been consistently dropping the level for whatever's quote unquote normal. Like it used to be like 1500 used to be your average level for testosterone, and then it's drop, drop, drop, drop, drop. Now they'll tell you, oh, if you're between two and eight hundred, you're you're good. Yeah. And it's like, no, let's not, let's not talk about the shit they put in water and the shit they put in food and plastics and all that kind of stuff. That I'm not like this holier than thou person. I still eat shit that I shouldn't. Like I get it. But there's all these things that are in food and your water that just that have attacked and just lowered the testosterone levels, and it's just getting worse. Um, so his his thing was always, I don't care what normal level is, I care what optimal level is. And I don't always care, he didn't necessarily always care about what your numbers were, it's how you felt. So like you would have guys come in that were in the, you know, older guys in the 300s, and guys like, he's like, How do you feel? He's like, I feel like I'm 25. And he goes, Cool, I'm not gonna do anything for you because you feel great. And then guys, it was 700 800, and they're like, I'm foggy brain, my I have no sex drive, I have no, you know, don't don't have, you know, I'm angry all the time, whatever it is. And he's like, Okay, well, let's get you on some testosterone, let's get your levels and and change them. So it's like I remember going, well, I was in like the low twos, and I went to my doctor and she's like, Oh, you're normal, like you're fine. And I'm like, I'm not fine. She goes, No, you you probably have sleep apnea. Well, I do the tests, and they're like, You don't have sleep apnea. She's like, You're fine, you're good. And I'm like, I'm not, I'm not good. And that's you know, finding a hormone doctor and doing that. It's that shit saved my life. Like getting testosterone and balancing your hormones, and like I can't, I can't preach that stuff enough to people.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Yeah, yeah. I had four kids already when I got tested. I didn't, I wasn't even going in for testosterone. I was just getting the blood work done because I had never done my blood work, and I was like, nah, let's just get it done. And he's like, You want testosterone checked? And I was like, sure, add it on. And it came back and I was like a 170. And he's like, Yeah, that's low, because I wanted you between like a five and eight hundred. Yeah. And even that, like, is is low, but he's like, Yeah, so we'll kick you up. And then I tried to do the natural stuff, like the ashwagon trachesterum and like all that for like three, four months, and I came back and it was like a 176. Had not gone hardly at all. Yeah. So I was like, all right, I'll take the shot. So I did that, but yeah, I was already like four kids in, so I figured like I probably don't have anything wrong. If I've had four kids, like something's gotta be working right, you know. So yeah, it did it did make a difference in my confidence level, and then my wife, I hate it when she says it, but she can tell when like my energy's getting low. She's like, You need to go shoot up.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

And I'm like, don't say it like that. Yeah, yeah, no, I'm not a drug addict. Um, so yeah, we uh that's that's how I started uh in like the gym world, is just learning, watching, learning, um just kind of getting like sucked into bringing food everywhere and prepping and going to friends' houses for holidays and parties and bringing my own food and being the weird guy, being the weird guy, like I could eat sushi every meal, all day, every day. And we would go every Monday, we'd go to all you can eat sushi where there's a group of us, and I would go and just sit and just watch them eat. And they're like, What is wrong with you? And I'm like, I I can't, like it just it doesn't fit, like I'm cutting, I can't, I can't do it. And for me, there was just a it was that like we were talking about earlier, just those like those mental tests, like pushing yourself, doing things that you that are uncomfortable, that suck, that are hard, that you like you want that instant gratification of like yeah, I want to I want to eat all that all that shit on the table right now, but I can't. I'm just gonna sit and torture myself, and then you're done, and you're like, okay, it wasn't that hard, right? Like, um, and then and then I met my wife, and our first date was at the gym. There you go. Um, and we met at a bar and um on Valentine's Day, and we ended up talking, and somehow gym stuff came up with a bunch of people, and my buddy and I ended up s saving her and her friends from some from some drunk asshole, and we all just kind of hung out, and uh she ended up we were talking, and oh, what's your favorite day at the gym? And I was like, Yeah, back day, and she's like, Mine too, and I was like, should work out sometime. And then that's uh our first date was at the gym, and then fuck man, that was 20. Oh, she's gonna kill me, 2015 and been together every day since.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Yeah, there you go, dude. Gotta know it's a good start when your first dates at the gym.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

Yeah, and uh I like you, you I was listening to your episode with BAM and talking about wives that like having that like ride or die, and man, if you don't have that, you gotta you gotta find it. Like having having that that person in your corners like that changes everything.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Someone that believes in you more than you do sometimes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

And they they gotta balance you out, but being able to push you or believe you, like going through this process with the gym, and I mean we went through battles of her almost leaving and you know walking out on the marriage, taking our daughter, just going through PTSD, me going through PTSD, just being an asshole and not even realizing it, and go through these days of like I'm super up here about the gym and going through this process. Like that was a four-year process for us to get the gym open, and it was a lot of times we both wanted to quit, and I'd be like, I'm done. And she's like, No, you're fucking not, you're not quitting now. Like, you've put me through all this shit, we're gonna keep going. And then there'd be times where she's like, I don't know how much more I got. And I'm like, Well, we're not quitting yet, like we gotta keep going.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

So, yeah, marriage isn't 50-50, it's not 100-100. It's like some days you're 80, some days they're 20, but like you gotta you gotta make up for the other person. Like it's it's not always gonna be 50-50.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Right. Uh we we kind of have a little code sometimes where it's like she'd be stressed out and she'd she'd come in and she's she'd be like, I'm at a two. She's like, I got I got a two. And I'm like, I got I got a seven, so I got you. Like, I'm I'm up here, you're down here, I'll I'll take it. We're we're good. And there's this week was a perfect example. I just like anxiety hits, and and I'm like, I can't, there's certain days like I can't talk to people, I can't think about what I'm doing, I can't function. I'm just kind of like just pelted with anxiety and it weighs you down, and she's like, Don't worry, I got it. I'll I'll pick up the slack. Like so, you know, it's cool having that having that person to to pick that up.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Yeah, yeah, I think I listened to Alex Ramoser or something, he was saying that the the biggest the biggest factor of someone's success is who they pair their life with. It's not their business partner because they go home, it's a person that you go home to every single night. Yeah. And the person that's gonna be there in your darkest moments when you're at your lowest, when you want to give up, when you need your ego checked or something, right? That person that believes but at the end of the day, they have to believe in you. And if they don't believe in you or you're going home to someone that's nagging at you or questioning you, or questioning your beliefs and risk on like you should just take a safe job or anything like that, like, yeah, it's gonna be terrible.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

That that part's hard though, too, is like balancing those. I'm sure you've you've done that too. Like, there's days where my wife's like, you need to stop. Like, I I don't need to be your business partner right now, I need to be your wife. Like, that stuff's gotta like do that stuff needs to go on hold. And and I'm and I'm not the best with it because and I'm like, okay, but I gotta like I haven't seen you all day. I gotta go through that. And she's like, I need a break. Like, I don't I don't need business partner, like I need husband, like, so it's it's finding that balance is a hard that's gotta be hard too when you guys both work together. Yeah, it's hard. It's awesome though. Like it's no, it's great, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

It was just like but to having that disconnect, like once we leave these doors, we need to how to shut that off, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:50

Yeah, and that's it's not always easy. Um but then you're talking about um I just drew a blank. Um but yeah, filling filling in those filling in those gaps. Oh, you were talking about like supporting that dream. I remember when I retired from the department and I was like, well, I'll just go, I'll just go get a job at Home Depot and the stock shelves. And she's like, you're not fucking doing that. And I was like, it's safe, it's easy, like I just just make some money and just go do that. She's like, no, you'll be miserable, and I have to put up with you being miserable. She's like, that's not, we're not doing that. And that was a huge driver for like pushing through and continuing and trying to make all these crazy ass, crazy ass dreams happen.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

You feel like your wife's more risk-adverse than you are? Like she's more willing to take the risk, or no, I'm definitely more.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

So she has she has a thing with she I have an alter ego for her that she calls, she has an alter ego for me that she calls Brittany. Because I'm just like, I have these ideas, and it's not just like we should do this, it's we should do this, and it's like this big, grandiose, huge, and she's like, Settle down, like that's not like she's definitely more level-headed with it, which is important. Um, because I can have the these huge big ideas, and then she kind of wrangles them in into something that's more realistic, um, that makes it makes a little more sense. Um, but she just knew going through, so yeah, I was law enforcement for almost, I mean, I was with them for seven years.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Yeah, so how'd you get into law enforcement? Where did you switch from to get into the idea of I'm gonna be in law enforcement?

SPEAKER_02 38:48

So that was dream two. Was one day a job I was working, a buddy goes, Hey, I'm going to take a test for you know police academy, you should come with me. And I'm like, I've no desire to do this, never even thought about it once. But I was like, all right, I'll just go with him, support him. Took go to do the entry test, and he he walks out of the test, doesn't even finish it. And I took the test and I finished it, and got like top like five percent on the test. And I was like, Oh, maybe this is something I could do, and just from then on, it just kind of grew and grew and grew into something that I was like, I want to do this. Um again, that was a battle. It wasn't just like, oh, I want to do this and I apply and I got it. Like the economy sucked. Um departments weren't hiring.

SPEAKER_00 39:43

Was that to be a city cop?

SPEAKER_02 39:45

Yeah, yep. Uh in one of the one of the cities in the area, um, like small, smaller town, you know, 50, 60,000. Yeah. Um, but it's at that time you had to put yourself through an academy, or some departments were hiring, they'd put you through the academy. Well, budget cuts, no one was putting people through. So it was a battle to go in. I ended up putting myself through an academy. How much did that cost? Sure, I'm still paying for it. Student loans. Really? Oh, really? Probably eight or ten thousand. Um, and then I put myself through, applied for a couple departments in the academy. I did really well in the academy.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

And then Was that more like the uh drill instructor stuff? It was that more like highway patrol.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

No, that one's that one's way more paramilitary than when I went through San Francisco. The the this one was done through like a junior college, so it's like a regional academy, and you'd have people from all over what'd you do in San Francisco, sorry? San Francisco PD. Oh, that's where I ended up working.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

Oh, okay. So you had okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

So I I put myself through an academy, a regional academy, um, didn't get picked up, was working at security at a casino and applied for San Francisco, and they were like, Yeah, we'll we'll hire you. You got to go through our academy. So I had to go through a second one. Um that was in 2016, and I go through that academy, and it was Did they pay for that one, or did you guys pay for that one as well? Well, we were we were paid in the academy, so they paid for it because it was theirs. Oh so like I was full hourly. My career started there, so I was getting paid. Right on. I was I was getting paid more than some departments make just being in the academy.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

Um that's probably what millions of people in that area.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

No, that's what's that's what's crazy, is people people envision it like they think of San Francisco like New York, with which is like what 10 million people or something crazy in the boroughs. Um San Francisco's like I think the population is like eight, nine hundred thousand.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_02 41:51

But it's smaller than Treasure Valley then. It's it's not that big. Um and it's only like a seven seven by seven square mile. Like it's it's pretty small, but because like the tech hub, it it almost doubles in size during the day for like work. So all the people that commute in. So like it's a it's a busy city. The population that lives there isn't as big as some.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

Is that Silicon Valley?

