Extreme Endurance: Discipline, Nutrition, and Mental Preparation for High-Performance Athletes
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Extreme Endurance: Discipline, Nutrition, and Mental Preparation for High-Performance Athletes

Dive into this episode as we introduce Steve Corchran, an endurance athlete with a Marine Corps background, and explore his transition to a high-performance multi-sport athlete, including his experience in a challenging Iceland race. We discuss the mental and physical preparation required for extreme endurance events, emphasizing structured training and the role of discipline and motivation. Nutrition and intuitive eating for performance are also covered, along with the importance of presence and focus during training. The episode touches on military fitness standards, societal health trends, and daily mental preparation. We wrap up with Steve's upcoming events and nonprofit work, including the Tampa Bay Frogman Swim, and share sponsor shoutouts.

https://www.instagram.com/steve_corcoran_/ https://tampabayfrogman.com/ https://www.navysealfoundation.org/

Nutrition Solutions https://nutritionsolutions.com/fatlossplan/

Spread Oak Farm To Table https://www.spreadoakfarmtotable.com/pages/about-us

Dr. Alessi Functional Health https://alessifunctionalhealth.com/

(0:00) Introduction and welcome to the Full Fueled podcast (0:39) Background on Dr. Alessi and guest Steve Corchran's connection (1:32) Steve Corchran's background in endurance training and Marine Corps influence (3:34) Transition to high-performance multi-sport athlete and Iceland race discussion (6:15) Mental and physical preparation for extreme endurance events (10:42) Structured training and maintaining optimal condition (19:19) Using "predators" as motivation and maintaining discipline (23:35) Extended discussion on discipline and motivation in training (28:29) Nutrition, intuitive eating, and performance (35:19) The importance of presence and focus during training (41:12) Training techniques and the role of music (42:15) Military fitness standards and societal health trends (46:08) Daily mental preparation, mindfulness, and team check-ins (52:11) Steve's upcoming events, nonprofit work, and the Tampa Bay Frogman Swim (56:25) Closing remarks, future plans, and sponsor shoutouts

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There's there's over 6 people on this planet with so many different genetic

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combinations that the most important thing you can develop is a self awareness and an

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evaluation criteria of what works best for you.

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Welcome to the Full Fueled podcast.

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Welcome to the Full Fueled podcast.

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Welcome to the podcast with your host, Matt Tack.

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With your host, Matt Tack.

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Your host, Matt Tack.

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Who are you?

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I'm doctor Alfred Tack.

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Doctor Alfred Tack.

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Doctor Alfred Tack.

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I know by now.

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I know by now.

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I'm gonna set what the new normal looks like in my life.

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You're not limited by your genetics.

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You have a superpower that is in a cynical eye.

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I do.

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You would be Only way we're gonna get the word out is with you.

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Live full fueled.

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Live beyond limits, baby.

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Let's go.

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Welcome to the Full Field podcast.

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I think this is episode number 55, and your host, Matt Taq and doctor Alfred Alessi.

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Go ahead with that.

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Man, awesome episode we got today.

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So little background about how we met our guests.

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I was at the gym.

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I was training, and I look over, and this guy is doing plyometric push ups and landmine

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shoulder presses and just, like, more functional, but, like, kind of cooler, like,

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exercises that, you know, most people in the traditional gym aren't doing.

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And then I look over and he use this guy seems like he's maybe in his older older years.

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I was like, man, he looks he's in great shape.

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I wanted to talk to him.

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So we start chatting and then getting to know Steve a little bit.

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He gives me a little background about himself.

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He does some really cool stuff as far as endurance training and and events and

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competition and stuff like that.

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So, man, Steve, it's great to have you on the show.

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We're really excited to kinda get to know you, let you kinda share some of your experience and

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knowledge and wisdom with our audience.

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I think people are gonna find a lot of value in what you have.

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Great to see you, man.

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Thank you so much.

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It's a it's a pleasure and an honor to be on here with you guys.

