Order of Man - 176： Be Legendary ｜ Bert Sorin

00:00:00.120 Legendary is a term we hear often, but when is the last time you actually thought about what it meant?

00:00:04.880 Being legendary is about creating and living a life in which the principles and lessons you left behind will last long after you're dead and gone.

00:00:12.560 Today, I'm joined by the president of SorenX, Bert Soren.

00:00:15.840 We cover the importance of creating the right culture, balancing family time with professional ambition, leading through vulnerability, and how a man becomes legendary.

00:00:25.640 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart your own path.

00:00:31.840 When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time.

00:00:36.300 You are not easily deterred or defeated. Rugged. Resilient. Strong.

00:00:41.340 This is your life. This is who you are. This is who you will become.

00:00:45.580 At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.

00:00:50.520 Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler, and I am the host and founder of this podcast, The Order of Man.

00:00:57.380 I want to welcome you. Whether you're joining us for the first time or you've been here for three, three and a half years,

00:01:03.160 I want to welcome you again to the manliest podcast available today.

00:01:08.040 We are discussing anything that might be important to you as a father, a husband, a business owner, a community leader,

00:01:13.960 whatever role that you're showing up in life. It's my goal to bring on the most successful men in the areas of entrepreneurship.

00:01:21.640 These are warriors, athletes, scholars, New York Times bestselling authors.

00:01:25.260 I'm trying to extract some of their hard fought and hard learned lessons, impart those upon you and me so that we can show up more fully in our lives,

00:01:33.880 which I know all of you are trying to do. And I can't tell you how excited I am, how blown away I am with the messages that I've been receiving lately.

00:01:42.180 A lot of you guys are following me on Instagram. You're shooting me messages on Facebook and email.

00:01:47.220 And although at times I got to admit, I feel a little bombarded and overwhelmed.

00:01:51.300 It is a testament to the work we're doing here. And I love to hear the stories of you guys who are salvaging marriages,

00:01:57.400 losing weight, getting in shape, starting businesses, getting promotions, all of the things that you're doing.

00:02:03.520 I'm glad to be a small, a very small part of that growth. And like I said, when I get these messages,

00:02:10.340 it is inspiring. It is humbling. I get those compliments, but I've got to commend you for doing

00:02:15.940 the work because there's a lot of people out there with great information. And yet it's definitely

00:02:21.100 harder to find somebody who actually applies that information for the betterment of their lives and

00:02:27.020 the lives of the people they serve. So you're doing that. I appreciate that. It inspires me and helps

00:02:31.320 me become a better man as well. Now, before I get into the conversation with Bert today, I do want to

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00:03:45.320 of man. All right, guys, let me introduce you to Bert and then we'll get to the rest of the

00:03:50.800 conversation. He is the CEO and president of Soranex. I know a lot of you guys have probably heard of

00:03:56.240 or are familiar with Soranex. If you're not, they are the leading innovator in American made strength

00:04:01.920 and conditioning equipment. Bert grew up in the business that his dad started nearly four decades ago and

00:04:07.900 has since gone on to develop and refine and innovate the business into what it is today. He is a former

00:04:14.520 division one track and field, all American, an Olympic trials athlete. But since then, again, he's gone on

00:04:20.700 to build his family business and create a legacy that reaches far beyond what him and his father built in

00:04:27.080 their garage. He's become a friend over the past several months. And I can't think of a better man to talk with

00:04:31.920 me about leading ourselves and our businesses and our families the best way that we're capable of.

00:04:39.820 Bert, what's up, man? Thanks for joining me on the show today.

00:04:42.020 Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure.

00:04:43.800 Yeah, we just released not too long ago our interview with Brandon Lilly, who's associated

00:04:49.420 with you guys. And you know what? That interview actually was our number one most downloaded interview

00:04:55.180 to date. So you got big shoes to fill, man. No pressure on you right now, right?

00:05:00.560 Well, I already knew that because I do thankfully get to hang with Brandon a good bit. And we've had

00:05:05.740 some very long discussions over meat or fire or shooting or lifting or something like that. So

00:05:11.080 intentionally when we have events, say with Summer Strong or something along those lines, I never

00:05:16.320 go after him because I know enough. I know his potency that I'll let him follow me any day,

00:05:22.740 but I'm not following Brandon Lilly. That's a hard one. So thanks for putting me in that perfect

00:05:26.540 position. And not to mention he might kick your ass. I mean, the dude's huge. So he is a large 1.00

00:05:30.920 individual and he's, he's much, um, more mobile than one would think, especially in these more

00:05:37.000 recent days. So I'm super proud of him. He's, he's a one in a million person and that gets better

00:05:43.580 every day. I can't say enough good things about him, but you know, you did put me in a crappy

00:05:47.620 position to have him to follow him. So I appreciate that. It was probably about a week or so before

00:05:53.620 I talked with him and I think we were introduced through another mutual friend. So I just think

00:05:59.360 this was bound to happen. And it seems like the stars aligned to make this work.

00:06:02.940 Yeah, absolutely. Who was it that introduced you to Brandon?

00:06:05.640 No, no. That introduced you and I, that made the connection between you and me.

00:06:09.180 Exactly. And yeah, we got that intro and then I saw you had Brandon. I said, okay, cool. Right.

00:06:13.380 Keeping in the family. I love it.

00:06:14.540 Well, speaking of family, I mean, you've got a family business, Soren X, which I know a lot of

00:06:18.820 guys that are listening have heard of or are familiar with, or maybe even use some of your

00:06:23.360 equipment, but this is a family business. Are you, is it just you now? Is your dad still involved?

00:06:28.260 Yes, he's still involved. He still comes into work a couple of days a week. And that's generally only

00:06:33.180 because I try to not have him come in. And it's not that he doesn't have an effectiveness here,

00:06:38.300 but I want to make sure that at 68 years old, that he doesn't, uh, doesn't have to feel the

00:06:43.300 stresses as much that he has in the years past. And we've been around for 38 years. And

00:06:47.680 I guess it's my gift or attempted gift to him to, uh, let him feel like he could go fishing more

00:06:54.200 often. Is he able to do that though? Cause I know a lot of guys, especially with the work ethic that

00:06:58.440 I I've seen from your father is like, he doesn't want to let that stuff go. Maybe I don't know.

00:07:03.440 No, you're a hundred percent right. That's I'm going to say a problem, but that is a struggle point.

00:07:07.520 You know, I kind of joke with him. I said, you know, my ass isn't going to be here five days a 0.98

00:07:11.600 week in, you know, 28 years or whatever. And he, you know, he, we laugh and, but you know, 0.98

00:07:18.020 maybe it will be, who knows, right. You know, once, once you get inundated and for so long,

00:07:22.240 I mean, I've already been here 19 years. So maybe, I don't know, you put me in another 20,

00:07:27.200 maybe it's one of those things you get so institutionalized into how it works and it's

00:07:31.500 just so in your blood.

00:07:32.760 And maybe not even institutionalized. Maybe you just enjoy it.

00:07:35.320 You do. You do. But I believe you also kind of forget what life was without it. Right.

00:07:40.700 It's almost like having kids where my wife and I were talking about the other day and as hard as

00:07:45.320 they are at times, you just go, gosh, do you remember when it was just us? And we said, no,

00:07:49.720 it, that was so long ago. It was such a long life ago. And our kids are only oldest is only six.

00:07:55.340 So I know my memory is longer than that, but I don't remember what it's like because that's been,

00:08:00.360 that's been the deal. So I don't know. I hope you could, uh, go enjoy,

00:08:04.900 but then again, like, what do you do? Like, I mean, you're at a cool place where it has people

00:08:10.320 coming in and lifting and there's all about your passion. I mean, kind of makes sense. Why would

00:08:14.240 you go anywhere else?

00:08:15.600 Well, and I think you guys have done such a good job with your culture as well, because I know

00:08:19.000 there's plenty of businesses out there that people are just, they can't get out of there fast enough

00:08:22.840 versus other organizations like yours where people want to be involved. And it's more than just the

00:08:27.820 business. It's the culture, it's the brotherhood, it's the camaraderie and the friendships and the,

00:08:31.560 in the family, frankly, absolutely. It is. And I think we've been very fortunate enough

00:08:37.020 through one way or the other to cultivate that. And the people that we've hired and brought on

00:08:42.120 into the fold, they've perpetuated it and, you know, put their spin on it and everything like

00:08:46.740 that. And it's cool when, you know, Friday afternoon, you know, six 30, there's still guys

00:08:52.880 out in the parking lot or down. We call the sugar shack. This is like old building that we had on the

00:08:57.960 property and guys are sitting down there. They'll start to have a fire pit and stuff like that.