SPEAKER_02 42:19

Yep, yeah, Silicon Valley area. There's so many, so many huge tech, yeah, tech places that are out of San Francisco. Um so yeah, that's a that's it blows up. It like doubles, doubles in size during the the workday.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

Um so what was your what was your academy like? You said it was a lot more paramilitaristic than than the junior college. What was that like?

SPEAKER_02 42:41

The junior college one was way more hardcore. The San Francisco San Francisco, I was like, I'll be honest, I was kind of bored through a lot of it. Um I wish it was harder and stricter. I didn't need the discipline, but there were some people that really did think it got cut, maybe?

SPEAKER_00 43:00

Yeah, yeah, that's but um They passed the mirror test, they put a mirror under their nose, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

Pretty much, yeah. Um my I ended up meeting like day one. I sit down, I walk in, I sit down, and guy walks in, kind of looks at me, we kind of eyeball each other. He was older, I was older. I think I started it like early 30s when I started, mid-30s. Um sits down next to me. He's like probably two years older than me. And from that day, from day one of the academy, we were inseparable. Um, he ended up becoming he was in my wedding, I was best man at his wedding. We became partners because we in San Francisco most of the time you do you roll partners, so two people in a car. Um so for a good chunk of my career, he was my partner. Um, to the point where in the academy, um We do this big run at the end, and then they tell you what station. We had 10 stations, they would tell you what station you're gonna go to for field training, and everyone like Northern Station was like the holy grail of stations. It's like oh that's that's a station you want. Um, so my partner gets a northern station, and then it comes to me, and everyone knew like they were just so sick and tired of us, like we were always partnered for everything. And I remember it comes down to me and they're like, you know, Thompson, Northern Station, and uh, and there was an audible, what the fuck? Like people were like, what is going on? How do they end up at the same at the same station? So um we end up uh yeah, we end up going to the same station, we get split up later um for probation, but then at our third station we end up back back together and partnered for shoot, three years.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

I'm sure it makes the job a lot easier when you're partnered with somebody that you like to be with rather than someone you don't want to be in a car with.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

Yeah, absolutely. Um policing's hard. I mean, you you know doing corrections, right? It's it's different, but oh yeah, totally different. It's still in that same field. And I'm sure I'm gonna ruffle feathers. Um, there's a lot of people who shouldn't be cops. And it's not a I think the the public perception of policing is like oh, bad cops, but it's this like Hollywood version of a bad cop. They they think oh, they're stealing drugs and they're selling and they're robbing people.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

It's like training day people, right?

SPEAKER_02 45:43

That shit doesn't happen. Like, does it happen? Like the reality is it sure it happens, but like there's 800,000 cops in the United States. That happens like twice. Like it's it's just not a thing. For me, the standard of a bad cop is like people who don't handle their calls when they should, people who write shitty reports so they don't have to go to court, like people who don't collect evidence because they don't want to have to do follow-up. Like to me, that's like a shitty cop. And there's there was a lot of people that I was like, you don't deserve to be wearing this uniform. So we had a hard time at some of the places because it was like we just like to work, like we were hustlers. It was like our job is to serve the community and protect the community, so like our job is to be out there doing it, and we were they they call it running and gunning all day, like, and some people didn't, some people didn't like it, but yeah, it made the job a whole lot easier, a whole lot easier to deal, deal with.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

When did you start that that job what year?

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Uh 2016. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

How because I was talking to another buddy that he used to work in Panoma or something like that, and he was just saying that during the COVID times it was just terrible in California to be a cop because just like yeah, it was like hooking and book air, and then the releasing, and they just the jails were overcrowded, they didn't want people and stuff. So uh um I'm sure that that that was its own thing. But I was gonna ask you, how do you feel about like the stereotypes about like the fat cops and now that you're in fitness, like to me, also just like for the corrections officers that are overweight, it's like you have a duty to the public to be able to protect and serve, right? But if you can't even protect yourself in those situations, like and I and I used to be that guy, I was a way overweight CEO, but now looking back, and then after like when I lost that weight, it was a completely different thing, and you had more confidence. And like I was on a cell extraction team, I was qualified, I should say. I was qualified to be on a cell extraction team, but I was so overweight that I was never placed on that team, so I was more of a liability. So my question to you is like, what did what should they do for those cops that are liabilities more than they are assets to their team? Like reactive uses of force, or like if they can't even chase after someone, should there be like physical fitness tests that they should have to pass every single year? 100%.

SPEAKER_02 48:14

And we had tests that you had to pass, but they weren't very strict, um, or certain people didn't have to adhere to them. Um you shouldn't be the facing the public. Um at the gym, we call first responders occupational athletes. That's what I that's what I refer to, first responders and like military. You're an occupational athlete. That's your job. You should train like an athlete, you should treat your body like you are an athlete. Um I've always been big and I got out of out of shape. I'm not in great shape right now. Um, but I also train for something like I do power lift, like I have power lift, so it's my it's just different. It's not endurance, yeah. So, but as a cop, there's you know, I got out of shape and got complacent. It's a hard job when you're working 60 hours a week, not counting you know, two hours of commute a day and trying to find time for you know family and gym and doing doing all that shit, like in um but there's a certain way of like carrying yourself, like command presence and how you present yourself and keeping it like even if you're a little bit out of shape, keeping yourself clean, keeping yourself presentable. Um so that was important. Cops that can't pass those tests should not be on the street. Like there's no to me, there's no excuse of having to use force because you're getting overpowered because you're out of shape. To me, that's not that doesn't fly. Like if if if you're if you're a smaller person and someone and you're being overpowered, that makes sense. Like I don't I don't think there should be necessarily a size requirement of like, oh, you have to be over five feet five and you know 180 pounds. Like it takes all all sizes, but like, man, if you can't put your gun belt on and you can't tie your shit, you can't get out of your car because you get stuck. Like if people look at you and they think I could take this guy in a in a foot race, like so they they they might have. We only had, I was lucky. I I only got in a few fights and a few foot pursuits because some people don't care, but we were very sweet, like I was just honest with people. Like, I if we had to sit someone down, I'd sit them down and I you could you could watch their eyes, like you know, you learn how to read people and then watch their eyes, and I would sit there and I would my partner's talking to them and I'd triangulate and kind of scoot over and fill in that gap, and they'd look and I'd and I could tell what they were thinking, and I would be I would just say to them, I go, if you're thinking of running, don't do it. Because at some point I'll catch you and it's not gonna end well. So just don't. And a lot of times, especially when we work in like the projects and and stuff like that, if you're if you're honest with them and you you talk to them, you know, you don't bullshit them, like be respectful, but like talk to them, like they get it. But yeah, if if you man, if you can't pass the physical fitness test, I to me, you don't you don't deserve to wear the uniform. Like you you you should be have some level of fitness and capacity of maintaining that.

SPEAKER_00 51:38

Yeah. When I was working at the prison my last six months, I was an RE, so I just would go to different units if they needed help or whatever, post for movements. But I remember there was a couple people that I had to go and do their roof checks because they couldn't go up a ladder. Yeah. Like the because it was too tiny of an opening, and they're just big people and they can't go up, or they were like just at too out of shape to even go up the ladder, which is one of the physical tests that you have to have passed to get into the CO academy, is like climbing a ladder. Right. And now you can't do that, and that's like a requirement to be in here, but you can still be on the floor. Yeah, I don't understand this.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Yeah, it shouldn't stop at you pass a test to get into the academy or to graduate. You should have to pass the same test to continue your career. Now, now if you were talking as people get older, age, you know, people slow down, you know, injuries, stuff like that. There's places for like you can do more desk stuff. Like we had we had each station with our department was basically its own department. Like we had holding cells, you had um guys who would run the run the desks, do stuff within the station. So like there's places for people who just you're getting at the end of your career and it's time to time to hang it up a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

Um they just tower up.

SPEAKER_02 52:59

Okay, yeah. I I also don't I also don't, and this is gonna be unpopular, I don't think policing should be a 30-year career. I don't think it's sustainable for anyone who says that they don't they aren't affected. My theory is if you don't get affected by the job, uh like mentally, you probably don't care. Um and it's from a mental health, like and family health standpoint, it's not sustainable for the vast majority for a full career. Like, I can't tell you the amount of people that the guys I worked with that are like they're on their fourth marriage, and we had one guy working, he was gonna retire and then go to another department because he had he was paying alimony to like two different people, and then he was on his third marriage, and it's like for what? The second you leave that job, they don't they don't care about you. Second you're gone, they'll tell stories for a couple weeks, and then you don't exist anymore.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

Yeah, how do you feel about the brothers in blue? It doesn't really feel like a brotherhood when you leave, or if, or if it's like you versus the department.

