#12 Brotherhood the missing piece for men

Episode 12 of The GDC Podcast was an important one for me.

As I sat down with George and Denzel from Iron Rising Men's Bootcamp, I learned a lot—not just as a host, but as a man.

One of the biggest takeaways was realizing that I'm not alone. So many men are carrying struggles, stress, anxiety, trauma, self-doubt, and loneliness in silence. We often think we have to figure it all out ourselves, but the truth is we need each other.

Iron Rising provides men with a community, accountability, support, and a place to grow. A place to connect with other men who are committed to becoming better husbands, fathers, leaders, and human beings.

If you're a man who's struggling, feeling stuck, disconnected, or simply looking to become the best version of yourself, this could be a powerful next step.

Remember: we cannot do this alone. We need each other to heal, grow, and succeed.

Iron Rising's next 6-week transformational bootcamp begins July 18th.

Learn more or register at:
https://ironrisingbootcamp.com

Give this episode a listen, and if you know a man who could benefit from hearing this conversation, please share it with him.

Greater Days Coming.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

That's when I knew that he that he had more for me in my life and not just letting it go. Because I wanted to kill myself at some point. About about six months prior to me, you know, going through this intervention, I was sitting in my my own apartment in the dark, and uh, you know, I had a my own I had my gun in my hand, it was loaded, and I was I put it right to my head, and I was ready to go. And as soon as I said I went to go pull the trigger, that's when something flashed inside of my head. It was like I went into a trance. And it was my son's life, his future without me.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

All right, welcome back to the GDC Project. Um, sitting here with two very important people today, um, George and Denzel. They started a men's group called Iron Rising. Um, and in today's world, I think men need a group of men more important than ever. So the first thing I'll really go to is I'll go to George first. Joe, George, I've known the longest since I've probably been about 14. You were always a staple in the gym, someone who inspired me, um, someone I looked up to. And I know we we haven't been close or super friends, but I've always watched you over the past 20 something years. And you've always been an inspiration, even though it maybe hasn't been so close.

unknown 1:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

I appreciate that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Um so I wanted to ask first you guys is what what do you think was going on that prompted you guys to start Iron Rising?

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Well, um well, I've always been a uh a man of wanting to help people. That's always been my thing, is helping people uh get into a better place. Uh it started off obviously with fitness for me. You know, I I was a fat kid growing up and I ended up losing all that body fat and getting really ripped and then putting on muscle and learned how to do it all pretty much myself, also by watching others and other gurus and other big guys, uh top guys out there in the local area as well. Asked a lot of questions, you know, and then I started to implement it with others and seeing how I can help other people so they didn't struggle with the mental part about it, you know what I'm saying? Because that's what it was for me. It was mostly mental. Uh being a heavy kid, you know, you get made fun of, you you're, you know, people talk about you, you don't, you know, girls don't want to talk to you as a young man, or they just you want to just be your friend and you want to something more sometimes. And then uh so all that changed. Got more started playing sports more often, started watching what I ate, and uh went to the gym a lot more often and just got lean and jacked and started wanting to help others. So I did it for a long time. I started just personal training as a as a young man. Then I started uh doing some boot camp classes, then I started coaching people online and coaching people through, you know, not just the fitness, but with their uh nutrition as well. I did a few bodybuilding competitions and uh, you know, life goes on. I got married, uh, a lot of things happened, and then uh I went through a a nice little decline, a downhill in my life. And I struggled a lot because I what was the what's the main thing that men do is they hold everything inside. And I always felt like I had to do and figure everything out on my own. And then I just realized I couldn't. So I went down a pretty bad rabbit hole, started doing using a lot of drugs on a daily, going through three, four-day benders. I'm I'm talking about no sleep for four days and not even eating because I'm just doing cocaine the whole time. Uh and then finally just basically just cried out and said, I can't do this anymore. I prayed to God, and then the very next morning, 15, 17 family and friends show up at my house in the morning, and I'm still high, but knocking on my door, so I'm like hiding stuff, putting my clothes on, and I'm my my friend, my bet one of my best friends, Flo, comes up at my door, he's like, Yo, what's going on? I'm like, what are you doing here? Start going into the onto my deck, and I see everybody, and I'm just like, oh no, I can't do this right now. He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I started turning around back to my room. He's like, nah no no no. He's like, You're coming with me. I was like, oh I was like, I was like, you know what? Then I thought about it and I was just like, I prayed for this last night. I said, I'm gonna go. So I went and I had to listen to everything that everybody had to say, and it was all very loving, kind words from everybody. Uh, that they were just worried about me. They were worried about me, because they know who I was and they see how I was becoming and who I was becoming. And it wasn't it wasn't George, it wasn't me. I was a completely different person. Um I was ruining relationships, I lost most of my business, my I lost all my work, probably about 85 to 90 percent of my work was gone because I was canceling, not showing up, coming in late, uh, wasn't really there for my clients like I should have been. And uh, you know, even just getting into arguments and fights with close friends of mine. And uh fights that shouldn't even have happened, but they were happening because of the place that I was in. So they came up with a place and it was called Turning Point that I can go to and uh clean myself up.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Is it a rehab center?

