Order of Man - RUDY REYES ｜ Improve Your Position, Always

00:00:00.320 What does it mean to manufacture a do-or-die intensity in a world that is quite literally built for comfort and complacency?

00:00:10.180 How do you improve your position in all ways, not just tactically or physically, but also mentally and spiritually?

00:00:16.940 Guys, in this episode, we dig into conditioning as a way of life and why your wind and breath is everything,

00:00:22.960 why over-specialization actually weakens men, and how to build true work capacity through skill, strength, nervous system development.

00:00:33.240 We talk about leading from the front, refusing to put other men on pedestals, taking off our mask,

00:00:39.940 and confronting the quiet and insidious war of self-deception and self-worth that so many men fight in silence.

00:00:48.260 Now, to unpack it, I'm joined by Rudy Reyes, Force Recon Marine, a warrior athlete, conservationist,

00:00:55.100 and a man who has lived these principles from warfare in the jungle to rebuilding coral reefs with Force Blue.

00:01:02.520 Rudy brings this really fascinating and rare blend of intensity and benevolence and tactical training and spiritual depth.

00:01:11.580 I love this guy, and you will too.

00:01:12.780 This conversation is about becoming dangerous in the right way, stronger for your family, clearer in who you are,

00:01:20.580 your identity, grounded in the truth that maybe you will never be enough, and why that's actually very liberating.

00:01:28.040 You're a man of action.

00:01:29.840 You live life to the fullest.

00:01:31.280 Embrace your fears and boldly chart your own path.

00:01:34.220 When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.

00:01:38.300 You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong.

00:01:43.720 This is your life.

00:01:44.820 This is who you are.

00:01:46.220 This is who you will become.

00:01:47.940 At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.

00:01:53.940 Gentlemen, welcome to the Order of Man podcast.

00:01:55.960 I have a very, very special one for you.

00:01:58.200 This is actually one of, and I just got done recording this with Rudy.

00:02:02.860 This is actually one of the most inspiring, motivating podcasts that I've done,

00:02:10.180 and I think we're close to doing 1,600 or 1,700 podcasts at this point.

00:02:15.180 So this is a special one.

00:02:16.480 So listen all the way through because I promise you're going to get a lot out of this.

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00:03:03.680 All right, guys, let me introduce you to Rudy.

00:03:05.440 He is a former, I shouldn't say former, once a Marine, always a Marine, right?

00:03:08.800 So he's a force recon operator.

00:03:12.240 He's a scout sniper.

00:03:13.640 He's a military instructor.

00:03:16.800 Obviously, if you know Rudy at all, he's got this relentless pursuit of physical and mental

00:03:21.700 and spiritual health and mastery.

00:03:23.640 And he rose to a lot of recognition in HBO's Generation Kill.

00:03:29.880 He brought a lot of authenticity to the warrior ethos that he's built and forged through special

00:03:35.540 operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

00:03:38.480 But outside of the battlefield, he has dedicated his life to high performance training, to developing

00:03:46.200 leaders and even humanitarian missions.

00:03:48.720 He's a special human being, and you'll hear that shortly.

00:03:51.860 But Rudy serves as an ambassador for veteran causes all over the world, environmental initiatives,

00:03:58.280 including Forest Blue.

00:03:59.660 We talk a little bit about that today.

00:04:01.660 But essentially, he's leading efforts to rebuild coral reefs and deploy veteran divers for conservation

00:04:07.880 work.

00:04:08.800 But he's got this warrior discipline.

00:04:10.320 He's got this spiritual depth.

00:04:11.660 He's got an infectious, positive attitude, and he believes in continuous self-improvement,

00:04:18.100 conditioning.

00:04:18.940 We talk a lot about skill acquisition today and service to something greater than yourself,

00:04:23.600 not just strengthening you for warrior battle, but for the battle of life with your family

00:04:29.560 and community and legacy.

00:04:31.100 Guys, you are really, really going to enjoy this one.

00:04:34.960 Rudy, what's up, man?

00:04:35.980 So good to see you.

00:04:36.900 I got to say, I love our conversations.

00:04:39.460 And anytime I get to see you, because your positivity is infectious.

00:04:43.100 You probably hear that all the time.

00:04:45.000 You know what?

00:04:45.780 Yes.

00:04:46.200 And I'm thankful.

00:04:47.020 And I look back, and I think that has been the defining factor that has made me good to

00:04:55.120 great.

00:04:55.480 You know, when the chips are down, having the positive attitude to see solution-based movement

00:05:05.300 as opposed to being stuck in moments of doubt, frustration, anger, which really just shuts

00:05:13.380 down creativity and closes one's world.

00:05:16.600 You know, even in combat, in combat especially, because combat goes for a long, long time.

00:05:25.180 And the most difficult parts of combat are the lulls when there is no action.

00:05:31.940 And that tends to numb the senses and the brain because you've been stimulated so high and

00:05:41.520 then there's lulls.

00:05:42.620 And that positive attitude, when you're feeling the lactic dump, when you are emotionally and

00:05:49.820 spiritually exhausted from the difficult, hard choices on the battlefield and the carnage

00:05:56.440 that you see, staying positive, staying proactive.

00:06:02.240 The basics of infantry, Ryan, one of the first things you learn is improve your position always.

00:06:09.140 So improve your position always.

00:06:13.140 Improve, make better.

00:06:14.900 Your position, where do you stand in the world?

00:06:17.640 Where do you stand with your team?

00:06:19.680 Where do you stand in your own ethics and values?

00:06:23.400 And always, that means do it continuously.

00:06:27.980 And therefore, you're in a state of proactivity.

00:06:31.140 You're in a state of making you and making your immediate vicinity a better place, which empowers you for success.

00:06:42.200 That's actually, I mean, I know that rule, but it's actually, I haven't thought about it for probably 20 years at this point.

00:06:49.900 But that's actually really simple and very profound because I think what a lot of guys are waiting on is for the position to improve before they change their attitude.

00:07:00.960 And what you're saying is, hey, regardless of what happens around you, control the controllables, control what's in your purview, fix what you can.

00:07:09.000 And that way, when things happen, good or bad, you're able to respond to those effectively.

00:07:14.700 That's exactly right, brother.

00:07:15.860 That's exactly right.

00:07:17.020 And it becomes a way of life, not a technique.

00:07:25.400 My Kung Fu teacher, Chin Man Sit, he was so brilliant.

00:07:28.260 He taught me basics and, well, he had really high-end, beautiful forms from esoteric China.

00:07:36.960 And then after one afternoon with me, he says, no, no, no, Ludi, you don't do any of this.

00:07:43.820 You do four punch, four kick, four throw, takedown defense, and you work your fitness.

00:07:51.120 And I was like, man, I really wanted to learn the real Kung Fu.

00:07:55.720 After years of doing that, that's the real Kung Fu.

00:08:00.760 I mean, he was just so ahead of me.

00:08:04.240 And streamlining and not just streamlining, how about this, distilling.

00:08:10.980 Distilling and refining oneself to do less many more times, to do less things many more times is what goes from being a technique to an ability.

00:08:29.100 And an ability means that you can draw upon it at any time.

00:08:32.240 It's a sensibility as opposed to a technique.

00:08:34.760 And that goes into training as well.

00:08:37.000 It is a sensibility.

00:08:38.800 I don't count sets, brother.

00:08:40.800 I mostly go by time, and I go by feet.

00:08:45.540 And I know, because I know the system, when I am breathing so hard, and then I break through the care of being exhausted, that you hit this new overdrive and slipstream.

00:09:00.940 And I look at doing that in every aspect of my life.

00:09:05.060 There's a quote.

00:09:06.060 It sounds like a Bruce Lee quote.

00:09:07.660 I don't know, but it sounds like.

00:09:08.840 Because I don't fear the man that's practiced a thousand kicks one time.

00:09:12.300 I fear the man who's practiced one kick a thousand times.

00:09:15.140 And that's what it sounds like you're saying.

00:09:16.680 It is.

00:09:17.580 It is that concept and sensibility put into practice and, most importantly, put into practice back to improve your position always.

00:09:27.240 It's all action-oriented.

00:09:30.200 And that's where we, that's how we change ourselves, brother.

00:09:35.640 Action-oriented.

00:09:36.780 You know?

00:09:37.580 How do you, how do you, okay, so when you said you don't go by reps, you go by time, you go by feeling.

00:09:43.120 How do you, how do you deceive yourself?

00:09:45.680 Because I do.

00:09:47.280 I'm like, I feel, I'm hurt or I'm tired.

00:09:50.640 Yesterday's session, I have an online community.

00:09:54.100 I have 65 year, I have 65 year old grandmas to, to recon veterans, to, to super badass construction workers who are 10 or 15 years younger than me.

00:10:08.680 Uh, I've got, I've got, I've got a twin sisters who are both drummers and, uh, and have never been in training before.

00:10:18.400 I've got a wide swath of, of students and true believers, I call them.

00:10:22.880 So our session yesterday was 20 rounds.

00:10:27.620 Um, one minute rounds for 20 seconds recovery in between to change over to your next exercise.

00:10:34.200 I pick four, I pick four bomber tasks.

00:10:37.640 My first task is mountain climber.

00:10:40.820 Next, next task is pushup renegade row.

00:10:46.360 Okay.

00:10:46.860 Next task is floor press.

00:10:50.120 Imagine on your back with my, uh, fifties center mass bells, glute drive and press back down the deck.

00:10:58.440 Glute drive and press down.

00:11:01.020 Glute drive.

00:11:01.660 That's third, the third minute.

00:11:03.120 And then the fourth, um, exercise is, uh, handstand plank down, uh, down, uh, down, up for a minute.

00:11:13.000 Brother, you run that four freaking piece, uh, circuit five times with no rest between trust me.

00:11:24.120 You cannot be deceived.

00:11:26.380 You will be on your ass and you will have to find a way.