SPEAKER_02 54:18

No, when I I am extremely pro-cop. Um I love the frontline workers, the boots on the ground, like it's it's a very necessary thing in society. Um I don't like admin, I don't like the city officials, I don't like people at the tops of the departments. Um I think it's all bad. Like, and some people if if you watch this and you're one of those, sorry. Like if I know you, sorry. It's just once people get to a certain level, they it's like they just forget what that job's like. Um we and we would see it all the time. It's like guys would promote up and they get to a certain level of like a commander, and then they're like, oh, you can't do this anymore, you can't work this overtime, you can't well, they didn't want you to work overtime or a certain amount because now you're making more money than they are, and they can't have a little patrol cop making more money than someone who's got stars and bars, so now they got to change policy. So, like, stuff like that, I just I have a problem with. Um, but like you talk about the brotherhood. When I went out, so I went out. I am I tell people I'm not cocky. I've learned through my process in life to embrace, um, and this goes back to fitness. So I tell people is like celebrate your wins. It doesn't matter how big it is, how small it is, like you hit that body fat percentage, you hit that PR, fucking celebrate it. Take videos, take pictures, post it, like jump for joy, be proud. Like you did the work. Like I was very good at my job as a cop. Um in the the five years that I was on patrol and worked undercover, like my partner and I were pretty decorated, especially for five years. Um was very good at what we did. Um 2021. I started. We had a really shitty call. Um, and I started after that call, it was about time my daughter was um about to be born, and I noticed me, really shitty call. I noticed I started like feeling really weird, like processing mentally, like a lot of guilt. Um a lot of guilt about the call, the way it turned out. Everybody lived. Um, there was a guy who was they thought would die. He was an ICU for five five weeks. Um, he ended up living, which was awesome. But I just had this guilt of like we didn't do enough. Um, we debriefed the call with tactical team, with you know, um sergeants, with uh everybody. We debriefed the call a dozen times, and everybody said you guys did exactly what you're supposed to do. Like, there's nothing else we could have done. But I held on to a lot of guilt of you know, kind of how everything turned out, and I just started feeling shitty. So a few months goes by and it's just depressed, angry, pissed off. Um, I remember being at a call and some lady was complaining about some crazy homeless person who came in and was throwing shit into like in the little corner store. And she's like, Oh, she's probably hungry. Maybe you should get her some food. And I go, if you fucking care, maybe you get her some food. I go, you're the problem. You created this city in this situation where these people feel like they can just get away with doing whatever they want. And she was just appalled. And I go, if you don't like it, take her and you can go take her to the mayor's house. Let her deal with it. And I go back to my sergeant and I go, hey, I'm probably gonna get a complaint. Here's what happened. Like, I just lost all, like, I didn't have a filter. Like, if I was pissed off, I didn't care. I would tell tell anybody.

SPEAKER_00 58:29

Um all after that call.

SPEAKER_02 58:31

Yeah, and I just started noticing this decline in what was it with that call?

SPEAKER_00 58:37

Did you feel like looking back, there was something else that you could have done, or what was it that was really holding?

SPEAKER_02 58:42

No, so we ended up long story short, we ended up getting a call of a guy that was hurting. The the call was the guy, a guy was hurting some family members. Um, we go to the call. It seemed kind of routine. San Francisco, you get a lot of crazy 911 callers. Um, door opens, I walk up the stairs, door opens, three women come like rush out of the door covered in blood. Um so we get them to safety. There ends up being the suspect barricades in the house. There ends up being an old man and a teenage boy in the house still. So my partner's doing first aid, um, rendering first aid to the victims. And you know, I call in all our all the cavalry, you know, set up perimeters and all that kind of stuff and get medics. So we're getting them tended to, and then we start learning there's somebody inside who could be injured, um, an old man who could be injured. Still don't have enough to go in. Suspect supposedly has a gun, so like there's protocols, so we kind of hold back. Um during that, a guy in the back, an officer in the back goes, Hey, I we see the suspect hitting an old man in the head with a computer. So I go, Rewind. During that, I was going back and forth, like, I think we gotta make entry, like, and kind of battling with myself about forcing entry, but we didn't like have enough. Um, nothing was confirmed. So once that starts, the guy starts getting hit with the computer, I look at a sergeant and I go, Hey, we're going, we're going in. And he's like, wait, wait, wait. And I go, No, we're fucking like we gotta go. So in about 15 seconds, we put together a team. Um, my partner's in the in the front with a shield, and I boot the door, and you know, we all run in, we make entry, we go through the house, we find the suspect, get him into custody. And the old man's the older man's laying in like a puddle of like gelatinous blood coming from his head. Um we get medics in, they take him, uh, officer rides with him to the hospital, and the officer calls me and she's like, Yeah, medic said he's not gonna make it. And I'm like, fuck. So that was that was like the only that was the only call in my career. Sometimes I can talk about it, sometimes I can't. Um I'm covered in my partner and I are covered in blood. So later I go, hey, I gotta go back to the station to change. Um so I go back to change and I call my wife because she'd called me like 10 times and I had I hadn't answered the call. Um I'd gone through active shooters and other stuff, and so like we had a kind of a process of like letting her know I'm okay. And I'm driving back to the station, I call her, and I just fucking lost it. Like I'm in tears. Um, so uh fast forward, I'm on paternity leave. Um, and I'm calling the hospital to check on the old man to make sure he's okay, seeing what's happening. Um, he ends up getting released. But those following months, I'm just like, okay, I did I react too slow? Like, if I if I would have gone in sooner, then we wouldn't have been in that situation. He wouldn't have been, you know, an ICU. All these things wouldn't have happened. But like I knew that I did the right thing, that we we handled it correctly. Um, but there's still that guilt of could I have done something better? So I start feeling shitty. And then one day we're at the gym, our friend's gym, and uh the wife says to my to my wife, was like, something's wrong with Sean. Like, he's he's not normal. Um and somehow that just kind of clicked and hit me. So I ended up calling, uh, calling a therapist and setting up, starting going to therapy and going through that process of talking to him and kind of talking through stuff. There's therapists who speaks with law enforcement, like they're trained to deal with law enforcement. So going through that process, and you know, he gets my wife involved wife involved, and like, you know, I want her to write me letters of the shit you do. She write she writes him a three-page letter of like, you know, um screaming in my sleep, and you know, radio, you know, doing building searches in my sleep, or waking up in the middle of the night like yelling we're getting shot at, like just crazy shit that I didn't know was happening. Um but then stuff that was like, you know, she wrote down she almost left because it was just I was never there, and you know, even when I was there, it was like just a shell of a person. Um we'd go to a restaurant and she'd be like, Oh, what do you want? And I'm like, I don't fucking care. Just pick something. I don't, it doesn't matter. Like, you're just not living, like you're uh we're just she's basically single. Um so I go through that, and one day I'm I'm talking to the doctor, and I'm like, I don't know anything about PTSD. And I'm always like, I'm like, oh I'm not trying to like be dramatic, but I'm like, I feel like is that a thing? Like, do I have that? And he's like, he kind of laughs. I think we're like eight sessions in. Like he kind of laughs and he goes, I had PTSD written down on your on your form from our second meeting. Like, so we're going through this whole process.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:18

Um Did you feel like it was just kind of a buzzword at that point? Like you weren't really into it, or like the idea of PTSD, you didn't really have an idea of what it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

I had no clue. Because like you go through the and I've talked to guys, you go through the academy and you're going through these processes and they they talk about it and they're like, and I tell people now, they're like, oh, you're gonna you're gonna go through and you're gonna go home, um, you're gonna go out to dinner with your wife, and you're just not you're gonna tell them to pick. And they're like, it's it's normal, you're just you're just tired. You're not tired. Like it, it's not because you're just tired from the job. Like, that's trauma. Like, that's years of trauma, and it affects it affects you as a person. I've I talked to a sergeant who actually moved out here, um, that I that I worked at the one of the stations. We've had this conversation of, you know, he had he started 20 years before me, and he had this exact same thing in the academy where they're like, it's just normal, it's just a hard career, and you just get tired sometimes. It's not being tired. Like, that's trauma. Um, so I'm going through the process and going through therapy, and I go in one day working with my partner. I'm driving, we get to a call, and we get to a call, and I kind of like blink and wake up, and we're like at a call. And I go, fuck. I was driving the car, I don't know how we got here, I don't know where we drove from, I don't remember what the call is. I don't remember what we talked about, I don't remember what the music that was on the radio. Like, I don't remember 10 15 minutes of driving to This call. So I called my therapist that day and I go, I need to see you tomorrow. So I go in and I told him what happened. I go, I can't I can't do this anymore. Like, and then I come that I come to learn, they call it dissociating. So I was dissociating like while I was driving. It was basically it almost feels like tunnel vision that they describe of like now if it happens to me, which it has in a long time, but like if it happens, I can like feel it. Like you can feel the walls closing in and like just kind of focusing. And I have to like stop. And there's processes you learn of like using your brain to like okay, look at things and pinpoint, okay, you know, you know, black things on the wall, white light, you know, you can you process certain smells and you tell yourself the smell and touch certain things, and it kind of grounds you and brings you back in. But I was like, fuck, I was doing that for four years, like so I pulled myself. Um, and it's a long story to get back to the brotherhood of when I was out with with my stuff, I had people actually call me asking if I was faking. Wow, really? And I was like, Yes, I'm faking that my wife almost left me. Like, cool, like, and that was hard. Um, I don't talk to as many people as I used to. Um, there's some people I talked, my partner I talk to three, four times a week. Like, we still visit and you know do family vacations and stuff like that. But there's a lot of people that it's like they don't give a shit, you're just not there. Like, and I get it, life, and it's not always malicious, right? Life is I have friends I grew up with that were I've been friends with since first grade, and I talk to them like once a year. It's just life. But like, people put so much stock in like, I'm a cop. Like, no, that's what you do, dude. That's not you. Like, don't make that your identity. Like, it's a job, like, hold yourself to a higher standard. You know, it's it's a different career than other careers, but like, don't let that define who you are as a person because at the end of the day, those people don't give a shit about you. Like, once you're gone, unless you build that special bond with certain people, like when you leave, department doesn't care who you were. The department tried to fight my medical retirement up to the day that I got it approved. Like, I went seven, sixteen months of being retired before they started paying me my medical retirement. And they tried to fight it the entire time.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:47

What were they trying to fight and say that were they trying to say you were faking it or something?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:51

So that obviously was going around the department, and that's when you started hearing it from other officers or something?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:56

No, I started hearing it from people before. Um but that that they tried to say that I was faking.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:01

I was like, except for the You're like the star, this not star, but like you're a top very decorated officer. So it's not like you were just like a bottom barrel officer and you're trying to get retirement, or like you were one of their top people in the group. You're going through things.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:19

And yeah, and it's I and I had a really hard time with it to the point of where I was telling my wife was like, I'm going through this, and they're like, You're a liar, you're a liar, you're a liar. And then that starts in your head. And I go to my wife one day, I go, Am I just making this up? Like, is this real? Like, am I lying? And then you have to like bring yourself back, and I'm like, no, like the shit I've seen, the the way like this is real. Um, they just don't want to pay you, they just don't want to take care of you. Um, so I had to battle that the in the entire time. Um for 16 months? No, the whole process took me about three years. Oh my gosh. From September, September, I think it was 21st or 19th of 21 was when was my last day of work, and my official retirement day was May 11th of 2023. But I didn't start getting my retirement until November or December of 24.

unknown 1:10:30

Jeez.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:31

So So what was that?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:33

What was that like when you realized, yeah, I'm done with the department?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:37