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Yes, sir.

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So, man, you've done you've done so many different things.

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I mean, you've been kind of all over the place.

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So maybe let's start give us kind of a little background as to, like, how you got into the

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multi sport kind of hybrid endurance world and and where that originated from, man.

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Yeah.

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So, I was very fortunate that I was in the marine corps for 28 years.

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And in that journey, it was a very physical organization and it was about work capacity.

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And I fell in love with the idea of work capacity.

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And, you know, inside the Marine Corps, you were you're required to have a high level of

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physical capability.

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You had to have high skills in a physical domain.

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And being able to go through that particular part of my career, I went from basically an

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apprentice to a journeyman to a master to like, the last 10 years, I really had it dialed in

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and understanding how this all comes together.

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But to wrap it up into one central theme of that experience was, it was about the

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accumulation of the greatest amount of strength, power, and stamina that I could

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possibly get.

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And then I realized that, hey, I just love being a marine.

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I just love going out there every single day and doing this.

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And, you know, I have a partner who is a marine.

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We met about 25, 26 years ago, and we didn't get enough in the marine corps.

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So we started doing what we call civilian expeditions.

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We just started going off climbing mountains, doing big races, and just just loving the fact

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of every single event became a lab that we would learn more about ourselves, we'd learn

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more about our team, we'd learn more about training.

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And we're able to, you know, bring that back into the Marine Corps.

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So it was this great cross pollinization of of 2 2 different modalities of being able to bring

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those two things together.

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When I retired about, say, about 12 years ago, I made a commitment that, hey, I am not giving

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this up.

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This is so important in my life that, you know, being able to wake up every morning and being

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excited to to do whatever events on the schedule for that day is is absolutely an

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essential part of who I am.

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And that led to having to scope down, like, the Marine Corps is not paying my bills anymore in

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regards to, you know, sending me around the world to do these great adventures.

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So I I kinda brought it together into a I wanted to become a high performance, multi

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sport athlete.

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And I wanted to do it on my own terms.

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I wanted to take what I had learned, which was to get into unfamiliar terrain, to to get into

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new situations that require new skills and bring it all together.

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And I really, really focused on mountain athletics and ocean athletics.

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And mountain athletics is basically being able to run-in the mountains, be able to trek in the

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mountains, be able to mountain bike, be able to climb, be able to ski, being able to do those

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things for long extended periods of time.

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And then the ocean athlete was, hey, I wanna be able to get out on the water.

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I'm marine.

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I lived on the water for so long, and I've enjoyed that aspect of it.

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Wanna be able to swim, wanna be able to paddle, wanna be able to get on the board and and just

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go.

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So I've been kind of pulling that together into multi day types of events and being able to do

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the things I love around the globe and and having fun doing it and learning in the

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process.

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And it sounds absolutely epic too.

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The one you were telling me about when we first met, it was Iceland.

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Right?

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The coast to coast?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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2 what?

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280 miles or something?

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What was that?

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2280 miles, and this was a you start at the north part of Iceland, and it was a stage race

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where you basically start out and it's got different stages.

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It's 280 miles cumulative, and it's mountain bike.

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It was paddling, and it was run and trek.

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So it was really, really rugged terrain, which me and my partner love.

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We love getting into unfamiliar terrain, unfamiliar weather because, you know, that's

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that's where, you know, the growth is.

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That's where, you know, all the that's where the magic occurs.

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So being able to, you know, fly in from Tampa, Florida and getting into Iceland was was a

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pretty pretty epic event.

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It's awesome, man.

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Yeah.

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That sounded really cool, man.

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I was when you were telling me about that, I was like, dang.

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Like, I've never pushed my body to that kind of high level before.

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Maybe I'll get out there with you.

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Yeah.

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So, the one thing that I think about, like, as you even say, 280 miles, obviously, you're

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taking different terrain.

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But, like, then how do you evaluate in is terms of mental preparation, as you come as you're

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in, so interactivity, but then even, like, pre.