00:11:31.000 And now for some of my non-athletic, uh, beginner athletes, I've taught them how to modify, but the mere volume of big body movement.

00:11:40.160 And how about I've, I've trained and instructed these true believers for a few months now where we do tutorials just on technique.

00:11:49.420 It starts happening by throwing yourself into the deep end.

00:11:53.140 Just like when I went through selection with recon, being in that deep water and I was a non-swim, I was, uh, I was a recreational swimmer at best.

00:12:02.900 Um, I had to do or die, brother.

00:12:06.260 And so I, and it's so interesting.

00:12:09.520 So my BFFF out here and you might've met him at Winterstrong a few years ago.

00:12:14.280 Do you remember my buddy, Dave Passanisi from St. Louis?

00:12:17.460 Him and Mike Diamond.

00:12:18.320 And he's a red haired guy.

00:12:20.080 Whenever you see me in that awesome garage gym out here on my videos, that's Dave's place.

00:12:25.280 Okay, got it.

00:12:26.240 Where were you in the rings?

00:12:27.940 That's Dave.

00:12:28.700 He's one of us.

00:12:29.440 He's like us.

00:12:30.740 Um, his clients, he has some of the finest, most powerful, wealthy, beautifully committed clients here in St. Louis.

00:12:41.200 And he is now, uh, a trainer with his, uh, his, uh, you've seen me train on a trailer.

00:12:48.320 Out in parking lots.

00:12:49.680 That's his stuff.

00:12:50.620 He saw Soren X and we, and, and, and Dave and I used to, uh, we still train outdoors.

00:12:56.040 When I was trying to raise little Dylan, when he was two years old to five, trying to, trying to make it happen.

00:13:01.500 I didn't do a very good job.

00:13:02.340 Uh, the only way I could get time is that he would drive with his truck to the parking lot, pull out the rubber block, slam the mace, heavy freaking slam balls and double kettlebells.

00:13:13.420 And we'd get down.

00:13:14.100 So that was his concept to build his, uh, mobile training, his optimist prime of fitness.

00:13:19.800 Right.

00:13:20.520 And, uh, cause we love to train out in nature.

00:13:23.100 We, in the heat and in the cold and, and, uh, so on and so forth.

00:13:26.640 Well, his clients, Dave tried to help me out as we were just starting this new Rudeo active business online and all of his clients said, uh, that guy looks a little too.

00:13:40.000 Yet these people, Ryan, my, my, especially my women, my, my a hundred, uh, or my 65 year old, uh, grand lady, uh, she's, um, her name's Katie, uh, horse, horses, dance, a teacher, magnificent human being.

00:14:00.900 Um, I give all of these clients the credit as human beings that they, that their bodies will adapt, their minds will adapt and, and there's no way to become great and integrated in your mind, body, spirit and to become that, um, that athlete of the world without hard training.

00:14:27.820 So I give them the respect that we are not doing Zumba or we're not doing P90X.

00:14:36.720 I'm taking you with me in the deep end.

00:14:39.700 I'm showing you how to modify our sessions go sometimes for an hour and a half online.

00:14:47.180 Um, and by the mere volume of big work and me keeping the pace high that boxing time, I have a boxing timer.

00:14:57.300 It's the best piece of kit.

00:14:59.660 You just dial in the rounds, dial in the length, and then, um, dial in the rest.

00:15:06.200 The ultimate session that I do with my buddies, Marcel, and I've done with Dave or 23 minute rounds.

00:15:13.460 Right.

00:15:14.100 Short, but high intensity.

00:15:16.080 Yes.

00:15:16.520 Three minutes of squat, clean press.

00:15:20.340 Grab those fifties and do that for three minutes.

00:15:24.500 Next set, rope for three minutes.

00:15:27.480 Next set, chest press for three minutes or push, uh, or pushups.

00:15:32.760 And then last set, flutter kicks or an abdomen exercise.

00:15:35.280 So it's again, four, a circuit of four, five times through dog.

00:15:40.840 That last circuit of, of, uh, squat, cleaner, hang, clean press for three months, minutes.

00:15:47.440 That last one, you have a spiritual experience as you're walking to the waist.

00:15:54.120 You're already having a spiritual experience and you, you know, that you are doing battle

00:16:00.400 with dragons as you just get it into position.

00:16:05.300 Ah, yeah.

00:16:07.380 And it just creates, uh, obviously, look, I'm not the biggest guy, um, but it creates

00:16:13.660 a sound mind, body, spirit.

00:16:15.500 That's how I make sure that there is no sandbagging.

00:16:19.360 And, uh, and I, my favorite music, Ryan, I listened to my favorite music.

00:16:24.920 It becomes so soulfully inspirational to me.

00:16:28.500 Uh, and I know I have teammates and, and my true believers are there with me.

00:16:33.360 How can I do anything but reach for the stars with them?

00:16:38.220 You see what I'm saying?

00:16:39.260 I bring all things to bear to do it.

00:16:41.260 That's what I do.

00:16:42.600 I mean, that's powerful.

00:16:43.920 I actually went on a hike yesterday and I stay, I stay what I thought was pretty fit.

00:16:50.200 And, you know, I train four to five days a week and I do mostly strength training.

00:16:54.500 Um, but it's, it's very, it's very paced.

00:16:56.800 It's very cadenced.

00:16:57.620 It's, it's not high intensity.

00:16:58.800 It's, it's strength training.

00:16:59.760 And I went on this hike yesterday and man, just, she ran circles around me.

00:17:06.560 I got you.

00:17:08.680 It's just the, it's that elevation.

00:17:10.480 It's the uphill.

00:17:11.740 Like my, my muscles did fine.

00:17:14.520 Like my legs were fine.

00:17:16.660 No issue.

00:17:17.740 It was the cardio, man.

00:17:18.960 I was breathing heavy.

00:17:20.040 I was huffing and puffing.

00:17:21.340 I'm like, okay, I gotta, I gotta do something different because my health and wellness is

00:17:26.960 not well-rounded right now.

00:17:28.320 I'm with you, brother.

00:17:29.980 The wind is everything.

00:17:31.500 Conditioning is key.

00:17:33.340 I train conditioning, conditioning, conditioning.

00:17:36.540 Uh, that is the, um, bread and butter of what I bring forward to my true believers and

00:17:42.480 to anyone, because as we age, especially it's the conditioning that is harder and harder

00:17:48.960 to, um, to, um, to keep or to, uh, to recreate many of us men, especially because it is in

00:18:02.300 our nature to get bigger and stronger.

00:18:03.900 If you think about our primal nature, well, the condition, the wind, the ability to bring

00:18:13.080 oxygenated blood to the tissues, to break into lactic threshold and now dumping lactic

00:18:20.240 acid and still continuing on.

00:18:22.940 One, this is probably what's kept me so young.

00:18:27.160 I'm 54.

00:18:28.280 I bet this is part of the reason why my skin and even my hair, I don't have much gray.

00:18:34.040 I am sure that it is the extreme upload of oxygenated blood moving to the tissues because

00:18:42.540 big body athletic movements require a gestalt.

00:18:47.200 It's, uh, um, it's not the typical splits of bodybuilding, which works for building the

00:18:53.460 muscle, but will the muscle work under duress load?

00:18:58.140 And I think that is again, how combat has informed me and recon has informed me as a human

00:19:04.880 being under load, under stress, the standard with the heart hammering.

00:19:11.820 Um, is still being positive and looking outward as opposed to falling inward with your own

00:19:18.560 pain.

00:19:19.080 So that's why everything I do is fitness oriented, not necessarily hypertrophy, even though brother,

00:19:24.900 I'm keeping my muscle.

00:19:27.020 Yeah, you look great for sure.

00:19:28.960 Yeah, brother.

00:19:29.680 This is, uh, you know, I'm getting older now.

00:19:32.000 So my metabolism finally slowed down a little bit.

00:19:34.780 So I'm no longer 3% body fat.

00:19:37.120 I'm 5%.

00:19:37.900 You know what I'm saying?

00:19:38.900 So I've got horrible.

00:19:40.120 It sucks.

00:19:40.720 So, uh, yeah, conditioning is king.

00:19:43.780 And if you can embrace that, that, that freaking kernel and that element, if you can masticate

00:19:49.920 and chew on it and swallow it and conditioning becomes your mainstay, holy moly, brother.

00:19:55.700 How about the confidence it gives you?

00:19:57.700 Cause you know, my work with special forces and SAS, I'm living in the field in hard combat

00:20:04.280 conditions, running course, leading course with Heisman Trophy winners that are 32 years old,

00:20:11.520 35 years.

00:20:12.040 20 years.

00:20:12.540 You're younger.

00:20:13.060 Yeah, exactly.

00:20:14.060 And I've got a lead from the front and it's not the muscles or, you know, it's not my,

00:20:19.060 uh, heavy bench or heavy squat.

00:20:20.860 That's getting me over.

00:20:21.960 It's the wind.

00:20:23.180 It's the wind.

00:20:23.820 Have you ever seen, you've seen the movie, the guardian with Kevin Costner.

00:20:27.720 Oh yes.

00:20:29.020 So there's this, this big, you know, muscle head and, and, and I'm not trying to like

00:20:33.360 be insulting by any means.

00:20:34.420 Cause the guys who were big, I look at them like that's, that takes discipline, but he

00:20:38.060 throws this guy who's, you know, the big muscle head, he's got all the muscles and he throws

00:20:42.300 them in the pool.

00:20:42.780 He's like, all right, tread water for the next five hours or whatever.

00:20:45.780 And the guy selects out and he says, Kevin Costner says something along the lines of muscle

00:20:50.920 doesn't float.

00:20:52.880 And I've thought that about myself, especially as I get a little older, you know, I'm 44 and I'm

00:20:57.780 like, okay, like, what is the goal?

00:20:59.920 Is it to look big or is it to be healthy?

