Order of Man - Forging Underground Strength

00:00:00.000 Getting strong is undoubtedly something the overwhelming majority of men want to do,

00:00:04.700 but with so much information out there and with our days stacked to the brim, it's hard to know

00:00:09.820 what to do and also how to find the time to do it. Today, I'm joined by my friend and long-time

00:00:15.540 strongman, Zach Evanish, to talk about strength of the body and of the mind, both inside and

00:00:21.200 outside the gym. We talk about forging mental resiliency, having the right attitude to attack

00:00:27.500 life, how and why we need to teach our children toughness, and how to forge your way to underground

00:00:33.400 strength. You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart

00:00:38.960 your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time. You are not

00:00:44.820 easily deterred, defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who you are. This is who

00:00:52.540 you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.

00:00:59.020 Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Mickler, and I am the host and the founder of this

00:01:03.340 podcast, The Order of Man. I want to welcome you to the podcast and, of course, welcome you to,

00:01:08.540 more than that, it's the movement of reclaiming and restoring masculinity. Now, as you can probably hear

00:01:13.780 by the sound of my voice, I've all but lost my voice, and that's because we just got done

00:01:18.620 a couple of days ago with our very first Order of Man meetup. We had, I want to say there was 63 or

00:01:25.000 64 of us there here at my property in Maine, and we had an incredible, incredible weekend of

00:01:30.920 camaraderie and brotherhood and gaining some clarity and traction in our lives with regards to becoming

00:01:36.800 more capable men, husbands, fathers, leaders in the community, business owners, whatever facility,

00:01:42.840 and however these men are showing up. It was incredible, and you guys will get some snippets.

00:01:48.040 I'm sure if you're following me on Instagram, you've already seen some of that stuff,

00:01:51.440 but we're also going to be sharing our video here before too long, as soon as that comes available,

00:01:55.940 and if you are interested in learning about more of these events, these face-to-face,

00:02:00.720 shoulder-to-shoulder events that we're running, experiences is probably the better term than

00:02:04.700 events, then head to orderofman.com and get signed up for our newsletter because that's where I'm

00:02:10.320 going to be announcing the dates as soon as the dates for the next one are available. So again,

00:02:14.700 orderofman.com, and you can get subscribed to our newsletter.

00:02:18.600 So with that said, I apologize about my voice. Again, it's almost completely gone,

00:02:24.960 but I wanted to get this podcast to you. Fortunately, I had my friend Zach Evanish come

00:02:29.500 out several weeks ago, and we spent some time together. And of course, we did some podcasting

00:02:34.720 while we're here, and I'm really excited to get this conversation to you. Before I do,

00:02:38.780 I do want to make a quick mention of my friends over at Origin. Now, you've heard me talk about their

00:02:44.940 supplements with Jocko, their Discipline, their Molk, their Joint Warfare, the Super Krill,

00:02:51.720 all of the things that they're doing. It's all wonderful. I use that stuff. But today,

00:02:55.600 I actually had the opportunity to spend about four or five hours in their factory making my own pair

00:03:01.980 of boots. These things are absolutely incredible. And to take four or five hours and get my hands on the

00:03:08.340 leather and get my hands in the machines and get things working. And my very first time behind a

00:03:13.840 sewing machine and actually make my own boots was very, very cool. I'm going to be making denim too.

00:03:20.060 Hopefully, they'll get me on the sewing machine to make some denim as well.

00:03:23.360 If you're interested, their denim is available now. You can check that out. 100% made in America.

00:03:29.120 You won't be getting a pair that were made by me because you wouldn't want that, frankly,

00:03:33.420 with my sewing skills. Their boots aren't quite available yet, but they will be soon. Head to

00:03:39.480 OriginMain, as in the state main, OriginMain.com and check it out. See what they're all about.

00:03:45.560 And if you end up purchasing anything, denim or any of their supplemental lineup, then use the code

00:03:50.180 ORDER, O-R-D-E-R, at checkout and you'll get a discount on your entire order. All right, guys,

00:03:55.720 with that said, I'm going to turn the conversation over to me and Zach from a couple of weeks ago so I

00:04:01.840 can rest my voice. I will tell you how excited I am to be having this conversation. Like I said,

00:04:07.820 I had Zach at our home several weeks ago and we spent some time training physically. Not only me,

00:04:13.520 he actually included my son, which was very cool. And I got an opportunity to show him around Maine.

00:04:18.500 But if you don't already know Zach, he's a longtime strongman. He's a strength and conditioning coach.

00:04:22.740 He's also the founder of Underground Strength Gym. He has a passion for really simplifying and breaking

00:04:28.100 down strength and making it very practical. And of course, mentoring and preparing youth for life

00:04:32.900 through the gym. So we talk a lot about that today. And I think you're going to enjoy this

00:04:37.060 conversation as we get much deeper than simply getting strong. Zach, what's up, brother? Glad

00:04:43.580 you made it up to Maine. What do you think so far? I love it. You haven't been to Maine.

00:04:47.400 Never been to Maine. It reminds me a little bit of Vermont. I don't travel enough. That is my downfall.

00:04:54.020 Well, I don't know if it's a downfall. I actually don't enjoy traveling.

00:04:57.940 I don't. I'm also, I'll admit, I just posted a video on Instagram while we were at your house.

00:05:02.440 And I was talking about the need to explore, the need to get away. But I tell my wife straight up,

00:05:07.540 like I work best when I'm near family and like simple kind of man, like that song, Simple Kind

00:05:13.920 of Man. That's you, man. And it's been good to be able to hang out over the past. Well,

00:05:17.680 I think you got here last night. Yeah. Yesterday evening, had a great dinner with you guys.

00:05:21.960 Dinner was amazing. Yeah. Did the Traeger grill. So good. My wife cooks for us and she does a

00:05:27.060 wonderful job. Five-star chef. People ask me all the time if I like to cook. I hate to cook.

00:05:31.280 Really? I hate to cook. I've tried to like it. I've tried to enjoy it. I've tried different things

00:05:35.280 and I just find no joy whatsoever. I don't get it. If I'm cooking, it's like nothing fancy,

00:05:40.720 but you guys made a great dinner. She made a great dinner. She made a great dinner. I'm telling you,

00:05:45.480 it was amazing. And then breakfast this morning, it's like super spoiled. Yeah. Oh,

00:05:50.520 for sure. I got to watch. I got to watch it. Cause I could very easily blow up with as much food as

00:05:56.200 she makes and as good as it is. Now you got a lot of work to do on this new house,

00:05:59.540 on this new property. You're going to burn it off. Yeah. I have been with that barn. You saw the

00:06:03.800 barn. You're going to get farm boy strong. That's what I want. That's what you're all about.

00:06:08.460 Anyways. That is right. It's that it's the, uh, what is it? Rocky four, right? Where he fights the

00:06:12.960 Russian, but he's just working in the blend of like, uh, it's a blend of Rocky four and like the

00:06:18.520 training from like the sixties, you know, even before Arnold, you know, pumping iron was of the

00:06:24.580 seventies. Yeah. But if you look at some of the old magazines, strength and health, Ironman, they,

00:06:32.360 those guys, you know, they were legitimately strong. They didn't just look strong, right?

00:06:36.720 They did gymnastics. They used kettlebells. They used Indian clubs. They used a lot of it. I say like

00:06:43.400 they did not discriminate against all the different ways they could get strong. Yeah. And they just,

00:06:48.920 the way they looked, they looked like they were like carved from stone. And they just look manly.

00:06:53.720 Yes. You actually brought up something that was, I thought was really interesting, uh, last night is

00:06:58.480 you said that, that men used to work. And now, because we don't physically anyways, we have to

00:07:05.100 fabricate work through our training. Yeah. It's, it's, I think it also depends, right? So like

00:07:11.160 geographically speaking, you know, yesterday I met your neighbor, Ben and I could just, I, you know,

00:07:17.100 seeing his arms and forms are all ripped up. Chisel. Yeah. I'm like, okay, that's a guy that's

00:07:22.380 been working with his hands for, since he was a kid. Right. And then of course this morning while

00:07:27.360 he came in and helped you move, what was that? The wood burning stove? Yeah. It was like a 600 pound

00:07:32.040 wood burning stove. And I, it's like, he had such intelligence about the way about going about things,

00:07:38.620 but hearing him speak, looking at him work, his efficiency. I see that's somebody that's grown

00:07:44.840 up working as a young kid. So I was telling you earlier how my wife's aunt and uncle and her

00:07:50.980 cousins, they grew up in Pennsylvania. And so her cousin, he's has a way with his hands. He could

00:07:58.480 hunt, he can fish, you know, he can, whatever he kills, he eats, he can build a log cabin. And it's

00:08:05.540 because that's how he was raised. And so if you live like in an area, like where I live

00:08:11.160 in, I always say, I'm like these kids, if they got punched in the face, they wouldn't

00:08:14.860 know what to do. They wouldn't know what to do. So it's just, you know, everything, I

00:08:19.160 feel like it's your environment that creates you. Right. And if you're not in that, you know,

00:08:24.860 in working environment, you need to create work for yourself. You need to do work.

00:08:29.240 Yeah. I think, I definitely think that we live in an increasingly soft society. It's,

00:08:35.920 it's, there is no hardship really, you know, and I know people that are listening to this

00:08:40.280 probably think, well, he doesn't know what he's talking about because I'm going through

00:08:42.900 a difficult situation. But the things that we deal with, I think are a lot less significant

00:08:48.940 than maybe what our forefathers dealt with a hundred years ago, 200 years ago.

00:08:53.800 Yeah. Think about even, you know, so you and I both married with kids and I'm 43. So I'm

00:09:02.160 about five years older than you. But I, I think about things like when I was a kid and you didn't

00:09:06.680 hear about too many people, too many kids saying my parents are getting divorced. So even those

00:09:12.600 things like now you get into an argument, people are like, that's it. We're getting divorced.

00:09:17.200 Take the easy way out in a way.

00:09:18.400 Yeah. Listen, a relationship takes work. Growing a business takes work. You, you want to grow in

00:09:24.420 your company where you want to, you're working for somebody else. You're part of a team.

00:09:28.780 It's going to take work. If you want to climb the ranks, things, things take work. And that I always

00:09:34.440 have like my, one of the kids I train, he's like, Zach, I memorize all your quotes. So if I'm like

00:09:39.520 yelling at the kids, he'd be like, the work is the reward. And then he'll like, he'll, he'll, you know,

00:09:44.000 like go on a rant of like 10 different quotes. And, uh, I'm like, that's great that you memorize

00:09:48.800 them. And he's like, yes, right here.

00:09:50.420 Internalize, right?

00:09:51.080 You got to internalize it. And really to me, you have to fall in love with work.

00:09:57.140 Yeah.

00:09:57.380 You know, not in an unhealthy manner, but I often say comfort is the enemy. I post a lot of,

00:10:03.700 um, on Instagram, like a Teddy Roosevelt quotes and everything that guy talks about is kind of

00:10:09.920 earning it. You got to earn it. You got to work for it. If it's easy, like, okay, what is it?

00:10:15.220 I think you actually said something this morning. Cause we trained, uh, with my son,

00:10:19.040 which I appreciate you doing that. It was great. Uh, and I can't remember exactly what you said.