00:09:02.200 They're all, I mean, these are dudes that have worked out in the shop all week, hot, dusty and

00:09:07.440 everything like that. And they're out sitting around the fire pit or having a beer or something,

00:09:12.200 just hanging out. And I'm like, wow, you guys just still don't want to leave yet. And I was like,

00:09:15.520 yeah, these are my buddies and we're all hanging out and we're doing our thing. Or these guys,

00:09:18.760 they'll come in and train at the gym after that. And probably one of my most stressful times of the

00:09:24.400 week, honestly, is 4.30 on a Friday. And I guess maybe that's being an owner, but I have these

00:09:29.940 ambitions of things that I want to accomplish. And 4.30 on a Friday reminds me that you didn't

00:09:35.880 get all the stuff done that you wanted to get done. How do you manage that through the weekend?

00:09:39.820 Because I'm the same way, you know, I've got the business here and we enjoy obviously what we do.

00:09:45.060 I'm 100% into this thing. And so it's hard for me to shut it off even on the weekends,

00:09:49.820 even though I want to be present with my family. I want to be on vacations. I also want to be here.

00:09:53.760 It's probably one of my biggest struggles and we use the term presence. And that's something that

00:09:59.700 I struggle with. I talked about it a little bit at SummerStrong. I did like a kind of a 10

00:10:04.820 tenants to be legendary is our tagline. And one of them is be present. In one way that could be,

00:10:11.400 you know, when you're somewhere that you have a presence about you and you, I wouldn't say project,

00:10:16.140 but that you're a person of substance. But the other part of that is being able to be present.

00:10:21.320 And that is something that's, like I said, it's probably my most difficult thing because as a

00:10:25.980 business owner, maybe you've conquered this, I don't know. But as a business owner, so much of

00:10:30.960 a business or being a leader, you have to be so forward focused, front side focus that you have

00:10:37.260 to be looking so far down the line. Because if you're living in the day to day as a leader,

00:10:42.220 you're six months behind. So that's what I had to make the transition when I became a leader at

00:10:46.980 Sornex to go, okay, I need to be worrying about or not worrying, but be concerned about what's

00:10:51.620 happening six months to a year from now. So I could hopefully lay the groundwork where my men

00:10:57.000 could come in behind me and go through those blocks that I've created for them on the field,

00:11:02.300 and they could run right through those holes. So everything becomes all about what's happening

00:11:07.060 tomorrow, what's happening tomorrow. By that being the mindset constantly, and it's even the

00:11:12.040 training mindset that I had in athletics, you know, everything was, you know, I'm going to

00:11:16.620 peak on this day. So everything was always forward thinking. And then the work in the weight room as an

00:11:23.640 athlete just became a physical manifestation of what I had already dreamt and lived in my mind.

00:11:30.020 I'd already decided that on four weeks from now, I'm going to squat 500 for eight reps. And because

00:11:35.380 that's my whatever I'm supposed to do. And then the work going up to it is just somewhat mindless work,

00:11:41.100 because I'm just living to get to that goal line. And the work is just happens to be a,

00:11:46.280 you know, factors that lead into that. The same thing with business. So you have this

00:11:50.800 physical manifestation, that it's almost feels like your avatar is doing the work that you've

00:11:56.620 already set your mind to you've already visualized 1000 times doing it, you've already thought through

00:12:00.800 every possible scenario. And now you're just doing the work. I equate it to walking through the

00:12:06.860 woods with a flashlight, you don't put the flashlight directly at your feet, you put it five to 10

00:12:10.960 yards ahead of you. So you can see what's happening. And your body automatically knows

00:12:15.040 to step over that limb that you saw three steps before and you just do it, you see it out of your

00:12:20.720 periphery, you're kind of there, but you're really kind of just looking ahead. And that's what I find

00:12:24.900 my my life feeling like so often, I have to stop myself and go, Okay, I'm in this room, I'm talking

00:12:31.780 these people, these people might be my family, they might be my kids. But unfortunately, I'm thinking of

00:12:37.720 next Tuesday, when I have to get on a flight to San Antonio, and I'm doing this. And that's so hard.

00:12:44.100 It is a challenge. And it's a struggle because you talk about stepping over the rock. But sometimes

00:12:47.720 there's value in stopping and looking at the rock, right? Or just appreciating what the rock is

00:12:51.820 100%. Yeah. And that's literally the smell the roses kind of scenario. Yeah, exactly.

00:12:57.420 Otherwise, it's come home 730 at night, make sure the kids are fed, play with them a little bit,

00:13:03.160 brush your teeth, blah, blah, blah, all the stuff that also becomes a plan. Okay,

00:13:07.500 we need to make sure that this happens, this happens, this happens, this happens,

00:13:10.560 then they're going to go to bed, then I'm going to be able to spend some time with the wife. And so

00:13:13.900 all these are things I know need to be accomplished. And what I found myself and still to sometimes

00:13:19.220 finding myself, it feels like I'm going through a workout, I know it needs to be done, I'm getting

00:13:23.640 it done. But am I like really appreciating the inflection and tone in my daughter's voice,

00:13:29.680 when she's getting ready to brush her teeth? Am I blowing right past the ones when my little

00:13:36.420 guy Kodiak wants to come up and hug up on my leg and everything? Or am I thinking,

00:13:40.160 okay, no, you need to get in the bath right now, because x, y and z. And so am I taking too much

00:13:46.200 of a business approach, leadership business approach to the family, or my friends or things

00:13:51.520 like that? And that's what I struggle with the most is the being present. Because in my opinion,

00:13:56.320 being present is the utmost respect that you could give to your life, as well as the people around you.

00:14:01.660 because that shows that you're connected and you're dialed into their value at the time,

00:14:06.560 versus, you know, where's this going? And the where's this going is profitable in life,

00:14:12.020 and it is needed, but it can't overshadow where you are at the moment. And so that's a piece that

00:14:18.620 I'm personally working on very diligently at the moment. So I don't know if you are as well, but

00:14:24.540 I just kind of wanted to bring that up.

00:14:26.400 I think anybody who's an achiever probably is hearing this and just thinking, man, you're,

00:14:31.560 you know, my life, I was watching the kids, I've got four kids, my wife went out with one of her

00:14:35.580 girlfriends last night, and I was here watching the kids. And at times I had to catch myself,

00:14:40.680 because I felt like I was just going through the motions, like, okay, here's dinner, like assembly

00:14:44.720 line dinner, right? And then get them all in the bath and get them changed and get them this read

00:14:48.260 them in bedtime story. And I'm like, man, am I really enjoying this bedtime story with him? Am I

00:14:51.820 really enjoying the opportunity to feel them laying on me and giggling and laughing? Or am I just hurry

00:14:58.120 and check this off the list so that I can get on to whatever else I need to do?

00:15:01.520 Right. And so you could go back and check the emails that the people that you know tomorrow are

00:15:05.160 supposed to hit you up to see if any of the status has changed. So you can make sure you're effective

00:15:09.300 for tomorrow. And sometimes I get so fed up with the phone. The phone is probably my most valuable

00:15:16.440 thing I carry. But it's also the thing I probably hate most. A couple weeks ago, I would say I had

00:15:22.120 a breakdown, but I just got so fed up with not being present and just the external struggles.

00:15:28.900 I just turned my phone off. And I know it sounds like everybody's like, whoa, bro, really freaking

00:15:33.700 tough. You turn off your phone. But, you know, when you have 100 plus employees, and a lot of things

00:15:40.040 going on, that's a pretty dangerous move.

00:15:42.900 Oh, absolutely. It can be if you don't have your ducks in a row.

00:15:45.960 Right. But I turned off my phone. I put it away, like, physically far from me. And I probably

00:15:54.320 was offline for, I know it sounds like a pussy, like for 10 or 12 hours. But the first hour, 1.00

00:16:00.440 I was pulling my hair out. Because I'm so used to that dopamine hit of tying in. What's going on?

00:16:06.060 What's going on with the world? I got to check the temperature of my world. And I went, hold on.