00:21:02.340 And I think a lot of people get their goals wrong because we focus purely on the aesthetic,

00:21:07.920 which is ironic because I imagine the aesthetic comes as a result of being actually healthy.

00:21:16.020 Yes, brother.

00:21:16.780 Yes, brother.

00:21:17.480 Check this out.

00:21:19.240 So everywhere I go in the world, everywhere, I always bring my swim paddles.

00:21:25.400 But I still swim as one of my disciplines.

00:21:30.240 I'm going to get into my approach to training.

00:21:34.280 So these are my paddles.

00:21:36.380 And so you freaking go.

00:21:38.860 This is how you get that lack spread of these doubts and wind, because in water, you can't

00:21:44.580 breathe when you want to.

00:21:46.380 Think of the switch you're creating in your brain and in your body in which you are enduring

00:21:52.720 work with no air except for half a second.

00:21:57.500 When you turn your head and you power breathe and then you're going.

00:22:04.980 Brother, the swimming, the swimming.

00:22:08.620 Once I was taught to swim and recon and became a combat diver and a combat water rescue swimmer,

00:22:13.800 my buddies and I went up to San Francisco for fun on a Saturday in 2001, shortly before I

00:22:24.360 got on ship when September 11th happened and we swam from Alcatraz to the freaking little

00:22:29.820 tiny beach and then ran across the bridge and back.

00:22:33.540 Once I learned the skill of swimming, because it's so counterintuitive and we've got thick

00:22:40.880 legs.

00:22:41.400 Remember, we've done our work at Sorenax and, of course, at Winter Strong.

00:22:46.800 We've got thick, strong legs, glutes, hip flexors for bearing the weight and hunting and hiking.

00:22:54.060 With these legs, if you do not know how to push your buoy, your lungs and your chest down

00:22:59.300 in the water, those legs drop and now you are swimming this way, incredibly exhausting

00:23:06.280 and then eventually you will become fatigued and become a water casualty.

00:23:10.120 You must push your chest down and have great form with that high elbow as you reach and have

00:23:17.640 baby flutter kicks to keep your body positioned.

00:23:21.720 I believe by doing this.

00:23:23.700 Oh, brother, it's an aesthetic.

00:23:25.460 It's an art form.

00:23:26.140 I believe that by doing this kind of work, gymnastics, swimming, elements of fitness and athletics

00:23:36.800 that challenge the brain by how the body is existing in space, it is going to stave off

00:23:47.360 our, what do you call it, the Alzheimer's, all of the brain degenerative diseases, the

00:23:59.840 brain fog, all of that.

00:24:01.920 We are still utilizing the synapsis and the nervous system.

00:24:05.660 That is why I still practice martial art.

00:24:07.420 That is why I still practice my kicking.

00:24:08.960 I always high kick to keep my mobility and to spin because in spinning, to have the proprioception

00:24:16.640 in the brain and nervous system, to know where you're at, to swim, to do my climbing, it is

00:24:23.140 putting the mind, the brain, the nervous system in a dynamic environment, which helps stimulate

00:24:28.920 the brain.

00:24:30.140 And this is the health.

00:24:31.360 Look, we're getting older.

00:24:32.200 Can you believe it, brother?

00:24:33.360 I'm 10 years older than you, and I'm still doing this wild ass shit.

00:24:38.100 I'm still doing that wild ass shit.

00:24:41.120 Zooming at 40 miles an hour in the boat, leaping to the helicopter.

00:24:46.160 I'm still doing all that wild stuff.

00:24:48.960 And it's got to be from that muscle, brain, nervous system, spirit connection.

00:24:57.240 So that's why I do these kinds of things.

00:24:58.920 These are my three, my three elements to my, uh, my training first work capacity and work

00:25:06.660 rate.

00:25:07.200 So my big bomber circuits, um, elevator heart rate and continuously moving and challenging

00:25:14.880 the body building, uh, muscular strength, but also endurance next skills.

00:25:20.520 What skills am I running?

00:25:23.440 Is it kickboxing skill?

00:25:26.160 Is it swimming skill?

00:25:27.360 Is it rock climbing skill?

00:25:28.560 Is it shooting skill?

00:25:30.300 These are all skill oriented things because without training these skills, they go away.

00:25:35.080 And then the last one, muscular strength and joint strength.

00:25:41.160 So on those days, I'll be doing ring muscle ups, really strict, locking in the stomach, bracing

00:25:48.460 the core.

00:25:49.200 You know, a lot of, it's not a vacuum.

00:25:51.520 It's not a vacuum.

00:25:52.680 It's called bracing.

00:25:54.160 This is called bracing.

00:25:55.780 What, what would happen is when you're wearing a weight belt, because it's tight, you're bracing

00:26:03.460 this area.

00:26:04.240 That's why they wear weight belt for the squat and such.

00:26:07.440 I practice actually bracing when I'm doing my gymnastic.

00:26:14.080 And that brings in the glutes, hip flexors, quadriceps, calves.

00:26:17.620 Sometimes my calves cramp when I'm doing muscle ups.

00:26:22.000 My calves cramp.

00:26:22.980 Not my lats, not my shoulders, not my biceps, not my forearms.

00:26:26.660 My calves, because I have to point those toes so tight to engage the glutes, which is engaged

00:26:32.820 from the stomach.

00:26:34.420 So those are my days.

00:26:35.800 So it is work capacity, skills, and strength.

00:26:39.960 And I will do that depending on feel.

00:26:43.840 Normally strength at my age is the last thing I really need because I've been doing this

00:26:49.920 for 45 years.

00:26:52.220 It's normally the other two.

00:26:54.060 And the VO2 max and work rate is the stuff that if you don't do it for two weeks, holy

00:26:59.260 moly, you're sucking buttermilk and it feels like you're starting over.

00:27:02.560 You feel like you're 12 years old on your first freaking two a day in football.

00:27:07.320 That is, that is no doubt.

00:27:09.720 It's so frustrating because you could spend six months just rigorously training your body,

00:27:16.740 you know, getting into shape.

00:27:18.600 And in six days, you'll lose it.

00:27:20.720 I'm like, that's not fair.

00:27:21.600 That's like when your mom or dad said, well, life's not fair.

00:27:24.060 That's one of the things, but I am, it's fascinating.

00:27:27.360 I'd never heard anybody talk about the idea of your position in space.

00:27:34.000 You know, I think about, I've got four kids and so my youngest, he's, he's almost 10.

00:27:38.680 He and I will go out and jump on the trampoline and it's like, okay, like, do you know how to,

00:27:44.140 like, do you know where you are?

00:27:45.360 Do you have control of your body?

00:27:46.620 And the other thing, I had this experience, Rudy, I did this.

00:27:49.520 I went skydiving last year, early last year for the first time.

00:27:53.540 It's in Iraq.

00:27:54.980 It's, uh, I have mixed reviews cause I'm, I was a little terrified and, uh, it was a good

00:28:01.960 experience, no doubt, but I was a little terrified.

00:28:04.880 And I told the guy, I was like, Hey, look, I probably am never going to do this again.

00:28:09.880 So I want to do front flips.

00:28:12.920 Like when we jump, like I want to do front flips off the plane.

00:28:16.380 He's like, are you serious?

00:28:17.380 I'm like, yeah, cause I'm never going to do this again.

00:28:21.100 And he's like, okay, here's what you do.

00:28:22.680 And he told me, and it was a tandem thing.

00:28:24.180 He told me, and I said, well, how do I know when I'm up or down?

00:28:28.380 And he was like, what do you mean?

00:28:29.540 I'm like, I don't like, how do I know?

00:28:31.360 He's like, what do you mean?

00:28:32.280 I'm like, I don't, I don't know if I'm up or down.

00:28:34.500 He's like, you'll know.

00:28:35.900 I'm like, will I?

00:28:36.840 And he's like, just, just spread your arms and legs out and your body will write itself.

00:28:42.300 That's right.

00:28:42.780 And I was like, okay.

00:28:43.500 And so I, I, you know, I did the flip and we did, I think two or three somersaults out

00:28:47.880 of the plane.

00:28:49.200 And sure enough, you know, spread my legs, spread my arms and the body righted itself.

00:28:52.660 And it kind of reminds me of what you're talking about.

00:28:54.520 Like, do you know where your body is at all times?

00:28:58.780 Yes.

00:28:59.400 Is this, oh, you know, uh, somebody who is, um, been more intellectually, um, and, uh, cerebrally

00:29:09.960 engaged with this concept and putting it forward in his training always has been Pat McNamara.

00:29:15.340 Oh yeah.

00:29:16.740 Pat and I have a lot in common.

00:29:18.540 And I feel like I am growing in his footsteps.

00:29:22.960 And we found these things by, um, by naturally, uh, by the ambient environment of being a warrior.

00:29:31.760 Uh, it requires so much from you.

00:29:34.400 You need to do hand to hand martial art.

00:29:37.640 And first, that means the brain, the body, and the nervous system must be capable.

00:29:44.560 Then after martial art, you are manipulating weapons like a martial, it becomes the martial

00:29:49.560 art to the weapon and the will.

00:29:51.060 Uh, we're both combat divers and, uh, combat, uh, paratroopers.

00:29:57.960 And, um, and when we're doing, uh, our immense underwater work or helocasting at a height from

00:30:06.600 the bird in the cover of darkness, when you hit that water and you're, and remember, we're

00:30:11.340 always so heavily laden, we are asking of our entire system, we're asking everything from

00:30:19.360 it.

00:30:20.080 And, uh, and that proprioception, understanding where your body and your mind is in space.

00:30:27.140 I believe as we get old, it is the, it is the battlefield of old age that we're going

00:30:33.960 to be fighting the most.

00:30:35.120 The battlefield arthritis, the battlefield against brain malaise, the bat, the battlefield

00:30:42.120 against, uh, loss of bone and muscle.