00:10:23.240 I think you said the work is the reward or something. It was something along those lines.

00:10:26.480 Work is the gift. Work is the reward. Yeah. Yeah. And then the story you told last night about your

00:10:30.620 boy who got into a little, a little altercation, we'll call it with another kid. It was like,

00:10:35.460 it's, it's a privilege to be at the gym. And I was like, dude, that's awesome. And he's

00:10:39.780 11, right? He's 11. He turned 11 a month ago. Yeah. So, so my son kind of goes into these like

00:10:46.860 deep dives into things. So your kids are into the Legos. I remember my son, like getting crazy

00:10:52.460 into building all the Legos. He was like, as a young kid into doing like work around the house.

00:10:58.420 So for his birthday, he just wanted gift cards, the home Depot. But recently something happened at the

00:11:03.700 gym at, um, with his friends and they were like, Oh, whatever, Ethan, like your dad will just buy you

00:11:09.280 another one. Uh, you own a gym. And he goes, first of all, I don't own a gym. It's my dad's gym.

00:11:15.960 And second of all, it's a privilege to train there. And I overheard him saying that to my wife.

00:11:21.440 And I was like, Oh my God, I can't hear. Yeah. I couldn't believe he said that, but then he realized

00:11:27.260 like how, how much I emphasize work, how much, you know, I tell them, I go, guys, like, if you're

00:11:33.700 going to be lazy, you will not succeed. Yeah. And if, if you complain that you just did something

00:11:39.220 like it's, you worked. So what you went and you went and trained in tennis for three hours.

00:11:44.760 We don't need to announce it, you know, or you just went to a baseball camp.

00:11:48.340 You did what you should be doing.

00:11:49.520 That's right. We're not going to, we're not going to announce it. We're not going to,

00:11:52.320 you know, to, I don't pull out that line that like you've, I think, um, I think, are you friends

00:11:58.220 with, uh, Cameron Haynes. Yeah. Yeah. So I think he says like, nobody cares, work harder. I mean,

00:12:03.660 that's essentially what I'm like on the brink of telling my kids. Like I, of course I care that

00:12:08.800 you're doing that stuff, but deep down, like we don't need to announce it. Like if, if I'm tired

00:12:13.860 and I announce it, who really cares? Nobody cares. Nobody cares. My wife doesn't care if I'm tired.

00:12:18.520 I still have things that need to get done. I got to provide and do what I got to do.

00:12:23.340 That's actually tough though. And, and it's not tough. It's just, it's just interesting dealing

00:12:28.160 with that in modern times and, and specifically with regards to what you and I do, because we

00:12:33.740 are trying to be influential and putting our message out in the world. And so, you know,

00:12:37.800 I posted of us, of us training this morning and it's like, I mean, nobody cares. Right. But yeah,

00:12:43.400 it does inspire people. It does. Uh, I think you have to do it for the right motive. If you're

00:12:47.940 trying to do it to brag or lift yourself up, that's different than, Hey guys, like working out

00:12:52.840 is important to me. I think it should be important to you. And it's a normal, it's a normal thing guys,

00:12:57.280 or to wake up early and work hard. That's, that's normal. And that's what we're trying

00:13:02.360 to inspire in other men is that guys. Yeah. When this becomes part of your normalcy, this

00:13:09.140 effort and this work, then other things start to fall into place. It's like, that's your

00:13:14.800 foundation. If you're, you know, if you seek comfort and you fear being uncomfortable, being

00:13:21.520 a little bit tired, being sore, going beyond, you know, the nine to five, like there's a,

00:13:26.420 there's a guy here downstairs doing work right now, today, Saturday. Yep. Nobody else

00:13:31.840 is here with him. I like that. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. You know, he, well, and even speaking

00:13:36.680 of, of Cameron Haynes and this kind of alludes to what you were talking about is that dude

00:13:41.260 runs marathons every day. It's not like he's going to go train for a marathon. He runs literally

00:13:46.620 a marathon every day. Yeah. And one thing he says a lot is he says the body will adapt to

00:13:51.140 what is expected of it. Yeah. And I think that's what you're alluding to here. It becomes

00:13:54.940 the new normal, right? Working out, training, exerting yourself physically, mentally, eating

00:14:01.400 the right foods, doing all the things that we know we should. It shouldn't be abnormal.

00:14:07.300 It shouldn't be some crazy achievement. Now, maybe at first, because you're trying to change

00:14:12.300 some patterns. Yeah.

00:14:13.320 But that should be the new normal. Create your new normal. So for somebody that might

00:14:20.340 be struggling to create their own change, sometimes I see when you make a post, somebody's

00:14:25.060 like, well, my life is X, Y, Z hard or something like that. And you always say, well, what's

00:14:30.140 something you could do right now? How could you change right now? Like what I told your

00:14:34.140 son, I said, you should do three pushups in the morning, three in the afternoon, three

00:14:40.500 at night, just nine at a time. So somebody who's like, hey, I don't have time to work

00:14:45.280 out or I'm just so out of shape. No, no worries, man. Do five squats when you wake up, do five,

00:14:51.160 you know, on your lunch break, do five after work, five at night. That's 20 in a day. That's

00:14:56.280 a hundred Monday through Friday. That's 400 in a month. That's a 400, no, 400 times 12 is

00:15:03.140 48. I don't know where we're at. So we're at 5,000 by simply doing five reps, four times

00:15:09.860 a day. It takes you 10 seconds. So everything is the compounding effect.

00:15:14.760 But I think what hangs a lot of people up is that they aren't doing anything right now.

00:15:20.320 And then they look at guys like you, or they look at other guys that they admire and respect

00:15:23.680 and look up to guys that are accomplishing big things. They think, well, I can't perform

00:15:28.140 to that level or that standard. And so they don't do anything. Well, comparison will always

00:15:33.540 rob you of things. And that's also the toughest thing about being on social media or looking

00:15:39.960 at social media. And that's why I don't get, I try not to follow too many people. Cause then

00:15:45.240 you're like, should I be doing that? Is this what I'm supposed to do? And what I try to do

00:15:49.700 is transparency wise telling listeners and those that follow us is we also struggle. Things

00:15:55.960 are also hard for us. We also have arguments with our wives and we also fall off the bandwagon

00:16:03.660 of eating properly. But then what we do is we immediately course correct. We fix it. We

00:16:10.060 don't wait for tomorrow or I don't wait until, you know, this certain time or the, I always

00:16:15.240 say like, there's no thing, such thing as perfection. You know, I'm not waiting for the sun and the

00:16:20.340 moon to align. Yeah. And I think I'll do it tomorrow, tomorrow, Monday. I'm going to start

00:16:24.300 Monday or on the new year. I'm not stronger on new years. So that's why I would say if

00:16:30.500 I want to do something, I start now. Yeah. And, and that builds momentum. And that's what

00:16:35.840 people really need is you need to build momentum. My buddy calls it, um, Mark Bell says points

00:16:41.240 on the scoreboard. And, um, the one guy, um, Admiral McRaven has that YouTube video about

00:16:47.720 making your bed. Yeah. And really it's about you wake up, you make your bed. That's victory.

00:16:53.000 Number one. Right. You know, we were talking about waking up early and for me waking up when

00:16:58.160 that alarm goes off, boom, right away. I've, I'm right. That's a point. Boom. Actually our

00:17:03.860 sore mutual friend, uh, Bert Soren, he talked about that. I think it was last week where I

00:17:09.000 released the podcast that I did with him. Yes. And he talked about bricks, bricks on the

00:17:14.200 wall that he looks at victories, whether it's getting out of bed earlier, whether it's, you

00:17:18.920 know, not eating junk food for the day or, or only eating healthy or getting his workout is

00:17:24.140 one brick at a time, one brick at a time. Brick by brick, inch by inch things build up like you,

00:17:29.280 you're working on your barn and you're like, Whoa, this thing is overwhelming. But then I just

00:17:34.840 started doing something right now. And I kind of worked on this area and all of a sudden you start

00:17:39.660 to see things unfold. And, you know, if we're talking about life or physical appearance,

00:17:46.720 physical fitness, you don't see results all of a sudden don't start happening tomorrow. It's

00:17:52.300 takes, it's that consistency factor and it's going to, you're, you know, working on your body. It's

00:17:58.800 like, okay, it might take in two weeks or immediately I feel better two weeks. I see a little change,

00:18:04.520 right? Four weeks. I start really, okay. I'm, I'm definitely stronger. I see a difference.

00:18:09.640 Even like this year was a very hectic year for me. And then as soon as like, I, I was, went back

00:18:18.160 to teaching this year when teaching was over, it was like, I had this more free time. I started just

00:18:23.360 eating a little bit more, get like, all of a sudden I was like, man, I'm stronger. I'm training

00:18:28.620 more, moving faster. And the thing is like, for those listening is like, guys, you can't wait for

00:18:35.100 perfection to come. The sun and the moon is not going to align. Or the perfect time, right?

00:18:38.620 There is no perfect time. It is, you do things now. And I think the one thing I hear a lot of

00:18:44.000 people say is they'll say, you know, when, when I get done with school or, uh, when after this

00:18:50.820 promotion, once I get that promotion, then I will, or, you know, I've been sick this week. And so when

00:18:56.240 I feel better, I'm like, dude, you're never going to feel better if that's what you're waiting for.

00:19:00.100 Yeah. Waiting is what separates the good from the great. So let's say with my gyms, I train

00:19:08.840 predominantly athletes. We're going to start after the season. Why not start right now? If you train

00:19:15.220 once a week, that's a hundred percent more than zero. Yeah. If you are too busy to go to the gym

00:19:20.800 today and you just, uh, do 10 squat jumps, that's a hundred percent more than zero. And so I'm a big

00:19:27.140 believer in those little things that add up because I think I understand, like, I'm not

00:19:34.420 genetically gifted. I'm not really gifted in a lot of things. And whether it was from physical

00:19:39.860 fitness, whether it was for growing my business, nothing was ever perfect. So even when I started

00:19:44.940 my training out of my parents' garage, I was using the stones in the backyard. Yeah. Okay. And then I was

00:19:52.460 using the ax to chop at the big tree stump that was left after a tree we had cut down. I wasn't,

00:19:59.060 but you know what I saw others doing? They had collared shirts. They had a fitness studio. They

00:20:04.920 had expensive equipment. And I was like, oh man, do I have to take out a, uh, do I got to go get a loan

00:20:10.660 and buy this $10,000 piece of equipment? Do I need to tuck my shirt in? And I remember saying to myself,

00:20:15.740 that's not me. Right. I'm like Rocky three and Rocky four. And I'm like the guys from like the

00:20:22.880 early golden era of bodybuilding. And some of the strongest guys of the sixties were training out

00:20:29.080 of garages. Yeah. You know, we were talking about this even last night we were, we were saying how

00:20:34.180 in, in high school, you know, there was, there was teams that we always kind of deep down dreaded a

00:20:40.300 little bit, whether it's a wrestling match or playing football against, because these guys

00:20:45.020 were ranch boys, like farm boys. So they were throwing hay bales, moving sprinkler before going