Like I had a hard time.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:38

Was that a hard time?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:39

Yeah, it was it was hard because that's I worked my ass off for that. Part of it was me. And I I told my therapist one day, I go, I can't, I can't go back. Like, I'm not I'm not safe. I I swore an oath to protect the public, and I cannot safely protect the public. Um I have a gun. Like, if I and and I to always took the stance if I get hurt, I don't care. Like, I obviously cared, but you know what I mean. Like, my priority is my partner safety, it's suspect or it's it's victim safety, and it's suspect safety. Like making sure everybody else goes home is my number one priority, and I can't safely do that. So it is my duty to remove myself from that situation. And then I went into what the fuck do I do now? Like, I'm just a stupid cop. Like, I don't have a college education, I don't have a backup plan, I don't have I don't have anything to fall back on. Um I ended up going to a live-in retreat for first responders for PTSD. And it was dude, it was probably the hardest week of my life where it was like man, they took care of everything. They cleaned, they cooked. We didn't, we didn't have to pick our dirty dishes off the table. Like they did everything, they took care of us. But it was 12 plus hours a day of therapy, of group sessions, of crying, talking about my dog that we had to put down because I felt like I didn't put him down soon enough. Like, just you're going through every emotion, um, and it's just exhausting. Like, it's just EMDR treatment and group therapy and individual therapy, but it was I said it like with testosterone, like it was a lifesaver. It's it was the best thing I could have ever done. Like I left as a a different person, but one of the things I learned in that was, and I've I've told people, buddies who've retired, was like, you're not just a dumb cop. Like, I don't have any skills. Yes, you do. Look at the things you've like, I I go look at the things I've done, and I use this when we were building the gym, was like scene management, team management, crisis intervention, de-escalation. Um, I've run critical incidents, I've gone into active shooters, I've like all these different things you do as a cop, especially in a city like that. And I go, those are skills. Those are skills that translate into other fields, into other careers, into other jobs. And a lot of those are skills that you can't learn at a college, you can't get on a piece of paper, like being able to speed up and slow down and make split-second decisions based on you know, a new suspect entering a scene or someone being eliminated, or you know what I mean? Like all these different variables, you have to be able to change on the fly. You can't teach that everywhere else, and you can't teach doing that and keeping yourself composed in other places. So, like, once I learned that, I was like, okay, I can do something, but then it's like, then what do you do to fill that gap? Because like you go from this, you know, being a adrenaline all the time to stock shelves at Home Depot. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but that's what you're considering doing, right? Yeah, because I did that when I was younger, so I'm like, I know this, it's safe, it's easy. And again, not there's anything wrong with that, but for me, it was like, how do I fulfill how do I fill that void of like purpose? Purpose. Like, what is my purpose? Um, and that's where that's where the gym came in was now I have the ability to like I love fitness, like that's how my my wife and I met, and um I have the ability to create a space. So during that time with the PTSD, the gym was like my safe place. We had we had a home gym, we had our buddies gym because a lot of it was during COVID and during the riots and and all that. So like I worked out at home and so I got the strongest I've ever been, and and I loved it. That's where Nine Realms Athletics was born, was in our garage gym. And um, I was like, now we have the opportunity, we can create that space for other people. Like we can give other people that that place where they're looking to find um looking to find their path or a place where they belong, and they're maybe they feel like an outcast and they don't belong somewhere or they don't know where the but this is this can be a place where they can at least escape for a little bit. And maybe it helps them develop as a person and find something, you know, like um, or for our veterans and first responders, it's like they need a safe space where they can get blow off steam, they can get therapy, they can, you know, not think about all that other shit. Well, you can come here and do it here. Like, we know what you're going through, and we want to create that space for you to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:07

Yeah. Yeah, it's awesome, man. I think that that's very important for especially for anybody that's going through any kind of mental mental um PTSD or just trauma that they've gone through as a kid. Or I'm I mean, I tell this to people I talk to all the time on on client calls, but it's like I wish people would have pitched the gym to me as a kid for the mental health way versus any of the the muscles and all this other stuff. Like I've got way more therapeutic from the gym than I ever did going to any of these therapies that I went through as a kid or things like that. But you had mentioned that you were on paternity leave, so was that did you have a kid during this time, like the first kid?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:48

Uh we have one, but yeah, we had our daughter during the yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:51

How big of a impact was that then on your also your mental of wanting to retire medically because of what you were going through? Like, did did that scare you at all now that you're a dad?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:02

Like retiring and losing career having just just your your mental well-being.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:08

Oh, um was that a part of it at all now that you're a father?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:12

Yes, part of that, like I've come to terms with a lot of it sucks, it sucks for my daughter's, you know, too young to, she won't remember it, I hope. Um I sucked during her first couple years. Like, it was in the middle of my battles with PTSD. My wife also worked for a sheriff's department, she was animal control, so like she ended up going back to work. Um, and there's times where I'm it was just me and my daughter, and and I would call her freaking out. I'm like, why the why the fuck won't she go to sleep? Why is she crying? And I'm like, I can't, I can't do this. Like her first fuck, I don't know, man, like year and a half, like I just didn't enjoy it. Cause like I was so stressed out. Like I didn't I didn't have as much fun. There was times I had fun, but it was like every little thing, like, why won't she be quiet? Well, dude, she's a toddler. She's an infant. Like, that's what they that's they can't talk, they don't understand. But like my brain was so screwed up that like I just couldn't process that. Um But then I got to be home and I I started, I really used the tools that I learned in therapy. Um and I every day I fought to to try to make myself better. Like I couldn't go, I couldn't go to a coffee shop. Like I didn't want to be around anybody. So like I my wife and I for a while we would make it like okay, one day a week, we're just gonna go get coffee. Like, we're gonna force ourselves, we're gonna force me, I'm gonna force myself to go out in public and be around people. And then it would like, okay, now we're gonna go to a restaurant, and I'm not gonna face the door because that's what we do. It's like you have to be able to see and scan and know all the threats, and like I still do it, yeah, but like I made myself be vulnerable and not do it because I had to get past that, like I had to become a normal person again. Um so then I sit at home and I go from like working every day for what 20 years to like sitting at home and I can't do anything, and that was hard. Like I felt useless as a person, but I got to watch, you know, watch my daughter grow up and her first steps and her like all these things that a lot of people miss. Like, I got to be present and see those things. So like I don't think it took I didn't take that into account necessarily because like I would love for her to be proud to be like, yeah, my dad's a cop, but like getting to see all those things definitely helped me cope with the idea that I'm not I can't go back to that career.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:07

Like being able to you know be there for my wife to the point of where it's like, okay, you need to go outside, like you need to you need to get out of the house and not bother me because I'm stuck with you all day. So um it was a it was a blessing and a curse. Um I said I I wish I could go back and fix some of that stuff with you know during my daughter's first couple years, but that's life. You just have to figure it out and yeah, make it up when you can. Learn from it and try to help other people.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:41

Yeah, well, you still did it well. She was young enough that she won't remember. So that was good that you were able to do that. What was um what was some of the things that you became desensitized to that would definitely give the normal person PTSD?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:54

Oh um, so one of my I think it was probably the first, like the first homicide that I worked was wasn't even it wasn't our call, but we were second, I think second on scene. We were literally running up right behind the first people who were getting there, and guy got shot in the head um with a 45. He had his phone phone it up to his ear, went through his phone, out his jaw. So blew out his jaw. He's in the middle of the street, and there's a stream of blood about I don't know, like six inches wide, about 12 feet long, just like going to the gutter, and they start doing CPR or compressions. The guy's dead, he's alive, but like we know he's he's dead. And it's it's crazy to think back now because I can still see it. He's looking around and he finds me, and we just lock eyes for like 10 seconds, and I'm his jaws flopping, like as they're doing compressions, but his his eyes are saying to me, help me. And the only thing I can think of is like, what am I gonna eat? Like, I'm hungry, like I need to eat after this call. So, like, am I gonna get spaghetti? Am I gonna get salad? Oh, this place is probably and like that's literally what I'm processing in my head is like, yeah, what are we gonna what are we gonna eat? As this dude's dying right in front of me. And it's just a weird, like now thinking back after going through therapy, like that just seemed normal. You're like, oh, it's the the cool stuff with the job, but like thinking back now is like, yeah, that's that's where trauma comes from. Like, we had a I think it was 2017, there was an active shooter at the UPS building in San Francisco. Um, we were in a different district, but I remember I used to listen to all the different channels um because I want to know what was going on, and I heard it and I was listening to it. We were on a call, I think it was a car accident, um, and no one was hurt. And I hear them go, we need more people. So, like the guy I was working with, I go, Hey, let's go. And he goes, It's not ours, it's not our call. I just get on the air to a sergeant. I go, Hey, permission to go to the active shooter. And he's like, Yeah. So we hop out, we go, and we're we speed there, and we run in, and there's a guy, like an officer in charge of the of the scene, and he goes, We need people inside. They didn't know the shooter was dead yet. Like they were still searching, they had to search this whole building to see if there's anyone, anyone else in there. So he goes, All right, we need people inside. And I go, Cool, just run in. Don't even think about it. Well, on the way to that call, I'm like I'm processing, like I text my, I think I text my wife's fiancee at the time, um, her mom, and I was like, you know, tell Savannah I'm gonna be good. Like, if you see it on the news, I'm going to this call, I'll text you, I'll text her when I'm when I'm good. Um but in my head, like I had this like conversation. I'm not I'm not super religious, I battle with battle with where I where I fit with religion, but like I had this conversation with God of like, okay, this is this is the my last call. And I was like, if this is where it ends, I'm good. Like I I just made it's weird, it's a weird feeling that like I made peace with the fact that like, all right, I'm not gonna go home after this. Like, it's fucking weird. Like, and then I and then you know, and everything I end up being okay, and it ends up being a shitty traumatic call and all that kind of stuff, but like that process of like this could be it. I might not might not see my family ever again. It's weird. So it's it's stuff like that that like the public when it comes to like public perception of policing, like they just they can't they don't think about those things where they're like, oh, why is this cop he used excessive force, yeah, it's not good, but like you don't know what they've gone through, like you don't know all these other things that that they have to see on a daily basis and they have to process. Like, you don't know what they went to before that call. Like, I don't I don't remember what call I went to after that, but man, if I had to go to another call after after that one, I don't I don't know what I was thinking after just accepting that I was gonna die.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:34