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Turning point is uh is a sober house, is a uh is a Christian sober house.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

So they said, We have this place for you, we called all your clients, the ones that were left, we have everything taken care of for you, we're all gonna pitch in to pay for your bills for the time that you're gone. We want you to go. Do you want to go? So I thought about it for about 30 seconds and I said, Okay, I'm going. So they were all very happy to hear that. I went to turning point that very next morning. And uh I went in there and I said, Okay, now that I'm going in here, I got the I uh God God brought me here, so I gotta do something about it while I'm here. I can't just be here and just do nothing. So I said, I'm gonna make it a point to get my relationship closer to God. So that's what I did. I picked up a Bible and I started reading my Bible every day. And I and I was praying all day long. And um one of the guys that I first met in there, his name was Anthony, he said to me, He goes, he goes, you know, there's a lot of guys that come in and out of here, but not every guy makes it out and is okay. It goes, You'll make it out here okay, but you gotta put in the work yourself. So that stuck with me, that resonated with me. And uh I said, All right, that's what I'm gonna do, you know. So and that's what I pretty much did. I mean, I even had guys while I was there, you know, like a week into it, you know, even just trying to to to put me in a different direction and and wanting to leave the place, just saying things like, Oh, you don't you don't know the guys around here, this place is a joke, you know, the managers, blah, blah, blah, talking junk about the whole place, you know, making make a person who's in there for the first time basically want to leave. And I'm thinking to myself, I was like, I don't care what the place is like in here. You know, I care that I'm in here, I'm isolated from the outs, from the world that I was in, which is not a good place. So I'm thinking to myself, would I rather be there, access to all the drugs that I want and doing the same thing, or being here isolated where I don't have access to anything. I can stay isolated, I don't have to worry about nothing. Not work, nobody, no friends, nobody. Just focus on me. And that's what I said. I said to him, I said, you know what? I said, I think you should worry about yourself, man. I said, I'm gonna focus and stay in my lane, and I think you should stay in your lane as well. And that's what I said to him. He's like, All right, watch, just watch. I said, I said, don't worry. I said, I will watch. I said, I'm gonna take care of me, don't worry. And uh a week later, he ends up leaving the place.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Yeah. That same kid ends up leaving. He was like, I'm out of here. He was mad about something, and he just packed up his stuff and went. He didn't leave uh on a good note. I continue to do my stay, my my stuff. And uh, you know, I I know God answered some prayers, so I was just like, you know what? Let me let me ask again, let me talk to him again. So two weeks into it, and I'm like, all right, God, I'm sitting in my bed and in the dark at night, and I'm just like, I want to know that you're here. I want to know that you've been here with me all along. I want to know that you're listening to my prayers and that you are by my side. So, and I said, I don't want to see any kind of colors, symbols. I don't want to, I don't want to hear somebody saying me, I don't want to hear any of that. I want it written in my front of my face. And I said, You are God. I said, You can make that happen. I said, You're powerful enough, you I know you can make that happen. So went to sleep very next morning. One of the other guys from the house, he said, I have a pat message from you from Pastor Tim. He sent me a text message and he wanted me to show you the message. This is the very next morning. So I looked at the phone and it said, Tell George that the Lord said, I'm right here with you, my son. I always have been. Get out. Yeah. Yeah. I get chills every time I say it. And every time I tell this story, I get chills. I'm like, oh. So I looked up at him and I was just like, and I like turned white, and he's just like, Are you alright, man? I was like, you don't understand. I said, I literally prayed for this specific sign right here.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Last night.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Last night. And he said, God is good. So I just I just walked outside onto the deck. I went to my knees and I started crying, man. I was crying. Like, I want to cry now, but I was just looking up to the sky and I was just like, Thank you. Thank you for showing me that you're here.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

And that led you. So that led me to to just, you know, just getting my relationship closer to God, understanding what his word is, understanding the gospel, understanding Jesus Christ, understanding what we're here, and trying to understand my purpose and what he has in store for me. Right there and then I knew he had something for me. That's when I knew that he that he had more for me in my life, and not just letting it go. Because I wanted to kill myself at some point. About about six months prior to to me, you know, going through this intervention, I was sitting in my my own apartment in the dark, and uh, you know, I had a my own I had my gun in my hand, it was loaded, and I was I put it right to my head and I was ready to go. And as soon as I said I went to go pull the trigger, that's when something flashed inside of my head. It was like I went into a trance. And it was my son's life, his future without me.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

And it was horrible.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

When I when I um thought about you and envisions, it's all about like what you're doing now and currently with Iron Rising and watching you and seeing you guys trying to help. Um, and a lot of times when we're helping, it comes from a bad spot. I never knew any of that about your story, but that's I mean, it's pretty like profound and like it's giving me like an emotional reaction to see how close like you were. Um we could even go to our stats based off that it's 80% of suicides are men. 80%. Um the other reason I called you, I told you before, is like two people I know almost 60 years old just a couple weeks ago. Yeah, very sad. It's a it's a scary thing, and I don't want to keep bouncing over your story, but um I'd like to get to like when when sorry Denzel's been sitting there in silence.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

So good.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

When uh when did Denzel come into your life and you guys really start with the concept of Iron Rising and where did that come from?