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Right?

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You're kinda mentally preparing.

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What does that look like in the pre and intra as you're developing kind of, like, that mental

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preparedness to get through some of these obstacles.

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Yeah.

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You know, that's that's I love every every part of it.

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So, you know, there's people that just wanna show up for the events and they they want the

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to you know, that feeling at the end.

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But, you know, the marine corps taught me the love of the game.

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Everything from the first step you take all the way to the end step that you take.

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And and and me and my partner, we love every single aspect of it.

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So we're big programmers of trying to figure out how to prepare ourselves, not just

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physically, but emotionally and spiritually to show up and be prepared for that particular

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event.

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And I think we we like the ability to put a program together to get ready for something

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like that as much as we like actually doing the event.

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But as far as the physicality, if you look at it, I'm coming from Tampa, Florida.

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I'm going to not only cold weather, hyperthermia weather, and I'm also going into

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altitude.

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I'm going into hills, and I'm going into really, really rough terrain.

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Totally different than, you know, what you have in Tampa, Florida.

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But you take what you what works for you here.

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So everyone you know, I show up and they say, hey.

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Where are you from?

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I'm, hey.

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I'm from Tampa, Florida.

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Like, oh, yeah.

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You're gonna have a problem here.

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I says, well, no.

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Not not not actually.

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Because, you know, if if I'm working out and, you know, you have clients and stuff like that,

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if if if I'm working out in Tampa, Florida and I'm putting a 3 hour session in, you know, a

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combination of weight lifting, jump on the bike, and do a run, and I I start and it's

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about 90 to a 100 degrees and it's high humidity, what is that doing?

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It's really putting attacks on my body and I'm loading my body up.

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So when I show up at, like, a cold weather place, I I'm not spending 33% of my energy

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getting you know, trying to cool my body.

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That's now I have that in the bank.

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But as far as what we focus on is we take each day apart and we look at what is that load

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gonna look like on our bodies?

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What is that gonna look like on us emotionally?

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What is that gonna look at spiritually?

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And we're very honest with ourselves.

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Where's your strong points?

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Where's your weak points?

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Where do you think that you're gonna you're going to, you know, have have a low?

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And we tried to work work through all of those things.

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So we were game the whole thing all the way through.

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But at the end of the day, what we are both doing in our programs is we are physically

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loading our body up.

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We are recreating.

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We're not doing exactly the same thing.

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I can't recreate Iceland and Tampa, Florida, but I could put the strain and the load on my

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body.

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And I I'm gonna do it for those amount of days.

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But then the exciting part is, what skills do I need?

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I I now I have to go into, wow, man.

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This is all functional.

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I and guess what?

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There's gonna be a lot of mobility.

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There's gonna be a lot of agility work required going between rocks and really uneven terrain.

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So now I have to figure out how do I do that.

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So now in my program, I gotta figure out, hey.

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This exercise here I'm doing today has a reason.

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It has a reason because it adds up to something I'm trying to achieve.

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And, you know, you look at the domain of strength, power, and stamina.

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Now when I'm getting ready for these events, I really gotta look look at stability because,

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you know, having unstable in that type of terrain is your injury prompt.

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Flexibility, mobility, agility.

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So it's a lot of fun to try to figure all of that out.

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And what really complicates our lives is it this isn't just the first thing we're preparing

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for.

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There's other things out there that we are doing throughout the year.

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So it really, really complicates our program when you're trying to be good on the water,

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you're trying to be good in the mountains, and and you're you need to have demonstrable

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capability in all of those.

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But at the end of the day, I would say that the number one principle is you could train for

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anything, anywhere, and you just have to be creative.

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You have to, you know, be focused, and you have to be able to think about it from the

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perspective of, hey.

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I can put a strain on my body in Tampa, Florida just like any place I'm gonna go around the

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world.

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That's good.

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One more question leading into that because I I find it really interesting in terms of that

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aspect of, like, you're called going into the cold.