00:20:52.100 to school. That's right. Or practice or whatever else. And so these kids were just, just a different

00:20:58.560 level, different street. Yep. Different breed, not only of strong physically, but mentally they were

00:21:05.580 tough because they were raised on doing work. And so, you know, being from New Jersey, New Jersey

00:21:12.320 has all these different pockets. You have kind of like small towns, you have cities, you have farm

00:21:18.580 towns. And so predominantly the most successful wrestling and football teams have come from those

00:21:24.460 farm town areas because that's where they're doing work. And even I remember in high school,

00:21:29.380 New Jersey would wrestle Pennsylvania in the all-star match. And who do you think won the

00:21:34.500 like 85% of the time, Pennsylvania? And I always remember people saying like, those guys are just

00:21:40.280 so physical. They're just so strong. Yeah. And so somebody told me, you know, so long ago,

00:21:46.420 they're like, there's probably not a wrestler in Pennsylvania who doesn't have a climbing rope

00:21:50.700 hanging in a garage or a barn somewhere. Yeah. That's their normal. Right. And so those lessons

00:21:56.460 taught me a lot about like what we did this morning with your son training with us. When we moved to our

00:22:03.260 new house about 10 years ago, I hung up a climbing rope. We have a high ceiling. I put up a pair of

00:22:09.440 rings and got some kettlebells. And so by working out in front of my kids who were a year and a half

00:22:15.280 and almost three, they were like, oh, this is normal. Right. To carry weights up and down the

00:22:21.240 street. It's normal to sprint. Yeah. But other people don't think it's normal. And then they look

00:22:25.720 at you and it's like, and you talked about that. You're like, you got to, you got to figure out a way to

00:22:30.460 not care, not care. You can't care what people think of you. Well, when we moved here, I told

00:22:35.300 you this is, uh, my wife and I work out in the morning and I don't know what we were doing. I

00:22:40.440 think we're carrying plates over our head and walking hills and things like that. And our

00:22:45.240 neighbor was like, he was, he was giving us a hard time. Cause I guess he was talking with

00:22:49.560 somebody else in the neighborhood and they're like, oh yeah, those weird workout people is what

00:22:52.920 they're doing to us. I'm like, you know what? I want to be the weird workout person.

00:22:56.720 Cause at least, at least I'm doing something. At least I'm moving. At least I'm progressing

00:23:01.260 and moving forward. And, and for them, you know, I see almost every house we drove by

00:23:05.780 had a tractor. Yeah. Oh yeah. What's running through my mind is, okay, these people are

00:23:10.560 working, you know, heavy equipment. They're doing a lot of, I see, you know, bales of hay

00:23:15.060 everywhere. So they've been working out their whole lives. Just, you know, we didn't have

00:23:21.540 that stuff. And so we don't, we're kind of fabricating our, our, uh, exercise, which is

00:23:28.080 good because we do live in a world where physical exertion is probably less of a requirement than

00:23:36.060 it was 50, a hundred, two, 300 years ago. Machines are taking over and it's great. It's

00:23:41.340 great. There's a lot of value in that. You and I wouldn't be having this conversation

00:23:44.540 if it weren't for technology and our ability to leverage that. But at the same time, we can't

00:23:49.360 lose that side of us. And I think too many men have become soft and complacent and weak

00:23:55.100 because of modern times, that stuff's still got to be met. So you actually have to decide

00:24:01.640 to do it voluntarily versus being thrust into it because you grew up on a farm.

00:24:07.300 Let's talk about some interesting thing here is Monday, like a big storm passed through our

00:24:13.880 area. They said it was even possibly a tornado. So Monday evening, the power went out,

00:24:18.780 power came back for me Wednesday at 420 AM. So that's like a day and a half without power.

00:24:27.520 Six and a half year, about seven years ago, Hurricane Sandy came through and, uh, two weeks

00:24:33.240 without power. And you talk about being physical. I remember I was telling you because you were

00:24:38.420 in the national guard, I was telling you how like we live near the beach. So people were

00:24:42.240 coming from other towns like thieves, essentially on kayaks. Crazy. Yep. Kayaks coming, looting. And so

00:24:48.940 we had a pretty big generator, but people were stealing generators. So I remember, uh, setting

00:24:55.600 my alarm for somewhere near midnight where the alarm would go off and then I'd go and take the generator

00:25:01.280 and bring it in the house. And then before everybody woke up, get the heat going again,

00:25:06.220 4 AM I'd set my alarm, carry a, you know, a generator filled with gas. And what did I have

00:25:12.740 in my garage? I kept a barbell loaded at two 75, three 25. And I would just deadlift it several

00:25:18.500 times a day. Yeah. So cold. And I called it man strength, like no warmup. Yeah. Like, like

00:25:23.840 your neighbor, Ben came in, he just, he wasn't like, Oh, let me do my, yes, let me stretch. Let

00:25:30.160 me warm up. So I'm so intrigued with how people develop this kind of farm boy type strength.

00:25:37.800 And so if I wasn't strong, how would I be able to carry that generator from the backyard all

00:25:43.620 the way around? I wouldn't be able to, you know what I'd be saying? I can't honey. I blew

00:25:48.200 out my back, my back hurts, my this, my that. But I took a lot of pride in having the strength

00:25:53.980 to do it. And then also people were fighting at gas stations. They were go, it was like

00:25:59.000 crazy things went, you know, a day and a half without power. Which is not a long time. I

00:26:04.360 mean, 30 hours. That's not a long time. Two weeks without power. That's when people were

00:26:09.600 getting crazy. I bet. I bet. And so things like being hungry, it doesn't bother me. I'm

00:26:15.660 hungry. It is what it is. I'm hungry. I don't need the food. And where a lot of that foundation

00:26:22.260 came was I wrestled in high school. And it was like. Cutting weight and everything else.

00:26:26.600 Cutting weight. Two and a half hour practices with no water breaks. Wearing trash bags as

00:26:31.640 you're running around. Yeah. You put the black plastics on. That's right. So to me, that's

00:26:36.620 my normal. Suffering is like a normal thing for me. In fact, most wrestlers, when they're

00:26:41.900 really into it, like you're not, you feel like you're not getting anywhere until the work

00:26:46.420 happens. Right. So when my own kids are like, oh, I was just at baseball camp or this

00:26:51.020 camp, I think to myself, well, I even say to them, I go, you were there for three hours.

00:26:55.320 I go, when daddy was your age, 7 a.m. outside on the bike. You know, we ate lunch. We got

00:27:00.640 like crackers and a soda from like a convenience store. Then we came home for dinner and then

00:27:06.160 outside until 10 p.m. Yeah. 14 hours a day. Right. All day, every day. I see that the perception,

00:27:13.540 you know, their perception of work and things like that is just different. Yeah. And that's

00:27:18.600 why work is so crucial, even especially for men because they've gotten away from it. Everything

00:27:24.860 is about comfort and convenience. And one of the things, so you talked about taking

00:27:30.640 pride and being able to wheel the generator in and protect your family.

00:27:33.960 I had to, I had to basically like lift it against me and it's like I was carrying like

00:27:39.060 a heavy keg. It's awkward. Yeah.

00:27:40.280 It's awkward and I took pride in the ability to do that versus saying, well, somebody's just going

00:27:47.440 to have to steal it. My back hurts or I can't do that. So let's, so on that note though, the problem

00:27:52.820 with that, and I think there's a lot of guys, maybe they're listening to this podcast. Maybe

00:27:58.060 they haven't found it yet, but they're depressed. They're contentious. They're resentful about what

00:28:07.560 they've done in their life. They're, they're ashamed in a lot of cases and potentially even

00:28:11.920 suicidal. Yeah. And, and we have as a society believe that that's just a mental health issue

00:28:19.280 and certainly it can be. But I also think if you are weak and pathetic and incapable, that's

00:28:27.360 naturally going to spill over into you being ashamed and depressed and sad because you're

00:28:34.300 not able to do those things. You want to know what the best, I always say best therapy,

00:28:38.460 iron therapy. For sure.

00:28:40.020 Do something, lift something and don't, don't. And for the guys that are struggling, when I

00:28:45.360 was in my teens into the late teens, I struggled with depression until I finally drew a line in

00:28:51.360 the sand. And, but I was around some of the right people who helped me get out of that.

00:28:57.280 But let's say like I tell my wife, I go, if you think I'm in a bad mood, just send me

00:29:02.660 to the gym, I'll deadlift. I'll come back in a great mood, send daddy to the gym. But

00:29:07.640 for those guys struggling, I don't even want them to join a gym. I want you to go on like

00:29:12.500 Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, buy a pair of old crappy dumbbells. And I just want you

00:29:17.280 to do like a couple, I want you to carry them up and down your street.

00:29:20.540 Right.

00:29:21.260 Okay. When you can't carry them anymore, stop. Do some pushups or squats.

00:29:24.600 You don't even need dumbbells. I mean, you were talking about rocks.

00:29:26.560 You were talking about rocks. I don't want you to go into a gym where everybody's got

00:29:31.440 their head down on their phone, go into create your own world. Cause if you go into that gym,

00:29:37.140 now you're going to be normal. You got the air conditioning. Now you're going to sit down

00:29:40.800 on that machine. Everything's going to be so comfortable and so symmetrical and isolate

00:29:45.800 just the right balance.

00:29:47.540 It will not, it will not get them out of that bad space they are in mentally for them to start

00:29:54.280 getting into a good head space. You need to exert yourself physically. And even I'm going to say

00:30:00.440 that for kids. So I teach at the elementary level and I get, we, I mean, we, every, every class is

00:30:08.920 squat jumps, lunging, pushups. Then we're outside. We sprint, which is exactly pretty much what we did

00:30:14.880 today. That's what we did. And I watched the confidence and the demeanor of these young kids

00:30:20.820 and think kids say stuff to me, um, that I never would have imagined. Like I remember early in the

00:30:26.100 year, a fifth grader said, I was like, I was like, Hey man, I saw you doing the pushups, but then you

00:30:32.080 gave up. I said, I know you could do it. I go, why'd you give up? You were right there. He goes,

00:30:36.840 looks me dead in the eye. He goes, cause I have low self-esteem and it just like hit me like a ton

00:30:41.560 of bricks. I'm like, what 10 year old says that stuff? Yeah. So what I learned to do was like,

00:30:46.740 you got to pump everybody up. So you may not have paid attention to it, but I high fived your son.

00:30:51.420 Oh, I know. I paid it. I saw all of it. I gave him a lot of grief. First I said, dude,

00:30:55.980 I love that you went to bed early last night. A lot of praise. Yeah. You got a lot of energy. Yeah.

00:31:00.720 Right. I just brick by brick, boom, boom, boom. I built him up and I wanted him to just like feel

00:31:06.580 pride because maybe, I don't know, maybe he woke up and maybe he was like, man, I'm tired.

00:31:11.240 It's 7am. You know, I know my son wasn't like that. He was, he was, he was up early and he's

00:31:17.080 like, dad, when is he going to get here? So we can work out. They were very excited. So what I try to

00:31:21.580 do is utilize the physical and blend it with the mental, which is the emotional. Because to me,

00:31:28.460 training is when done the right way, it is, it's like your best form of therapy. You know,

00:31:33.940 most people who are struggling emotionally, they probably struggle physically. Not all.