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah, so from then on, after that day, after that that moment, that's where I was getting into. That's when I started to say men should not be struggling like this. This is when I started realizing that this was a a a man thing. This was me personally thinking that I had to do everything on my own, and I realized that I couldn't. And I right there I knew I that I had somebody, that I had something, that I had my faith, and that I had that I was able to have other brothers. And then I thought about I have Flo, I got, I got Troy, I have my brother. I could have been spoken speaking to these guys the whole time because they were there for me. I didn't see the signs though. I didn't look at the signs. That's the problem. When you're stuck in that in that dark place, you're not looking at these things, you're not realizing that there's people there for you. You know, you just think that you always have to do it alone, and you and and you don't have to. You don't have to isolate, you don't have to be alone. And uh that's when I was just like, okay, we got to figure out a way where we can help other men and and and bring them into a better place and realize that there is a brotherhood for them. So I wanted to create a brotherhood. And I've been thinking about it slowly while I was in uh turning point. Um so when I got out of turning point, you know, I started doing something where I was just trying to help people just mentally just be more positive. And I started an online class for free. I did it every morning. Uh it was for 30 minutes. It was like a short little boot camp for people who were just struggling, who just you know wouldn't get themselves to the gym.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Is that fitness boot camp?

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Yeah, it was a fitness boot camp. So a couple friends started doing it, and then one of the friends knew Denzel. He popped on, and uh, you know, I I I would always start off with a little prayer, and I started off with uh, you know, positive, like five-minute, two-minute positive talking, and then we go into the boot camp and then we finish off with a prayer, and then that was it. And then Denzel stayed on after one of the classes, he was just like, you know, why are you doing this? So I just started explaining to him everything, and he was, I guess, wowed by it. And uh he was like, I gotta talk to this guy a little bit more. So we started just talking on a daily basis, we never lost touch. And then I said to him one day, I said to him, I said, we got to do a men's boot camp. And he said he's just he was just like, Yeah, we do. Because uh Denzel's uh uh mental coach, so he does, you know, better habits and uh focuses on the mental aspect of it. I'm very good with the physical and mental, obviously, of course, but that's what he does. He's a life coach, and uh he's been studying that, practicing that. So I said we I said the both of us would work good together. And uh we have. We have. We've ever since then we've just connected and put our minds together and created a formula and created Iron Rising, and now we're here.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

That's right. Yeah. So with that story, maybe we can explain um what Iron Rising is based off um we could talk, let's actually go over the stat loneliness and isolation. Because this is something that I I personally struggle with myself. I know you mentioned struggling with it. About 25% of American men aged 15 to 34 report frequent loneliness, making younger men among the loneliest groups in the Western world. 15% of those men report having no close friends. Um, I say it all the time, I have no friends, which I do have close friends. Um and over the past few years, I've been able to be vulnerable and able to have these conversations with, hey, bud, I'm not doing good. Um, but with the only a small group of people. And that is just from like the mindset and learning about the the mental aspect of it that we do need it. And then 20% of single men report having zero close friends. I think the loneliness um is probably the biggest issue. Um it leads to depression, it leads to anxiety. 81% of lonely adults uh report having that anxiety and depression. So we're talking about loneliness, anxiety, and depression, and this is a substance abuse podcast. I think all of that leads to the substance abuse. So with Iron Rising, how do you think or what are some of the trends you see that that men's group is helping young men or just men in general?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, a big part of the reason why we did this is once again, it's to help these guys understand that they're not alone. And to go off of George's story, my story was very much a story of drugs and isolation. And when I had my big moment of realizing this is not the route for me, um, I realized that I need to change my life. And it starts with habits. And so, as George was just mentioning, my expertise here is mental performance. And so understanding habits at the core of some of these issues. And so with these guys, when they come into the boot camp, what we're focusing with them is we're really trying to help them understand that if you can look at what you do every day and understand how that connects to where you are currently, you're gonna make a massive, you're able to make massive change because that empowers you, right? A lot of us through everyday life, you know, we kind of are on autopilot, right? 95% of the time we're just doing whatever we're doing on a daily basis, but we're not actually aware in those moments. So that's a really big issue, I think, that we have in our society today, where you have, you know, social media, you have the TVs, you have fast food, you have all these things that are distractions, shortcuts to getting maybe what you want. But at the end of the day, there's still something missing, and you're ultimately dysregulating your nervous system. And so to answer your question, if I did not answer your question, please let me know. But, you know, to help these guys really, what we want to do in this boot camp is help them understand habits, self-awareness, understanding faith as well, and re-regulating their nervous system too. But in a group that once again is accountable, is vulnerable, where you actually feel safe enough to open up. Because once again, a lot of the programming and especially the Western world in the United States, where some of these stats are from, a lot of that is because of just how we've grown up in this society and the way it's been made.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

So we talked about that a little bit before, too, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Yeah. So having having Iron Rising is uh we we really want these guys to really realize that they have a brotherhood. That they are that there is a brotherhood, that there is brothers out there, other men that are struggling almost through the same thing, okay, if not maybe a little bit different, but they're out there and they want they want you to succeed. They want to see you strive, they want to see you do better, they want to see you uh be okay mentally and physically, you know? And and like that's the problem, is that most men think that they don't have any friends. Well, you know, sometimes it doesn't have to be a close friend for that you that that you can have go and talk to somebody about. It doesn't have to be a really close friend. It could just be somebody who's just a good guy who that you could talk to that wants to help. I I I I meet men all the time, people all all the time, every day, right? If I know that somebody's struggling, I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna take my time, I'm gonna talk to that person.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