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So you're trying to have probably some somewhat of a thermal protectant as well when you're

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going to the heat.

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Like, you try to keep your body fat percentage at a at a certain percentage when you're going

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into it, when you're thinking about, like, okay.

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I need to be at this cardiovascular load, as but then also a strength training load as well.

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Where are you at kind of like in the the physics of your body when you go into something

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maybe in a hot temperature versus a cold temperature environment?

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Does that make sense?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So the the great thing is that I have learned to switch back and forth.

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You know, I'm a marine.

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We're supposed to any climb, any place.

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We we should be able to pick up and go anywhere around the world.

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And that was a great skill that was taught to me.

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And the number one thing is don't care about the weather.

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I burn 0 calories on what the weather is.

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I don't think like, oh, I wish it was this or I wish it wasn't this.

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And, you know, that's that's the beauty of why me and my partner are so good together is that

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we spend 0 calories on the weather.

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We actually do better when the weather is the worst because we we tend to be on the bigger

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side of these types of athletes.

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Okay?

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He's he's got about 30 some pounds on me.

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But when you when you think about prepping yourself and what is optimum for me, I will say

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that my optimum weight goes between 176 and 178 and I stay in that range.

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Very rarely do I get out of that, and I try to keep my body fat between 8 10%.

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But the the good thing is is that I have learned cold weather that I get to cold weather

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and it absolutely is, it it's actually a breath of fresh air for me because I'm not spending

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that 33% of trying to cool my body.

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Now I have to reverse.

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Now I have to warm my body.

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So I can do that by taking in calories.

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And my body I've trained my body to respond to all different types of fuels depending upon

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what's available to me.

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So I understand.

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I'll keep my body temperature at a certain rate based upon my what calories and types of

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calories I'm taking in and what is my level of effort.

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Like, there there are guys who will go out there and pound it and like, okay.

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I'm gonna go out there, but I'm looking at this from the perspective of, hey, wait a second.

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I'm doing this for 5, 6 days.

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And on this particular one, there's great athletes that fell off they fell off the race

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simply because they were approaching as a very as a one day event.

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So being able to use calories to keep my body temperature and using movement, I've trained my

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body to be able to stay at a certain temperature range.

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Now it on the outside, it it sucks.

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Trust me.

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When you got wind and rain and snow and sleet coming at you and but, you know, the the great

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thing is is you know your body after so many years.

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I'm 40 years at this.

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I know exactly what my body temperature is, and my partner knows exactly what his body and we

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know exactly what we need to do if we're running into problems.

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And I have to tell you, Iceland, we were on every single day, we were on the tightrope of

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going hypothermic, but we knew where that line was, and we knew how not to cross that line.

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And that was done with the calories and and the type of movement that we were doing.

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Okay.

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There I've like, there's so much I wanna unpack here.

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The first thing was you said the word program, which we harp on this all the time.

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Like, if you don't have a plan, right, going into any kind of training, even if you're just

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a general population person and you're trying to achieve some kind of weight loss or muscle

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goal, you need a program, or else you're just you're winging it and and it's not effective.

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So what is that I'm curious, man.

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What does the program look like?

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Maybe a little bit more on the specifics, because obviously we met in the gym.

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You were strength functionally strength training that day.

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Like like, what does, like, a week look like?

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What are you doing?

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Strength, endurance, movement?

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Like, how do you break it up?

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Yeah.

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So it depends on where I'm at in in the prep phase.

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Like this last weekend, I was in the Ocala National Forest, and I was scouting out a

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potential putting some friends together.

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I was just running through a potential heavy off road half Ironman.

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Right?

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It was gonna be a trail run, gonna be a paddle, and it was going to be a bike.

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You know, everything went well.

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The the trail run went well.

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The paddle went well.

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But I I didn't account for the blowdowns and the stuff like that.

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So I didn't I didn't get the full length based upon the trails some trails being closed.

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So I ended up doing about 50, 60 miles of that.