00:16:11.060 This thing is running me. And I have a couple mentors that talked to me. And they were like,

00:16:15.840 dude, you got to unplug, you got to disconnect, you got to, whether it's be by yourself and kind

00:16:21.620 of pull things back together, or if it's be with your kids or whatever. But at times, it feels like

00:16:27.560 death by 1000 cuts. Like there's so much interaction in and out, the comms will kill you. Just the

00:16:34.900 communication with so many different entities of people feel like 1000 little, not even straws,

00:16:42.040 but like the little coffee stirrer straws are really, really little ones, you know, like 1000

00:16:46.580 of those hooked up and your your blood is just being pulled out of your body in a slow fashion,

00:16:51.440 where a month later, you look and you like a raisin, because all of your blood and your soul

00:16:55.820 is pulled out. And it's not because of anything bad. That's how I just see it. You know, I just see

00:17:01.100 it of like, every time I open my mouth, or every time I take in information, at times, it could just

00:17:07.720 be enough. You know, and I spoke with someone the other day, and they said, Well, how you doing? I

00:17:12.420 said, I said, if you, if on Monday night, you saw Led Zeppelin in concert, and Tuesday night,

00:17:20.100 you saw Metallica, and Thursday night, or Wednesday night, you saw, let's say, I don't know, the

00:17:26.260 Guns and Roses, the fourth night, you saw Journey. Even if Rage Against the Machine was playing Friday

00:17:34.140 night, it's probably better to sit out one. Yeah, yeah, it's a good point. You know,

00:17:39.740 and that's kind of how life has felt recently. It's been great. And I'm not bitching whatsoever,

00:17:44.880 nor am I bragging. It's been great. There's been amazing opportunities. I have some of the most

00:17:50.780 interesting people in my life that I just love to death. But sometimes, and I'm having to kind of get

00:17:58.260 over the internal feeling and know that it's okay, is sometimes alone is fine. Alone is good. And

00:18:07.120 sometimes talking to people isn't necessarily the answer. Right? That's the me as a person. Now,

00:18:12.720 other people may like always have to have people around or whatever. Although I'm very gregarious,

00:18:17.900 I still really enjoy being by myself. Like you give me a pair of boots and a rifle and an open

00:18:23.180 mountain. I'll talk to you in a couple months. I'm completely fine with that. But that's not the

00:18:30.080 reality I live in. It's really important that we find the right portions or proportions, if you will,

00:18:35.820 of what we're doing in life. And so, yeah, somebody might be more social than another person and get a

00:18:41.100 lot of energy from being around. I tend to be the other way where I can go up into the mountains and I

00:18:46.280 do, you know, if I need a technology fast or just get away with the family, we'll go up to the

00:18:50.260 mountain. Sounds like you do as well. And it's like, I need to disconnect, unplug and finding

00:18:54.340 the right portions of each of those. We talk a lot about balance and it's not, it's not finding

00:18:59.380 equal amounts of time for every activity or engagement. It's finding the right amount of

00:19:04.580 time for each that works for you. Yes. Yes. And there are going to be different times in your life

00:19:10.200 where different portions or proportions are applicable and needed. You know, sometimes that technology fast,

00:19:16.660 there might be seasons in your life where it's not needed. And then there's other times when

00:19:21.060 it's vital to survival. And it's, I had a friend of mine tell me, he said, you know,

00:19:25.280 sometimes your insulation from the world isn't something that is, uh, like exquisite, it's survival.

00:19:31.800 And I was like, wow. And this is coming from a person who has seemingly the world by the ass. 0.99

00:19:38.240 And, you know, he said, Bert, you just go in your man cave and go work on something for 0.99

00:19:43.340 a day or two or nothing, you know, or just nothing, just some, something that's different

00:19:50.200 than the daily. And, and again, I don't want to make this about my trials, tribulations or

00:19:56.720 whatever. That's not what it's about. I'm just trying to shed light on this is a thing being

00:20:02.120 transparent. This is a thing I'm going through. I'm sure other people in my situation or not in my

00:20:08.220 situation go through as well. And I'm more trying to start trying to think of a dialogue or something

00:20:13.420 where maybe someone that hears this and goes, crap, I feel the exact same way, regardless of

00:20:18.800 their position that they're in in life or what they do, or it doesn't matter. I mean, we're all, 0.93

00:20:23.460 we're all men. And as men, leaders of the family or leaders of our social group or whatever,

00:20:29.240 sometimes the pressure could be really high. You know, I'm glad we talk about this kind of stuff

00:20:32.880 because I think it's very easy for someone who's listening to this podcast to think,

00:20:36.420 Bert's got it figured out. He's got life by the balls. Ryan's got this going on and think that 0.98

00:20:41.040 somehow we've managed to overcome some of the problems that they feel like they're struggling

00:20:45.560 with. But I'll tell you what, from my experience, and I think you can probably attest to this as

00:20:49.680 well as we all deal with the same stuff, right? They might be varying degrees or extremes, but all

00:20:56.400 of us are dealing with that. And when somebody sees somebody who they maybe unjustly hold up on a

00:21:02.340 pedestal, that's dealing with the same issues. They're like, Oh, that guy's human. If this guy can

00:21:06.120 overcome whatever you're dealing with, I can do it too.

00:21:09.040 Yes. I think you're exactly right, Ryan. And two things, you know, I think some people are better

00:21:14.820 at masking it and or marketing their life. So it seems, so it seems like, wow, you know, I mean,

00:21:22.480 I think you and Brandon talked about the rock. If anyone's killing it in the world right now,

00:21:27.720 seemingly it'd be that guy, you know, I mean, what doesn't he have? He has fame,

00:21:32.080 he has money, he has a family, he has, you know, an amazing face, amazing body, amazing jobs. I mean,

00:21:39.040 like, come on. But I guarantee you, the guy still has some shitty days. 0.97

00:21:43.940 No doubt. He's got to. And I can't imagine at the level that he plays, his shitty days 0.97

00:21:49.300 are probably extremely, extremely shitty days versus what maybe even we're dealing with.

00:21:55.080 Just a different level.

00:21:56.120 Yeah. And that leads me to the next thing is our director of operations. He's a good deal older

00:22:01.840 than me. And he's had, he has a lot of wisdom, you know, as we've grown over the years, he was

00:22:06.360 kind of giving me some mentorship and he said, you know, here's the thing, you know, we're always

00:22:10.640 going to have issues in a business. It's just going to have more zeros behind it. And it's just kind

00:22:15.320 of the thing. It was a good leveler of business, but not only as a people, everyone's going to have

00:22:21.340 their shitty days, the rock shitty days just might be on paper more severe than mine. But you know,

00:22:28.020 I've kind of joked, I said, you know, as cool as anyone is, they've had a stomach bug and laid on

00:22:33.420 the bathroom floor before wanting to die. Just like I have. Yeah, that is true. You know, I don't care

00:22:40.260 how hot any girl is or how rich any guy is. We've all been there in a completely debilitated state that

00:22:46.500 you wouldn't want any other human to see you in. And guess what? We're all human. And there's only

00:22:51.480 a couple of decisions or a couple of marketing pieces that separate us from all being that same

00:22:56.900 person every couple of years. It's about being relatable, right? It's about recognizing that

00:23:02.420 everybody's dealing with the same thing because I think 20, 30 years ago, we'd hold these people up

00:23:06.600 on pedestals and we couldn't really see what was going on. We couldn't see or have access to those

00:23:11.000 days. But I found when it comes to leadership, whether that's in the business or even in the

00:23:17.360 family, you know, I'll sit down with my boy and he might be struggling and I'll share with him some

00:23:21.660 examples of where I struggled when I was his age. How old is he? My oldest is 10. Okay. So he's

00:23:28.020 really starting to understand that a little bit more. When he sees what I deal with, not that dad's a

00:23:33.380 superhero, but that dad is a human being who's managed to overcome some things. He looks at that and

00:23:39.500 thinks to himself, man, I can do it too. Oh, dad used to face that. And now look where he's at.

00:23:44.720 Oh, good. I can do it too. So I think it's actually inspiring when you talk about the reality of

00:23:51.260 how things are good and when things are bad. 100%. That's another thing. Like when you're

00:23:56.860 talking about your son, I think I'm a pretty good dad. I'm not the best dad by any stretch of the

00:24:01.540 imagination. I think part of it is, you know, based on the stress level or my inability to handle

00:24:06.060 stress at times, but even learning to apologize to your kids, you know, and sometimes I've cracked

00:24:12.180 off on them, you know, because of X, Y, and Z, you know, but even my son's six and he doesn't

00:24:17.820 understand everything because he's, you know, he's six and my, my daughter's four and my other

00:24:21.840 little boys too. And they'll, you know, Kodiak, my little littlest boy, I mean, he doesn't

00:24:25.900 understand much. My other two, you know, if I have a bad day or they do something that really

00:24:32.500 tests my patients and maybe I come across too harshly, I'm trying to go to them later.

00:24:40.380 And maybe this is a bad, maybe it's a really bad idea. I don't know. Maybe it usurps my,

00:24:44.680 you know, structure and within the house, but I think it's only right, you know, to go in there

00:24:49.160 and say, Hey, you know, Ezra, you know, daddy was really frustrated earlier and I shouldn't have

00:24:53.980 gotten that angry because this, this, and this, this is what I was feeling, but I shouldn't have

00:24:59.540 taken it out on you and daddy was wrong for doing that. Yeah. I don't think that undermines. I think

00:25:04.520 that actually builds up trust and credibility with your kids or employees when you're actually

00:25:09.040 real about, Hey, I, I screwed up and I'm going to fix it. I don't think that undermines any

00:25:13.580 authority that you have. I hope not. And I guess in a perfect world, I believe that's the case.