00:31:40.040 No doubt. So I've met guys that could be the strongest guys in the gym, but then they start

00:31:44.660 talking to you and then they just go on this like rant about how bad their life is. And a long time

00:31:52.480 ago, I used to do a little work with the ultimate warrior. And I remember him saying, he's like,

00:31:58.520 you could be a bad ass under the barbell, but try being a bad ass in life. He's like, you could lift

00:32:04.860 the most weights. He's like, that doesn't make you to, that doesn't make you the strongest person.

00:32:09.340 And he would do a lot of, he lived in New Mexico. You guys were telling me how you drove through New

00:32:14.020 Mexico and he would just go out on, on hikes for like two, three nights and just disappear.

00:32:19.240 That's a good place to do it, man. With the desert out there.

00:32:22.700 And I think he, that was his therapy.

00:32:25.540 That's, that's pretty interesting. I didn't know you worked with him.

00:32:27.600 That was his therapy.

00:32:28.580 That's going to be crazy.

00:32:29.080 To train hard and to go on these like walks.

00:32:33.140 Yeah.

00:32:33.760 Yeah.

00:32:34.600 Yeah, man. I really like, I really like what you're doing. I was thinking about it the other day

00:32:38.320 because we were tearing apart this barn and I see all these guys, you know, they got their

00:32:42.820 sledgehammers and they're banging on tires, which I think is good. It's a good thing.

00:32:47.060 But I, I, I went and got a 10 to 10 pound sledgehammer.

00:32:50.420 Oh yeah.

00:32:50.880 And was tearing out walls.

00:32:52.200 That'll work. Yeah.

00:32:52.920 And I'm like, this is as good as banging on a tire.

00:32:55.440 Oh, absolutely.

00:32:55.740 The only difference is I feel like this is even more productive.

00:32:58.000 You're being, it's so funny how the training is like, I don't think, you know, there was,

00:33:04.160 there's a pretty famous, uh, strength coach out there that was like doing videos of like

00:33:08.560 exercises that are useless. And he said, you know, housewives should not be swinging sledgehammers

00:33:14.240 on tires. He goes, what are you going to say in court when they're like, Hey, coach John

00:33:18.440 Smith, why did Mary who's 56 years old have a sledgehammer and how did she break her leg?

00:33:25.040 So yeah. Okay. That doesn't make sense, but it's interesting how we're utilizing manual labor

00:33:31.880 in programs. So I, I knew that by getting people to carry stones and swing sledgehammers,

00:33:41.880 they were going to develop a different kind of strength than like, Hey, do this perfect

00:33:47.300 lunch, do this perfect that like sports are not perfect. First of all, competition is not perfect.

00:33:52.740 And talk about life. Like it's just not perfect. You need, whether, um, whether it's for work,

00:33:59.580 whether people get a little bit out of hand. I shared a story, um, during the week I was pulling

00:34:06.480 up on like a ramp to get onto a, uh, small highway and I'm like eight cars back and I'm waiting about

00:34:13.740 five minutes and I see the truck up front and I'm like, did the truck die out or something?

00:34:18.640 So I go, so I just get out. I start walking up there and not that I'm like a big imposing

00:34:24.460 figure, but I just finished the gym. My shirt was a little bit tight. You're a pretty big

00:34:28.120 imposing figure though. I see, I see a lady and she's like, uh, they got into a car accident and

00:34:33.960 he won't move. And I tried to tell him to move. And he said, lady, get the F out of here or

00:34:38.840 something like that to her. So I was like, okay. So I go up and I see the guy and I said, you got to

00:34:44.620 move your car. And, uh, he didn't really like talk back. He's like, where do you want me to go?

00:34:49.400 I go, you got two feet, move the truck over. Now the cars were backed up to the, to the street.

00:34:55.340 We're talking like 30 cars now backed up. I said, you got to move over. But he wasn't like F you.

00:35:01.180 He said it to the lady, but let's say I was, you know, small, untrained, small, frail, fragile dude.

00:35:08.020 Yeah. And he would have said that to me. And I was thinking about living down in the beach towns,

00:35:13.060 they hire cops for the summertime. And some of those cops look like young teenage kids. And I'm

00:35:19.420 thinking to myself, what happens when a guy is on drugs, going crazy, you're not going to stop.

00:35:25.620 You're not going to be able to stop him. And so you need physicality to give you the confidence.

00:35:32.780 Like two of my close friends are cops. They're not big guys. They're about 150, 160 pounds,

00:35:38.880 but they could wrestle and they're put together and they're confident in their ability to handle

00:35:44.880 a problem.

00:35:45.240 Well, it's confidence, but it's also competency. I've got a friend, John Spira. He's,

00:35:49.020 he's a firefighter in Colorado and his organization is fit to fight fire. But I, I, I look at him and

00:35:56.500 what he's doing and he does a lot of CrossFit stuff. He's a, he's a strong guy, but he does it in

00:36:01.400 his, in his attire. He does it with his tanks on and his suit and his helmet.

00:36:05.720 That's a whole nother world. And then I see these guys, whether it's, it's, it's

00:36:09.580 firefighters or even police officers who, who are severely obese and overweight. And I think,

00:36:16.880 you know, you're not confident. You're certainly not confident. You're not as capable as you could

00:36:22.240 be. And in your, in a way you're dishonoring your, your work, you're dishonoring and you are,

00:36:28.560 and the people you're trying to serve.

00:36:29.660 You're a danger to yourself. Okay. And you're a danger to the people you need to protect.

00:36:34.200 I would be, if I was in law enforcement of any type, I would always be training to get ready.

00:36:41.540 I remember Jocko's earliest podcasts when he was being interviewed before he had his own,

00:36:47.760 you could tell he was still edgy with things that had happened. And maybe it was Tim Ferriss

00:36:53.380 asking him like, why do you train in the morning? And he's like, because somewhere there's a guy in

00:36:57.920 a cave sharpening his blade and he's coming from it. And what he was saying was essentially, I think

00:37:03.940 he's, you know, still now that he's spoken a lot about it, you could hear that his emotions have,

00:37:10.440 have certainly settled a bit, but he still had the edge and you always need to be ready. If you're

00:37:17.260 trying to get ready, why not? If we're always ready. So always train, you know, always train once a

00:37:23.200 week is a hundred percent more than zero. One of the things I hear from a lot of, a lot of people,

00:37:28.220 not very many people that listen to this podcast for very long anyways, because they don't resonate

00:37:32.140 with it is they'll say things like, well, I, you know, I don't, I don't need to be like that because

00:37:36.840 we've evolved. Times have changed. I'm like, yeah, maybe there's still dangerous, but there's dangerous

00:37:41.780 people. There's dangerous situations. They may not happen as frequently, but it is a possibility.

00:37:48.480 And it's not, let's say that you train hard, you get strong, you get your mind right through that

00:37:54.600 training and nothing bad happens in your life. No altercations, no, uh, catastrophes. You're

00:38:02.020 telling me that that was a waste. Of course, even if nothing bad happens, it still wasn't a waste.

00:38:07.620 Right. I'm not saying you need to prepare for a battle in the streets.

00:38:10.500 Right. The apocalypse, the zombie apocalypse, although your new truck, if you get a bazooka on

00:38:15.860 it, that could be a zombie killer. I'm all about it. If you get a bazooka and the, uh,

00:38:20.640 the pointed snowplow up front, my boys are telling like spikes on the tires. I'm not,

00:38:25.660 I wonder what, what movie was that from? Like they must've seen a great movie. Like Mad Max or

00:38:29.600 something. Yeah. I think it'd be the Mad Max vehicle. But, um, you know, let's talk about

00:38:35.060 in our, if when you're taking care of your health, your inner strength, which to me,

00:38:42.300 training is not just for the physical it's for, it's like, I'm not so worried about do I have six

00:38:48.080 pack abs? I train because of how therapeutic it is. But I also know that when I'm fit and strong,

00:38:54.620 I'm just a better person to be around. I'm a better husband. I'm a better father. I'm more

00:39:00.000 energetic, more productive. Absolutely. I'm just, and that is, I'm a father, I'm a husband. And so

00:39:07.680 I'm not going to half ass it. That's just not the way it is. And I think sit, you know,

00:39:13.380 why would I want to segment my excellence? Oh, I'm just going to be great at my work. I work for,

00:39:20.000 you know, X, Y, Z company. I'll be great there. But after that, I'm just going to loaf. I'm going

00:39:25.080 to loaf on the couch. I don't really think you could even do that. I don't, I don't think you

00:39:28.760 could say I'm going to be excellent here and, and shitty. It's easier to just go excellence for

00:39:33.520 everything or, or just be crappy at everything. I mean, that's a default that I think a lot of

00:39:38.640 people slip. I think people don't compartmentalize. I think if you slack, even in one area of your

00:39:44.040 life from, uh, the way your closets organized to your drawers, to your desk, that is going to spill

00:39:50.860 over into how you're doing your fitness and, and, and how you're being even intimate with your wife,

00:39:56.760 how you're engaging your kids. Like if you're, if you're slacking here, I guarantee it's spilling

00:40:01.980 over in other areas. Your wife was like, do you allow chalk at the gym? Yeah. So I told her the

00:40:06.500 story about how the kids like crapped up the whole area. And I was like, if you guys are slobbing it

00:40:12.060 up here and disrespecting it here, I guarantee that when you're somewhere else, that's not yours.

00:40:17.440 Or maybe even in your own house, you're, you're disrespecting it. Cause you're like, ah, my mom

00:40:21.760 will clean after me. I, when kids like piss on the toilet seat, I go to the radio, I turn it off.

00:40:26.960 I go, whoever pissed on the toilet seat, automatic loser. You're a loser. You can't lift up the

00:40:32.180 toilet seat. And if you did, you wipe it down. Just clean it up. I, yeah. Clean it, open it,

00:40:37.260 close it, make a mess, clean it. If you break it, fix it, just accountability. And so, you know,

00:40:43.220 most people would be like, Zach's crazy. And you know what? Maybe if that is crazy, then I don't,

00:40:48.680 I don't want to be, I don't want to be, yeah, I don't want to be normal. What does normal mean?

00:40:53.580 Let people slide on stuff or let yourself slide, let yourself slide. No good. And it's like,

00:40:59.280 I had this conversation with Joe to send it. It's like, once you, once you mentioned something

00:41:03.160 in your mind, like you see something on the ground and you're like, Oh, something's on the

00:41:06.920 ground. It's like, now I have to pick it up. Now I have to clean it. You put yourself on the hook.

00:41:11.980 So I think a lot of, you know, if we go back to talking about the guys that are struggling

00:41:18.060 emotionally, start taking care of your health. And when I say health, it's physical, emotional,

00:41:25.040 spiritual, it's all as one. So train, you know, exercise is not just about, am I going to get

00:41:30.560 six pack abs? Don't think about that. Train. And then you're going to start feeling better.

00:41:36.280 Right. And now some of those things will just take care of themselves.