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But the programming like this week, if I just give you an example, I go on a 6 day cycle and

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I'm kind of in a slow buildup phase because I got a lot of things out there that are coming

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up.

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So there's a minimum in my book always of there will be no less than 3 strength power sessions

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a week.

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And that is those are long sessions because that's where I that's where my gains are made

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on being able to get my body accustomed to heavy loads.

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So, you know, the thing that most endurance athletes don't realize is that when when the

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strength and the power is transferable to the stamina piece.

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I'm also building I'm also building stamina in the gym as well.

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So if I start on a Monday, it starts with a warm up of 5 ks row on this on the row, and

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then I'm gonna move into some functional, work.

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And these are long, long functional work and these are designed to not only give me the

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strength and the power, but I'm also getting a little bit of benefit inside of the stamina

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piece.

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So for example, on Monday, it was very lower body focused.

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It was very lower posterior chain.

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It's going to box squat, and I'll gradually bring up the weights.

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I'll start with 12 reps, go down to 10 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps.

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And then in between it though, what I'm doing is I am in a vest.

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I'm in an 18 pound vest, which gives me a different load.

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Interspersing that with dips, weighted dips, interspersing that with push press.

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And I'm giving myself about 45 seconds to 60 seconds just to get my heart rate down.

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And I just go through that cycle, and then I'll replace then I'll go and start working, you

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know, military presses and things like that.

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But the core element is is that that that would be Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

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Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday is I'm out on skills.

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I'm out on getting the stamina piece.

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But I would say that I'm in a position where I wake up early and I don't like to do a session

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less than about 2 and a half hours simply because it's what my body is accustomed to.

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It's been that way for about 40 years.

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And, you know, the ability to focus on those goals because the program has to be every

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single rep, every single set has to add up to this is what's preparing me for that.

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But programming is absolutely key.

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I mean, you know, if you do not get a good program down, you you don't you're not going

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for a goal.

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You're you're you're basically it's you're you're wasting time.

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And I I know that probably I'm gonna throw something out here for discussion.

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But I would say that probably a lot of your clients will have episodic episodes with

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motivation or, you know, you know, they they come in and out of a program or they fall off

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of a program or something like that.

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And I think that goes to, you know, them being able to really, really center on a goal.

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My goals are very specific.

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And, you know, after 40 some years, I know exactly what I have to do.

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And me and my partner, we say, hey, listen.

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There's some predators out there, and we've lived with predators for 40 years, you know,

00:19:00
professionally and personally.

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And when you have a predator out there, predator is defined as, if I don't bring my a

00:19:06
game, he doesn't bring his a game, we're going to get chewed up.

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We are just absolutely going to get chewed up.

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It's not going to be pretty.

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That's a predator.

00:19:13
So for all your clients, I would say, hey, we're men.

00:19:16
We do best when there's predators out there.

00:19:19
If there is a goal out there, your body just goes now into it knows.

00:19:23
So you wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning, 5:30 in the morning, it's like, I don't feel

00:19:27
like doing it.

00:19:27
The predator comes right in your brain and you go, there's a predator out there.

00:19:31
So, you know, just take motivation off, replace it with a predator.

00:19:34
Motivation is it comes and goes, right?

00:19:37
Depending upon how you're feeling on what particular day.

00:19:40
So but a predator is ever present and the predator is out there and your body

00:19:46
instinctively, spiritually, emotionally, physically knows what it has to do.

00:19:50
And if it's a good enough predator, you don't have a problem with with with motivation

00:19:55
because you know the the feel of not being prepared for something.

00:20:00
It's painful.

00:20:01
Pain retains.

00:20:02
Pain always retains.

00:20:04
So for your clients, I think it's great that people do different things, but I really think

00:20:09
that they should have a better goal than I wanna lose weight.

00:20:13
I wanna have bigger biceps or something like that.

00:20:16
It could be anything.

00:20:17
Throw something out there.

00:20:18
Go into a competition.

00:20:20
Competitions are great.