00:25:18.200 I just don't know if at four or six, I guess time will tell. Do you have to always be right up until

00:25:24.660 a certain age just so they believe you? I don't know. Or do you say just exactly that? And I hope

00:25:29.260 that that's the right way to do it. Well, I think where you might get into trouble

00:25:32.480 is if you keep apologizing for the same behavior over and over and over. And then as our kids get

00:25:37.760 older, they're like, yeah, dad's apologizing again, but tomorrow he's going to fly off the

00:25:41.440 handle again and do the same thing he's always been doing. And so I think that probably would

00:25:45.760 undermine what you're trying to build, but to admit your flaws and tell your kids or your employees,

00:25:51.300 tell you what, when people are real with me, that only elevates my level of trust and credibility

00:25:56.300 with them. Sure. And Brandon and I have talked about that before is, you know,

00:26:00.780 and I know he's apologized to some spokes. I know you talked about it in your podcast, but

00:26:05.020 I've told some other people that if someone was to come in before you and basically

00:26:10.560 pin themselves against the wall, put their hands up and say, take your shots. Here's what I've done

00:26:16.000 wrong. Take your shots. Very few people are going to haul off and lay it to them.

00:26:21.520 Sure. Right. And it's crazy that that's such a defensively offense position to take

00:26:28.160 because you pretty much kill the fight. Right. You take down any weapon they may have had

00:26:34.600 against you because you just owned it, recognized it and used it. Right. And if they do crack off with

00:26:41.300 one, then, okay, maybe it was deserved or maybe they're just an asshole. I mean, at least you know, 1.00

00:26:47.900 you know, you go, okay, well, probably good idea not to pitch that guy up a meatball because he's

00:26:53.220 going to smash out of the park every time, but. But you've done it and it's out of the way and you

00:26:56.720 never need to do it again, as long as you don't keep making those mistakes. Right. Right. You don't

00:27:00.660 fear it anymore. And then you just kind of go, okay, cool. And ass beating is never as bad as

00:27:05.600 worrying about the ass beating. That is true. Our mind has the ability to conjure up the worst 0.99

00:27:10.840 case scenario. It's called cognitive distortions. And we just, we play these crazy mental games when

00:27:17.100 in all reality, if we just face the situation we were mentally dealing with, I think more often than

00:27:22.220 not, it's less significant than we play it out in our minds. Right. It's so hard. It is hard. I think

00:27:29.220 we have to draw upon past experience though. Right. Sure. That's certainly the sign of a mature

00:27:34.620 thinking adult that has the ability to do that. And so that's definitely something we all strive

00:27:40.000 for. I wanted to shift gears. You talked about your man cave a couple of minutes ago and I was

00:27:45.120 online because I was preparing for having this conversation with you and I saw your, your official

00:27:50.080 man cave. Yeah. That is rad. I got to say that is rad. Thank you. I appreciate it. Is that at your

00:27:55.500 house or where, where is that behind my house? There was a, when, when we purchased the house,

00:27:59.760 there was a, a building, like a metal building, typical metal building, slab floor, you know,

00:28:04.180 nothing special, like a shed garage, whatever you may want to call it. When we purchased the house,

00:28:08.980 that was kind of the deal sealer for me. Cause I knew I wanted to make the first day I called it

00:28:13.100 like the cave, just like, couldn't think of what to call it. And of course my kids started calling

00:28:17.260 the cave. Then it just became that known as, you know, real original. Right. So I mean,

00:28:21.580 I knew I wanted to have a gym and some places to store some of my outdoor gear

00:28:25.340 that doesn't clutter up the house. And then it was about a two and a half year project in my mind

00:28:31.460 and, you know, saving up some cash here and there and figuring out how to do it. And I wanted to take

00:28:36.880 time and not just throw stuff up there. So it's been this kind of evolving deal. No project is ever

00:28:43.600 finished. In my opinion, it's relatively finished. You know, I'm already doing some changes since that

00:28:48.520 video has been made, but in someone actually, after I even released the video of it, someone made a great

00:28:54.000 point. Brandon and I spoke about, it wasn't a man cave in a way. And initially I wanted a man cave

00:28:59.620 where I could go out there and kind of get away and work on a gun or shoot my bow or lift weights

00:29:05.980 or work on some stuff with tools or whatever it may be. Then I started designing it. And then I

00:29:11.740 wanted to make sure the flooring was thick enough where my little, little kids, if they fell, they

00:29:16.400 weren't going to get, you know, crack their head open and, or where I wanted it relatively clean. So it

00:29:20.860 could be a playroom for them. And then we could, my wife, you know, she doesn't have a lot of time 1.00

00:29:25.580 to get to the gym. Although we have, you know, SorenX HQ is still just another time to drive or

00:29:29.720 whatever. So she could start working out at home and we can work out together. And then, well,

00:29:33.260 let's put a TV in there. I don't watch TV, but if we have a big TV in there, we could do family

00:29:39.100 movie nights. And now it's like a theater room too, or I could entertain. And then we put a table,

00:29:44.340 what I call the ammo table in there. We designed that's has bins underneath where I can hold,

00:29:49.060 you know, tools and gun parts. And then it's high enough. I built where, cause I'm pretty

00:29:54.800 tall and I didn't want to have to bend over as much at all. Regular size tables hurt my

00:29:58.120 back. So I made it a little bit taller. So the kids couldn't grab, let's say if I was

00:30:01.720 working mounting a scope or something, my littlest couldn't pull stuff off. So we kind of designed

00:30:05.720 all these little parts and pieces. Then I could use it for podcasts and I could use it for

00:30:10.020 entertainment. And this, you know, metal building quickly became a multi usage place. This

00:30:16.340 literally by far my favorite. I like it way more than my house.

00:30:19.940 I'll have to post that video because it's, it's absolutely, I mean, it's just incredible.

00:30:24.640 Thank you.

00:30:25.140 You know, one of the things that I see not only in the man cave, but the other projects,

00:30:29.860 the universities you work with, the colleges and high schools and professional teams that

00:30:33.360 you work with is not only is your equipment like fully functional, obviously that's first and

00:30:38.160 foremost, I'm assuming it's first and foremost, but then it's beautiful.

00:30:42.500 Thank you.

00:30:43.380 I mean, the design is amazing. And I think it would be easy to overlook that and say,

00:30:48.740 well, as long as it's functional, that's the most important thing. And it is like,

00:30:52.340 where does this other element of design, has that always been built into the company and

00:30:56.280 ingrained into what you do?

00:30:57.500 It has been. So just to kind of finish before though, that, so now it's been called the fam

00:31:02.260 cave instead of even the man cave. And now this is something that's a multi-use space for my family.

00:31:08.040 Sometimes it's only Bert. Sometimes that's where I go in the morning and do some meditation.

00:31:11.560 Sometimes it's where the life works out. Sometimes, uh, you know, they're over there.

00:31:16.160 My marketing team is right over there doing a photo shoot right now for some products.

00:31:20.020 So it's become a multi-use piece, which kind of substantiated the cost associated with it. But

00:31:26.420 going to your other question, as far as, you know, the visual effect of some of the equipment

00:31:31.120 design. I mean, I've always liked nice stuff. I'm not necessarily a car guy. I think cars are

00:31:37.100 super cool. I just don't know that much about them. I'm like the only guy that doesn't

00:31:40.120 like, isn't super a car guy. I've been more of like a outdoors gear dude my whole life,

00:31:44.980 whether it be guns, knives, fishing rods, stuff like that. Like that's kind of what's been my life.

00:31:50.280 So I have a, an affinity for cool stuff. I mean, whether I mean as stupid as that sounds like, 0.99

00:31:58.520 and I, and I think when you see something function is the art form in itself, but there's something 0.98

00:32:04.340 also moving about aesthetics when you look at it and you just makes you want to touch it and be

00:32:09.100 around it and see how it works. And if it just works. It's the experience of it. Yeah. And it's

00:32:13.160 exactly it. And so some of our design was partly because of a function where we saw there was

00:32:19.860 definitely a need saying, okay, this exercise in our opinion, isn't safe enough. Say a step up,

00:32:26.940 for instance, doing a step up. Normally you took the bar off on your back, you walked out of the rack

00:32:32.020 across a platform or onto a box. That's a great thing until your ankle ever rolls or you lose

00:32:39.120 balance. And now you're standing up on top of a box with 300 pounds in your back and you fall and

00:32:44.360 you break something, which it sounds far fetched, but I literally spoke with two coaches after speaking

00:32:51.500 with a number of other coaches, two of them mentioned that they had two athletes that actually

00:32:56.800 fell doing the step up exercise and broke their back. And it's absolutely crazy. So that being said,

00:33:05.040 let's take that and figure out a much safer way. So that's the function. Let's figure out a safer way

00:33:10.600 through safety straps, utility seat, the locks in the rack or some different things that we could do

00:33:14.680 these exercises safer with more manageability and thus more effectiveness. So that's the number one

00:33:20.940 thing. But as you said before, the experience always has to be there. I'm someone and dad is

00:33:27.580 as well. And of course my dad, Richard Soren is the one that started this whole mess. He always knew

00:33:32.640 that things could be better. And in a way we have a lot of ability to stick with something we love,

00:33:40.560 but in another way we have a short attention span or interest span, I guess.