And I think that's that's something that we're similar with, that we just want to help people. And I think you also need the other side where men are willing to be vulnerable. You know, we you know, like you talked about Western world, we try and hold stuff in, right? You're 10 years younger than us. It took me a long time to be vulnerable, to be vulnerable with my wife, to be vulnerable with my kids. It's like you're always like I think we grew up, you had to be tough, right? And I think our role as men is constantly evolving. Every year, I think I didn't you I mean married children, every year it's changing and evolving. And it's how do you how do you evolve as a man without, you know, a leader in your life or you know, someone to follow that would also be a leader, but a group, someone to talk to, be like, hey, I'm going through this. How did you approach that? You're 10 years older than me. How did you approach that when you went through that? And I think trying to just figure everything out on our own is where a lot of the struggle happens.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Absolutely. So for me personally, growing up, I was always into sports. My family got me into sports pretty young. And so for me, that was my happy place. That was the place where I just let loose. I really had confidence. It's about like soccer was what a big sport I played. And it was where I just felt confident. I was able to run around, I was able to move energy. I was really just able to express myself fully. And that led to the next thing, which high school sports, all that. But then once I graduated high school, I was no longer that soccer player. I was no longer that that person. So I had to re- I didn't understand, okay, well, what's my identity now? Like who am I? And so that then transitioned to exercise. So now going to do personal training and lifting in the gym. So we as humans, we all have different, you know, capabilities of what we're able to do. But throughout time, what's so cool is that on this journey of life, we're so multidimensional and What we do. And so as men, it's like you're not just the father. No, you're the warrior, you're the athlete, for example, right? If you played sports. So we all have different parts of ourselves that we need to honor and also not shame and make evil because with vulnerability, like you were saying, a big reason why a lot of people aren't vulnerable is because they feel like they have to hide that version, that that version's bad or that it's evil. And it's it's not that it's bad, it's just once again, you're in the shadow of that thing. That actually is a beautiful thing that you have ability. And you and I know before we started the podcast, you were talking a little bit about, you know, how when you're doing something, it kind of transitions to something else.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Yeah. But I think it's always we're I think we're always in a transition. Um but it's transitions that we do have control over. I think we're uh you mentioned controlling the controllable. What do I have control over? And we don't have control over much. I mean, what is it? It's our thoughts, our attitudes, our actions, and our effort. That's really about it. Um, but you also want to be going in the direction that you want to go in. And I think a lot of times people need help with the direction because yeah, we're in a technology technological error, but there's so much information overload. I know this with fitness, with nutrition, um, with mental health. You p everyone puts everything in AI and is expecting a guaranteed result.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

So, what you were saying before, too, um, for me growing up, my parents were divorced when I was three, and my dad is a musician, so he travels a lot for work. Not having my dad around and being raised by women, you know, it was interesting because I felt like there was a lot of love, but I also didn't see my dad all the time. So when it came to being a man, I didn't really know, okay, what does it really mean to be a man? What does it mean to stand up for yourself in this situation? Um, and so as I got older, my mentors are my coaches. It was my coaches in school. Like when I was playing sports, it was my coaches who helped me. And then I've had a couple mentors just over the past few years and over the past five, 10 years that showed me kind of from their experience of life be what being a man is. So it's always been my coaches that I've had. Whether it's I've hired them or whether it's been my coaches growing up, it's been a really big valuable um help for me and family.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah. And I think mentorship is hard too, because we uh tend to look online. Um, you know, it's great to have coaches, it's great to hire coaches. But I feel like sometimes for myself, um it's hard to hire a coach. It's hard to almost be like vulnerable enough to be like, hey, I need somebody to help me. I'll just figure it out on my own. I don't know if it's the Italian in me, but it's like, it's like, okay, what do I need to learn? I'll figure it out. I'll I'll I'll I'll take care of it. I don't need anybody. Um but in reality, if you do get a coach, that could 10x your speed of getting there. And so what are your thoughts on that? Being that you are a group that is helping individuals, so coaching group in a way.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Uh 100%, no matter how old you are, where you are in your life, you should definitely have a coach. And you know that you have a coach too with bodybuilding, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. First of all, I always tell everybody every coach needs a coach. Every coach needs a coach, has a coach. Okay, especially if they want to evolve in their life or and and and and and be in a better spot. Whatever, physically, mentally. Uh if you just want to be in a higher place, in a better place six months from now, in a year from now, it's good to have a coach. Why not have a coach? Who cares where you are, who cares how smart you are, it doesn't matter where how strong you are, where you are in your life, how successful you are. Guarantee you they're hiring a coach to get to the next level. And we were we were made as human beings, God made us to want to get to the next level always, to progress. So we weren't made to st to to be steady, to stay back, or or stay in the same spot and be be comfortable. We weren't made that way. We mentally are wired to want to grow. So having a coach is a 100% thing that I definitely recommend for everybody, no matter how tough you are or anything, uh, especially as a man. Um if it's gonna help you and show you different things that you wouldn't think about, or or or just to just to just to progress, even just that little bit, even it's just just to get you over a little hump that you need to get over. And hiring that coach made the difference. Why wouldn't you do it?

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Ego.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

Forget your ego.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Just think you know, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

That's why you have to take your ego aside. You have to take your ego aside. I know some of the toughest guys will who take their ego aside, put it away. I've hired coaches and and and and couldn't be happier that they did. Couldn't be happier that they did. Some of the toughest guys. One of my buddies, he just hired a coach. And he and he's a big jack dude, very successful in his life, family, this and that, but struggling somewhere mentally. You know, don't know why. It was his it was his own thing, it's his own little issue that he has, but he wasn't happy, he wasn't fulfilled. So what did he do? He hired a coach. It was the best thing he ever did. Now he's in a total completely different place in his life.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

So speaking of coaching, someone struggling right now, what would be the iron rising kind of methodology? You don't have to have to give it all away, but what's like the structure? If I say, hey, I'm I'm struggling right now, I think I need something iron rising my life. What is like the process and how does it work? I'm sorry, say that say that question again. So, like, I'm struggling right now. I I know I need something, and I'm I'm thinking about joining Iron Rising. Okay. What does that process look like? How do I join? What are the like is it just like classes? Like, what is the process, the coaching structure?