00:41:38.840 They do. Like if you're dieting and you're eating the right foods and you're putting good

00:41:43.220 fuels and you're, and you're training and you're getting strong, not just conditioning,

00:41:47.480 that stuff is going to take care of itself. It empowers you to start becoming great at other

00:41:52.600 things that you do. That's saying how you do anything is how you do everything. So you're

00:41:56.420 right. If I'm slacking in this area, I'm guaranteed slacking elsewhere.

00:42:02.300 The opposite is also true. If, and I think this is what you're alluding to is that if,

00:42:06.340 cause I have a lot of guys say, you know, Ryan, I just, my life is in shambles. I feel like I'm,

00:42:10.680 I don't know where to start. I don't know what to do. Everything's falling apart and crumbling

00:42:14.740 around me. I'm like, just, just work out, just work out. I agree. Because the opposite of if

00:42:19.800 you're slacking in one area, you're slacking in other areas is if you're improving in one area,

00:42:24.060 then you're also improving in other areas. We don't make decisions and vacuums. So if,

00:42:28.640 if, if you're learning a new skill at work and that's improving your ability to perform at work,

00:42:33.360 then you're going to perform better at home.

00:42:36.460 Gentlemen, I got to hit the timeout, the pause button, if you will, on the podcast. If you're not

00:42:40.360 already familiar, I want to introduce you to the iron council guys. This is a digital band of

00:42:46.060 brothers and that sounds really good. But what does that even mean? Well, it means that when you

00:42:50.720 band with us, you'll be tapping into the power of 500 plus other men who have high ambitions and are

00:42:56.760 doing everything they possibly can to become more effective husbands, fathers, business owners,

00:43:01.860 community leaders. And I just think that too many men are going at it alone. And part of the reason

00:43:07.540 is because it's perpetuated that men should go at it alone. That somehow if they reach out to other

00:43:13.840 men or they need some help in becoming more adequate, we're stepping more fully into what

00:43:18.200 it means to be a man that somehow they're weak. Well, it doesn't make you weak to band with other

00:43:22.480 men. In fact, if anything, it makes you stronger because you're going to be working with men who

00:43:26.300 have your back. And also they'll help ensure that you step into that man that you're capable of

00:43:32.460 becoming. And that's the power of brotherhood. So if you want to learn more about what we're doing at the

00:43:37.100 iron council and you want to lock in your seat, then head to order of man.com slash iron council.

00:43:42.940 Again, that's order of man.com slash iron council. Learn what we'll all, what we're all about. And

00:43:47.760 I think you're going to be glad that you joined us and before long asking why you didn't join us

00:43:53.540 sooner. Again, order of man.com slash iron council. Do that after the show, gents right now,

00:43:59.240 we'll get back to the conversation with Zach. If you're in the gym and you're exerting yourself and

00:44:04.660 you're building physical and mental strength, that is going to carry over into your work,

00:44:08.460 into your home life, into every other facet of your life.

00:44:10.440 Yes, it does. You're right. It's not, it's not in a vacuum. And so even for, let's say there's

00:44:17.620 dads listening. I remember my early years teaching in the late nineties, there was just like two kids

00:44:25.120 in the school and it was like, they're classified ADD or ADHD. So what I started doing was I never ate

00:44:31.600 lunch in the faculty room, but I told the two of them, I remember it was a Jonathan and a Justin.

00:44:36.400 I said, if you guys do great behavior in class and great behavior in phys ed class, you get to eat

00:44:43.700 lunch with me. They'd eat their lunch in like three minutes. And then I would give them the freedom in

00:44:48.020 the gym to do whatever they wanted. They'd get the hockey sticks out, burn it all out. Oh yeah.

00:44:52.040 And I was like, Oh, this ADD thing. They just needed energy. They needed another phys ed class.

00:44:57.700 They needed two phys ed classes. Surprise, surprise. That's what boys need.

00:45:01.200 They need to run. They need to unleash. I mean, I hear it from my son all the time. He's like,

00:45:05.200 he can't take sitting down. Right. He can't take it. He needs to.

00:45:09.640 Well, even look at, you know, I look at my kids and I mean, we'll be laying there and I can see

00:45:14.220 or sitting there doing whatever, you know, it's kind of sedated or whatever. And my kids,

00:45:18.880 you can see it. Their toes start twitching and then their legs start twitching. And then before you know

00:45:23.500 it, we're in an all out wrestle media, you know, cause they don't want to sit there.

00:45:27.700 You gotta be careful because you're, uh, get the whole Instagram post removed for wrestling.

00:45:31.960 Did you see that? I did. My three-year-old, for those of you guys who don't know,

00:45:36.580 that was funny. I wrestle with my, my, my kids, you know, I like to wrestle with them. And so,

00:45:40.940 which has proven to actually been, been good for developmental processes for children.

00:45:45.140 But I, I got my son, he was, he's three and I got him, well, I did a suplex and it was like a

00:45:51.440 belly to back suplex. And I, and I threw him over my shoulder and he's like, you know, he was having

00:45:56.400 fun. I posted on Instagram and somebody reported it. And so Instagram sent me a report, a post or

00:46:04.440 whatever. And it said, we removed your post due to, uh, and I quote violence and or threat of

00:46:11.980 violence because I was wrestling roughhousing. People are so sensitive. That's what I think.

00:46:18.360 That is, if that's what bothered, I honestly are sensitive to, I don't know if it's really,

00:46:23.080 I can't, I just can't. It's so hard for me to wrap my head around that somebody would be bothered

00:46:27.200 by that. I think what probably happened is that I said something a week earlier that they, that they

00:46:34.460 took to heart. Maybe I told them that we don't have the right to be out of shape and they took it

00:46:40.020 person. They got offended. They're like, well, I'll show him. And then they start doing dumb

00:46:43.960 shit like that. They tried to, I will attack back. Right. And I think, you know, I, things

00:46:50.720 that I even do on my Instagram, like if my stuff gets flagged, it's for music in the background,

00:46:56.180 like somebody else owns that. And I'm just like, man, I'm not even going to change it. I'm not

00:47:00.940 going to shut off the radio while I'm training. This is what we do. Right. That's how you are.

00:47:05.540 And you are like, this is, I'm telling guys, look guys, you should not be out of shape. You

00:47:11.040 should not be fat. You should. And I've look, I've been there. Yeah. And I'm telling you that

00:47:16.860 if, if you're in that position, like I was five, six, seven years ago, you're not as capable of a

00:47:22.680 man. Can you be a good man? Yeah. I think your heart can still be good. I think you can still

00:47:26.500 have great intentions, but you aren't performing to the level that you could. If you aren't carrying

00:47:32.400 around 15, 20, 30, 40 extra pounds and you aren't conditioned, you aren't eating the right food and

00:47:38.080 you aren't getting the right sleep and all the things that you're talking about. This that you

00:47:40.880 talk about, you could even read about it in like the early 1940s of, um, you know, uh, York barbell,

00:47:49.480 Bob Hoffman would write the, um, he was strength and health and muscular development. And he was a

00:47:55.620 little bit when he would write this kind of like introduction about he was, those magazines were

00:48:01.740 more about the blending of mind and body. He was not so much or anybody who really wrote for them

00:48:08.240 those early days. It wasn't other journalists writing. It was about the mind and the body and

00:48:13.940 about how it makes you better in life. And I look back at those magazines, how interesting was as many

00:48:19.260 of those magazines, their advertisements were about, um, bulking up building muscle. Now what do we see

00:48:25.680 weight loss, fat loss, right? Because we have more people that are fat. We do. Yeah. And so you saying,

00:48:33.360 Hey man, like, this is what I'm telling you guys helps you get better. You know, don't be offended by

00:48:39.100 it. And it's okay to get mad at yourself and pissed off, but get pissed off for greatness. You should,

00:48:43.660 you should get pissed off and then do something about it. This is a weird thing in society is that we have

00:48:48.860 this thing like, don't, don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed. It, what is it? The, the body image

00:48:53.540 movement or whatever. Oh, just be happy with who you are. Why would it, why the hell would I want to be

00:48:58.200 happy with who I am? I, I, I feel good about where I am in life with my physical fitness, with my

00:49:04.480 relationship, with the business, but I'm certainly not content. I'm not, I'm not done. You want to

00:49:10.980 advance and conquer. So I'm not happy with, I'm not happy. It's maybe not the right word. I'm not

00:49:16.600 satisfied. I haven't reached my, my peak performance. Dude. So why would I ever accept

00:49:22.500 my current level? Yeah. Have you ever read the book, An Iron Will? Uh, no. I have to get it for

00:49:30.240 you. What is it? It's from Orson Sweat Morton. Oh no, I haven't. So he was kind of like one of those,

00:49:36.480 everything you just said is like, there's an excerpt from An Iron Will is like, I read an excerpt from it,

00:49:44.120 but it's like, he who is silent is forgotten. He who does not advance is like done. And it's

00:49:50.460 basically like advance and conquer. Right. And it was, it wasn't about fit. It was really about

00:49:55.560 life. It's called An Iron Will. I'll have to read it. Cause I, I get so tired to hear people say,

00:50:01.180 ah, I just, just be happy with yourself. And it's from decades ago. It's from decades ago. You know,

00:50:06.660 who turned me on to that was the ultimate warrior said he would read that stuff every morning.

00:50:10.880 He would read every morning. He was very intense. Was he like that? Like, I mean,

00:50:15.440 obviously there's a persona there. What he was very much was like, he was very,

00:50:18.940 he was very much intense with work. He wanted people to do work, but he didn't want to kind of

00:50:24.800 carry them. He's like, it's all within you. And then he, every time we spoke, it was about family

00:50:30.520 and like intensity of your work. Is that right? Yeah. And so that's, you know, he struggled with,

00:50:37.280 you know, he was trying to put his message out there, but he, like, he couldn't handle. So see

00:50:44.680 how you're basically, you keep it going. You're like, guys, okay, you're mad that I'm telling you

00:50:49.700 to do this, but you keep the message going. Him, he would get very frustrated and then he would

00:50:54.580 disappear. Yeah. He would, you know, he would disappear up into the mountains for a few days

00:50:59.160 because he wanted people, he knew it was within them, which is true. It's within everybody.

00:51:05.320 He did not want to carry them. So when he made like his workout program, there's no workout

00:51:12.300 in there. There's no do three sets, five sets. There's none of that. He's, he mentions basic

00:51:18.020 exercises, calisthenics, barbell work, but he talks consistently about consistently doing

00:51:24.440 the work. That's what he talks about. Yeah. And people would get very upset with him about

00:51:29.520 being too passionate or being too intense. Right. But that's how he was. And that was a big

00:51:35.140 reason why, like, he just felt like he couldn't really relate to a lot of people because people

00:51:40.360 were asking him very much what they ask you. Like, how do I get passionate about something?

00:51:45.580 How do I do this? He's like, you just do it. Do it. You just do it. And, and you know what?

00:51:50.720 You just do it. Yeah. And I think the foundation, what you're saying is get, just move your body.