00:30:45.140 And, uh, and I believe that's the enemy that we fight through this very compact, very compound

00:30:51.180 the gestalt approach of Vesuvius man.

00:30:54.420 I mean, I'm thinking about it right now.

00:30:55.640 It's just give me an idea.

00:30:57.120 Vesuvius man.

00:30:58.060 Remember, uh, Vesuvius man notice it's in a circle and how the body is in a circle.

00:31:05.120 Um, I've got a really interesting experience when I went to Sparta, I was in Sparta to run

00:31:14.320 and teach this high-end Spartan race.

00:31:17.800 Um, it's called a Golgay.

00:31:19.760 So it's a spiritual.

00:31:21.560 I've done it.

00:31:23.080 Yo, you've done it.

00:31:23.880 Okay.

00:31:24.400 Okay.

00:31:24.880 I've done it.

00:31:25.500 I ran one.

00:31:26.800 I was one of the instructors in Sparta.

00:31:29.020 So, so I went to Sparta early to set up course and, uh, and Joe, uh, to say, uh, uh, organized

00:31:39.020 me to link up with the, uh, the curator and museum director of the, of the Sparta and Spartan

00:31:47.320 museum.

00:31:48.220 We're looking at, oh, sure.

00:31:49.800 We're looking at weapons.

00:31:50.760 And I'm fascinated by history because we're living in it.

00:31:53.700 You know, it's something really, really beautiful and something that is a living thing.

00:31:58.400 It's history.

00:31:59.820 And so I, I'm talking with the, uh, curator or old Greek.

00:32:04.720 And, uh, I talked about the physique that is built through, uh, task and through task.

00:32:12.300 The physique is built in balance through task.

00:32:17.200 And he said, um, well, the word fitness is a Greek word in a Greek, uh, a Greek concept.

00:32:26.020 Look at the Doric column.

00:32:28.560 Look how it's engineered perfectly to, um, hold up 20 times its weight.

00:32:35.460 The engineering of the Doric column.

00:32:38.500 Look at mankind.

00:32:40.320 When we, in ancient Greece, prepared our children for life, they did gymnastics, wrestling, and

00:32:49.720 weight training, resistance training.

00:32:54.440 We were so in love with the beauty that was created that we developed, our approach to looking

00:33:05.280 at you, if you are sound as a warrior or as an athlete, is that your forearms, your arms,

00:33:12.720 neck, calves, proportion is as symmetrical and proportioned as, um, the, the engineering of

00:33:21.140 a Doric column and fitness.

00:33:23.680 Fitness, the term comes with how the parts fit together.

00:33:29.080 And if they fit together in balance, that means that your athletics are true and that

00:33:36.320 you are true, that your proportions and how you fit together shows that with how you fit,

00:33:44.440 you can do any task.

00:33:46.400 How interesting fitness, how the parts fit together.

00:33:53.000 Men, I know you're enjoying the conversation.

00:33:54.800 I want to step away from it just briefly and then we'll get back to it.

00:33:57.480 I want to say that in the conversations I've had with other men, so many men are exhausted

00:34:01.720 and it's not because they're weak.

00:34:03.180 Um, it's because they're carrying weight that most of us as boys never really learned how

00:34:10.860 to shoulder.

00:34:12.180 It's the, it's the quiet pressure to perform, to provide, to hold it all together, to never

00:34:18.060 break.

00:34:18.420 And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but there's a lot on our shoulders

00:34:21.460 and somewhere along the way, comfort in modern times replaced challenge and the distractions

00:34:29.560 that we face replaced having direction and the isolation and loneliness that so many

00:34:35.840 men experience replaced brotherhood that we used to have.

00:34:38.800 And that's where the men's forge comes into play.

00:34:41.160 This is an event that we're doing April 23rd through 26th.

00:34:44.020 So we're about a month and a half, a little over a month and a half away.

00:34:46.680 It exists to burn all of that away.

00:34:48.900 It's not a conference.

00:34:50.280 It's not some, you know, kumbaya retreat.

00:34:52.720 It's a, it's a crucible.

00:34:54.740 Comfort's going to die.

00:34:56.320 The excuses that you've had, they will be exposed.

00:34:59.560 And men will hopefully, my, my idea and goal is to remember who they are when all of the

00:35:05.180 noise and nonsense is stripped out and the standards for yourself are improved.

00:35:10.720 They're raised.

00:35:11.760 And at the men's forge, you will be pushed physically, not to the breaking point, but

00:35:17.060 enough for you to wake up and see that you're capable of so much more.

00:35:19.980 You'll be challenged mentally.

00:35:21.580 You'll be confronted on a spiritual level.

00:35:24.040 Again, not to break you, but to refine you, to hone you into who you're meant to be.

00:35:27.220 It's a lot about what we're talking about on this conversation with Rudy.

00:35:30.840 You're going to sweat beside other men who refuse to drift.

00:35:34.300 You're going to build strength that serves you and your wife and your children and your

00:35:38.120 business and your community, all the places you want to serve.

00:35:40.560 And you're going to reconnect.

00:35:42.180 This is the most important thing.

00:35:43.860 Reconnect to a purpose beyond yourself.

00:35:46.640 Reconnect to other men who have your back and want to walk in this battle with you.

00:35:50.700 Reconnect to even a higher calling that demands, and it does, guys, demand more from you.

00:35:57.200 And then when you leave three and a half days later, you won't have just memories.

00:36:01.340 You're going to have clarity.

00:36:04.220 You're going to have conviction.

00:36:06.280 You're going to have direction in what you should be doing.

00:36:08.860 And you're also hopefully going to have a renewed commitment to lead yourself and your people well.

00:36:17.340 So that's April 23rd through 26th.

00:36:19.160 Hopefully, we'll see you there.

00:36:20.220 Go to themensforge.com.

00:36:22.260 We still have tickets, and I want to see you there.

00:36:25.480 Themensforge.com.

00:36:27.000 All right.

00:36:27.480 Let me get back to the conversation with Rudy.

00:36:30.560 That is interesting because I often think, you know, as you were saying that, and I'm taking notes,

00:36:35.900 and that's why I'm looking at my computer here, and I pulled up a quote.

00:36:37.820 I actually wanted to share this quote, and you've heard this, I'm sure, before.

00:36:40.720 But this is from Socrates.

00:36:41.800 He says, no man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training.

00:36:46.180 It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which the body is capable.

00:36:52.880 And as you were talking about that, I can't help but think that we have become a society of specialists.

00:36:58.240 So you look at the Olympics, for example, and you have the Winter Olympics, and you have figure skaters,

00:37:04.360 and you have skiers, and you have, what is it, shuffleboard.

00:37:09.620 And you have all these different skills.

00:37:13.560 And people have become specialists, but I think for the, I don't want to say ordinary guy, but the everyday man,

00:37:23.080 I'm not sure that specialization is the most effective way to go about our lives,

00:37:30.480 because it demands so much more than just blocking a 300-pound defensive lineman,

00:37:36.580 or, you know, skating on thin blades of metal and doing backflips.

00:37:42.240 Life's different than that.

00:37:44.940 To your point, brother, man, these are the concepts that I wrestle with and embrace every day,

00:37:50.700 every single freaking day.

00:37:53.800 Nature has taught us.

00:37:56.040 Observation has taught us.

00:37:58.800 Overspecialization leads to death of the species.

00:38:01.140 So, when a animal or plant becomes over-specialized and cannot adapt to the dynamic changes in the environment,

00:38:15.060 they die out.

00:38:16.920 Interesting.

00:38:17.960 So, to your point, over-specialization does exactly that.

00:38:22.900 Let's look at all those super high-end, over-specialized athletes.

00:38:26.620 By the time they're my age, the repetition, specifically in one area, their knees are gone,

00:38:33.460 their elbows are gone, their shoulders are gone, their back is gone.

00:38:36.800 Something is gone because of that.

00:38:39.760 The skiers, the knees are gone.

00:38:42.800 The boxers, the head is gone from the impact.

00:38:46.240 The rigorous requirement of excellence in one place, there's no way that the body can take

00:39:00.040 the stress over and over in one specific area to be from good to great.

00:39:05.360 Look at the shot putters, the hands, the wrist, right?

00:39:09.260 Just the one.

00:39:09.800 Look at the tennis players.

00:39:13.160 They only really use one arm, elbow, shoulder, rekt.

00:39:17.360 I mean, they call it tennis elbow, right?

00:39:19.280 So, obviously.

00:39:20.620 Oh, those baseball players, brother.

00:39:23.020 I imagine the torque it takes to be world-class there.

00:39:29.100 You know what?

00:39:30.160 When I started coaching, my clients, I started with wonderful people in Rancho Santa Fe,

00:39:37.780 and they were horsemen and golfers.

00:39:40.300 They were wealthy, and they loved me, and they plucked me out of the ethers of freaking

00:39:45.560 combat after Felicia, and they gave me work.

00:39:48.280 And I started training at the most elite country clubs in the world.

00:39:51.520 Then I traveled around the world with my clients.

00:39:55.540 They were – I noticed that the most damage and the most pain, the people that were in the

00:40:02.840 most pain that I had to do so much corrective combat yoga exercise for were golfers.

00:40:08.720 Really?

00:40:09.200 And that's not a combat sport, yet they were wrecked more than MMA guys because of the

00:40:16.640 torque and twist in one direction.

00:40:19.800 The constant torque and twist in one direction.

00:40:24.620 I don't know.

00:40:26.160 You might be too young to remember Way of the Peaceful Warrior.

00:40:29.260 Did you ever read that?

00:40:30.080 Uh, I have read that, but it's been –

00:40:33.880 30 years.

00:40:34.960 Very long – yeah, it's been a very long time.

00:40:37.340 Yeah, Dan Millman.

00:40:38.500 Well, he did a book also after that.

00:40:40.580 It's out of print for a long time.

00:40:42.140 It's called Warrior Athlete.