00:20:21
You know, they're they're forcing functions.

00:20:23
Do have them develop their own competition, their own challenge, whether it's a functional

00:20:29
challenge, you know, add it up with a, you know, some type of endurance event or something

00:20:33
like that.

00:20:34
And it's all scalable.

00:20:35
One mile to 1 guy is a 100 miles to an it doesn't really matter.

00:20:40
The amount and the distance doesn't matter.

00:20:43
It's just relative to that individual.

00:20:45
And they'll start having that that change.

00:20:47
They'll have that spiritual change, that emotional change where they can do that.

00:20:51
So predators, we have to have them.

00:20:55
It's so funny how, like, our we're training for different stuff, but our splits are the same.

00:20:59
Like, we just talked about this in another podcast, the programming, very much, and you're

00:21:03
kinda similar.

00:21:04
Like, a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, strength and power lifting, and then the other days are we

00:21:09
either play a sport or, you know, we'll do some kind of outdoor functional stuff.

00:21:14
But tell them a little bit about kind of you know, when it comes to the predator or the goal

00:21:18
with our coaching program, we focus on the why and, you know, the like, what's the reason

00:21:23
behind why somebody has joined us in this thing, and it's oftentimes emotional.

00:21:28
You know?

00:21:29
There's something in their life they're unhappy about.

00:21:31
So yeah.

00:21:32
Yeah.

00:21:33
One thing that you, that rang true, here, and I was just talking about this on a on a previous

00:21:38
podcast that I was a guest on, but this idea of building the discipline of, like, habits.

00:21:45
Right?

00:21:45
And I love the idea of putting a predator in play.

00:21:48
Right?

00:21:48
Because if somebody's coming out, somebody's gonna take my spot or something, somebody's

00:21:53
gonna take it from me, whether it's, you know, whether it's you're thinking of it towards

00:22:00
somebody else or that one of my coaches told me it's the drunk uncle that always wants to talk

00:22:05
to you in the morning.

00:22:06
Right?

00:22:06
I can't get out of bed because, you know, the drunk uncle says I'm not good enough.

00:22:10
But there's this idea that motivation only lasts so long, and typically people are gonna

00:22:16
have that, like, level of motivation in the 1st 30 days.

00:22:20
But what I always try to do is really guide them through that there's 3 different stages as

00:22:25
to what you're talking about.

00:22:27
There's the grind phase.

00:22:28
And if you can get through the grind phase, then you're gonna see growth on the other side.

00:22:33
And then typically that growth phase, if you really can invest into that, you'll see gold.

00:22:39
And so I give them these three stages, but it only comes with the act of discipline.

00:22:44
Right?

00:22:44
And that creditor mindset is that somebody's coming to take it, but I have to get through

00:22:49
that.

00:22:50
Right?

00:22:50
I have to get through the level of boredom, and that's what we see in a lot of guys today, that

00:22:57
are that maybe were competitive, back in their early twenties, maybe even mid twenties.

00:23:04
But then they lost this, like, competition side of them.

00:23:08
Like, they don't wanna compete anymore.

00:23:10
And so then things get bored and really stale really, really quick.

00:23:15
I I guess a question back to you then is, like and it probably falls directly in line with

00:23:21
that predator mindset.

00:23:22
But how have you been able, you know, thirties, forties, and, now what are you, late forties,

00:23:31
early fifties?

00:23:33
Oh, I am, 61.

00:23:35
Oh, gosh.

00:23:36
Way off here.

00:23:37
Yeah.

00:23:38
Way off here.

00:23:38
But I think Thank you.

00:23:40
You you just now became my favorite podcast.

00:23:43
Thank you.

00:23:45
So but so this then then this idea now of, maintaining that level of competition.

00:23:52
So maybe speaking to that, I know it probably falls in line with that predator mindset.

00:23:57
Right?

00:23:57
Some of these take it.