00:33:44.300 Yeah. I think a lot of successful people are probably like that.

00:33:46.680 Yeah. I mean, I love lifting weights, but if you told me I had to bench squat and deadlift only

00:33:51.240 with a conventional bar for the rest of my life, I'd probably stop.

00:33:54.700 Is that pretty much what he's done?

00:33:56.020 Well, no, he doesn't. That's where I got it from. He wanted to figure out 55 different ways to do

00:34:01.560 everything possible. If it meant hanging upside down with bands and do it. And, but you look at some

00:34:08.080 of the greats in any industry, that's where innovation comes from. It's just trying a million things.

00:34:12.860 And part of my training while I was able to, I think, train and compete for so long. And the

00:34:20.680 power sports was because I was always finding more effective and safer ways to get the job done,

00:34:27.560 but also figured out 50 different variants for every possible movement, which just kept my intensity

00:34:34.260 level high because I was able to, to go on new adventures, if that makes sense. Remember the old

00:34:38.560 books, like the write your own adventure kind of books, choose your own adventure. That was kind

00:34:42.720 of my training for 20 something years was, okay. I know I'm going to do a lower body pull and upper

00:34:47.100 body push based on those parameters. What can I do with a high intensity that encapsulates that?

00:34:53.720 And I don't care if it's a bench press, it might be a incline dumbbell stop and stab. Okay, great.

00:34:59.480 But now I'm excited. I'm going to go after it with high intensity, high velocity. And that was what

00:35:04.620 kept me really interested in training for a long time because I was always learning and having a new

00:35:09.980 adventure. So part of why we design our equipment, how we do is it has to build in that adventurous

00:35:18.100 spirit and the want for someone to, I want to try those jammer arms. Ah, you know, now they're

00:35:24.220 adjustable. So I want to try them tomorrow with the pivot point, two inches lower and see what that

00:35:28.680 does. I want to try it with two inches higher the next day, see what that does. Well, guess what?

00:35:32.500 I've just tricked you into doing jammer arms for three different workouts and you, and you got excited

00:35:36.740 about it every time. And so that's one thing that's, I think, brought us to the head of the pack.

00:35:42.140 But I think I got to interrupt here too, because I think there's something valuable here. It's,

00:35:45.960 it's not only that you created this variation that you're trying a lot of different things,

00:35:50.560 because I think it would be easy for somebody to listen to this and say, Oh, I just got to try a

00:35:53.840 bunch of things. But at the same time, what I'm hearing you say is we're trying a lot of different

00:35:58.680 things, but you're also staying in your lane. Yes. Right. And so you're going deep,

00:36:03.200 but you're exploring broadly towards some things that help you be better in this specific area.

00:36:09.500 Yes. Yes. There are things that work. I'm always going to do some sort of, to quote like a Dan

00:36:15.000 John, you know, there's a push, a pull, a hinge, a squat, a loaded carry. I mean, there's things like

00:36:19.940 that. I'm always going to do those things, but the adventure comes and how do I do them? It's kind

00:36:25.620 of like, I know I'm going to always have to eat the art form and the adventure comes in. How many

00:36:30.360 different ways can I cook and prepare the food? You know, there's maybe some people that could

00:36:34.140 eat broccoli and chicken breast the rest of their life and not worry about it. I'm not that guy.

00:36:38.020 I think very few people are, which is why they give up on their goals so quickly. It's like,

00:36:42.120 Oh, it takes tedious work to do the same thing over and over and over. Yes. That's what I'm saying.

00:36:46.180 But I like that you're talking about variation. Yeah. It's a variation, but then also there's,

00:36:50.120 you know, I hate to say it. There's the part of our brand that people expect a Sorenx weight room to

00:36:55.980 look completely out of this world and to be a flagship of the university because in many ways

00:37:01.780 we're arms dealer and we're arming a lot of its college division one football with their prime

00:37:07.960 recruiting tool. And if Oregon's room, university of Oregon's room doesn't look considerably better

00:37:13.140 than university of Auburn or Penn state or Alabama or whoever it may be, then they got to step up their

00:37:20.420 game because they're recruiting the same kids. And so we've realized in many ways that we're,

00:37:25.980 arming the university to sell 18 year old kids and also to sell 60 year old donors.

00:37:32.620 Of course it has to function flawlessly. Of course it has to minimize managerial training time in a

00:37:38.560 weight room for maximum efficiency, maximum safety, and the most time under tension in a session that

00:37:44.020 falls within NCAA guidelines. I think we're one of the first companies that actually took those

00:37:48.320 things into account. But also it has to look absolutely amazing that that guy who just stroked a

00:37:53.860 check for a million dollars for their new football facility gets to hang a picture on that on in his

00:37:59.860 office wall and go, look what my money went towards. That's the, that's the most badass weight room in

00:38:05.140 the nation. And I just bought it. Yeah, absolutely. He's got to be proud of that. And if it looks like

00:38:09.840 everyone else's and it's just white with straight lines and whatever, and it looks like the same one

00:38:14.940 that he worked out on 25 years before, it's not cool. I guess maybe our artistic flair has come

00:38:20.900 out and that's, that's a part of it that I really enjoy. And that's, that's a little secret of the

00:38:25.560 success. It really has been, I can see it from the outside and not, of course I'm not in this industry,

00:38:30.460 but I can see it and know that it's something that I just would want to be part of. It looks

00:38:34.780 incredible. So you talk about these NCAA guidelines. What would be some of the guidelines? I'm trying to

00:38:40.480 figure out how that would actually look. I mean, outside of illegal, you know, drug use or something

00:38:45.680 like that. Yeah, no NCAA compliance. I'll get it a little bit wrong because it seems like it changes

00:38:50.480 all the time. I'm sure. Yeah. But I'm going to kind of just make up numbers. Don't quote me on these

00:38:55.680 numbers, but you'll get a premise of what I'm going for during the off season. Let's say that the

00:39:01.120 student athletes are not allowed to have a mandatory practice time more than say three hours a week.

00:39:07.420 Now you're off season three hours a week. Now you're not going to be doing your sport.

00:39:10.880 Potentially. You're just going to be working out. We'll work out time. It goes towards that

00:39:15.480 time period. Well, now it's three hours a week. You break up with that into four days where you're

00:39:19.980 saying you're about a 45 minute workout. That's considerably less than I did in college.

00:39:25.300 Now I was a thrower, so we lifted a whole bunch, but now you're talking about warmup, cool down,

00:39:31.680 stretching, all that stuff has to go down. Plus a really great training session in 45 minutes. Okay. Well,

00:39:36.740 what if they have to do practice today? Well, now you've just cut down. You have the kids two 30

00:39:41.560 minute sessions a week. They're at the university of California or Stanford or Penn state or whatever.

00:39:47.920 When that coach comes to us and say, I got these kids two days a week for 37 minutes.

00:39:53.060 Now you got to create a workout that's going to work in that period of time.

00:39:55.740 Now you have to create a workout, but then if the stuff is really complicated and you can't

00:40:01.400 double up the function of certain pieces, you cause the coach too much downtime, too much

00:40:07.800 managerial time to move athletes from one place to another. You decrease time under tension, which

00:40:13.600 decreases muscular growth. And all of a sudden you're getting less work done. You're under training

00:40:20.160 your athletes. Conversely, if we're able to maximize that time, maximize the managerial aspect of the

00:40:26.780 weight room. What if we were able to add, let's say 20% more time under tension per session?