00:40:44.800 And very similar to the Chinese approach, in Chinese Kung Fu and martial art, and the

00:40:50.540 best thing about Kung Fu and martial art is the health.

00:40:54.600 It's not the fighting.

00:40:55.500 It's the health.

00:40:56.540 You do everything, both sides.

00:40:58.500 So, you know, as I fire that right hand, I fire the left hand.

00:41:02.920 Everything is balanced, both sides.

00:41:04.760 Everything kicks, always both sides.

00:41:06.840 Everything is balanced, both sides.

00:41:10.000 Because their approach to the world is that yin and yang.

00:41:14.900 Because in truth, it's in a school.

00:41:16.420 So, taking that to another level is that all movement is balanced with both sides.

00:41:22.960 And I think that's another reason, Ryan, why my health, longevity, and symmetry is quite

00:41:29.780 good considering all the damage I put myself through in sports and in combat.

00:41:34.340 I mean, not to mention the cognitive ability that comes with that as well.

00:41:40.300 You talked about Alzheimer's, and I'm sure we can get into the studies and things like

00:41:43.400 that.

00:41:43.800 But it seems to me that somebody who continues to exercise their brain is somebody who's

00:41:48.740 going to be less susceptible to brain.

00:41:51.360 That's just not the right term, but brain atrophy.

00:41:54.780 Totally.

00:41:55.440 You can say?

00:41:55.900 Oh, absolutely.

00:41:56.940 Well, remember, we are on a system, brother, that over time degrades.

00:42:02.240 And yet, sometimes I get insecure because I'm still competing at the highest level in entertainment,

00:42:09.900 which is the hardest and most difficult arena to compete in.

00:42:14.800 It's so difficult, brother.

00:42:17.400 First of all, it's so difficult to get there.

00:42:20.180 And it was by grace of God that I ended up in this business that I didn't even know it

00:42:24.900 existed.

00:42:25.840 I thought it was just like artists got together.

00:42:27.680 I'm not from California or New York.

00:42:29.020 How would I know that it is an entire business and it's an entire industry?

00:42:33.660 I had no idea.

00:42:35.000 And then when I get in and then I get a foothold, and from that foothold now I've created a

00:42:39.180 beachhead.

00:42:39.640 Now I'm into the hinterland.

00:42:41.340 I've had my five seasons.

00:42:42.460 This is coming up to five seasons on Special Forces.

00:42:44.700 I've done nine for SAS.

00:42:47.160 I do them back to back.

00:42:48.200 I'm working on a new thing with another really big network for my own show.

00:42:52.280 To stay in the fight mentally, physically, spiritually, and to have that energy and be able to walk

00:43:04.440 into the most dangerous rooms in the world.

00:43:08.120 Why?

00:43:08.740 Because you are being perceived and absorbed absolutely as a resource only, absolutely as

00:43:17.240 a commodity, commodity with the conscience.

00:43:22.200 The difficulty to do that is very hard, brother.

00:43:25.400 The industry powerhouses that I work with and work around are not exactly like us.

00:43:33.120 They don't have our mental and emotional and spiritual framework.

00:43:37.460 How does that sit with you?

00:43:44.080 Because I know you.

00:43:45.300 I watch Special Forces.

00:43:46.980 Me and my oldest, we watch together.

00:43:49.320 And I see you.

00:43:50.660 And it's you.

00:43:51.760 It is you.

00:43:52.960 But also, it's not totally you.

00:43:56.340 It's not.

00:43:56.940 It's Sergeant Reyes.

00:43:58.360 It's Sergeant Reyes.

00:43:58.980 Yes.

00:43:59.000 Okay, great.

00:43:59.800 Good.

00:44:00.060 I'm glad we could talk about this.

00:44:01.360 Yeah, it's Sergeant Reyes.

00:44:03.120 But you can see also, I'm sure you've witnessed it, that the whole me still wants to come out

00:44:10.820 and comes out sometimes, the whole me.

00:44:14.060 And it's-

00:44:14.460 I can see a level of empathy that sneaks through, that you wouldn't exactly think should or is

00:44:22.780 supposed to, but I can see it.

00:44:24.720 Yes.

00:44:25.300 Yes, it does.

00:44:26.560 It does.

00:44:27.380 It always does, because that's who I am.

00:44:29.480 And also, I remember when I was going through my very difficult trials and how alone it

00:44:37.480 was.

00:44:38.480 And it's never far from me.

00:44:41.440 It has informed me and basically in my cellular structure of trials and tribulation and selection.

00:44:50.640 And we go through many selections in life.

00:44:52.780 On Special Forces and SAS, I'm Sergeant Reyes, and I know to be the most benevolent and to

00:45:01.100 be the most humanistic and empathetic, not, okay, benevolent and humanistic, not empathetic.

00:45:09.740 To be the most benevolent and humanistic, I must forge these recruits on a hard anvil.

00:45:16.240 Because only through the hard anvil and stakes and punishing after effects for anything done

00:45:28.060 less than excellent, that's the only way they will grow.

00:45:32.320 That's the only way that they will grow.

00:45:36.340 And all of the recruits of all the seasons that I've done, they all stay in touch with

00:45:41.720 me, and they've all been changed for the better.

00:45:45.300 So on Special Forces, I am Sergeant Reyes.

00:45:51.220 And sometimes the world doesn't get to see the full me, and that's okay, because that's

00:45:57.800 what I'm going to be doing in my new program.

00:45:59.860 The world will see a little bit more of the whole Rudy Reyes, because that's who I am.

00:46:05.880 I'm a whole human being.

00:46:06.900 And that's who people are drawn to, that's what I'm drawn to.

00:46:12.340 Thanks, bro.

00:46:13.460 Thanks, bro.

00:46:14.000 But you're exactly right.

00:46:16.100 You can see it's a hard anvil that I'm beating the steel of these human beings on.

00:46:23.420 And still yet, amongst the four of us, I still innately am loving and compassionate, innately.

00:46:33.740 I actually see it in all of the instructors, and maybe I look at it a little differently,

00:46:41.540 but I see it.

00:46:42.320 They're badass.

00:46:43.520 You're all badasses.

00:46:45.280 We can't question that.

00:46:47.220 But I see a little bit.

00:46:48.200 I had an experience in 1999.

00:46:51.540 I was in basic training with two of my buddies from high school.

00:46:55.300 And I don't remember his name, but it was a drill sergeant, and he was a hard ass, man.

00:46:59.500 He was hard on us.

00:47:00.980 He was tough on us.

00:47:01.720 He wasn't unreasonable.

00:47:03.640 You know, he wasn't unnecessarily a dick or anything, but he was tough on us.

00:47:07.000 And we graduated basic training.

00:47:08.760 We were about to head out to AIT, advanced individual training.

00:47:12.480 And he came up to us, and it was cold.

00:47:15.700 We were in Fort Seal, Oklahoma.

00:47:16.980 It was cold, maybe December or something.

00:47:19.300 And I remember this vividly.

00:47:20.800 He came up to us, and he took his glove off, and he extended his hand, which is not a thing where, you know, drill sergeants shake hands with privates.

00:47:30.580 And he extended his hand, and I shook his hand.

00:47:33.000 He's like, hey, I just want you to know.

00:47:35.480 He said this.

00:47:35.920 I'll never forget this.

00:47:36.580 I was a hard ass on you guys because I love you guys.

00:47:40.680 That's right.

00:47:42.660 That's right.

00:47:43.940 I, you know, it's so, you're exactly correct.

00:47:47.320 One of my teammates in Recon who's so ridiculously belligerent and just the biggest asshole in the world, also because he's the most loving person, too.

00:48:00.500 He says, wow, you have the ultimate job.

00:48:06.060 You get to make supermodels and actors and athletes cry.

00:48:10.020 You're thrashing people and humiliating them.

00:48:12.840 Oh, you must be so happy.

00:48:15.280 Humiliating the elite bullshit culture of Instagram and movies and sport.

00:48:27.200 And I said, actually, I see it completely differently.

00:48:33.120 I respect each and every one of these people so much because they did not go through, Ryan, our indoctrination.

00:48:41.560 We willingly gave up ourselves to be indoctrinated and sacrificed our individuality to go and give ourselves to a larger, made a narrative called the military.

00:48:55.180 These people don't have any of that.

00:48:57.200 And to jump into the freaking field and in combat conditions with us doing real tasks.

00:49:03.160 I respect them all so much for in their 30s or 40s, sometimes like Carrie Hart, 50 years old, to trust me, to be in my hand, to follow me through the darkness, through the caverns, through the soul.

00:49:26.060 Because they're going to have that moment of truth through this course.

00:49:30.340 I find it a beautiful and respectful experience.

00:49:36.880 Also, knowing that these are key leaders in their realms and millions upon millions follow these people, that the change is transformational in them and who they are now affecting is casting that net wider and wider.

00:49:56.000 Like a quantum effect, it is now hitting a tipping point and it's touching so many people.

00:50:02.520 So I take the work very seriously.

00:50:04.760 It's a massive honor that of all American magnificent fighting men and women that they chose me to represent America in a global course.

00:50:13.980 It's not lost on me what an honor it is.

00:50:16.940 And that is why I give myself to it with everything that I have.

00:50:20.160 Well, I mean, I got to say, you know, obviously we're friends and we've got, we've got history and experience, but as somebody who watches what you do, you're a great representative.

00:50:29.500 And I just, I hope you know that.

00:50:31.460 And I want to tell you that because when I see you do that, I'm like, man, that is the guy right there.

00:50:36.160 Like that is the guy.

00:50:37.320 The one that stands out to me is Mike Piazza.

00:50:42.320 I mean, I, dude, I grew up watching him play baseball as a kid and he was like my hero.

00:50:47.600 And then to watch him on special forces, special forces, right?

00:50:51.880 Yeah.

00:50:52.060 Special forces.

00:50:53.520 Um, man, I loved it.