00:51:57.500 Right. If somebody starts their day with some sort of physical, like vigorous activity,

00:52:01.800 it feels fricking great. Right. We worked out this morning and I'm just on fire. I'm on fire,

00:52:08.200 dude. I'm fired up. And then you, and then the whole, the whole rest of the day is more productive,

00:52:12.380 right? Cause you're up, you're not sluggish. You didn't hit the snooze, but I mean, think about

00:52:16.580 that little act in and of itself is that if you're hitting the snooze button, that's a negative right

00:52:21.000 there. Right. The way you start your day is by losing. Yeah. I just pulled a brick out of your

00:52:25.980 foundation. Oh, you're hitting the snooze, pulling that brick away. So we want building bricks or

00:52:32.320 putting points on the board. We don't want, you know, momentum goes positive or it could build

00:52:37.140 negative. Yeah. So the men struggling have built negative momentum and you got to punch that shit

00:52:42.380 in the face. You got to get, you, you're, they're looking for too many answers when it's like,

00:52:48.760 start moving. Right. And that will start building some momentum for you. Where does this, uh, where

00:52:53.740 does this come from for you? You know, I, I, you, your background is really fascinating. Uh, your

00:52:59.920 grandfather was, uh, served in the Polish army, the Russian army and Israel to escape the Holocaust.

00:53:07.140 And both of your, your mother and father, are they from Israel? My dad was born in Romania.

00:53:12.680 Okay. Moved to Israel when they escaped communism. Yeah. He lived on a kibbutz, which is basically like

00:53:18.020 a farm. You work, you work in exchange for food and housing. So somebody brought him, him on as a,

00:53:24.700 as a young man or what? Yep. He was, I can't remember if he said he was 11 or 13 when he moved to

00:53:30.480 Israel. Really young. He was pretty young. Yep. So, uh, his parents moved to, uh, Israel.

00:53:36.000 To escape Russia? To escape, uh, Romania, communism. Oh, Romania. Okay. Basically,

00:53:42.240 you know, controlling everything. Yeah. Uh, went to Israel and then, um, my mom and dad were both

00:53:48.360 in the army because you have to serve mandatory serving when you're in Israel. Yeah. So I was

00:53:53.560 born in Israel. We moved to the States at 11. I was 11 months. Okay. So we moved to Bronx, New York.

00:54:00.520 What brought them out here? My father's dad said to him, land of opportunity. My dad got his

00:54:08.280 engineering degree in Israel. And he said to him, he got his, uh, two-year degree in Israel. Okay.

00:54:14.460 And he said to him, if you want, you know, opportunity, America, land of opportunity.

00:54:19.760 Did your grandfather ever come out here? My, my dad's father also moved. Okay. He did.

00:54:24.820 But my dad's mom stayed in Israel. And then my mom's parents stayed in Israel. And, uh, my dad,

00:54:33.280 my mom's grandparents, that's who I was spending the most time with whenever we would go there.

00:54:38.020 So my grandfather was, you know, straight up working man, you know, he never owned a car.

00:54:42.740 He would ride his bike, take buses. This is in the Bronx?

00:54:46.420 No, this is in Israel. Oh, in Israel. Okay. Yep. In the Bronx. When we moved to the Bronx,

00:54:50.560 my dad's first job, he was working with construction. So before he had a grasp of

00:54:56.680 English, he was learning Spanish. Yeah. That's what you're saying. Yeah. That's crazy.

00:54:59.600 So, and then when we moved to New Jersey. With his degree even. With his degree.

00:55:03.540 So, but he got into construction. And I still remember as a young kid in elementary school,

00:55:07.200 him getting his undergrad, like him going to school at night because he would work full time. Yeah.

00:55:12.480 Then going for his master's degree. And I, I guess learned those lessons of seeing my parents work.

00:55:18.820 So by the time I woke up in the morning, even as a kid going to elementary school, they were gone.

00:55:24.060 So my mom was an operating nurse. So early out of the house, my dad worked like an hour up in North

00:55:31.080 Jersey, near New York city out of the house. So we woke up, my brother and I with a warm glass of

00:55:37.940 milk and a bowl of cereal sitting there. And we walked to school, rode bikes to school and seeing my

00:55:43.820 parents work. That's just what you thought was normal. Sure.

00:55:47.120 Even like my friends, like all kids mowed their own lawns and I got a paper out in third grade

00:55:54.320 so I could save up and buy a bike, got my bike stolen, got a second paper out. By the time I

00:56:00.480 was 14, I started mowing other people's lawns and it was just like working for me was normal.

00:56:06.200 Right.

00:56:06.300 At age 11, working in a restaurant as a bus boy, I just thought that was what we do. We make our

00:56:13.100 own money. Nobody gives me the money. Yeah. So it doesn't just appear, right?

00:56:17.340 Right. Not that what I did or what you did as kids, like, I don't want to be that guy that's

00:56:22.200 like back in the day, this is the way we do it. But I am uphill in the snow both ways.

00:56:26.660 I am teaching my kids, you want to succeed? Prepare to work. Yeah.

00:56:30.940 Prepare to outwork other people. Your complaining is not going to help. I tell my kids, don't complain

00:56:35.740 because it's not going to help. What are you going to do about it? Right. You want to do better at

00:56:40.400 your sport? Empower them. Yeah. You want to do better at your sport? Then you could go and work

00:56:45.120 harder. Yeah. Put in the effort. You want to do better in school? Study more. Yeah. You know, study

00:56:50.200 more. Interesting. So you have dual citizenship. Dual citizenship. So did you serve in? I did not serve.

00:56:57.340 Okay. How does that work? I guess, I mean, I don't know the intricacies of it, but I didn't live in

00:57:03.440 Israel. And because you don't, then you're not required to. Right. But your brother did.

00:57:06.580 My older brother did one year in college and then kind of went like crazy with it. And what was

00:57:13.640 interesting was our neighbor was a Marine recruiter. And then like three houses away,

00:57:19.380 a friend of the family, not super close, but friendlier than this guy that was just a Marine

00:57:23.740 recruiter. He was an Army recruiter. Okay. My brother enlisted in the Marines without telling my parents.

00:57:29.980 Really? And my parents were like, what the F? Yeah. They freaked out. Yeah.

00:57:33.420 How old was he? He was 18. Okay. So he could on his own, I guess. Yeah. That makes sense.

00:57:37.540 You know what's so interesting about our neighbor is he had like an old, like hot rod car. And I

00:57:41.620 remember he'd warm it up early. So in high school, I'd wake up at 6, 6, 10, 6.07. I remember my alarm

00:57:48.400 and I remember I'd hear that thing go on at 5.30 and all year round. So I could like look out my

00:57:55.000 bedroom window and I'd see him doing pushups and crunches. This is the Marine. The Marine. Okay. Yeah.

00:58:00.240 I can't remember his name. I mean, this is, uh, you know, 91, 92. Sure. So they find out what he

00:58:07.540 does. And I guess they basically had to sit down with my brother and they were like, listen,

00:58:12.080 if you're going to go into the military, you're going to go into the Israeli army. Because if

00:58:16.260 something happens to you, there was a kid in our neighborhood that basically he went through,

00:58:20.360 he tried going through like base, uh, you know, uh, bootcamp Marines. He got injured and they're like,

00:58:26.600 you're out. Yeah. And he wasn't injured. He just, you know, a lot of guys has, how do you say it?

00:58:31.980 Like, are you hurt or are you injured? Right. He played it up. He played it up. Right. So my

00:58:36.980 parents had a conversation with him and then he moved to Israel and he did the same. He lived on

00:58:41.320 a kibbutz for about six months to grasp the language more. Yeah. Because did, so he probably,

00:58:47.900 I mean, he wasn't familiar with the culture or anything. No, we, we would go to Israel every three

00:58:52.040 to four years. Okay. And then when we were younger, we spent the full summer there, but, um, he, you

00:58:58.340 know, when you're going into the military, you can't slip and be like, what did you just say?

00:59:04.020 Right. Like there, there's none of that. So he went into a pretty heavy duty unit. They're called

00:59:09.620 the cherries. That's what they call it. Pretty heavy duty unit. And then from there he went into a

00:59:14.860 canine bomb unit. And then he saw me like finishing college and it was like a race. He was very

00:59:23.280 competitive. So he came back and it was like, he, that I tell you, the Israeli army, like

00:59:28.920 straightened his shit out big time. He comes back, he goes to a junior college, you know, straight A's

00:59:36.220 starts clubs, all this stuff. Then he goes to Columbia university, which is a pretty tough

00:59:40.980 division one university. He goes, he goes there, gets his degree. And it was like, he finished

00:59:47.820 that. And then he went to OCS for Marines and he became a captain. So it was like, it's pretty

00:59:53.620 evident that people who go through tough times, like he went, he told me that when he was in

00:59:57.920 the Israeli army, it was just like, they were just trying to break you down, break you down

01:00:03.300 to see what you could do to keep you going. And, and I, he was already tough. He's the one

01:00:07.620 that got me into wrestling. He ran every morning. And then after school with our Doberman, it was

01:00:13.300 like a mile run before school, mile run after school. He was a, he was already tough and get

01:00:18.700 into fights a lot. And it was like, but the army really took him to another thing. And you know,

01:00:25.000 what's interesting, like speaking of like events. So you've got your event coming up and I saw in

01:00:30.060 your office, you had the eight weeks to seal fit. Yeah. So years ago, years ago, I met Mark

01:00:36.060 in Vermont. He was at Joe DeSantis place. And I told, we were talking about bringing seal fit stuff

01:00:42.420 for the teenage population, the high school guys I was working with. And two of the guys that was

01:00:48.460 working on his staff, guys that were former seals, our friends of mine, they had been through my

01:00:53.220 certification. So basically we got into a conversation where I was like, you know, Mark,

01:00:57.440 I'd love to do something like Coral, but I don't want to do a 50 hour thing. Cause I'm going to fly

01:01:03.780 out two days early. Then I'm going to do this three day event. Uh, then I'm going to be like

01:01:08.660 destroyed for three days. I'm basically going to be away from my family for a week. And that's just

01:01:13.300 not me. I said, what if you did like a one day thing or it's 12 hour thing. So we went back and

01:01:18.480 forth and eventually he's like, okay, we'll send the two guys up to do basically like a pilot on you

01:01:25.300 guys. And that's where the 20 X program came. Yeah. It was 12 hours and it wasn't called 20 X,

01:01:30.960 but the whole time I remember the group of guys I was with, I was like 20 X, 20 X. And that event

01:01:36.760 changed me because of how the training I did leading up to it. You know, we spoke about as if you were a

01:01:44.280 cop, it's like, um, have a little fear that something bad might happen. So I train harder.

01:01:49.000 I was training so crazy to leading up to that event out of fear that I would not even be good,

01:01:56.040 let alone great at it. So like, let's say I'm going in to take a shower. I close the door. It's

01:02:00.100 like 50 pushups. Then I take a shower. Or I remember we were up in Lake George. I must've done like

01:02:05.740 close to a thousand pushups a day. Anywhere I'd stop. It was like 20 to 40 pushups, banging them out

01:02:11.700 like every 20 to 30 minutes. So I was in this like constant training mode. And that 12 hour event

01:02:18.040 changed me. Even like little things back then I used to drink coffee. And I remember I was like,

01:02:23.640 I hate this coffee machine, cleaning out this and doing, it was like this little process that I

01:02:28.880 hated. Then I remember after like 20 X, I was like, started to take like pride in little things,

01:02:34.540 weird little things. And that's why I'm such a stark believer of work. You know, I've seen

01:02:41.260 my parents be workers. My grandparents were such workers. And of course that frame of reference of

01:02:47.660 my parents, my grandparents escaping the Holocaust. I just remind myself like, okay,

01:02:53.880 you're hungry, but are you escaping the Holocaust? Yeah. Are you walking across this country to escape,

01:02:59.840 to save your life? Like it's not a big deal. One of the things that, so I was telling you,

01:03:04.640 I did the Agogi a couple of years ago. Yeah. Which is brutal. Brutal. One of the things that

01:03:09.260 Joe had us read before the event was Endurance. Okay. Have you ever read that book?