SPEAKER_02 28:16

Say, say you saw one of our signs or one of our advertisements, and you you you've uh followed our Instagram, yeah, or you you clicked on one of our our our uh our QR codes and and put your name in. So we'll see the information come up and we'll we'll send you a text, either Denzel or I, we'll send you a text personally, and uh we'll reach out, we'll see, hey, we see that you uh you know you've you've inquired about Iron Rising Men's Boot Camp, and we'll have a whole set of questions. What's going on? What is it that what is it that made you want to want to sign up? What what sparked you? What's going on in your life? So we're asking questions about personal questions. Yep. You know, what are you doing? What are you struggling with? You know, what can we help you with? And then, you know, we'll they'll say something and then we'll go off of that. So the chain chain goes on.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

And do you have to wait for like uh do you have sessions? Do you have to wait for sessions, or can I like say, hey, I want to I want to join, I want to join tomorrow?

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Yeah, great question. So what we do is we essentially have different options for people coming in that are interested. We have a free community because once again, we want to make sure that people understand you can get help right away. You can have a team of brothers that are there for you right away. You don't have to wait on that. Um, the next tier we have is once again more privatized coaching, but group coaching still, where now you're paying, but you're getting more of a private coaching focus. You get more accountability with the trackers and things of that nature. And then the boot camp is like our ultimate thing that we do. And we only do it twice per year, ideally. Two boot camps.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

And how long uh are the boot camps?

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Boot camps are six weeks long. Okay. So they're six weeks long. You have one in-person session every week for three hours in person. What we're basically doing in those three hours is we're moving our bodies physically, right? Doing very intensive exercise to help break you out of that mental barrier you might have been having. We also are gonna focus on some type of a nervous system regulatory activity. That could be breath work, that could be a meditation, something of that nature. And then we're finally ending it with some type of presentation, education, because education is a value of ours that we want to have. And so understanding that as we go through this boot camp, you are going to be developing a lot and you're also gonna be doing all this together with these other brothers. So not only are you working out just like alone, no, you're doing group workouts with other guys that are depending on you to finish that workout. Same thing with some of the other facilitative exercises we'll do that will help build leadership, help build confidence, and ultimately determination and more purpose in their life. So they'll have that for them.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Yeah, that's um to me, that's exciting because we talked about struggling with substance, talked about sub struggling with substance, struggling with substance. When we first started the nonprofit, the goal was we got to get the three to five year mark on sobriety. That's the goal. Three to five years. Why three to five years? After that, we're 85% for long-term sobriety. And out of those 85% of the people, you start to help other people. So we're creating momentum and a ripple effect. But where we saw the lack was you have rehab. How long were you at turning point? 35 days. Okay. Right? How long does it take to stay sober? The rest of your life, right? The rest of your life. So there was a lull in for me sober care. And it's like 35 days, okay. Here, George, figure it out. And it's on you to figure it out. It's on me to figure it out. And how can we fill that gap? And I think something like Iron Rising fills that gap. I think it is so important to have structure and guidance and teaching you, I'm sure you go over like goal setting and habits and teaching you a direction because, like you said before, we we want to grow, right? But a lot of times we don't know how to grow. We don't know how to goal set, we don't know how to take the next step in our life. And we get in this like hamster wheel of repetitive habits, and we don't ever move out of that. Uh, and then people are scared, like me, to get a coach. Okay. What is so I like to do everything on my own, and I I I'm in that isolation and loneliness. Um, and I do that to myself, and I know I do, and things like this help me get out of it and have conversations. But uh what is something else Iron Rising can do for a man who's struggling mentally? What is what like the top thing you think?

SPEAKER_00 32:39

I would say the top thing is am I enough? Am I enough? And am I loved?

SPEAKER_01 32:48

That I think is the thing that I know I struggle with the most. Is not only am I enough, it's am I doing enough? I always feel like I could be doing more. So it's not it's not am I enough? It's like I'm not enough because I I know I can be doing more. So how would you answer that as my mental coach?

SPEAKER_00 33:14

I would say, well, first off, just for all the listeners out there, you need to understand that the society, especially United States, we are based off of performance. That has always been the biggest metric. So when you look at a business and you look at a business and how it's designed, it's all about performance. It's about numbers. So when you break that down psychologically, now you're thinking that you're a number within that system of okay, well, I need to make my numbers the highest they can be. What also happens in that model is now you have competition. So now not only are you a number inside of a system, but now you're competing with other people in their organizations to be the best. And so what you're doing is now you are living in a fear situation because once again, it's it's performance. And as humans, we need to focus more on love, especially men, versus performance. Because performance, what does that do? It isolates you. It's how can I be better, but not talk to them about it? How can I be better, but not share with them what that trick or solution is so that I can be the best? It's that ego that you just talked about. So we have to figure out a way to get rid of that. And so what I really tell a lot of these guys coming in is this is where we get to be vulnerable. We get to ask those questions and we get to change that shift of mindset of I'm not enough or I'm not doing enough to, well, what if we actually focus on what you have done and who you are as a person, actually finding who you are in also in God and in faith.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

Yeah. I was actually watching a Tony Robbins video yesterday, and it was like, uh, he asked the question it's like, are you thinking about what you don't have or what you do have? And it was like 80% of the people are focusing on what they don't have.