00:50:55.220 You take an or not, not, he's not an ordinary guy.

00:50:57.740 Like he's an elite level athlete.

00:50:59.860 He's one of the greatest of all time.

00:51:02.620 Go through that struggle, put himself in an uncomfortable situation.

00:51:06.640 I love that season.

00:51:08.160 That was a great season.

00:51:09.220 It was that first season because remember the Americans didn't know how it was going to go.

00:51:13.620 And it's a British production.

00:51:14.940 You know what we do is excellent.

00:51:16.560 But the, uh, the Fox executives were there on scene at all times, right?

00:51:22.340 Cause it's, uh, it's production brother.

00:51:24.840 It's, you know, $70 million, a hundred million dollar production.

00:51:28.740 There's a lot on the line.

00:51:30.320 And that Piazza, when it got to the milling, the boxing, the fighting, he fought three dudes.

00:51:38.300 He was in the spirit world.

00:51:40.900 And we'd already been crushing this crew for freaking 10 days.

00:51:45.220 His eyes all swollen up.

00:51:47.400 Remember he got smashed in the gas chamber just before.

00:51:50.380 And he's out there on the freaking razor's edge.

00:51:55.320 Letting it all hang out.

00:51:57.200 And he's a world champion and respected and loved around the world.

00:52:00.260 And he had the grace and the guts to do that so that his kids could watch and see him as the warrior and apex and, and courageous man that he is not just teddy bear father at home.

00:52:17.980 It was absolutely fantastic, brother.

00:52:21.280 Uh, how could we not, us DS, the directing staff, we're moved by our recruits as well.

00:52:26.400 We're moved by them.

00:52:27.600 We're, you see us back channel when we're in the hooch.

00:52:30.460 Um, we're cheering them on.

00:52:33.340 We're cheering them on.

00:52:34.780 They don't see that.

00:52:36.700 But amongst, amongst each other, when we're doing our hot wash and our prayers, uh, every night, you remember, we're always in, uh, the, uh, prayer room with the photographs up top.

00:52:47.420 And then we go down the line, each DS for each recruit and what they've accomplished, what they've done amazing, what they're vulnerable, uh, to, and then we collectively decide who we're going to bring in for tactical questioning.

00:53:00.360 Sometimes, sometimes it's a chuck up to get them fired up and, uh, back into the field.

00:53:05.720 Other times we see excellence dormant in them and we want to drive harder on them.

00:53:12.700 Uh, we want the best for these recruits.

00:53:14.600 So I think that's, uh, why special forces is, uh, really, really resonating through the country and the world is that it is actually a human revelation and human development show masquerading as on the surface, a military selection.

00:53:30.780 It really is about human development and our connection as human beings.

00:53:34.320 Because look at how many people connect to these superstars in their realms, um, in their fields.

00:53:40.340 Uh, and now they are forever changed in a positive way.

00:53:43.060 Mike Piazza has come to force blue, Billy Billingham comes out to force blue, my veteran nonprofit, rebuilding coral reefs and doing ocean conservation with combat divers and amphib warriors.

00:53:52.900 Um, it's been, it really, really something special, uh, Kerry Hart and that Brody Jenner and I are still very close.

00:54:00.000 I'll tell you what, Ryan, that Brody Jenner, he would have been a fine soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine.

00:54:08.160 He's 42 years old.

00:54:10.700 He looked like he was 25.

00:54:14.260 Everything he succeeded.

00:54:16.160 He shared the praise amongst the cohort, amongst the squad.

00:54:20.740 Anytime he failed, he took all the responsibility himself.

00:54:24.700 That young man was an inspiration to me.

00:54:27.680 It was an inspiration to train that young man.

00:54:29.920 And no wonder he's made such an asset, uh, to his, he's made such an asset of himself, to his family, to his business, to his community.

00:54:37.520 Really special guy.

00:54:38.760 I say the same thing about Mr. Kerry Hart as well.

00:54:41.260 Those two always stand out in my, in my mind, as well as Piazza, as well as Amendola.

00:54:46.380 Um, and then let's not even get started on how absolutely, um, tough, what grit and graft the women put out on that course.

00:54:56.100 No doubt.

00:54:56.920 No doubt.

00:54:57.380 I mean, I've seen some women on the show and I'm like, oh, okay, we'll see how this goes.

00:55:00.960 And then I'm like, okay, like I'm actually impressed.

00:55:04.480 These are some pretty tough women.

00:55:05.880 Like I'm actually really impressed.

00:55:08.140 Yeah.

00:55:08.600 That little Sean Johnson on this last season, brother, she's only four foot 10.

00:55:12.660 Um, she's not even five foot, uh, five foot and that stoic Olympian gold medalist brought

00:55:22.220 to bear such toughness, warrior energy.

00:55:24.840 And as the Brits say, the get on with it attitude, it was just impressive to see.

00:55:30.620 No wonder she's a world champion many times over an Olympic champion.

00:55:33.560 Also strangely and wonderfully that tough Italian American from Jersey, Gia Jadus.

00:55:40.540 She was the child that grew up in real housewives of New Jersey.

00:55:45.880 This kid, her dad has gone to prison.

00:55:50.020 She raised her little, um, her, her little, uh, sister, um, when dad was in prison and mom

00:55:56.960 was struggling, she was 24 years old, I think.

00:56:00.140 And we thought she was vulnerable every day that today with this is the last day for her.

00:56:06.260 But instead she continued to get stronger mentally.

00:56:09.400 This was an opportunity being away from her mother, being away from the environment in

00:56:13.600 New Jersey and really just being in the moment and being present for the first time, uh, for

00:56:19.120 herself and her metamorphosis has been magnificent to see really amazing.

00:56:26.120 You know, Rudy, one of the things that you said a minute ago was when you'd bring people

00:56:30.960 in for, I can't remember the exact term you use, but let's just say evaluation, tactical

00:56:35.520 questioning.

00:56:36.960 Um, you said sometimes it was to draw something out of them.

00:56:40.300 Sometimes it was to push them or let them see something that they maybe didn't necessarily

00:56:45.600 see in themselves.

00:56:46.420 How do you, a lot of, let me, let me back up for just a second.

00:56:50.640 A lot of the men listening to this podcast and who are tapped into what we're doing here

00:56:54.040 are trying to lead effectively, whether it's in the walls of their home or the boardroom

00:56:57.580 or out in their communities and politics, they're trying to lead well.

00:57:00.840 How do you decipher what you, I'll call them your people.

00:57:06.680 So those people are under your care.

00:57:08.140 So those are your people, you know, my family, those are my, they're under my care.

00:57:11.320 So they're my people, how do you decipher what they need in the moment to get them back

00:57:17.600 in the game and get their head, right?

00:57:21.240 I always revert to the pillars that have held true to me to go forward and their per it's

00:57:33.500 purpose, connection to a higher cause, and it must bring in the God element.

00:57:43.260 It is also disillusionment with self precedes enlightenment.

00:57:49.700 The only way to be disillusioned of yourself is to push beyond your physical capacity.

00:57:57.060 Now your identity, even though this is happening subconsciously, your identity no longer is your

00:58:05.540 physical self, your identity, and if you've moved beyond your physical self, being present

00:58:12.000 under this kind of dynamic condition and still expected to execute, perform, that is subconsciously

00:58:22.340 breaking down the shells and the roles that we think we are, that actually, as my acting coach said,

00:58:33.480 is just a freaking plate in front of you, your mask in front of you.

00:58:39.360 Nobody in, nobody in movies and nobody in TV is interested in looking at your mask.

00:58:45.080 This doesn't sell.

00:58:46.740 Why?

00:58:47.120 Because it's not true.

00:58:48.100 So, subconsciously, we are very savvy observers, human beings.

00:58:53.760 This is a mask.

00:58:56.980 If you are throwing yourself deep into the fray, the disillusionment with self precedes

00:59:02.780 enlightenment and that becomes a practice, now we are pursuing truth.

00:59:08.700 And if we're pursuing truth, you and I, Ryan, we will easily be able to

00:59:13.100 navigate and decipher what our people, what our family, what our kingdom, what they need

00:59:22.120 from us.

00:59:24.260 In general, what I observe to be true is that we must be physically, mentally, and spiritually

00:59:30.340 strong, character-driven stuff.

00:59:33.100 We must constantly improve ourselves with work and money and business, which has only been

00:59:39.300 new to me in the last five years, because with resources, resources do not have a ethic,

00:59:47.160 a code, or a spirituality.

00:59:49.620 They are simply energy blocks.

00:59:52.200 It's amoral.

00:59:53.080 That's all it is.

00:59:53.640 It's amoral.

00:59:54.460 It's how you deploy it.

00:59:55.700 It is like energon from the Transformers.

00:59:58.640 We need energon to be powerful in our lives.

01:00:02.600 And when we are powerful in our lives, we are reflecting values to our kids, to our wife,

01:00:09.100 to our community, to our brothers.

01:00:10.740 We're reflecting values because we're truly living it.

01:00:13.880 And this is gone.

01:00:16.080 We know people, you and I know people, even in the sport and strength world, that this

01:00:21.820 is who they are.

01:00:22.920 They've got the mask in front, whether the mask is the body, whether the mask is the

01:00:27.960 championship trophies, but it's a mask.

01:00:32.500 And they don't exactly resonate with us.

01:00:35.400 Look at our Bosco brotherhood and look at Bert and our crew there and the Woodskis and

01:00:41.280 the Jen Wiederstroms and the Gunnar Petersons.

01:00:44.780 What makes us all seek to find each other every year is because those people, they do not

01:00:51.460 have the Brandon Lilly.

01:00:53.360 He threw away his mask from being the strongest man in the world.

01:00:56.580 Brandon Lilly is so much more engaging, so much more beautiful.

01:01:00.280 He wears colors now.

01:01:03.000 When we remove the mask, brother, it's the bravest and most warrior thing to do.