Yeah, especially if you go into like a different call, just like a grandma needing help or something, and you gotta just accept that you almost died, or you were accepting that, and yeah, you gotta just go help her because she can't do something, you know. Yeah, I can just be able to completely be a completely different person.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:49

Yeah, and it's and it's not this like I know people have like, and I talked to a friend of mine after, and she's like, No, you have to have the mentality that you're gonna make at home. And I'm like, it's not that I gave up, but it's like I I looked at it and I was like, I have a job to do. Um again, my job is to protect the public, my job is to run into this situation, it's not to run away from it, and if that leads me to being killed, then that is why I'm here. Like that, that is what I'm here to do. Like, I have to protect, I have to, I have to help people who can't help themselves. And if that means it's the last thing I do, I mean I would, and if there was an active shooter at a school down the street and I was walking by, I would probably do the same thing today. It's just like if if that's what you're called to do, then Yeah, you're there to serve others and protect, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:26:44

It doesn't matter whether you have a badge on or not, it seems like for you, it's just what you're in your heart to do.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:49

Yeah, and that's one of the was talking about like like religion and stuff was like Isaiah 6.8 always sticks in my head.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:58

Yeah, here I am, send me.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:00

Yeah, and and the first time I heard that, it just kind of like I think that kind of helped me process a lot of those calls where it was just like, okay, this is this is why I'm here. Um that ended up helping me with the idea of not going back to law enforcement anymore. It was like, I had a real hard time with it. I I don't get to go back. You know, this was my career, I love this, you know, all that. Why me? And then I sit back and I looked at everything and I was like, okay, I did I had this crazy call, I had this crazy call, I had all these different things. I got to train and do these really cool trainings and um learn all these really cool skills and all these things, and I was like, what was the purpose? I go, oh, the purpose was for that one call in January of 21 where we saved five people's lives, like the whole The whole purpose was to prepare me for that. And that and after that, like the it was like God, fate, whatever, whatever put someone wants to call is like, that's what you were put here to do, and then you've you fulfilled your purpose. And so I was like when that hit me, I was like, Okay, cool. I'm good. Like it did everything to put me in the position for that call to make the right decision when I had to do it. I did that, and I'm good. Like, yeah, I'm good with this decision. Like, I can move on.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:33

Yeah, yeah. God never wastes a hurt. That's one of the biggest things helped me. Just you're going through something you can't figure out why it's for you, like, man, he's just training me for something coming up, but I just can't see it yet. Yeah, life will make sense in reverse, but it won't make sense going forward. So I just accept that now, and it's it doesn't make it easier all the time. But having that faith and just knowing like it's it's worked out, it's for a reason. God never wastes a hurt. Trudge forward, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:58

Yeah, I looked at it with some of that stuff, was like it's kind of corny, but there's a a rapper, and at the end of the song, at the end of one of the songs, um, I'm trying to remember his name, it's like some underground rapper, was like, if you couldn't handle it, God wouldn't if you couldn't handle it, it wouldn't be put on you. Yeah. And and so I've always I've always kind of taken that as like I'm handling this burden because I know that I can carry it, and that way someone else doesn't have to. Um and like you said, you can't always you don't always know what what that means. Like you don't always know where you're going with it. And the the process with the gym, like I said, took us four years, and there was half a dozen times where dealing with shitty business people and and corrupt people and people who want to see you fail and going out of your way to make it so you can't succeed, and where you just want to give up and quit. And I'm like, no, this is this is just part of the process.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:01

At what point did you switch it from stocking shelves at Home Depot to realizing you had a new purpose?

SPEAKER_02 1:30:06

Having that conversation with my wife um about like, nah, you can't just go to you can't just do that. Um and then realizing there was a need for like a facility, a gym that like we we've put together, like we truly believe there was a need that we saw a lot of things that were done in in some of the places that we just didn't agree with and thought there was a better way to do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:34

Um and were you still thinking about all this while you were in California?

SPEAKER_02 1:30:38

No, we were here at the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:39

Okay, so did you move here between the time you were trying to go through the medical retirement then?

SPEAKER_02 1:30:43

In the middle of all my so in the middle of going through my like yeah, I left in 21 and then we moved out here in 22. So, like in the middle of all of this was moving out of state, moving away from family, finding a new home, trying to trying to build a new life. Um and it was the best thing we could have ever done. Like I zero regrets. I wish we did it sooner. Um but yeah, going through going through that, I got really lucky. Um I got another opportunity to live out my dream with pro wrestling. Um, like I said, I as soon as I retired, a friend of mine. I was retired in May. A friend of mine called me and was like, hey, we're the company that I work with and and help out now. He's like, We're we're putting they do a Wednesday TV show. He goes, We're doing a Saturday show and we need more people. Can you work weekends? I was like, dude, I can only work weekends. So I got an opportunity to do that in the meantime, and and got back in the ring then? Nope, uh just on the security team standpoint, but like I've traveled to all over the United States, Canada, Mexico City, Scotland, London, Wales.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:07

You ever got to meet like a really like high A-class wrestler that everybody would know?

SPEAKER_02 1:32:11

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:12

Who's your favorite?

SPEAKER_02 1:32:14

Uh oh man. So one of my favorites that I work with, I see all the time, Tony Shavani. Um, not wrestler, but if you watched like WCW back in the day, he was the voice of he's been the voice of wrestling for 40 something years. Oh this this a couple weeks ago, Mick Foley. Um, I I text my buddy. It was like it was like I knew Mick Foley was gonna be here, but like walking in the back and being like, oh hey Mick, was like, fuck, this is crazy. And then like I turned the corner and it's like Mick Foley talking to Jim Ross, like good old JR, and I'm like, this is wild. Um Sting's retirement match. I was five feet away, just right at the ring for Sting's retirement.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:03

Were you doing security for that?

SPEAKER_02 1:33:05

Nice, so it's like I've gotten to like get to know people and and meet people that the team we work with is uh it sounds sounds hyperbole, but like next level, the guys we work with are just it's an awesome group of guys that travel 52 weeks a year. Like I don't do it as much, I only do like once a month now. Like I scale back because of the gym, but like getting to live out the dream of giving back to that industry that I've loved for 30 something years in some small way. Then my my buddy one day goes, dude, he's he goes, it just hit me. He's like, There's now moments in wrestling history, like these these new moments are part of wrestling history, and he goes, You were there, like you were part of that history, and I'm like, Ah, it's weird.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:57

That's cool though, because it you have such a passion and a love for the sport, and now you're a part of these big monumental moments.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:02

Yeah. So it's that helped me get through it and kind of transition. Like I got to go back to living out a dream again, like, and and I wasn't in the ring, and I'll never probably never wrestle again. Um, but just getting to be part of in in some small way. Um, and then like I said, it was how can I give back to the community? Like, I didn't grow up here, like I don't you know, I wasn't born here, I haven't lived here for you've only been here a couple years, but like, how can we help the community here? How can I help the veteran first responder community? I can't do it the way I used to or the way I want to, but I can give back with this facility. Like, we can give back and we can help people achieve their goals, lose weight, become more functional, become a better person, get through whatever shit they're going through. Um we can help provide them a place to do that. And I can have some some small hand in doing that.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:07

Yeah, yeah, that's really cool that you have such a passion for the law enforcement. I mean, there's a lot of people that you know, they they say they'll offer like a discount or something in like small writing, but like you're out in public, you're like that's your main priority is like the military law enforcement, and like you love that community so much, and that's your forefront. And that's that's really what I think would set you apart from a lot of the gyms around here. I mean, not anything bad against the other gyms, but you know, if that's what's something that you're really passionate about, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:36

Yeah, so like we do do a discount, um, but like we have special hours for our veterans of first responders, they have 24-hour access. Um, we've had some people wish and ask if we would give all members 24 hour access. And I said, it's not, it's never gonna happen. Like I remember waking up, you know, one o'clock, two o'clock in the morning, and I can't sleep and anxiety and shit going on, and the gym was a space I could go to, but I didn't always want to be around people. Like now we can create even just that little 11, what 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. time frame of like guys wake up in the middle of the night, girls wake up in the middle of the night, they can't sleep, minds racing, they got a place to go. Like, I we had a couple guys in the other day just to walk through and was like, dude, if you got to write reports, come and write a report. You need to use the bathroom, come use the bathroom. Like, if you need to come in in the middle of the night because you can't sleep, like come in and work out, you got a space to, you know, come work out. And if there's somebody else in there in that time, they're probably going through the same shit you are. So for us, it's a way of building another community of like maybe they'll want to talk about their feelings, but they see each other in the gym all the time. And so maybe they start making that connection and building that that connection. And and I also try to with our members that I know are veterans or first responders, is like all the members matter, but those those members we try to talk to a little bit more. Like, I just try to feel out those people and I'm open and sharing, you know, my story. So it's like if if if I see someone come in, I can read them if they need someone to talk to, then we're there to do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:21

Yeah. Well, that's awesome. That this will come out during mental health months, too. So I think that's such a big thing with the law enforcement community, you and in the military. You know, you see the lot of the suicide prevention, and um, you know, I think a lot of men and just I mean law enforcement in general, but they usually end up dying within a couple years of retirement because they lose that purpose. Yep. And so for you to give them a spot that they can put a purpose into building their body or just having an outlet, like that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:52

Yeah, and and I appreciate someone like you giving me this platform because like uh we're we're talking to some guys who they shoot stuff for us and um like content, and they were like, Yeah, we don't want to like we don't want to market your story or use it as like it's it's not a marketing ploy, but I want to use these platforms to push my story, and it's not it's not to grow me or my business, it's not an ego thing, but I've had friends that I made in the department have called me going through their stuff who almost killed themselves. And one of them was like, I had my you know, I'm checking in, how you doing, what's going on? I'm helping them through the process of doing all the paperwork and figuring it out, and he's like, I had my gun in my mouth and was about to pull the trigger and my wife called, and I'm like, fuck, like, I'm like, that shit's heavy. Like, I never got to that point, but I'm like, now I have this I went through my stuff. I'm like, it's it's kind of my purpose now to share it, to get it out there, to like help those people realize that that's not the answer. Like, there's another way out of it. Like, even if it's just fucking talking to somebody, like you want to grab a beer, cool. You don't drink beer, cool. Like, you want to grab a taco or burger, like, or you want to come work out, then let's come work out. We don't even have to talk about anything. But like, there's ways through it, there's other options besides that. So it's using using these platforms, using our social media, using the gym to like be vulnerable and put my stuff out there because if I go through if I've gone through it, somebody else has gone through it too, or they're going through it now, and they just they don't think there's a way out of it, but they need to see people who've done it and survived it and gone through it to know that there is there is a way out of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:51

Yeah. What's the best way you think for current law enforcement would be checking their mental health before it's too late?