SPEAKER_00 35:06

And gratitude. Yep. Gratitude.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

You just brought that up at the end. It's like focusing on what you are getting done, not what you're not getting done. Um Absolutely. And I tend to focus a lot on what I I got all this done. Like I don't even focus on what I've got done. I did everything, but I still could have done that too.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Um see, you can't keep on thinking about what I could have done. Uh are are you are you doing things? Are you getting stuff done? It doesn't have to be, you know, up here. You know what I'm saying? It doesn't have to be up here. You know, because sometimes that's might be too much for the average person for anybody. You know, we sometimes it's okay to have those good expectations and to want to want more, but let's get there little by little, man.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Yeah. So do you guys have a strategy for like hey, you gotta get like three things done a day.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

Absolutely. So I'm sure you know Andy Frasella. You might have heard of him, the 75 Hard, the powerless five things, that's amazing. What we really focus on is the one thing.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

One thing.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

And there's a phenomenal book actually about the one thing. I'm forgetting the author, but amazing book. Go check it out. Really, what it's about is what's that one critical thing I read that book that's going to absolutely move the needle forward.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

I I I I just read it. It was like the what is your primary focus right now? Yes. And just focus on that. That's it. Um the kid I was talking about getting vulnerable with, Tony, uh, my friend Tony, uh, he sent me the book. He's like, I know you're struggling right now. Read this. And it was literally just just focus on one, one thing. That's it. Yeah. Um, I and I really like that that methodology because like I said, what I didn't do enough. It's because I put 27 things on the list. Uh and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

You can't you can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

And it never ends. Yeah, it never ends.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Because then what happens if you don't finish all those things? Now guess what? You're a failure, I'm not enough. All the negative self-talk comes back in, and now you're trapping yourself in that identity and you can't get out of it. Yeah, because the more you do that, the worse it gets, the worse you start to feel.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

So you guys do promote a structure of how many things.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Um so breaking off the I'm not enough, what would be another thing that you guys focus on?

SPEAKER_02 37:11

Uh we focus on well, definitely the uh physical aspect of it. Because obviously, you know, confidence when you when you when you build your body and you fuel yourself, so nutrition is important. Okay, how you fuel yourself, what you put in your body, what you ingest. Is it clean? Is it good? Is it is it gonna make you feel foggy? Is it gonna make you feel tired? What is it? You know? We you want how you inject what you ingest in your body is very important on your mental thinking and your everyday performance. If I'm not fueling myself the right way, I'm not gonna perform the right way. Correct?

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Yeah, I like to think about it. And that's with food too. I know I think about that with food is like if I want to perform my best, I have to eat the best. Yeah. If I want to think the best, I have to eat the best.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

Um think about it this way whatever you eat, that's what you are.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Okay? That's what you are, that's what you're gonna do. Okay? So nutrition and then the boot camp part about it, the physical aspect. Mentally just grinding these guys, grinding these guys and pushing them and pushing them, pushing them to the point where they come to a point mentally where they're like, I don't know if I could do this anymore. Because our boot camps are hard.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

Now, do you think that a lack of the physical can be contributing to some of the depression, anxiety, and loneliness?

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Yeah, absolutely. If you look at the obesity statistics as well, you'll see that across the board that obesity is rising, and so is mental health and depression.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Yeah. And think they correlate.

SPEAKER_02 38:43

So when you take care when you take care of your body and you eat right, and then you you you go you go to the gym, you work out, you have physical activity, whatever, even if it's not at the gym, you're boxing every day or you know, go going for your runs, when you feel good and you look good, your confidence level is gonna be through the roof, right? So that's where it mostly starts, that's where it starts. You have to build your confidence. Once you build your confidence, then okay, now I have my confidence, I I know I could do this, now I gotta do this. Now I could change this one everything that I'm doing every day.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

So, what would you do if someone came in struggling with depression, anxiety, mental health, but hasn't really worked out ever? Is there like a entry level program for them where they do because maybe that physical scares them a little bit? You know, they look at you like, ah, George, he's jacked. I can't, I can't do that. Is there like an entry level that they might feel safer to be able to complete?

SPEAKER_02 39:37

Uh the boot camp's gonna be very difficult, and we're gonna push you. And uh you're gonna you're you're gonna do what you can, okay? And we're just gonna keep pushing you through it. We're not gonna let you fall behind. And neither any or any of the other brothers that are in that boot camp. Because that's what we teach. We teach each we teach from the beginning, from the very first moment, that you guys are gonna pull each other together. You're not gonna you're not by yourself in here. You're not alone, and that's the whole thing. So whether that guy is the weakest link or not, everybody's gonna pull him up. He's gonna do it. Yeah, he's gonna do it, and we're gonna get him through it. And then when he finishes that course, he's gonna feel even that much better than even maybe some of the other guys who finished it completed the course a lot easier. The boot camp, I should say. Even though it's pretty pretty.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