01:01:07.640 And it starts making effects in everything we do.

01:01:11.440 That is what I would encourage our men to think about and to really, really, you know,

01:01:17.320 chew on and try to digest.

01:01:20.660 We see it in our military community too.

01:01:22.960 You know how sacred our military experience is to us.

01:01:28.560 It's sacred.

01:01:30.120 And in all of anthropological history, there's never been men like us that fall through the

01:01:40.920 clouds from airplanes that leave submarines underwater on the cover of darkness and with rebreathers

01:01:50.880 move hard to the beaches to see close air support.

01:01:56.580 These things are the very latest sliver of all military history and culture, from Sumeria, from the Greeks, from the Romans, to the Knights, to Genghis.

01:02:11.060 All of that now we're at this level.

01:02:14.060 It is a very sacred and mythological place that we're in.

01:02:20.160 It means so much to us that we often cannot let go of the body armor that served us so well and has been so generational for our hearts and minds, our souls.

01:02:37.980 Many of us have witnessed so much death.

01:02:39.980 Some of us have taken lives.

01:02:42.500 And some of us have seen our brothers' lives expire.

01:02:45.100 We are, we've experienced things like our young, our young warriors leaving widows and children.

01:02:57.120 All the while, you know, I've never been to a single funeral because I was always fighting out there.

01:03:02.620 So I didn't go to funerals.

01:03:04.080 And I've yet to go to the grave sites because I'm afraid that it will really, really affect me.

01:03:11.180 Because I like to think of my brothers still alive because I still talk to them in my dreams.

01:03:15.880 And I have their totems and pictures everywhere.

01:03:21.500 It is difficult for us to take off that military t-shirt.

01:03:27.080 Or, you know, sometimes we conduct ourselves layered in the body armor of this sacred time in our lives.

01:03:37.260 Both beautiful and profane.

01:03:39.520 Both beautiful and profane.

01:03:42.080 We're getting older, gentlemen.

01:03:44.240 Of course, we've still got to know how to fight.

01:03:45.940 We've still got to know how to shoot.

01:03:47.280 We still have to make ourselves a warrior, strong.

01:03:50.580 We still must have endurance.

01:03:53.840 However, some of the most, possibly the bravest thing that we can do now,

01:03:59.020 the bravest, most warrior, most on the freaking razor's edge thing we can do,

01:04:03.080 is open up our hearts and choose to expand a little bit our consciousness and our way of thinking to listen to what our family needs.

01:04:17.280 And we make changes.

01:04:21.480 We make changes.

01:04:22.100 We make changes.

01:04:24.720 I was stuck.

01:04:28.380 I would have changed for a while.

01:04:29.780 I was so upset and angry and saddened after my service because I couldn't.

01:04:37.340 But when I saw the vehicles being driven in Iraq or vehicles being driven in Iraq by ISIS,

01:04:46.120 I had a fracture in my heart and in my soul because the greatest thing I'd ever done is be a recon Marine.

01:04:55.020 And that service now, as I'm looking at it, I won every battle and I lost two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq.

01:05:02.320 I was very low because I still had my armor on and that's all I thought I was.

01:05:09.540 When I, after I lost my son and I was in a really bad way,

01:05:15.740 when you all first got me at Bosco Brotherhood and at Sorenex,

01:05:20.860 that was my very beginning of me coming back.

01:05:25.020 And I dropped the mask.

01:05:29.640 I dropped the armor, threw myself back into service with force blow,

01:05:33.980 got clean, got sober, which was really hard to do.

01:05:42.740 And then poured into being the most wholesome person I can be.

01:05:47.940 And then strangely, of course, my career came back bigger than ever.

01:05:52.680 I now have my son in my life.

01:05:54.740 I live 10 minutes from him.

01:05:56.360 I go to all of his games and spend time with him in his grandparents' house and can take care of him.

01:06:02.140 And he can do whatever he wants with me.

01:06:04.580 The family has been healed.

01:06:06.300 I love Pamela and her husband, Chad.

01:06:10.480 Their three children call me Papa Rudy.

01:06:13.160 They don't call me Uncle Rudy.

01:06:14.360 I am part of the family with Dr. Carlos and Grace Yu.

01:06:19.580 It has come full circle because I was willing to put down the armor.

01:06:24.140 I was willing to put down the mask of Sergeant Reyes.

01:06:27.620 I was willing to put down the mask of anger and sadness and the confusion that I was not perfect in the warrior transition.

01:06:35.440 And now I've never been better in my life, brother.

01:06:39.220 This has been the best Rudy Reyes to ever exist.

01:06:42.060 Not in my teens, not in my 20s, not when I was a commando.

01:06:45.500 No, those were elements that have brought me here.

01:06:49.220 I'm the best I've ever been now.

01:06:51.680 So we men out there, especially as strong guys, remember, the strength needs to be for the family and the community, not an armor or a face to keep the family and community away, to keep society away.

01:07:05.880 Let's inform ourselves to be as courageous and have the character to truly lead from the front in the frontier of life, which now as we're in middle age, is emotional and spiritual intelligence, is fiscal intelligence, is the hard-fought disciplines to keep the system, horse saddle man, at high optimum so that we can continue to make change, protect, provide.

01:07:36.080 And empower for the rest of our lives.

01:07:38.560 I feel that we're just getting started.

01:07:40.420 I feel that I am in a new chapter of my life.

01:07:43.740 And this chapter, I am going to bring to bear even more vigor, even more insight.

01:07:49.780 And I know where I'm going now.

01:07:52.440 And let's say I don't.

01:07:54.280 Let's say I get lost.

01:07:56.180 I'm not worried because the headlights on my vehicle are high tuned and see far.

01:08:02.500 And wherever my headlights hit, I'll be able to see where that road goes.

01:08:05.880 And I'll be able to get right back on that road.

01:08:07.980 I'm not afraid of it.

01:08:08.940 I'm not afraid of a damn thing anymore.

01:08:11.360 I know you will, man.

01:08:12.500 And I'm so glad you're talking about this because I've seen, you know, like even the military, just to talk about that for a minute, the capability and the power and the capability, yeah, of what we do as a military fighting force.

01:08:25.920 You've seen what we've done in Venezuela recently and Iran more recently.

01:08:29.680 It's incredible.

01:08:30.640 And then you see these guys come home and it's actually pretty hard, whether it's military service or just going out into the workforce on a daily basis to separate yourself from what you do.

01:08:46.420 Yeah.

01:08:46.940 And how much tangible or physical value that you offer to the world.

01:08:53.120 And so you think, man, if I stop offering – I felt this way.

01:08:55.680 I still feel this way today.

01:08:57.120 If I stop offering tangible value, whether it's to my children or my family or the people that I love or my clients, the guys who are listening to this podcast, then I'm worthless.

01:09:07.580 And I hate feeling like that, but it's a rough struggle, man.

01:09:11.920 It is, brother.

01:09:13.480 You know what?

01:09:14.000 The samurai and all warrior cultures, to include our own, are shame-based.

01:09:19.740 They're shame-based and it's for good reason because if it does not hurt so bad to fail and to fall short, the lesson could be lost and therefore down the road lives will be lost.

01:09:35.840 So with that shame, the lesson is retained.

01:09:41.920 It becomes a visceral experience for us to get more clever, work harder, work smarter, and bring to bear more assets so that we are successful next time.

01:09:52.940 But there is a dark side to that as well.

01:09:56.420 That is that – what you're just expressing is that we are never enough.

01:10:00.940 We are never enough.

01:10:02.040 And how I'm dealing with that, maybe this is, you know, this is the spiritual piece is I've accepted that I never will be enough and that that is the road to enlightenment, disillusionment with self.

01:10:22.620 This is a bigger thing.

01:10:23.740 And maybe I believe that we will find, us knights and us kings, we will find that peace in heaven.

01:10:33.580 We have glimpses of it through our children and through our families and through our community when we are outside of ourselves and we are an element in a larger story.

01:10:45.980 Those are the pieces of harmony and the states of grace and peace that we witness and then become invigorating for us or fill our hearts.

01:10:58.180 Because I've accepted that I've accepted that I will never be enough on this planet because this planet is not designed for me to be enough.

01:11:06.840 This planet is designed for me to quicken me, to make myself more intelligent and powerful, make myself more humble and human.

01:11:17.180 And that's what I'm here to do.

01:11:18.440 So if we could teach our men out there and share with them that it's all right to not be enough, because that may be the whole purpose of this existence on this realm, is to prepare ourselves when we go to heaven.

01:11:33.020 And that's fine.

01:11:34.460 That's fine.

01:11:35.820 That's how I deal with it.

01:11:37.460 Because listen, brother, the physiology, it's dying.

01:11:42.300 I'm 54.

01:11:43.000 I think I'm going to make it another 50 years at least.

01:11:47.200 But still, it's still only 50.

01:11:48.720 And I don't think that's very long.

01:11:50.960 Because I look back at those years before, it went by like that.

01:11:54.400 So fast.

01:11:55.760 So fast.

01:11:56.920 Right?

01:11:57.740 So I hear you on that.

01:12:00.120 Now, the other, and now let's get positive and proactive about that.

01:12:03.620 The positive is this.

01:12:05.600 Since you know this existence out here is the battlefield of life and it's designed to retreat you and you're never enough.

01:12:13.780 Then damn sure, let's not help it beat ourselves down.

01:12:18.240 Let's empower ourselves for that fight.

01:12:21.740 Let's please be mindful of negative self-talk.

01:12:25.220 Let's get that out of there.

01:12:26.980 We would, Ryan, if we're down and out and struggling, you know, with relationship or the freaking business crashes and burns, which is the hardest for us men.

01:12:37.520 Because we really are programmed at the cellular level to provide.

01:12:44.540 Or we're injured.

01:12:45.800 Us athletes, when we get really injured, we get down.

01:12:48.980 All our veterans that have lost identity and purpose out of the military, they get down.