SPEAKER_02 1:39:57

Dude, I've I so I've done a couple podcasts on um on PTSD stuff. I did one on like helping people prepare for the academy. And my number one, I tell people if you're thinking about law enforcement, get a therapist. If you don't need it, I don't care. Get a therapist, go once a month, build that relationship. The biggest part of that for me is like talk to them now because you'll start, you won't see the change in you, but they will see the change. You start talking to them just about normal life problems, who you are, what you go through, what life is like, then you start your career in law enforcement, and now you're adding the traumatic calls, you know, the the deaths, the suicides, the you know, trying not to shoot somebody, like all those, all those different things, and you're gonna continue to talk to them and they're gonna see the change. And they're gonna be able to they're gonna be able to recommend tools, um, changes, you know, medication if if that helps people. I'm not a big fan of medication. Um but they're gonna be able to recommend things to help you. Like I wish I had that before. If if I had if I knew this before, I probably would still be working now. Um I just it it was never was never pushed before. Like mental health was never talked about.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:27

Yeah, what what about like the guys that think that it's just weak to talk about your feelings? I mean, I think that was a big one for me. Like I just pushed that under the rug for years. Just I mean, I went through a bunch of child abuse as a kid and I just never talked about it, and I felt like it was done. Like, what good is it gonna talk about it? I can't bring up I can't, you know, do anything again, or like when you went through your thing with like the old man, like somebody might think, like, oh well, I can't bring why why would I talk about it? Like, what's the best way for someone to you know do that? Then if it's something that happened in the past, they can't change it.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:58

But it it's it's hard because it's like you you can't change any of that, but you can recognize or learn, like like I said, I I didn't know how a lot of these things affected me until I started going back, and I could see now I could see markers of how I changed as a person after this call, after that call, you know, and how it affected me. How you know you start like there's times I'll be driving and I'll hear a song come on that I listen to like a hinder song. There's nothing special about it, and I'll just start crying and listening to this song. Like watching a Disney movie with my daughter, it's not even a sad part of the movie, just start getting emotional. Like, that's all trauma, like that's all stuff that's and I can find markers of when those things started to progress and started to change. So, like you can't change it, but you can recognize, and for the big thing for my wife and I is we don't want to continue, you know, trauma she's gone through, trauma I've gone through as childhood or careers, like we don't want to continue that trend with our daughter of going through shitty family relationships, and you know, let's feel like we want to end that. So it's being able to recognize these things and you can't change it, but you can change it moving forward. You can mitigate some of the things you do because of it. Um it sucks that it's some people you just you unfortunately you just can't break that stigma of now you can't talk about it. It's not manly to talk about it. It's like you can't help everybody.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:44

Like I think that's where the gym or something like that that's active comes into play because maybe not everybody feels comfortable like we're doing right now, talking face to face, but I think shoulder to shoulder doing something actively might be a little bit easier for someone to talk about, like, hey man, I'm just going through some shit right now, you know. A hundred percent. But like while you're digging a trench with someone or you know, just something that's that like you're doing something actively, you know. Like I've started doing community hikes on Saturdays just to see whoever wants to go. But if that's an outlet for somebody that you know just needs some community, I think that's the biggest thing for men is just community. Yeah, and like when you're alone, that's the devil's playground. That's when your depression comes in, that's when you start you're only alone with your thoughts, you start really playing things over in your head and thinking like I could have done something different, or maybe maybe I should have told someone, or you know, right, and then the big one is like a lot of people turn to alcohol, yeah, and then that just is a downward spiral.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:40

Yeah, and I'm not I'm not one of these people that's like don't drink. Drinking alcohol is bad. We have I have a lot of alcoholism in my family. I've always had a rule, and I and I somehow maintain this as a cop was if I had a bad day and I ever found myself saying I'm I need to go home and have a drink, I would actively not touch alcohol. And I have a whiskey bar at home. Like I I love having a glass of whiskey, just sit down. Me and my wife will just sit on the couch on the patio and have a glass and enjoy it. And but it's it's I've always actively made it so it wasn't a crutch, and it's never I'm in a shitty bad mood, I just need to have have a glass. That that's a problem, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:24

Like, um, yeah, I think you have to know your limits too. Like, I know for me, I couldn't control it. Like, if I could have a six-pack glass in my fridge for a month, yeah, but as soon as I crack that first one, they're gone.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:37

Yeah, yeah, you know. Um, and for men, it's finding a purpose. Yeah, that's huge. Like you're saying, like, man, even if it's just at the gym, me and my I work out with a buddy of mine all the time, and it's he's a retired cop, and and it's half the time we're just sitting there bitching about something, or like something's bothering me, something's bothering him, like just life stuff, and it's just talking about maybe he's got something going on with his family, I got something going on that's bothering me, and we're just therapy session, yeah, while while we're lifting and doing our and then it's all right, sit down, don't be a pussy, push the push that bench, and then okay, and then this is going on, and how do we how do we do that? So yeah, those things are hugely important.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:22

I think I think surrounding yourself with other men that are gonna push you to do the right things and the hard things and the things that are gonna grow you, and being around other men that are growth mindset and not just like, yeah, dude, let's waste away our whole lives just drinking at a bar, watching TV, or let's like let's go do something, you know, like let's let's go lift some weights, let's go build a business, let's talk about growth, let's talk about how we can be better men, whether it's you know, whatever it is, but like just surrounding yourself with like-minded people that are that want more out of you. Yep, yeah, that's that's what I think is is is the biggest part, you know. Obviously, you could surround yourself with the wrong people, and that's gonna be worse, yeah. But to surround yourself with people that are gonna call you out on your bullshit or not just allow you to be hundred percent, be uh, you know, normal or just mediocre, want more out of you.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:10

People get offended by that, and it's like me and my partner always used to, we get we get out of our, we'd finish a call, we'd get in the car, and him and I would debrief every call on our own. And it would be here's what happened, here's what went good, and I could say to him, Hey, you did X, Y, and Z. That didn't work for me. Like, maybe we can do it this way. And and we had no problem. We never fought. We never, I want him to tell me, hey, we did this, try doing it this way next time. Like, he sees something I didn't see, I might see something he didn't see, but like I want to be a better person that you're he's basically my brother, he's my family. Like, if I can't, if you can't tell family, hey, don't fuck up. You need to get your shit together. Like, that's what they're there for. And if they're not telling you, then they don't care. Right. So you need those people to to keep you in check.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:05

Yeah, 100%. That's the best friend. The friends that won't tell you when you're messing up, like that you don't want those kind of people around you. No, you want the ones that are around you, like they see you winning and they're excited for you to win.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:16

Yeah, they help you, they celebrate your wins, but they also go, Man, this ain't it. Right. You gotta fix that. That's that's not that's not happening.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:23

Love that, yeah. So what was it like building this building? The the gym? It was wild.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:31

It was like I said, the we could I could I could talk for hours about the process going in, but once we finally like you were talking about like ordering the equipment, dude. We ordered well first, you had to find a location, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:48:45

Did you already have an idea of where you wanted to be?

SPEAKER_02 1:48:48

Yes, and I will just say the powers at B did not want us to be in that area. Oh, really? So we got pushed out. Um we started the process in August of 22, and we opened doors in April of 24, of 26. Yeah. So December of 22, we put in our our order with Arsenal Strength, and we paid a 50% deposit on our big ass order and sat on that for years trying to get our location, trying to get all that all that situated. Um we finally one thing we've learned through our process is we won't compromise who we are, my wife and I. Um I won't compromise my values for success or what other people see as success. So there's things we do um with the gym, and there's things that we are going to be doing that are gonna ruffle feathers and that are gonna step on toes and not intentionally. Um there's things that are done in the gym industry because that's how you do it, but it's not the way it should be done. So That we're gonna do it different because that's for our business, that's how we want to do it. Um if you keep on like any of the things that we're gonna do I don't want to talk about this stuff yet, but there were stuff as like as a as a cop where people were like, Well, that's just how it is. Well, that's not how it should be. I don't care if that's how it that's how it's done.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:18

I hated that mentality. So it's been done for years.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:20

Like, okay, that doesn't make it right. Yeah. So there's things we see, and it's like, well, that's how it's done. No one does it this, no one does it this way because it's done like this.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:30

I don't care if it's done like this. This is how I think it's better and should be done, and this is how I'm gonna do it. It's not to rag on anybody else, but gotta play some trails. We're we're doing things the way we want to do it, and taking care of the community the way we think we should do it, and it's not to hurt anybody, it's not to step on any toes, it's not to intentionally, it's not in sp out of spite for somebody else. But we our business is our business, and that's what we want to take care of, and and we're gonna take care of people the best way we see fit, and um so when it came to selecting the where we were gonna be, like selecting equipment and all that, like we won't compromise quality. Um, we weren't gonna just settle for we had I had a we had a business consultant that goes, why don't you just start with a smaller building? And I was like, Because people complain that the gyms are too packed. I'm not willing to sacrifice and just move into a place just to open a gym. Like, I don't want to just I don't have a gym, we don't want to open a gym just to make money and say we owned a gym. Like, we want to build a community and a purpose around that business, so it has to be done a certain way. Um and after going through all the shit we did with bad developers and landlords and all that, we ended up buying the property we have, and how we did it, I've no clue. We ended up we had a meeting one day with a financial consultant, he's like, Why don't you guys just buy a buy a building? And I was like, I mean, that's the goal to eventually own our own property, but like that doesn't make any sense. Who's gonna give us all of this money to go buy a commercial property? And then you just go through the process, and again, it's just like every day we did something new to like, okay, well, maybe we just buy a property instead. Well, how do we do that? All right, well, let's just start going through, learn about these different loans and the and how to propose this and put these things together and how to build this whole thing. And December 2nd, we end up closing closing escrow on a one-acre commercial property with you know our main buildings 10,000 square feet, and we have two other buildings on the property that we own. That's sweet. And that was December 2nd, December 3rd, first thing in the morning. We go in and we start doing demo and tearing walls out. Like it was like, okay, now we own this thing, we we're making payments on this, let's get this shit done.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:08

Um, and we did that six, seven days a week, 12, 15, 16 hour days.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:16

Yeah, it was really cool to watch the watch the updates. You guys getting the pallets coming in of different equipment and showing the new equipment that you got, unwrapping them. Like that was cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:26

It sucked because we really wanted like we wanted to do pre-sale memberships and stuff months ahead of time, and we really like I was dying to to show people the equipment because a lot of it's stuff that they that's not out here that people don't have access to. And again, it's not a knock on anybody, it's just we we had a vision of what we wanted to do, and we were very intentional about every single thing we purchased and every piece of equipment, and we were so excited to show people, but we were also we got burned so many times it was like we don't want to just put this stuff out there too soon, so we have to try to like time it out so we don't shoot ourselves in the foot and give up the goose and tell like so it sucked, it was hard because it's like we just want to we just wanted to give it to the world and like hey, hey, Treasure Valley, come here, like we have this stuff, like we have all these things that you can use, but we had to sit on it.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:24

Um so did you have a storage unit for years with all your stuff, or did they just keep it at Arsenal Strength?