No, I I think that's one of the to me, that's one of the most important things about these these groups is the connection, the community, and the leadership aspect. It's like, hey, who it doesn't matter who you are, we're all gonna do this together. And and that I think teaches you not just about yourself, but how to deal with and help others.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Because we a lot of times we get isolated, we get alone and we work head down by ourselves, but you feel like, nah, we got to get him up too.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

And we got to pull him up too. We got to pull her up too. And it's like trying to work together to lift everybody up, um, I think is something that's missing because we're all like this. So it's um it's getting that face-to-face connection. That's why I asked how often, because for me personally, if I was doing it, I would like it more often. But I'm sure that's all dependent on the the how many clients you guys have. Exactly. Cadillac problem.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

And ultimately, we want to do more. We've talked about it to be like more of a quarterly thing, and eventually it might even be more often than that, with like day-long events that we'll do here, and then also retreats that we'll do in the future. Like we have a lot of visions for what we want to definitely do, um, including one of those retreats where you are going on an incredible journey, mentally, physically, spiritually, everything. You are in the wilderness, you are in nature, and you are going on an experience and a journey like nothing else. And yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:55

Now, this is just a more personal question. Are you guys finding like competition? Are there groups out there, or is it because it's a new to me, it's a newer thing. It's like there's a few of them that I follow online, um, more of like ex-famous athletes that are doing them.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

But it's not a real like localized community like I feel like you guys are. So are you feeling that are you seeing that there's other men's groups or uh local groups?

SPEAKER_02 42:19

No. Uh there is there's uh there's a couple obviously there's other we've seen other men's groups out there, and they are. Then they're some of them are huge. But there's so many people that are struggling in this world, man, that there's that everybody needs it.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

I don't know if the other men's groups base around like what you guys are talking about with fitness, faith, family, growth.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Like so some of there are some faith uh-based uh men's groups, but um I think they're a little bit different than ours, man. I think we're I think me personally, I I don't know you could say the same, Denzel. I think we'll be dealing with more with men who are who have really been struggling with with a a serious like addiction, you know, who really are struggling through that instead of uh you know somebody who's already got their life together, but they just you know feel stuck or you know, not happy.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

My my biggest fear is this addiction crisis is going to get worse and worse because I'm gonna blame society and AI. It's like what is everyone's jobs gonna be? What's their purpose? What's their passion gonna be? Like, what is the future going forwards? Um, I think about that all the time for my kids. It's like, if we don't have jobs, purpose, or passion, what do we have?

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Go ahead. Okay. So AI is something that has been implemented and it's something that has existed for quite a while. It's it's existed for decades. And now it's getting to a point where in society, we've been, you know, Chat GPT, we all know about that one. Um, Claude, you have these big models. And once again, it's what our culture wants in terms of it's the performance stuff. It's okay, these companies are competing against each other. So it's about okay, get a better model, get a better model. And there's no regulation. Lost that one too. All right, we got audio though. Come on. No, exactly. There's no regulation. So you have these models coming out that anyone can search anything they want, they can get answers. It's helping so many people. But with any great technology comes also the opposite. You're going to get the good and you're going to get the bad. And if a kid's on there and they don't know what they're doing and they just have an iPhone and they just start going on chat, anything can happen. And we already have heard of suicides because kids have gone on there and things have happened. And so really understanding that you can't just give kids AI and expect, oh, they're going to be great with it. It's going to be like a coach for them. It's going to help them. No, we have to be responsible with this technology. Another reason why AI is so interesting is because all it is, it's code copying humans. So it's learning from us always. So it's going to get better and better.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

I was watching this video that it's going to um it's just continually learning from our talk, then it's gonna think for us. So like like manipulate our minds to like almost like reprogram the human from like uh almost like a predictive model. So it's like, what is society thinking about? We could predict the future, like like it's a creepy stuff.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

I was talking to uh yeah, I was talking to uh one of my marketing guys who was doing my website and all that, and uh he said, he said, dude, I can have you interview with one of my AIs for about 25 to 30 minutes, and you're it's just gonna ask you questions and you're gonna talk to it. And then from that, it could start making, and if I just send it like a short video of you, yeah, it could start making me content content with videos of me, uh-huh, but it's talking and it's saying all the all the knowledge that I'm giving it plus more. So which is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

One thing we'll AI will never be able to do, though, is the human emotion and connection. Like I could feel you.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Yeah, right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

And that's why I think Iron Rising's huge is because you are in the presence of others. So you could feel the energy. Yeah, you could have the collective energy. You're talking about working, pulling everyone up. There's a collective energy behind that that is it's not repeatable, right? You can't repeat that. It's like going to the Knicks game tonight and everyone's celebrating at the same time. There's a collective energy. And I think something like Iron Ryan can harness that power of that togetherness that you can't get any other way. No AI, no social media, no app, no show, no, no coach is going to get you that. You need that feeling of community to truly benefit um for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

Yeah, you got to feel that organic emotion.