00:23:58
But, like, why do you think some guys lose that lie you know, that level of competition with,

00:24:04
number 1, kind of the standard of their health, and then and then maybe even you know, a lot of

00:24:09
big guys just wanna go after, like, that driver of money.

00:24:13
Right?

00:24:13
I need to accumulate more.

00:24:15
But you've kind of taken both sides of that, which has been awesome.

00:24:19
Yeah.

00:24:19
You know, I have to relearn this lesson every single time, and it's it's it's what I call you

00:24:25
you don't lose anything.

00:24:27
You give it away or you sell it, and you just alluded to that where you trade it for

00:24:31
something else.

00:24:32
And when I was in my early fifties, I went out to the National Outdoor Leadership School and,

00:24:37
you know, I was I thought I was mentally, physically, spiritually prepared for it skills

00:24:43
wise, physical conditioning, you know?

00:24:46
And we did a climb of this mountain, and I was I was a lead climber.

00:24:49
And I I was very proud.

00:24:50
I was, like, older but I was older by at least about 17, 18 years of everybody, and I felt

00:24:56
really, really good about it.

00:24:57
I was lead climbing the whole day, breaking trail, you know, figuring out routes, and I,

00:25:02
you know, felt really, really good.

00:25:04
On the way down, we hit we were able to un rope, get out of our ropes and our harnesses

00:25:10
and and just down climb.

00:25:11
It became glacier and ice became rock.

00:25:14
And I have to tell you, it was one of the most embarrassing things to me professionally

00:25:18
because now all of a sudden, these these young guys were just flying down like monkeys,

00:25:23
literally.

00:25:24
I mean, they just became dots.

00:25:26
And I'm like, oh my god.

00:25:27
What is happening here?

00:25:28
And I am just moving slow, and I'm I'm feeling it.

00:25:31
I'm like, oh my god.

00:25:32
And I'm I'm in my head, and I'm going, what is going on here?

00:25:35
And I started making excuses, and I started, you know, okay.

00:25:38
Well, they're I'm like, stop it.

00:25:40
Stop it.

00:25:41
I had been out of the Marine Corps for about 3 years, and I wasn't doing obstacle courses.

00:25:45
I wasn't doing agility work, so I gave it away.

00:25:49
So I didn't lose anything.

00:25:50
I gave it away.

00:25:51
I failed to it's a use it or lose it skill, and everything that we do in the gym is a use it or

00:25:56
lose it skill.

00:25:57
Everything we do on the bike, everything we do in the boat is a use it or lose it skill.

00:26:01
And I think that, you know, here's the subtle shift I would say to talk to your clients.

00:26:07
Because the great thing about aging, and this is this is where gold is, whether you're in

00:26:12
your thirties, your forties, or your fifties.

00:26:16
If people are so focused on, hey, I'm not good at this, or I used to be able to, they join I

00:26:21
call it the I used to tribe.

00:26:22
I used to be able to do this and stuff like that.

00:26:25
If you can get them to realize that the goal the goal is if you struggle, if you're

00:26:33
struggling through something, that's where all the money is made.

00:26:37
And if you embrace your weaknesses and look at it as literally, weakness becomes a strength as

00:26:42
you start getting older if you have a mindset that says I'm going to attack those weaknesses.

00:26:48
I mean, nothing nothing makes me and my partner more excited when when we find something.

00:26:52
It's like a carpenter that gets into a house.

00:26:54
He's like, oh, great.

00:26:55
I'm gonna have to redo all of this.

00:26:57
Right?

00:26:57
He'll find something on himself.

00:26:58
I'll find something on myself.

00:27:00
You know, we learn.

00:27:01
We do an after action.

00:27:02
We come back and we're like, alright.

00:27:03
Here's a weakness.

00:27:04
I was weak here.

00:27:05
I was weak here.

00:27:06
I was weak here.

00:27:07
Okay.

00:27:07
What's the plan?

00:27:08
How do I fix that?

00:27:09
That goes into the new program.

00:27:10
Right?