01:03:15.680 No, but I saw that in your office. Yeah. It's an incredible book, but it's

01:03:19.240 Ernest Shackleton. Oh, okay. And his expedition across the South Pole, Antarctica.

01:03:28.540 With that Joe, you know, in Joe's, you didn't stay in it because you did the Agogi, you slept

01:03:33.780 on the ground. Yeah. You were asking, you're like, where'd you, where'd you sleep? I'm like,

01:03:36.140 what do you mean? Yes. I totally forgot that that's, that sleep is not an option. But when

01:03:40.520 you stay in his like barns that are converted into rooms, he's got a lot of Ernest Shackleton

01:03:46.340 books, posters, and he has that like, that ad. His blurb is ad. Yeah. Like near a certain

01:03:52.040 death, but if we make it like, it'd be, have glory forever. And you know what I was also

01:03:57.800 thinking? Like you did the Agogi and I'm thinking to myself, all right, there's like

01:04:01.480 a hundred people here. First of all, I'm like, who the hell would pay for this crap? This

01:04:04.920 is insane. Pay and then take the time off and time off and then the training leading

01:04:09.020 up to it. And there must've been, I must've saw 50 people working the event from medical

01:04:13.420 staff to all the, you know, special forces guys. And I was like, and I was thinking of

01:04:19.640 the whole Shackleton, Shackleton thing about how he just, you're like, oh, this thing is

01:04:25.800 going to challenge me. But if I make it through the other end, it will change me forever.

01:04:30.780 Well, then it all, reading that book also gave me a perspective. And I think this is what

01:04:34.440 you were alluding to with your grandparents escaping the Holocaust is it gives you a perspective.

01:04:39.420 It's like, I'm hungry or my muscles hurt. Like, yeah, but you're not going to die.

01:04:45.600 Yeah.

01:04:45.960 You're not stuck on Antarctica.

01:04:47.860 Right.

01:04:48.080 If you're, you're not running from somebody who wants to kill you, you'll be okay.

01:04:55.840 That's right.

01:04:56.520 But we don't have those frames of references anymore.

01:04:58.860 Right. Unless you.

01:05:00.000 If I'm cold, I'm going to turn the heater on. If I'm hot, I'm going to turn the air on.

01:05:02.840 Yeah.

01:05:03.100 If I'm hungry, even if there's no food in my house, I'll just run down to the convenience

01:05:06.240 store and get a hot dog or whatever.

01:05:07.720 It's all right there.

01:05:08.520 Everything's easy.

01:05:08.860 Or I'll order it on Amazon.

01:05:10.320 Yeah.

01:05:10.520 I always think to myself, I see the Amazon guys driving on a Sunday and I'm like, damn,

01:05:16.360 no days off.

01:05:17.260 No days off.

01:05:17.640 Because God forbid we don't get it on Sunday.

01:05:19.680 Yeah. Or you have to wait 30 hours instead of 24.

01:05:22.740 I need this. I need this now. I need to have this now. What do we, you know, what do we

01:05:27.900 really need? And look, I'm not the toughest guy out there. I have many flaws. I have many

01:05:32.440 struggles, but I know that if I do not put myself through tough training, then I will be

01:05:40.500 what I consider normal. You know, quote unquote normal. I will complain about everything.

01:05:45.160 I will sit on that couch. I will, you know, make a big deal out of nothing. You know, like

01:05:50.980 yesterday driving up here, you're like, did you, did you eat? I'm like, no, I just kind

01:05:54.580 of snacked on some almonds on the way up here. And I was telling you how my friend, he's always

01:05:58.420 like, he's always like, we got to squat, sprint and suffer. You need, he's like, you need some

01:06:03.120 of that suffering back in your life. That's how he talks to me. Yeah. He says, it's so good.

01:06:07.560 He goes, you got to fast. He goes, you need to suffer a little bit.

01:06:10.500 He's like, you know, all these people, you know, he was, he was about to go on a trip

01:06:14.600 to Brazil. He's like, I'm going to have this long flight and I'm looking forward to suffering.

01:06:19.000 He's like, and you know what else I'm going to be in Brazil and I don't got to worry about

01:06:22.420 finding a restaurant for breakfast. Then, then I need my lunch and then I need this.

01:06:28.140 So when we had the power outage for a day and a half, you know, my wife made food and she's

01:06:35.060 like, what do you want? I said, I don't want breakfast. I don't need breakfast. I need

01:06:38.380 to get this generator going again. And this is what I need to do. But like, what am I

01:06:43.720 doing? In my heart, I'm like, if I eat right now and get comfortable, that's kind of weak.

01:06:51.360 My kids are right now eating and they're comfortable. I don't need to be comfortable.

01:06:56.480 That's my, they're comfortable. They have the food and now it's my job to get this generator

01:07:01.500 going.

01:07:01.880 And you just, and you're just tougher, but you know, you actually said something, I

01:07:05.960 think it was last night you were talking about the age of consumerism, right? And you think

01:07:11.520 about how much we consume from information to food to any sort of resource available.

01:07:18.860 And I, I really think there's something to be said for consuming less and producing more.

01:07:24.100 I mean, ultimately that's a man's job. You know, look at my boys and my daughter too.

01:07:27.720 I look at kids in general, but specifically with my boys, because people ask me, you know,

01:07:31.620 what makes a man a man? And I think a big distinction between a man and a boy is that a man produces

01:07:37.620 more than he consumes. A boy, on the other hand, will typically consume more than he produces.

01:07:43.260 I've heard you say this. That's very true.

01:07:44.680 When that switch happens, that, that young, that young boy or that young man becomes a man.

01:07:49.360 And I think that we can, we can, we can switch the scales by one of two ways, produce more,

01:07:56.720 which you should be doing, becoming more effective, more capable and consuming less.

01:08:01.400 Both will actually move the scales and tip the scales in the right direction.

01:08:05.180 Yeah. The, you know, a simple life tends to be, it just tends to be better having less and you

01:08:12.080 start, you know, you, you produce more with less.

01:08:14.960 Yeah. Yeah. I know we've certainly felt that way with the move is that we,

01:08:18.220 we got rid of a lot of stuff and that's, we, we didn't know it was just stuff until we got rid of

01:08:23.660 it. And now we're like, Oh, that was kind of nice. And I actually don't miss much of those.

01:08:27.860 I knew a guy was, um, he's a pretty big jujitsu guy, Steve Maxwell. We did a seminar together like

01:08:35.680 in 2008. And at the time him and his girlfriend, fiance, were just living out of like, uh, the Mercedes

01:08:42.220 Sprinter. Okay. Oh yeah.

01:08:43.720 And then, so he had sold his, um, home or whatever he had and he bit, he just had like a bag. And then

01:08:51.340 I had heard him on the Joe Rogan podcast years ago and he told Joe Rogan, he's like, all I own is a

01:08:56.760 bag. I don't even have a key. He's like, so I don't even own a home anymore. He's like, it's so

01:09:02.040 liberating. And you know what Joe DeSantis says when I talked to him about like buying real estate,

01:09:07.640 things like that. He's like, you think you own it. He goes, then everything starts owning you.

01:09:13.260 Yeah. No doubt.

01:09:14.200 Yeah. So it's interesting, you know, when people experience stuff, even my buddy who, you know,

01:09:18.860 with the squat sprint and suffer, he lives in new Orleans and he was there when they had those bad

01:09:26.280 hurricanes. I don't know how that may have been like 10 years ago, eight years ago.

01:09:29.980 Katrina. And, uh, he's like, dude, I don't want to own stuff since then. He goes,

01:09:35.080 I watched my house, my car. I watched it all just go. Yeah. And so, yeah, he became less

01:09:41.580 attached to things. And I'd say the older I get and being a father has changed. It's like being a

01:09:48.740 father and having my kids, like it inspires me to do more with less. And I always tell my kids,

01:09:56.120 especially now that they're getting older and they're kind of grasping the emotional

01:09:59.460 side of things. You know, I tell, you know, I tell them, I go, my job is to protect you guys.

01:10:06.680 That's my job. And if somebody is hurting you emotionally, you know, then I've got a problem

01:10:13.680 with them. So I, I look back to like, uh, being in Florida some years ago, my daughter was young

01:10:20.420 and it was just me, her and my son. Normally my wife is there. So they're not used to being without

01:10:25.640 my wife. She may have been like eight and she got herself so worked up that she got sick.

01:10:31.460 And I remember she threw up. And I remember like, um, calling the people downstairs, like,

01:10:38.460 listen, like I need, um, laundry detergent. They're like, we don't have laundry detergent.

01:10:44.360 We don't have this. I'm like, okay, give me all cleaning supplies. And I took like shampoo. I did

01:10:49.720 their law. I did laundry. Remember it's like three in the morning. I'm doing laundry. I got my kids.

01:10:54.680 And I just remember feeling like looking at your shirt, you know, the protect provide. I'm thinking

01:11:00.540 myself like my kids are protected and I'm providing, I calmed my daughter down. Right. They're, they're

01:11:06.380 warm in their bed. And I was taking pride in like doing laundry with shampoo. I'd say, you know,

01:11:12.440 and I cleaned everything. And I remember the cleaning guy came up and he's like, Oh, what do I do? I was

01:11:16.680 like, just give me that shit. And I just did it. And like, boom, took action. And it's same thing.

01:11:22.460 Like my son got his bike stolen in June. And I was like on a rampage because I, that had happened

01:11:29.040 to me. And so after like two days, my wife was like, I'm sending you to buy a bike because you

01:11:35.800 might kill somebody if you find them. And I was like, I was probably maybe a little bit out of

01:11:42.460 control. I was like everywhere looking. And if I saw a bike, I would like stop the person. I made them

01:11:47.420 flip the bike. Is that right? Yeah. I was on a rampage and she's like, you're going to get

01:11:51.540 arrested. And to me, it's like, I'm just trying to take care of my kids and you're trying to

01:11:57.580 protect them. But then on that flip side, if we shelter so, so much, you know, they don't know

01:12:04.400 how to take care of themselves. So that's also that thing we spoke about yesterday, like my son

01:12:08.640 being able to utilize power tools and to fix things in the house and to mow the lawn. I mean,

01:12:15.000 I trained 16 year old kids where I'm like, dude, what did you eat for breakfast? Like

01:12:18.340 nothing. I'm like, make eggs. I don't know how to turn on the stove. I'm thinking to myself,

01:12:23.700 holy, but what happens to that kid when he has to go to college? I don't know. What

01:12:29.980 happens to him when he makes it to college? What about if he's in his mid twenties and

01:12:34.180 let's say he does get married, you can't turn a stove on. How do you do those things? So

01:12:39.080 it's like, everything to me is like, I look a lot about like work, like being tough through

01:12:44.960 work. Not like I'm some UFC fighter or something, but the ability to handle life and life is tough.