00:40:33.140 Doesn't sound like a lot, but when you look in the course of four years, we've just given that athlete

00:40:37.580 one entire training year. In the same amount of time, they're essentially just getting more work

00:40:42.200 done. I mean, this, this holds true, not just for the gym, but life, right? We, we, we only have a

00:40:47.900 short period of time. Everybody's got the same 24 hours and it's the ones who are successful that

00:40:52.700 manage that 24 hours correctly. Right. Right. And so where I think a lot of the industry that we were

00:40:58.160 in, they were getting caught in the weeds of just trying to make things either shiny or make the

00:41:04.420 newest, coolest thing that felt really good or whatever it may be. I think we were one of the

00:41:09.280 first companies to really sit down and go, hold on. There's a problem here that coaches are going to

00:41:13.740 have to get around is how do they get these athletes set up and rocking as fast as possible? Because 0.84

00:41:20.640 how do they maximize those 24 hours? And in this case, a lot of times it's one hour,

00:41:24.660 you know, the NFL started going to with the trade agreements and all these things like that. So now

00:41:29.600 these guys don't have to work out that much either. And so now instead of 16 weeks to train them,

00:41:34.660 sometimes there's 12 weeks or whatever. Well, it kind of screws the athletes a little bit,

00:41:39.400 but that's, that's my opinion. I mean, as long as they're all on the same playing field,

00:41:43.940 right? As long as the regulation is the same across the board, then the most successful team is the

00:41:49.900 one that learns to manage that time most effectively for maximum results.

00:41:53.980 100%. You got it. And so that's a bit of what we have to look at. So everything isn't just,

00:41:59.640 this is cool. This is super. This is shiny. This is neat looking. How quickly can we make sure these

00:42:04.420 athletes get what they need to do? And so it's always, it's a little bit of a pit crew. It's

00:42:08.120 always a race. How do you give the biggest dosage of exercise in the shortest period of time

00:42:12.560 efficiently?

00:42:13.220 Gentlemen, by now you're probably getting sick of hearing about the order of man legacy,

00:42:20.080 but we are almost filled up on this thing. We have three spots left, three, only three in what

00:42:26.160 I believe will be the premier rite of passage experience for fathers and sons. There seems

00:42:33.000 to be a push in society against masculinity, but I know the root of many of the problems that we're

00:42:38.880 seeing in our young men is the result of too little, too little positive male influence,

00:42:44.800 not too much of it. And that's why a couple of months ago, I decided to create an event unlike

00:42:49.580 any other that's going to help you as a father forge a stronger bond with your son and equip you

00:42:55.620 with the tools needed to usher him into manhood. We're going to push, we're going to bleed,

00:43:01.100 we're going to sweat, and we're going to help you teach your son what it means to be a man.

00:43:05.260 This is reserved for again, fathers and sons or a father role. Maybe you are an uncle or a brother

00:43:12.560 or a mentor in the community, but this event is for father figures and sons. And the boys are to

00:43:19.980 be the ages of eight to 15. Again, that's ages eight to 15. So if you want to claim one of the last

00:43:26.180 three spots in the order of man legacy experience, make sure you do it quickly. It is going to sell out

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00:43:37.020 order a man.com slash legacy. You and your son will both be better men for it. Make sure you do

00:43:42.560 that after the show. But for now, let's get back to the conversation with Bert.

00:43:47.400 Has it always been the goal of Sorenix? You guys, what, 30, what, 35, 38 years?

00:43:51.880 38. 38 years. Has it always been the goal to work with these athletic teams or has that vision

00:43:59.680 changed over the course of three, almost four decades?

00:44:02.640 Initially, the vision was to make better equipment that was currently available. That was all it was.

00:44:09.260 My father, Richard, he was a, he was a big guy, six, five. He's been up to 300 pounds a number of

00:44:14.780 times. He was very strong, especially for the seventies and eighties. And the equipment that was built

00:44:19.380 either wasn't large enough for his wingspan, wasn't adjustable enough. Was it comfortable

00:44:25.180 enough? Was it safe enough? He's always been good at designing and welding and things like that.

00:44:30.300 So he just said, well, I've loved lifting. Well, I'm just going to build my own. If it doesn't exist,

00:44:34.920 I'm just going to build my own because there has to be something better than this 0.87

00:44:37.900 garden variety crap that's out there. So he started building it and lo and behold, 0.93

00:44:44.080 a couple of people bought it, you know, and they were first people were some local churches and some

00:44:48.860 rec centers and high schools and things like that, you know, five years, six years into it,

00:44:53.560 a couple of universities purchased the stuff. And then it's grew really, really, really slowly

00:44:58.420 through there, just through the channels of people that kind of were in the know that said, okay,

00:45:03.540 there's this little custom company down in South Carolina that will build you whatever you want.

00:45:08.240 And it's going to be really cool. And it's going to be more bomb proof than you ever thought

00:45:12.800 possible. Was he doing something else outside of this while he was doing this?

00:45:16.320 He was still a coach. So he was a teacher and a coach and also was running Soren playgrounds at

00:45:21.560 the time where we were building playgrounds for schools and things like that. So those two were

00:45:26.940 happening first. Soren equipment came out literally a labor of love as he was learning how to weld

00:45:31.920 and started playing with it as he got better. You know, that type of thing started in our carport

00:45:37.040 a couple of years into it. A girl he was dating at the time told him, you know, you're doing three

00:45:43.020 things. You can't do three things. You know, you're, you're running yourself to death and

00:45:47.020 you're not really developing any of them. You need to quit whatever they are, quit two of them

00:45:51.440 and go after one full hearted, wholeheartedly, probably stop teaching because that's only going

00:45:55.680 to get you so far. What you, what your gift is. Soren playgrounds or Soren equipment, pick one.

00:46:00.260 And so my dad's response to that was he broke up with her, which I think is hilarious.

00:46:05.240 I was like, well, he picked it. That's funny, man. I didn't expect it to go there.

00:46:09.060 So he broke up with her because she must be crazy. She turned out to be a quite successful

00:46:15.220 business person later in years. And she and pop still like, we're friends and talked and laughed

00:46:20.360 about it. You know, it's a couple of years later he stopped teaching. Then it was Soren playgrounds

00:46:26.300 and equipment. And then a couple of years after that, he went full on. I'd say he did that for

00:46:30.840 10, 12 years. Then I came along kind of as his assistant, uh, learned the ropes. And when I was

00:46:37.020 in high school, I was, you know, I was building equipment. I'd go in there and cut steel and weld

00:46:40.720 and do all the stuff. And then in 1999, I came on full time and I kind of hit it at a right spot.

00:46:47.440 I do think it was serendipitous or a blessing or something, another hand other than mine, because

00:46:54.440 I came into the business at a time where the industry was just recoiling or at least

00:47:00.520 swinging back from the machine era of the nautilus hammer strength kind of days of the

00:47:06.840 machines. It was swinging into what we now know as functional fitness, power production,

00:47:13.080 ground-based barbell. Like that was kind of coming back in vogue. The West side style lifting was just

00:47:19.740 coming in vogue or more so. And I just, I lucked out in many ways because I had just come off of a

00:47:26.480 five-year career as a successful thrower in a division one college that I didn't know, but I

00:47:33.320 inadvertently walked on to one of the best throws programs in the nation with one of the best strength

00:47:38.540 coaches in the nation, got extremely strong with an extremely talented group of people, was able to

00:47:45.460 travel around the country and learn from some of the best coaches in the nation just because that

00:47:50.680 was kind of what my job in college was at that point. And then, so I'm thrust out into the business

00:47:55.500 world with my finger really, really, really on the pulse. I hit it perfectly. And again, it had nothing

00:48:02.480 to do with me. It just happened to be, I was at the right place at the right time.

00:48:05.960 Hold on. We don't want to discount that because I think it's easy to say that, but at the same time,

00:48:10.460 you would put in the work, you would put in the effort because there's plenty of guys who had

00:48:14.440 opportunities in college to excel and yet they were dinking around at the party and doing everything

00:48:19.400 else they shouldn't have been when you were probably working out and getting strong and

00:48:23.500 getting the technique down. And then when an opportunity presented itself, yes, you were in

00:48:28.020 the right place at the right time because you had prepared yourself to be there.

00:48:30.760 Yeah, I will agree with that. I mean, I did my share of partying and goofing off, but also in the

00:48:36.220 summertime, I was saving my money and going to clinics and camps on my own dime, you know, with some of the

00:48:43.740 Russian, you know, the world record holder and the hammer that had never, you know, hadn't spoken

00:48:47.640 in America in years and who was under Bondarchuk. And as a 19 year old kid, giving my own money to

00:48:54.780 work with a guy for three, you know, three days in a row. And like, I was doing that a lot.

00:48:58.260 That's exactly what I'm talking about. There's so much going on behind the scenes. And so we just

00:49:03.280 don't want to discount that.

00:49:04.360 Well, I appreciate it. It really boiled down to, it wasn't that I saw it as a investment,

00:49:09.320 although it totally was. I saw it as how do I learn more and become a student of the event that

00:49:16.000 I so love so much that like, I enjoyed the hammer. I enjoyed the throws lifestyle and the human

00:49:21.500 performance lifestyle so much that it kind of took over my life, which is, I think what anyone,

00:49:28.300 that's what they call passion. And so I would stop at nothing to dig. And Matt Vince and I talk about,

00:49:35.200 you know, burn the gas, you could read all you want on the internet. And at that time,

00:49:38.900 the internet wasn't super big. You know, there was no YouTube, there was no, you know,

00:49:42.880 there's no social media. And sometimes to learn, you just got your ass in the truck and you drove 0.99

00:49:47.940 eight hours and you showed up a place and you stayed in a really crappy hotel and you scraped 0.99

00:49:53.000 together your money and you bought your thing to your clinic. And then you found the smartest guy

00:49:57.800 there or the best thrower, the strongest guy or whoever it was that was the dude or girl.