SPEAKER_00 47:02

And right now you're seeing we're moving towards a transhumanist world, which means implants, right? It's injections, it's things that are biotech that they want to put into us for certain things. And once you do that, you also break a contract with God. And we have to remember we are, and the reason I say this is because we are divine humans. We are divine beings. We can, like you said, we can feel and we have emotion. That's the big difference between the AI and the reason why so many people are struggling is because they're giving all their essence to this technology. And we have to be careful because in these next few years, we're just gonna keep seeing this as a trend. And people need to wake up and understand that you are a spiritual being, like you have energy that you can move, that you can do this, you can do that, and relationships, like you said, is the core of it. We rise together. That's what we say. That's our thing. Is we rise together because we literally rise together. And rise together. We rise together. That's right. And so we have to be very careful with AI because it's only gonna get better. It's only gonna get better at knowing how we behave, knowing how we think. And to your point about doing things for us, that's the day that humanity would lose if they start to do things for us. So we need to make sure that we stay true to ourselves, we come together as humans, and we stay connected to faith and to God because 100%. This world, not to go off on a tangent, because this is something I'm very passionate about, but we've lost a way that is an ancient practice that once again goes back thousands and thousands of years.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

And then one of the things that scares me is we've lost the way, but it we're losing it faster and faster. Like the the rate of technology and pulling us away from like nature and even things like being able to take care of yourself, like grow your food, hunt for your food. Like we're so dependent on other sources. So you talk about like uh the day we outsource our our things. We're already doing that in things we don't think about. Like uh think about just your garbage. You put it outside and it disappears. It's society's problem, right? Like something so stupid like that. But one of the things we can't outsource is our mind yet. And you said one of your tenants is education. And I think education is what saved me long term, right? It's continued education. It may not be coaching, but it's that continued learning. Like I need to learn more, I need to learn more. What can I learn about this? What can I learn about that? How can I grow in this way? How can I grow in that way? Um, and not outsourcing all my thoughts to AI.

SPEAKER_00 49:50

Yeah. I I want to add something to what you just said that I think is is really interesting. You know how we were talking about coaches before, and that like hiring a coach is important. There is a each of us is unique in our own way of learning, which is really important to understand. So you might work with someone, and this has happened to me where I've worked with someone and we have different communication styles. Like that person, that coach, isn't necessarily the best coach for me because I can't get what they're saying. Even though they're maybe saying the perfect thing, yeah, I don't get it because they're not explaining in my frequency and my energy that I can understand better, right? So we all are unique in our own way. And so I love what you said about education. The reason why one of our core habits that we stand on is education, is learning, whether it's reading a book, podcast, reading the Bible, the way that the world works, which I love this, you are going to see what you are ready to see and what you need to see. So if I tell you your habit is gonna be learning something in education that is you find valuable, you're gonna find something that you find valuable that your spirit finds valuable that you know is more aligned with your purpose, not mine. So that's why I wanna be very we wanna be very careful about just this is the way to think. This is the way to no, no, no. It's we're gonna give you the tools and the resources, but we're gonna show you how to start becoming more aligned with your intuition so you can actually find the stuff that's gonna heal you.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

We want you to learn what you want to learn. Yeah, what you want to learn and what you need to learn.

SPEAKER_02 51:21

Because they're each new. When I say hiring a coach as well, before, uh, you definitely like Denzel was saying, you want to be able to align with that coach. You want to be able to connect in a in in a in a and vibe with that coach. You know, you there your energies have to match. If you don't match with a coach, I don't care how great the coach is, it's not gonna work for you. The coach that I hired, it took me a while to find him. But I knew that when I found him, I said, the next time I do a show, you're gonna be my coach. I know his work ethic, I see his work ethic, I see his his his education behind it, and I said, You're gonna be my coach. I know we're gonna be successful together. And I hired him, and we were. We connected very well. We were we were uh in constant communication. I won my show, and uh, you know, it worked. So, but if I did that with another coach, he could have been great too. But the it might not the connection might have the vibe, the energy might not have been great. So, you know, it could have been all for me. That that could affect me and my performance. So the same thing with any other uh aspect of you know education and uh or whatever kind of coaching you want to get. But again, yes, definitely hiring the right person. But client just told me a story, it's funny, with her son. Really, really smart kid, great at math, uh, but is really into fitness. Lost his lost one of his teachers to cancer, who was a great mentor in his life, and he's going into uh school and he needed I I forget what the reason why, but he needed a coach for for math, right? In in the math that he's learning. And uh the school that he was going to, he ended up talking to uh a math coach, and he's like, Oh, you know, why don't you come and you know meet me? And her she knows her son. She goes, if he's some kind of like dorky dude with glasses and skinny, he's like he's not gonna want to be with him. He's gonna be like, he's gonna be completely, you know, like distracted or or or or wanna deviate from that uh because he already didn't want to do anything to do with math because of his coach who passed or his coach who passed away. So he goes and he meets this guy, and he's this big jacked power lifter dude who's super smart and and and just like is very knowledgeable and connected with him very well, and she couldn't have been happier. It was just like it was almost like that that it was meant to happen that way, you know? That's cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

Yeah. All right. Well, we've been about an hour. So it's uh let's end it with with here. Um I mean, I'm really excited for you guys. I'm really excited what you have to offer. Uh hopefully this helps one person. Maybe you guys get a couple people to come join Iron Rising. Maybe I gotta do a six-week course there. Boot camp. You should, man. Come in. Come on in.

SPEAKER_02 54:08

Come in, come into this July 18th, man. July 18th? Yeah, for six weeks.

SPEAKER_01 54:12

I'll say I'm in.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

I'll commit. Saturdays, uh-huh. Okay. Every Saturday at four o'clock in the morning. We're starting at four or four thirty. Four to seven. Four o'clock until seven a.m.

SPEAKER_01 54:22

I'll commit right now.

SPEAKER_02 54:24

All right.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

All right. Just send me the details. Let's go and I'll and I'll in. All right. Sweet. Awesome, brother. Let's go. Awesome. Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_02 54:30

Thank you.