SPEAKER_02 1:54:29

Uh Arsenal kept all their stuff until we were ready, but dude, we had three three storage units in our RV garage, just filled filled with equipment. Um and then we got the Arsenal stuff. We had we had one of the buildings on our property we turned into storage and we brought everything and stored it there. And then um yeah, getting the Arsenal stuff was like I think I broke down in tears that day. When it arrived, yeah, because I was like it's real now. It's it's real, but it was like like we we our the whole gym process literally started like people ju I don't think people think it's serious when I say if you want to do something, you just do it. It started literally started with hey, we need a better gym in this area, like we need something different. We basically wanted to build the gym that we want to work out in, is the goal, and saw building of a new site of a new commercial property, and was like, Yeah, that could work. I wonder, wonder how much that would cost a lease. And then kind of got an idea and then was like, Well, I wonder what equipment would cost to put in that building. And so it was literally a phone call to Arsenal of like, Hey, can I just get a quote? This is the size of the building, I just kind of want to see. And that's literally and then every single day it was just like obsessing with the idea, the thought, and that that conversation of like, I'm just curious to see what equipment costs, turned into, yeah, we gotta get this shit done, turn into business plans and buying more equipment and financial projections and meetings with banks, and next thing you know, we're like, oh shit, we're buying a property. Yeah, that's cool, man. So, how how'd you come up with a name? So we started 9 Realms Athletics in during COVID. Um, those are your garage gym, you said, right? Yeah, we had our garage gym and we had a deadlift platform in our garage gym, and I'm terrible when it comes to the gym as far as like diversifying my stuff. It's like I'm gonna lift heavy, that's that's what I'm gonna do. But I was like, I know I need to do mobility, I need to do recovery stuff, I need to stretch, I need to do yoga, like I need to do these different things. So I was like, I need something to remind myself that I need to just not I need to do stuff other than just lift heavy. Um big, big fan of Thor. I'm also Swedish and Eastern European and all that. So like somehow I don't even remember how it came up. I was just sitting there thinking of like, oh, there's the nine realms and Norse mythology. We were watching Thor, but like nine realms of Norse mythology, and then I was like, uh blah blah like oh shit, there's like nine realms of fitness, and I was like, okay, so we'll just come up with this idea. And the original logo we have on the old platform we have on the wall says nine realms athletics, and then it says Until Valhalla. Um, and I was like, ah, I reached out to a buddy, and he knew someone who does graphic design, so was like, Yeah, I'm just kind of thinking this. And he sends over this image. I was like, fuck, that's cool. Like, let's do that. He goes, Yeah, I have a guy he can do a big sticker. So we did a big vinyl sticker, put on the platform, and it was just for our garage gym. And then I started like I was posting videos of like deadlifts and working out because it's during COVID, and I kept getting buddies were like, dude, what is that? Put that on a shirt, I'll buy it. Like, and it was just kept happening, kept happening. And all of a sudden, my wife and I one day were like, Why don't we just start doing clothes? Like, we have this thing, like people want to buy it. Like, yeah, maybe we'll just see. So it was nine realms, it was just nine realms, and then we changed it to nine realms athletics, and then um came up with some other designs, ordered clothing, and we did all the folding, the inventory, we did all the shipping, we did all that stuff, and then um I got hurt, pulled myself out of work. Um, the department wouldn't let me run my own business. So we just had to let it die. Um, they consider it secondary employment, and you can't do that while you're on workers' comp. So it just sat there and stopped doing it and just kind of slowly fizzled out. Um then we're out here and we're like, well, now I'm gonna not going back. Let's relaunch the clothes. And I was like, well, we know we want to do a gym, we'll just wait until we open the gym and we'll relaunch it, the clothes under that. Um we almost changed the name because it doesn't have fitness or gym, or that's your typical, right? Like all the gyms have fitness or gym or something in it. Um and was like, I don't wanna I don't wanna give that up. Like we've built something that like that means something to us. So let's just keep it. And branding's gonna be difficult and name recognition's gonna be difficult because people aren't gonna know what it is right away. But after a while, people will learn what it is, and then they'll then they'll just know. And so we said, you know what, let's just keep it and just roll with it. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:43

How do you just how do you describe your gym like to someone that's never heard of it? Like who's it for?

SPEAKER_02 1:59:48

So we have one of the taglines we use is built for athletes, functional for everyone. Um coming from powerlifting, we wanted to create a gym where power lifters, strength trainers, strength training, powerlifters specifically had a place in Canon County um to lift and train with the all the tools that they should. And a lot of gyms didn't have those tools. Um so we wanted to have that, but it's a very niche group, so we wanted the equipment to be able to train for whatever whatever you were doing. So it's a the best compliment we get have gotten from people who come in, they go, This feels like a gym. And I I'm just living in the past of like the Arnold days, and I grew up old bodybuilding gyms in like the 80s and 90s, and to me that's like peak gym. Like, again, nothing, no knock on any other places, but I don't need crazy lights and like these high-tech aesthetics. Like that that's just not it's not my style. Like, I just want that. Like, you come in, you put in work, you sweat, you make noise, like you do your work, you change your body, and then you go home. Yeah, like it's a place for people who want to work, and I don't care what that is, whether it's um you've seen we do like the the group workout days, and we had a deadlift day, and I think we had like 14, 15 people. We had a kid that was, I think he's like 11, 12 with his mom deadlifting, like 25, and we had to do deadlifting 750 pounds, and we're all lifting together. We don't care if it's a lot of weight, if it's a little weight, as long as you're pushing yourself and you're trying and you're trying to improve, and you know, we're there to we're there to support that. You don't have to be a bro, you don't have to be a you don't have to be a big bodybuilder or power lifter. Like it doesn't matter what your goal is, we we got you. Like we got the stuff for you. Yeah, it's just higher, it's just higher end, I guess, higher-end equipment is the kind of the best way of Arsenal's expensive stuff. And right, um, it's heavy, it's intimidating to some people, it's a lot of plate loaded. Um, we got 16,000 pounds of plates. Like, um, but again, even that was using plate loaded as a opposed to cable was very intentional for like a mental aspect of weight training.

SPEAKER_00 2:02:23

Um Yeah, there's definitely something different.

SPEAKER_02 2:02:25

Loading and slamming the plates together rather than like you know it it was the it's the noise because that's like nostalgic for me, but the mental aspect of like you you know, like you because you have clients, right? And it's like they a lot of people think that that bot your body changes quick. It's not a like that's where there's such a drop-off after um like the New Year's resolution people like they don't see the change in two months, so they give up. That process doesn't happen, um doesn't happen in months, in one, two months, it happens over time. So for me, the the plate loaded is a tool, and anyone can change the the pin on a selectorized, right? And you see the number 20, 40, 60, whatever, and that's cool. But say you're doing bench and you start with 25s on the bar, and then you're in there for you you made yourself go in for six months and you're hustling and you're and then one day you're loading that bar and you're throwing 185 on the bar and you're like, this sucks. Now I gotta go put this shit away. Well, now you can stop, you can flip back to when you first came in and you had 25s on there. Now you have to load a 45 and a 25 because you came in and did the work. So, you know, you started the leg press with 100 pounds, now you got 400 pounds on it. Yeah, it sucks taking it off, but you have to put that on because you did the work to make that change. So it's it's just a tool of like switching that mentality of like maybe you don't see the growth because you look at yourself in the mirror every day, but that's that's the testament to it right there. That's that's the change. So it was very intentional with plate-loaded versus cable machines.

SPEAKER_00 2:04:08

Yeah, I like that mindset. I've never really thought of it like that, but that makes total sense. It's uh yeah, I actually I like that. I always tell my clients too, when it's like the they want the instant results, it's kind of like imagine that your weight loss is kind of like a roll of toilet paper, and you take like one piece of paper off, you're not gonna see any results. One, two, like ten, you're not really gonna see anything. But like you take 30, 40 pieces, 50, 60, like it's gonna get thinner, you know, or if the other the vice versa would be for bodybuilders, like you keep adding one sheet at a time, eventually it's gonna get thicker and thicker, but right you're gonna it's gonna take time. Yeah, you just for weight loss clients, it's like that instant gratification is what's got you here of like wanting that instant dopamine hit of that food or whatever. So now we just need to switch that up. And I love that I love that the the plate versus the the pin. I like that.

SPEAKER_02 2:04:55

And and it's I mean it's more versatile, right? We got hundred, we got one and a quarter pound plates to a hundred pound plates. So like you go anywhere in between. Um, we use the in-body as that same that same tool is like you see yourself every day. Okay, you come in, do your in-body when you start. You see yourself every single day, you don't see the change. Maybe you step on a scale and you've been in for two or three months, and you're like, I'm not losing weight. Because you know, I know, you start weight training, you start lifting, your body composition is changing. You're adding muscle, you're losing fat. The scale's not changing. The scale might not change. But, and that that's what people look at, they look at a scale, and well, the number's not changing, or my or my weight's gone up. Well, now you step on the in-body, and it's it's not 100% accurate, but it's just a tool. You step on it and you do that test, and you go, Oh shit, I have I've grown lean muscle mass and I've lost body fat. The weight hasn't changed, but the composition has changed. So your body is changing. It's just a it's just a mindset tool. It's not a be-all end all, but it's the work is the work is happening. Like it's paying off. You just don't see it because you see yourself every single day, and we're hard on ourselves. So we just we like to use those things as just markers and tools to reinforce. Like, we have a weird mindset. It's like we want you to be there every day. We don't just want your money and you just don't show up. We want to see those same people there every day. Like, I want to see people make that change. Like, I love that shit. Like, I'm all I'm all for it, I'm all about it.