00:50:02.880 And you spent the rest of the money you had on beer to convince that person to sit there and

00:50:08.940 talk to you till two in the morning. So as long as you gave them beer, usually they do it. You

00:50:12.640 might have to buy a dinner too, but you invested in that time and you stayed up until you were super

00:50:16.920 tired. You ask every question you could possibly think of. And you tried to remember it all.

00:50:21.840 And you do that for like a couple of decades and you just keep going. You keep digging,

00:50:26.820 you keep digging, you keep digging. And you find out from their perspective, what they were

00:50:31.300 thinking. And then you ask them 10 years later, the same questions. Maybe the perspective has

00:50:35.700 changed because obviously the fighter in the ring thinks differently than the fighter that's 10 years

00:50:40.680 out. And you learn these things and then that's how you start building your ethos or your vision of

00:50:48.220 the human performance world or whatever your passion is. Little did I know, but I was basically

00:50:52.780 getting a doctorate in the industry that I was in. And so then it helped when it came to designing

00:50:59.920 equipment, I didn't fall for the BS that the rest of the industry was talking about.

00:51:04.680 And they were saying all this other stuff and I'm like, yeah, but I know the guys that are the best

00:51:09.880 ones in the world doing this thing. I got 15 Olympians in my phone right now. I'm training for the Olympic

00:51:16.220 trials myself. I know what works. You can't bullshit me. I was able to put that into the new era of

00:51:22.520 Soren X that, you know, I look back and go, gosh, had I been, had I gone through the same experience

00:51:28.140 12 years before in the Nautilus hammer strength era, maybe I would have come out into an industry

00:51:33.300 that wasn't ready for my knowledge basis, you know, and then kind of right on the heels of that

00:51:37.920 came CrossFit. Well, everyone starts learning how to do cleans and snatches and stuff. And I kind of

00:51:42.340 joked, I said, you know, I haven't PR'd in the snatch or the clean since before CrossFit. 1.00

00:51:47.360 People are like, well, you suck. You haven't like, you haven't lifted heavy in a really long time. 0.98

00:51:50.860 But no, it's just, it's just a point that like, I was still 27, you know, at that time,

00:51:55.900 like I was training for the Olympic trials. I was pretty strong, whatever. But that's where my

00:51:59.900 passion and my goal was, you know, I kind of laugh. I said, shit, my, I don't think my lifetime best 0.95

00:52:04.280 in the hammers on YouTube. Well, cause YouTube wasn't around then. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You weren't 0.99

00:52:08.840 there for that. Or it wasn't there for you, I guess. Right. It wasn't there for us. Or I look and go,

00:52:13.260 gosh, you know, how much nicer would have been to be able to see, again, I was a hammer thrower. So

00:52:17.580 it's a really technical sport. And I was watching videos from 1986 on VHS and breaking my, my VHS

00:52:26.320 player with rewinding and slow mowing it a million times because there was no freeze frame and slowing

00:52:33.620 it down. Yeah. To go watch the last zillion throwers that have thrown over 80 meters. Like I had like one

00:52:39.520 video, one guy doing it. And you just sit there with all your buddies and go, okay, wait, look where his

00:52:43.960 right foot hits. Okay, cool. You see where his center of gravity is on his left, you know,

00:52:47.940 and you're just trying to figure it out. That's almost like a, an entry fee. If you're willing

00:52:53.520 to go that far, if you're willing to burn the gas, if you're willing to go and enter these meets and

00:52:58.200 contests and seminars and all this other stuff, it's almost kind of like bootcamp. If you're not

00:53:04.140 willing to do it, I don't think you deserve the spoils. It's the ticket to entry. Like you said,

00:53:08.880 right. You've got to be willing to go through that. And I think so many people look at it the other

00:53:13.200 side. And I'm sure you get this all the time. It's like, well, your dad started a business and

00:53:17.660 you're just riding his coattails. Right. And nobody wants to look at the reality of it.

00:53:22.480 Yeah. Cause it's been super easy for 38 years. We haven't gone bankrupt a couple of times at all.

00:53:28.400 You know, dad didn't have to sell his house to fund a job like that never happened. You know,

00:53:32.900 there was, we were having to catch fish out of the lake and kill deer to eat. Like, you know,

00:53:37.400 all that, you know, they don't, they don't see that or they refuse to look at that.

00:53:42.020 Yeah. It's not as sexy.

00:53:43.660 It excuses their lack of performance. I mean, that's what it is. It's like,

00:53:47.420 if it has to be hard, then they don't have an excuse for their own poor performance.

00:53:52.340 Right. Yeah. I mean, my dad went without a salary. He had prostate cancer and a lot of

00:53:57.840 things happened in the business during that time. He gave me the majority of his life savings. It

00:54:02.840 wasn't a lot to keep the business going and went without a salary for almost a year after coming off of,

00:54:09.800 you know, surgery. And, you know, I'm not trying to make this dramatic or like a poor woe is me,

00:54:15.600 but at 27, 28 years old, you know, I'm still staring down the barrel of a lot of money in my

00:54:22.800 opinion to that. I would hopefully going to pay dad back. And he looked at me, he said, Hey,

00:54:27.380 here's everything I have, keep the business going. And I trust that you could hopefully pay me back one

00:54:33.600 day. And that's a lot to take from your dad. When you're an only child, there's no other

00:54:38.180 necessarily way out, you know, your name's on the line and then you just go, okay, so I guess the next

00:54:43.400 couple of years are going to be really, really fricking hard. One day I'm going to be able to get my

00:54:48.900 dad back his life savings because he's been awesome enough to keep this thing afloat to not give it to

00:54:56.580 me, but incorporate me in this dream. So I got work to do and I'm not going to let my dad die a

00:55:03.580 pauper. How long ago was that, that, that, that arrangement took place? 2005. Oh, okay. So it's,

00:55:09.980 yeah, just about 10, a little over 10 years now. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, we were, you know,

00:55:14.980 very behind on bills and, and a number of, we'd lost one of our producers, our partner there,

00:55:21.380 number of things happened. They're just, you know, complete perfect storm. So I'm running Sorenax,

00:55:25.920 out of his kitchen on his dial-up service, you know, because we didn't have a building anymore.

00:55:34.580 And so I'm building the new building each night. So me and my friends that I could pay with firehouse

00:55:40.300 subs, we would go and literally do the work starting about five o'clock. We'd worked about

00:55:45.080 11, 12, one o'clock, whatever it was, just some friends of mine that lifted with me. I would train

00:55:49.320 them and feed them and then they would help me. And then during the day I was running Sorenax by myself

00:55:54.720 out of his kitchen. Cause that's the only place we had internet service for like a year. We still

00:56:00.660 put in big rooms. We still did a good job. We stayed in business. And years later, I finally

00:56:06.860 got him his life savings back. And he was then finally able to be paid back for almost a year

00:56:11.920 of no salary. And at that time too, you know, there were many months I wasn't taking a salary

00:56:16.660 either, you know? And again, I'm not trying to paint it as a woe is me, but I'm trying to paint

00:56:22.600 it as this is the shit that happens. And this is what happens in a family business, what happens 0.99

00:56:28.200 in a small business. And if you, if it doesn't happen that way, then you're way better at business

00:56:33.700 than I am, which I fully expect most people to be better at business than me because I'm not good

00:56:37.680 at it. But also you have to realize that that's just how it goes. Sometimes in life, should we

00:56:43.940 have let go? Yes. A million times the strength, the weakness, or the, the advantage or disadvantages

00:56:51.500 we named the company Sorenax. And they always say to never name something after your own name

00:56:57.900 because that you're too emotionally attached to it and you can't make the business decisions.