01:12:52.520 That's what I'm saying. Life is tough. You know, it just hits me with the guys that reach out to

01:12:56.940 you. And I get it sometimes too, but certainly not, not to the amount that you do, but they do

01:13:03.100 reach out and they talk about, Hey man, like that message you sent, I was suicidal and listening to

01:13:09.560 your podcast saves me. And then you realize I'm on the hook for this shit. I can't, I can't just

01:13:14.820 stop. Well, and not only that, I think about, you know, I've, I've let my, my condition stuff go over

01:13:19.980 the past month or so. And I can give all kinds of reasons as to why that is. But then I started

01:13:24.020 thinking about it. Not only do I want to be physically strong and fit, man, I've, I've, I'm

01:13:29.780 committing to other guys. I'm asking other guys to do this stuff. I can't, what right do I have to not

01:13:34.880 handle that my business myself? And that's the like, cool part is you're like, Hey, I got to

01:13:39.740 leave. There's accountability. Yeah, for sure. You've got to do it yourself. And so sometimes

01:13:44.680 I'll train with the athletes at the gym and I'll be like, I'm the hardest worker in this room.

01:13:49.240 I am outworking you guys. I'm like, somebody stop me. Like, I just really like get after it.

01:13:54.000 And you should be, you know, if you're going to lead, then you should, that should be, yeah.

01:13:57.560 Shit. Like I'm going to, I'm going to challenge you. So I say that to the coach. I go, guys,

01:14:01.460 if it's a quiet group, jump in with them. Yeah. Train with them. Yeah. And you know,

01:14:06.180 in the college setting, you know what they'd say? Never train with the athletes, never train

01:14:09.940 with the athletes. At a team I worked with real good team. We had two groups and I found

01:14:16.000 that the second group just was not bringing the thunder. So I spoke to the head associate

01:14:22.460 coach, a head coach, and they're like, look, that's your team. That's your program. You run

01:14:27.240 it how you want. I'm like, I think I'm going to train with them and I'm going to show

01:14:31.440 them how it's done. And they're like, if you think that's going to help do it. And

01:14:35.120 I started doing that and it like fired them up. But the tricky thing is they're, they're

01:14:42.240 like feeding off of my juice. Yeah. You got to bring your own juice. You know, going

01:14:46.100 back to what the ultimate warrior would do was like, that's where he struggled was he

01:14:51.500 wanted them to do the work on their own. He didn't want it to be from his motivation.

01:14:57.340 Yeah. Because that's always fleeting, right? I mean, anything can happen in any given

01:15:01.200 time. I'm not always motivated. Right. Or if you're looking for some external source

01:15:05.380 of motivation, you know, that's, that's great when that person's around or you feel inspired,

01:15:11.060 but what happens when they're not around or you're feeling like inspired, you got to like

01:15:15.920 right here, boom. I'll just look at the, I'll look at my kids right here. Yeah. I'll look

01:15:22.880 at my kids and I, that's my screensaver. Yeah. I gotta be so for the guys out there that are

01:15:28.800 like how or why, what's the, what's your, why, what's the most. And then, and then we

01:15:33.540 could dig deeper, right? We, I don't have a family. I'm not married. I'm not this, I'm

01:15:38.120 not that. Well, you're building the foundation, you know, that's like saying I don't need a

01:15:43.240 job until I'm married with kids. Right. Until I have that mortgage. Yeah. Listen, man, go

01:15:47.600 get that job and kick some ass with that thing. Like be great at everything that you're going

01:15:52.400 to do. And you're teaming yourself up to be more successful when you do have a family or what,

01:15:57.180 what's that saying? That, that luck is when opportunity and preparation meet. You know,

01:16:01.660 you gotta be prepared. Otherwise, not only will there not be opportunities, even if there

01:16:06.480 is an opportunity, you won't even recognize it because it's not in your, it's not in your

01:16:11.220 wheelhouse. It's not in your, your purview is the new word I've heard. You're like, oh,

01:16:14.600 I'm just working. I'm just working. I'm just working. The harder you work, the luckier you

01:16:19.520 get. Yeah. Luck is certainly, there's, you know, luck, you know, factors involved with things.

01:16:25.080 Fortune. I call it fortune. You know, there's some fortunate events and you, you know what,

01:16:30.380 look, you can capitalize on those or, or you can't, you know, it's the same, like take lottery

01:16:36.240 winners. That's luck, right? Yes. They had to buy a ticket, but ultimately it's luck. Well,

01:16:40.360 why did they lose all that money is because they didn't never learned how to capitalize on it. They

01:16:43.580 didn't develop the skillset they needed to acquire the wealth in the first place. So had they circumvented

01:16:49.960 that and built some wealth without having to do the work, they'll lose it just as quickly

01:16:54.160 because they didn't learn the skill. It's interesting how people don't value stuff

01:16:57.720 that's given to them. And that's the tricky thing with the internet is there's so much

01:17:02.600 free information that, you know, you know, earlier today, you're like, Zach, I want you

01:17:07.620 to try this milk. I'm like, no, I have to buy it. I need to buy it to earn everything. And

01:17:13.080 that's just how I feel about stuff. When people, people message me, they're like, I want to send

01:17:17.160 you the shirt. I'm like, dude, don't send me the shirt. I need to like earn it. I need to

01:17:20.680 do something for it. I just feel better that way. Yeah, dude. We worked out this

01:17:24.380 morning. We trained. That was a great training session. It was fun, man. It was real good.

01:17:28.800 Yeah. Well, we're winding down on time. We've got some other things going on this afternoon.

01:17:31.840 We got to get to. Yes. So that would be fun hanging out with the guys at origin. Uh, I

01:17:37.020 want to ask you a couple of questions. Sure. Uh, the first one is what does it mean to be

01:17:40.640 a man? Yeah. I hear you ask this question a lot. And the thing that like keeps circling back

01:17:45.680 in my mind is taking care of your family for me. That's, that's my definition. I have

01:17:51.340 to protect them and, uh, and internalize anything so that they don't have to deal with it. That's

01:17:58.900 everything to me. Like love my family and take care of them. And I say to my kids all the

01:18:03.660 time, like my job is to protect you. And that's when I feel best about things. Yeah. Yeah.

01:18:09.760 Simple as that. Powerful. Simple. I love it, man. Yeah. We didn't talk directly about

01:18:14.160 your book, the Encyclopedia of Underground Strength and Conditioning. Uh, but this is

01:18:18.560 a great book because I've started to incorporate a lot of the stuff. In fact, we're talking about

01:18:22.020 this and using this as part of a framework for our discussion at Iron Council next month.

01:18:26.720 So that's very cool. Um, so how do the guys learn about the book? How do they learn more

01:18:30.660 about you? Connect with what you're doing? Sure. Where do they go? Um, if you Google, um,

01:18:35.960 underground strength, underground strength, gym, underground strength coach, you'll come across

01:18:40.040 my YouTube channel, my website. Uh, I got a strong life podcast and my website is Zach

01:18:46.900 Evanesh.com. But if they go to Zach strength.com, they'll find it. I got tons of free stuff, videos

01:18:53.100 for them to learn from. So free, they got to earn it. They got to earn it. They got to earn

01:18:57.480 it. And I, I, my, here's what I pushups before you, here's what I, uh, I say to them. I go,

01:19:03.280 if you're going to consume a video, if you're going to watch a video, then you have to take one

01:19:07.440 action from it. Right. That way you start. Yeah. You start like not feeling like, um,

01:19:12.440 you know how people just go through like their scroll through their phone. Yes. You're wasting

01:19:16.440 time or, or read a book and it's like, congratulations. You read a book, but you're

01:19:20.480 not any better about it. So everything is action based. So if you read this book, what do you,

01:19:25.860 if you read two pages, what are you going to do right tonight? Or what's the plan for tomorrow

01:19:31.580 with your training? So to me, it's like, just take action. And I, I feel like looking here,

01:19:37.100 this is kind of how my office is with these bricks. Yeah. Brick by brick, you're going to

01:19:41.160 get better. Inch by inch, you're going to get better. That's right, man. That's right.

01:19:44.220 Great times. Cool. I appreciate our friendship. Thank you, my brother. I appreciate you doing

01:19:46.840 this. I appreciate you making the drive. We're going to have a great weekend. We already have

01:19:51.120 spent some cool time together. Very grateful. It's been, been great. So looking forward to getting

01:19:55.180 to know you and more about what you're doing and just appreciate your insight. I love what you

01:19:58.620 guys are doing this morning. I love, and you'll have some of the guys that have been through

01:20:02.180 my certification coming up to your event. That's right. When's the event? August 10? Let's see,

01:20:06.520 August. Yep. August. Yes. August 10th. I'm losing track here. I was 10th and 11th. Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

01:20:13.040 That's going to be great. It's crazy. I'm like, all my days are blending together. It's all a blur.

01:20:18.140 All right, brother. We'll wrap it up. Appreciate you. Thank you, brother. All right. Thanks guys.

01:20:23.080 Gentlemen, there you go. My conversation with the one and only Zach Evanish. We had such a great time

01:20:27.380 during our conversation. And I hope that you are walking away with some value in thinking about

01:20:31.920 not only strength and conditioning, but life a little bit differently, uh, that you are inspired

01:20:37.340 and motivated and uplifted to go out and get strong both in the mind and the body. And that

01:20:42.920 you'll see clearly how this will help you become more effective, more efficient, and live a greater

01:20:50.400 and more fulfilled life as a husband and a father, a leader inside of your community, a coach, a brother,

01:20:55.700 whatever faculty you're showing up as a man.

01:20:58.120 And I really believe that following Zach's methods and his training systems are going to

01:21:03.080 help you take it to the next level. So make sure you reach out to him on Instagram and

01:21:06.660 Twitter and Facebook. Of course, follow me. If you're not already on Instagram at Ryan

01:21:11.340 Mickler, let us know what you thought about the show. Please guys share this. More men need

01:21:15.700 to hear about the message, the mission of reclaiming and restoring what it means to be a man in a

01:21:22.160 society that seems to be walking away from it at a greater and greater pace. So gentlemen,

01:21:26.340 glad you're banded with us. Glad you're tuning in again. I really believe it's your obligation.

01:21:30.900 If you have great information that you share it with the people in your life who could benefit

01:21:34.660 from that information. So please leave a rating and review for this podcast. Please share it with

01:21:39.540 other men in your life and do your part in growing and expanding the mission of the order.

01:21:44.020 All right, guys, I'm going to give my voice a rest. We'll be back tomorrow for Kip and I's

01:21:48.180 ask me anything. And then of course, Friday for our Friday field notes, but until then go out there,

01:21:52.720 take action, become the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the Order of

01:21:57.280 Man podcast. If you're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be,

01:22:02.680 we invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.

Order of Man - August 13, 2019

Forging Underground Strength ｜ ZACH EVEN-ESH

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