SPEAKER_00 2:06:34

So you want to build a culture, you don't want to build a planet fitness. No, yeah, that's how Planet Fitness gets their model in like 10 bucks a month. It's people who don't care about it at the point, you know, like, oh, forget about it. Here's your pizza and your titles at the front door. Yeah, yeah. You know, uh you're not building a culture, yeah. That's what the biggest thing I think with a successful gym, it's because gyms have one of the highest fail rates there is, but those are usually the ones that don't have a culture, and they're just there to get those subscriptions, you know.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:59

And it's and it's hard because it's like I had a conversation with a guy yesterday, and I'm like, some people might not think it's genuine, but this is who we are. Like my wife has a has a fun, I won't tell her story, but she has a client that had a client years ago that she started in our garage gym and she couldn't even step foot in a commercial gym. And once she got her comfortable lifting and and exercising in our garage, her first assignment was to sit in the parking lot at the gym. She didn't even go in, she just sat in her car in the parking lot for 15 minutes, and then it was okay, just walk inside, and she would walk inside and then she'd have to leave. And then she got to progress to just walking on the treadmill for five minutes, and then next thing we know, it's a couple months in, and she's deadlifting 185 pounds in a strongman gym. Yeah, and it's like she cre she helped her create that.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:52

It's her own form of progressive overload, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:07:55

Yeah, like so she and I we talked to her one time on a on a podcast we did, and she was like, Yeah, I was you know, deadlifting 185. She goes, It's not 500 like you, and I'm like, No, no, no, like weight, weight doesn't matter. Like, heavy, heavy weight, it's all subjective, it's all like none of it matters, right? What's heavy for you is what's important, like you progressing is what's important. Like, yeah, I might deadlift 600 pounds, and someone who works out with us might deadlift 135 pounds. I'm not any better than you. Yeah, like I've just trained longer and been in this process longer, and that's where I'm at. You're where you're at, you're not, you're not worse, right? Like you're just in your process growing, and and that's what we want to see is we want to see you improve and and move forward. I don't care what your goal is, we just wanted to see you get to that, and it looks different for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 2:08:49

Yeah, like for me, my biggest role model in the gym that I go to is not the guy that's you know putting up 120 dumbbells for reps and or whatever he's putting up, you know, it's just there's this like pro I don't know, he's probably like 75, 80 years old, and he's just in there and he's doing bodyweight pull-ups, like and he's just in there every day with his wife, and I think it's his son, probably too, like in his 40s or something, but like he's still pushing it, and then that's how I want to be when I get older. Like, I don't really care about like being like the biggest deadlifter or the biggest lifter, but like longevity, if I'm in my 80s and I'm still just going to the gym and keeping my body active, yeah. Like that's that's winning right there.

SPEAKER_02 2:09:26

100%. Yeah, so that's that that's our our biggest thing is just seeing that. Yeah, like it's um that's awesome, dude. That's awesome. It it's yeah, it's it's hard. People see it as like a powerlifting gym or you know, bodybuilders and they're intimidated by it. And it's we just want to break that stigma is like the the biggest, baddest. We got a guy in who was doing, I think he had 900 pounds on the hack squat, like it was ridiculous. And the like 14-year-old kid just came up to him and was like basically commented, man, you just that it's impressive, like I really love what you're doing. And that dude stopped what he was doing, introduced himself to the kid. Thank you so much. He's like, I've I've watched you in here working out, and you know, it's inspiring watching you, and it's like that's that's what most of those people are like, yeah. Like, you don't have to see this big strong dude and just like think they're an asshole. Like, they'll we'll we'll help you same as we'll help anybody else. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:10:28

I mean, that's the biggest thing I hear from my clients too. I mean, like, weight losses are like I just feel so intimidated in the gym. Like, honestly, most people are in their own world, yeah. And if they see a big fat person in there, they're gonna be so inspired that you actually got off the couch and that you're making a difference in your own life. Yeah, like that's you're they're thinking the completely opposite different than you're what you're thinking. They're they're like, this person's actually doing something with their life and like taking action, not just saying, like, oh poor me, have me that Ozimpic, you know.

SPEAKER_02 2:10:54

That that person, that weight loss person, is probably inspiring that person to work harder. Like, fuck, they can they can do it. I don't I don't have an excuse.

SPEAKER_00 2:11:02

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:03

Oh, I'm tired today. Oh, like I don't have enough calories, shut up, get in the gym. Yeah, like they're here every day too.

SPEAKER_00 2:11:10

It's so much harder for that person that's overweight to get in the gym than the other person. So, yeah, it would be more inspiring for that big dude.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:16

Yeah. And I watch people like that all the time. I'm like, man, it's cool seeing them in here. Like, they haven't been here, they haven't been in the gym for 30 years, now they're back. Yeah, and they're in here every single day. Like, hell yeah. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:11:28

People need to just start looking into the the winning is like the longevity side of it and put and putting out their goals, you know. Not like I don't want a six pack in six minutes, you know? Yep. It's like, no, let's just let's just give this like a hundred workouts and then let's see. Let's redetermine. But like just push your goals out. That's the biggest thing I would tell anybody, whether it's building muscle or if it's losing fat, like push your timeline out and just keep it going.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:51

Yeah. I think my wife's biggest thing is to enjoy the process. Like, enjoy, enjoy the journey. Don't just you like you. Yeah, you have a destination, but like and it's cliche, but like the the destination isn't the destination, like it's the journey. What what gets you there is is the whole thing. Like enjoy it. Like all the small wins, have fun with it. If you fall off, fuck it.

SPEAKER_00 2:12:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:12:18

Ever it it's progress isn't linear. Like it's not, it's not always doesn't look the same for everybody. Like just enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 2:12:26

Yeah, because we've always reached goals that we said that once we reach them, we would be happy with. And then that's not it. I have a vision board still up in my closet from 2024, and I had a 15% on there. And I was like, if I can reach to 15% body fat, I'm good. And I'm at 12 right now. I'm like, wonder what 10 feels like. Yeah. Yeah. You know? So I'm like, you're you're never gonna be happy with what you think it is. So just do not. I I don't know. Sometimes I just don't even set goals anymore. Like, not I shouldn't say that, like, but it's just like the New Year's resolutions or anything like that. It's like, I can't tell you what's gonna happen tomorrow. Yeah, there's so many crazy variables in life, but I'm just gonna control what I can. Yeah. And I'm just gonna keep pushing. Yeah. That's just all I can do. I mean, the biggest thing I think for anybody when they say like they don't have motivation is your motivation can't be internal. Your motivation has to be like an external force. Because there's gonna be I go to the gym like five five days a week, and there's probably at least four of them I don't want to go. Right. Yeah. I'm not feeling I got other stuff to do, I got editing, I got you know, business stuff, my clients, whatever. But like I know my kids are watching me. 100%. And if I if I quit on my goals and they're watching me, or I'm not showing up my best version for them, and I'm taking out my frustrations now on my wife and my kids because I'm slacking and I know that it's because of me, but I don't want to take that self-recognition, and so I'm gonna take it out on them. Like, that's that's what I do this for is like other people. Yeah. Because once you're it's so much easier to let yourself down than it is to let your wife or your kids down. You know what I mean? Yeah. So for that person that's out there looking to like get some motivation, my advice would just be don't have it be internal, especially people with kids.

SPEAKER_02 2:14:00

Yeah. Set you you want them to be better than you, so you need to set that standard of like you you got girls. I got three girls and a boy, yeah. I I got a daughter, and it's my wife's thing is like she sends me shit all the time. She's like, we want to set the standard for her for boys and men to be so high that nobody meets that standard. Like, I don't want, like, I want to set that standard of like so she's not coming home with some dude who's you know, rap sheet at 15, you know, just some slap dick not going to school, like this is Joey. Sorry for names, Joey. I don't just pulled that on my ass, but um, like we want that standard to be so high that she's like, no, this is what my dad did. Right. Like she said to my my my wife just recently that she she wanted to be like my wife when she gets older. And it's like that's cool. Yeah, like even at five, she's like, I want to be like you. Like, it's like that's your parenting, right? That's what you do it for. Like, yeah, they they need to be your motivator of like building that routine, going every day, yeah, this sucks, but I'm gonna show up anyway. Exactly. I don't want to go to the gym today, but guess what? I'm gonna do it. And she hates it sometimes. Do we have to go to the gym today? Yes, yeah, we're going.

SPEAKER_00 2:15:23

Right. And I think it's good to tell your kids too that you don't want to go to the gym, but you're still going. Yeah. Because in those times where they're like, I don't want to go to soccer practice, and you're like, Yeah, remember those times where I told you I didn't want to go to the gym? Yeah, I still went. Yeah. Those are the moments that you can build on. You just need to be. I'm open with my kids, like, ugh, I'm not really feeling like going to the gym, but lacing these bitches up, you know. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. So, dude, where is a good spot for people to follow along and uh, you know, hear your story or just get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_02 2:15:53

Uh, Instagram's the best, nine realms athletics or nine realms athletics.com. Uh, give us a follow. I usually my wife and I both run the page, but it's it's usually me. Um reach out. Um, I tell this to everybody when I've done these, and I still get messages on there from honestly, dude, people around around the world. Um is if you're if you're a cop, if you're going through shit, if you hear this and you have need someone to talk to, reach out. We both answer it, but like you can say, hey, this is for Sean, and I'll read it and I'll and I'll talk to you. Um I had a short, short, short, short, short story. I had a guy hear one of my podcasts on battling PTSD and law enforcement. He's in Denmark, and he's a cop in Denmark, and he reached out to me because he's like, Your story is what I'm going through right now. And I've talked to him a couple times over the last few months of like just shit going on with him. Probably never meet the guy in my life, but like it's powerful. So, like, you know, it's a it's us running it. Like, if people need something, they want to reach out, they have questions, uh, we'll we'll answer it.

SPEAKER_00 2:17:10

Yeah, that's the amazing side of social media, you never know who you're gonna hit. Yeah, remember when I did my podcast with Bam, and I had like people randomly like three or four different people from from the United States, and they're like, Man, I thought I was alone. I thought that nobody else went through something like this. It was such an oddball. But like, thank you for sharing your story. So it's cool that you came on here, shared your story, man. I really appreciate it. Appreciate it, dude. Thank you so much. And um, you know, if you can help one other person, it's all worth it. So that's what that's what I always think. Yeah. So all right, dude. Well, I'm looking forward to handing over to your gym sometime and uh checking it out. Hopefully, after this this prep, so I can actually be carved up and put in a good lift. Awesome, man. Yeah, let's do it. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.