00:57:02.300 And that's true. Like in many cases, we made the emotional decision because, you know, or a prideful

00:57:06.860 decision or whatever it is because it's your name. But in the other parts of it is you fight like hell

00:57:11.660 because it's your name. Now, if we went out of business and weren't unable to maybe come through

00:57:18.480 on our obligations that a customer, you know, set us up with or whatever it may be or vendors or

00:57:24.640 whatever, now that's Bert and Richard Soren screwing that person and not holding up their obligations

00:57:31.920 and not being people of integrity and not holding their word. And that can't happen. That just can't

00:57:38.200 happen. So whatever has to happen in the meantime is what you do. And, you know, if your life sucks for

00:57:45.920 a couple of years, that's what you do. And, you know, I think back and when you, you ask what time, 0.88

00:57:50.720 when that was like, I only remember that, that that was that year because I knew right after the 2004

00:57:58.260 Olympic trials, my grandmother died. And then right after that, dad got cancer. So I knew it

00:58:03.320 was around 2005. But besides that, I've almost blacked out for a year or two of my life that I

00:58:10.080 don't really remember details. And I only remember them kind of because I've told the story a couple

00:58:14.940 of times. So I remember the firehouse subs. I remember some of my friends helped me do drywall

00:58:19.780 and flooring and hooking up wiring that I don't know anything about and working from like all that 0.83

00:58:25.620 crap. But really, besides that, it's almost been a bit of a and again, I don't want to use like a

00:58:31.800 PTSD like lightly or in a in a way that's offensive at all to our men and women of our service. But I

00:58:39.500 could understand under a lot of stress, how the mind either hangs on to it or just blocks things out.

00:58:47.880 And that's a time that was so stressful in my life, because of a number of things. Like I said,

00:58:53.000 my grandmother died, I was the executor of her will. So I had like a lot of things that a 27 year

00:58:57.360 old shouldn't have to deal with after coming off of, you know, my athletic career, retiring from

00:59:02.360 hammer throw, missing the Olympic team, like a lot of stuff. And mentally, I don't really remember

00:59:09.840 between 2005 and probably 2007. It's just one of those things.

00:59:13.520 That's crazy. Yeah. And you know, I don't think you painted as a woe is me. I think you've painted it

00:59:17.760 as a this is the reality. And I think that's what people need to hear. You know, we don't we don't hear

00:59:22.240 that enough. We don't see that enough. We see the highlight reel and how everything is wonderful

00:59:25.840 and everything works. And, and what it does, I think, is it creates a false sense of expectation.

00:59:30.580 So when people get into business, they're like, why am I not a millionaire? Why haven't I figured

00:59:35.560 it out? Why? It's like you, you, you guys have been at this game for four decades. So like,

00:59:41.400 give it some time, please. Yeah. And we've done every possible way you could screw it up. We've

00:59:48.340 screwed it up. Probably multiple times in the same, you know, I mean, yeah, you got to learn

00:59:54.000 it a couple of times, right? Yeah, exactly. Like I said, I'm not a great business person. I'm better

00:59:57.960 because if you do anything for that long, you better be better. I'm good at a few things.

01:00:02.440 And those things I think I do very well. And other stuff I'm pretty freaking horrible at.

01:00:06.860 What I've also learned from a seeker of the success is find the stuff that you're shitty at, 0.93

01:00:11.580 try to fix it. But if you're not, and even while you're trying to fix it,

01:00:15.840 find the guy who could really fix it and hire him. And maybe that sounds like a sissy way to do it.

01:00:21.300 You know, like, Oh, well, you should just get better at it. Well, I tried that. I'm not a numbers 0.92

01:00:28.620 guy. I'm not. And I'm really, really shitty at it. But I could hire a guy who is. And as long as he

01:00:35.500 could help me understand all of those things, I could then be utilized for the things that only I

01:00:40.700 could do. And the things that I do very well are, I understand training, I understand efficiency of

01:00:46.660 movement and how to build things. I have a good imagination. And I understand how to build a

01:00:52.620 culture. Those things, if I stay in my lane and understand those things and perpetuate those

01:00:58.600 things and help people at that level, we've been more successful because we've hired people

01:01:04.520 to do the other stuff. And when I try to do it all, or dad tried to do it all, we consistently failed.

01:01:12.500 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I can see how powerful it is to hire the people and put the right people in

01:01:16.120 the right places. So it's absolutely terrifying. Usually you have, by the time you realize that

01:01:20.460 you have to do it, you're in a position where you don't have the money to do it.

01:01:23.440 Or you messed it up.

01:01:24.660 Yeah. Oh yeah.

01:01:25.320 You're like, I need somebody to fix it. Fix this.

01:01:27.540 Oh, 100. And we've been there too. Like I was very, you know, in a rough financial position.

01:01:33.320 And one of the first things that I had to do was give raises and hire. That makes no sense.

01:01:41.780 But that was the answer. Your closest source of revenue is the people that are already on board

01:01:47.940 and incentivize it for them. And then find the people who, who, you know, your pros, your hitters,

01:01:55.340 you bring them in, you know, and it might cost you and you might almost die doing it. But guess what?

01:02:00.860 If you don't, you're just going to die slower.

01:02:04.020 Well, Hey Bert, this has been fascinating, man. We're, we are, we are bumping against time.

01:02:08.720 But you know what? As I'm listening to it, I'm like, dude, we got to do this again.

01:02:12.800 That's cool. Yeah. Sorry. I kind of got off on a tangent. I got me all.

01:02:16.400 No, no. Don't feel sorry. Cause I think all of this stuff is really,

01:02:19.380 really important for guys to hear. And I'm just thinking, man, we need to schedule round two of this

01:02:22.940 thing.

01:02:23.540 Let's do it.

01:02:24.020 Let's find a time to do that. Cause I want to talk more about culture. I want to talk about

01:02:28.000 vision. I want to talk about a lot of different stuff. I want to come see your man cave. I want

01:02:32.880 to talk about being legendary, like everything that, that we kind of hit on. I want to talk about

01:02:37.160 this stuff more.

01:02:38.420 Absolutely. I'd love to.

01:02:40.260 But as we wind down today, I do want to ask you a couple additional questions. Um, number one is

01:02:45.600 what does it mean to be a man?

01:02:47.780 I think it comes down to being a man of your word and making the tough decisions and holding to them.

01:02:52.840 And that's the hardest thing. Hold fast.

01:02:55.640 Well said, man. Well said. How do we connect with you and learn more about, uh,

01:02:58.340 Sorenex and everything else you guys have going on?

01:03:00.100 Uh, you can check us out. Sorenex.com. You can check us on IG. Uh, we have IG TV as well.

01:03:05.720 We're doing a little bit of longer videos. I'm Bert Soren, B E R T S O R I N on Insta.

01:03:11.760 Facebook is relatively active, but Insta is kind of the thing. I haven't been to Twitter in a while.

01:03:17.140 So IG is pretty much the way to hit me there. You could reach me if you hit, you know,

01:03:21.340 info at Sorenex. It'll, it'll eventually get to me as well.

01:03:24.360 Right on. We will link all that up so the guys can, can find that man. I appreciate you. I

01:03:28.620 appreciate getting to know you and having this conversation and I'm serious about round two.

01:03:32.360 So let's get on the horn and figure out when to do it. And, uh, and we'll make it happen.

01:03:36.280 Thanks a lot, Ryan. I really appreciate everything you guys doing. It was a, it was a honor to be here.

01:03:41.960 Gentlemen, there it is. My conversation with Bert Soren, such a powerful, powerful conversation

01:03:46.580 and in line with what we've been doing over the past month or so, a lot more free flowing with

01:03:51.780 the conversations because I just want to organically see where it goes. And obviously,

01:03:56.540 man, there's so much value that came from the conversation today. So make sure if you would

01:04:01.440 reach out to Bert, reach out to me. We're all on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, wherever

01:04:06.720 you are with regards to social media, you can find us there. Let us know what you got from the show.

01:04:11.420 Let us know about the value to receive. Let us know specifically what you're going to be

01:04:15.300 implementing in your life from this conversation. That's going to help you be a better business owner,

01:04:20.620 a better father, a better husband, a better community leader, a better whatever, and in

01:04:24.660 whatever way that you're showing up in life again. And as I said before, guys, so glad,

01:04:29.580 so honored that you are joining me on this mission to restore and reclaim what it means to be a man in

01:04:36.520 a society that seems to want to reject the notion or quote unquote, redefine what it means to be a man

01:04:43.980 as if it needed to be redefined. It doesn't, it needs to be reclaimed. It needs to be restored.

01:04:48.580 And I'm on a mission to do that. I know you are here and I appreciate the support along the way

01:04:53.420 and along the lines of support. If you would, please make sure that you leave us an iTunes rating

01:04:57.740 and review. If you haven't done that goes such a long way in promoting the visibility of the show

01:05:02.140 and then letting other men know and see and hear what it is that we're up to. We definitely need

01:05:08.120 more men in this fight. So that said, thank you. Glad you're here. Make sure you subscribe. Tune in

01:05:13.500 next week. Don't ever miss an episode. And until Friday, take action and become the man you are meant

01:05:19.160 to be. Thank you for listening to the Order of Man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life

01:05:26.280 and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.

01:05:32.140 you

Order of Man - July 31, 2018

176： Be Legendary ｜ Bert Sorin

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