01:12:54.720 We call each other.

01:12:57.320 At my lowest time, if I called you, Ryan, said, I'm really struggling, brother.

01:13:04.740 I'm not feeling really good about this.

01:13:06.380 And I'm thinking about maybe that life's not worth living.

01:13:09.120 The last thing you would do is just beat me down and say you're a piece of shit.

01:13:16.420 You'd say, no, bro.

01:13:17.740 Come on.

01:13:18.400 You're doing amazing, my man.

01:13:20.060 Do you realize all the freaking lives you're touching?

01:13:22.220 Come on, my man.

01:13:23.120 Now, let's look at that lesson, how we talk to ourselves.

01:13:27.920 Why the hell do we look in the mirror and say, you shitbag.

01:13:31.140 You're not worth a damn thing.

01:13:33.520 God, you used to be somebody and now you're nothing.

01:13:36.220 Well, look at you.

01:13:37.440 Look at you now.

01:13:38.600 You should be embarrassed with yourself.

01:13:41.140 Brother, we need to turn that around.

01:13:42.800 We would never talk to each other like that when we're in need.

01:13:45.820 Why do we talk to ourselves that way?

01:13:47.880 That needs to change.

01:13:51.020 I love it, man.

01:13:52.060 I love it.

01:13:52.500 Rudy.

01:13:53.920 Man, we could go forever.

01:13:55.780 Tell me how to connect with you.

01:13:58.800 Obviously, you've got Special Forces SAS.

01:14:02.000 You've got Force Blue coming up.

01:14:04.460 You've sent me some videos.

01:14:05.520 I'm like, this is amazing.

01:14:06.340 This guy's amazing.

01:14:07.660 The stuff that you do is so cool.

01:14:10.820 How do we connect with you and learn a little bit more about what you got going on, man?

01:14:14.360 You know what?

01:14:15.060 I've got a website that's got a little bio and some films on there, just rudyreyes.com.

01:14:19.340 But really, I would say jump on Instagram.

01:14:22.500 And mine is authentic.

01:14:25.080 Like, you know, mine's really just me.

01:14:27.840 Really go for it because I care about my people, my community.

01:14:31.460 And through Instagram, I started this online training business.

01:14:34.320 And you know what?

01:14:35.020 You know what my prices are?

01:14:36.500 Are you ready for this, Ryan?

01:14:38.080 Online, live.

01:14:39.240 Training with me.

01:14:40.320 I'm freaking giving you the freaking warrior Shaolin, Spartan, and freaking paladin knight knowledge that I have built through life.

01:14:51.380 I'm pouring it into you and I'm trying to write with you in my living room or out in the field.

01:14:55.900 Because I've done counterterror and counterpoaching and because I've worked and fought in battlefields around the world and I have seen true poverty and I've seen children who look up to me.

01:15:09.740 I started teaching at a Kenyan orphanage, their karate program, when I was there working, doing counterterror and poaching.

01:15:18.100 And I still support them financially to travel all around the country and the world to compete.

01:15:24.300 I'm thinking about that 15-year-old Kenyan boy.

01:15:30.560 He wants to take himself to the next level.

01:15:33.960 Thinking about the kids in Mongolia who want to take themselves to the next level.

01:15:38.220 The little girl in soon-to-be Kurdistan, that northern Iraqi girl that's 20 years old and wants to make herself stronger.

01:15:49.040 And I'm thinking about that, you know, they make $2,000 a year is what they're making.

01:15:53.240 So I charge two tiers, $10, $10 a month.

01:15:58.680 And then $40, you get even more interaction in you.

01:16:02.760 But actually the truth, I just pour into everybody.

01:16:06.020 $10 a month so that anybody and everybody, especially our veteran community too, that gains weight afterwards because they drink too much afterwards, because they're depressed afterwards, which I understand because I've been there.

01:16:16.500 That they can access that freaking superpower, Rudeoactive, which by the way, I don't own.

01:16:24.380 It's coming from God and it's coming from God, brother.

01:16:27.380 I didn't get to, God said, Rudy, you're going to be born in America.

01:16:31.060 I'll tell you, if I was not born in America, I would not be the man standing before you.

01:16:35.260 The United States of America has given me every asset in the world.

01:16:37.840 So you get on my Rudeoactive through IG, it's $10 a month.

01:16:43.380 And I inform you with bands, with weights, with body weight, and most importantly, an inspiration that you individually for stepping into the dojo, stepping into the freaking warrior class.

01:16:57.240 You yourself are a brave, badass, to be respected warrior.

01:17:05.260 And I'm very proud of this.

01:17:07.720 And it's not about the money.

01:17:08.700 I make a little bit of money, which helps for the kids.

01:17:10.960 But it's really about the impact.

01:17:13.000 It's not the money, it's the impact.

01:17:14.600 And for that reason, that's why I'm doing these bigger things now where the money is coming in even stronger.

01:17:19.760 It's interesting.

01:17:21.320 Isn't that wild?

01:17:21.880 Having one word and one spirit and showing up into every environment as your very best becomes a value that we could have never imagined just on our own.

01:17:34.800 It's just the parable of the talents in work.

01:17:38.620 You know, it's like you go out and you hide and you shelter all your talents and you, you know, wallow in your own self-pity, then you're not going to be blessed with anything because there's nothing to magnify there.

01:17:49.960 But if you go out and spread who you are and share your light and share your experiences for the betterment of people, then God will gift you with everything that you need to do more of that.

01:17:59.800 That's right, brother.

01:18:00.700 Because he damn sure has gifted us with those hard times.

01:18:03.200 Yeah, absolutely.

01:18:04.720 Plenty, plentiful on the hard times.

01:18:07.420 Yeah, brother.

01:18:07.940 Those hard times galvanize us.

01:18:10.040 And now, look, we're in our middle age and we're still fired up and excited and sharing.

01:18:13.840 Remember when we were little kids, there were very few men like us that could share because the burden of manhood was so intense.

01:18:23.800 They barely had anything left to share.

01:18:26.500 And here we are at this frontier.

01:18:28.740 It's incredible.

01:18:30.840 Yeah, man.

01:18:31.480 Well, we're going to sync everything up.

01:18:32.760 Rudy, I love you, brother.

01:18:33.640 Man, I've really enjoyed our relationship and getting to know you and our interactions.

01:18:37.660 We don't interact enough, but man, every time we do, I'm uplifted.

01:18:40.740 I'm inspired.

01:18:41.300 I know the guys will be as well, and I appreciate you.

01:18:43.840 I thank you, Ryan.

01:18:45.460 Absolutely, brother.

01:18:46.580 And remember, last thing, when you look in that mirror, the mission is that when that reflection, when you catch the eyes of that reflection, you respect that reflection.

01:18:59.980 You admire that reflection, and you have confidence and faith in that reflection.

01:19:06.100 Do whatever it takes in life to get to that place.

01:19:10.160 I love it.

01:19:11.260 We'll leave it there, brother.

01:19:12.100 Thanks for joining me today.

01:19:12.920 Thank you, brother.

01:19:14.340 We'll talk soon, Ryan.

01:19:15.280 Thank you, brother.

01:19:17.660 Gentlemen, the one and only Rudy Reyes.

01:19:20.520 I mean, you can't say enough about this guy.

01:19:22.620 I love this guy.

01:19:24.360 I met him years ago at an event with Sornex and another great company that we work with, American Manufacturing, again.

01:19:31.260 And man, Rudy is the best.

01:19:33.540 His attitude is infectious.

01:19:35.320 I talked about that in the podcast.

01:19:36.460 The way he thinks about things is weird and interesting and unique, and I like that.

01:19:42.480 I want people in my life who think about things differently and improve my life.

01:19:46.000 So please make sure to check out Force Blue, which is the conservation efforts he's doing to rebuild coral reefs.

01:19:53.600 Check out Special Forces and SAS.

01:19:56.420 I believe those are on HBO.

01:19:59.520 Don't quote me on that.

01:20:00.340 But incredible.

01:20:01.700 We talked a little bit about him on podcast.

01:20:03.340 Incredible, incredible shows that, as he said, go beyond just entertainment.

01:20:07.300 It's actually life-building skills, and it will inspire you as well.

01:20:10.220 And then connect with Rudy on the gram.

01:20:12.540 If you enjoyed this conversation, take a screenshot, share it on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, X, Snapchat, TikTok, all the other threads, all the other places, and let the men know what you're listening to.

01:20:27.860 And listen together.

01:20:29.060 You know, that's one thing I would challenge you to do.

01:20:30.460 Not even challenge, just ask you to do is so many men want to have good conversations.

01:20:34.460 They don't know where to start.

01:20:35.480 Just pick a podcast.

01:20:36.540 Use this one and say, hey, bud, I'm trying to listen to this podcast today, and maybe you can listen to it, and I'll listen to it, and then we'll have a quick conversation about it this afternoon or this weekend or whatever.

01:20:46.040 But get other men involved.

01:20:47.200 That's how we're going to grow this movement, to reclaim and restore masculinity, and that's how we're going to spread the good word that we have from our guests.

01:20:54.380 So please do share.

01:20:56.080 Tag us.

01:20:56.840 Follow us.

01:20:58.120 Let's build this up.

01:20:59.140 Guys, very excited to have Rudy on.

01:21:00.840 I've got some other good podcasts lined up here in the coming weeks and months, so make sure you subscribe.

01:21:05.840 But until then, go out there, take action, and become the man you are meant to be.

01:21:10.540 Thank you for listening to the Order of Man podcast.

01:21:13.500 If you're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be, we invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.

01:21:20.640 Thank you.

01:21:21.540 Thank you.

01:21:22.740 Thank you.

01:21:27.100 Thank you.

01:21:30.260 Thank you.

01:21:46.520 Thank you.

Order of Man - March 03, 2026

RUDY REYES ｜ Improve Your Position, Always

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