00:27:11
But as I realize as you get older, you you know, people wanna always be good at things and

00:27:16
they always wanna be at their best and stuff like that.

00:27:18
That's not where the money is made.

00:27:20
The money is made because I am making neuro new neuro connections that either I previously had,

00:27:26
I'm lost, but now I'm reconnecting.

00:27:28
I'm getting a multitude of benefits off of those things.

00:27:31
So if it's okay.

00:27:33
If if it doesn't matter what I used to be able to do.

00:27:35
It's what I can do today, and it's that struggle.

00:27:38
That struggle is is everything.

00:27:41
And being able to transcend that and get out of ego, get out of emotions, get out of a counter

00:27:48
agenda other than, you know, hey.

00:27:49
I'm going to work hard today.

00:27:51
That is the death of any great athlete is ego, agenda, counter agendas, and emotions.

00:27:57
If you can get them away from that and show, hey.

00:28:00
You're you're making progress and embrace it.

00:28:03
Yeah.

00:28:04
That's awesome.

00:28:05
You know, I I agree.

00:28:07
I think most times it's, like, people maybe they, like, undervalue themselves or, like,

00:28:11
undermine themselves or the whole, like, my best years are behind me thing.

00:28:15
We that's, like, a big part of, like, what we're coaching our guys.

00:28:17
Most of our guys are thirties, forties.

00:28:19
You know?

00:28:21
But, I mean, not to call anyone out, but you're, like, you're in better shape than all

00:28:25
of them.

00:28:25
You know?

00:28:26
And so it's, like, that just goes to show you that it's the use it or lose it.

00:28:29
It's like you just gotta keep going.

00:28:31
I wanna kind of I wanna run back to you said something about the food, the food you you you

00:28:38
eat specific foods for that, you know, different fuel for different things, obviously,

00:28:42
but, like, for, like, the the thermogenic thing.

00:28:45
Let's talk a little bit, like, nutrition wise.

00:28:46
I mean, what are you doing?

00:28:48
Do you follow a specific type of diet, avoid certain things?

00:28:52
Give us a little kind of insight into that.

00:28:56
Yeah.

00:28:56
I I'd say my focus is is three things.

00:28:59
Number 1, it's it's for performance.

00:29:02
What fuel do I need for the optimum performance?

00:29:06
Number 2 is what what food do I need for the optimal recovery?

00:29:11
And then number 3 is falls into the spiritual, the emotional, the social, You know, what foods

00:29:16
do I like to enjoy with friends, family, and sharing those things?

00:29:20
But number 1, it it always comes down to performance.

00:29:23
What what is the best thing I could put in my body?

00:29:25
Okay?

00:29:26
Do we put, you know, crappy diesel fuel inside of a far Ferrari?

00:29:30
No.

00:29:30
We do not.

00:29:31
Okay?

00:29:32
And if you just think about it that way, everybody has the ability to figure out what

00:29:36
works best for them.

00:29:38
You know, we're our own best labs.

00:29:40
You know, and I don't you know, people always ask me, they come up to me and they say, well,

00:29:44
what do you eat and stuff like that?

00:29:46
But, you know, the the key thing I tell them is, listen, there's there's over 6

00:29:49
people on this planet with so many different genetic combinations that the most important

00:29:54
thing you can develop is a self awareness and an evaluation criteria of what works best for

00:29:59
you.

00:30:00
But there are some other general rules I follow.

00:30:02
I eat I eat whole foods.

00:30:03
I do not eat any, highly processed foods because I find it's counterproductive to me.

00:30:10
I stay away from alcohol.

00:30:13
I will drink alcohol, but I enjoy alcohol at certain times.

00:30:16
But as I get older, I realize I that, hey.

00:30:19
It it it is actually degrading my performance, so therefore it goes.

00:30:24
As far as the macros, I'm heavily on the protein side because of the amount of work I am

00:30:30
doing for both performance and recovery.

00:30:33
I'd say more heavily on proteins and fats, and I use very sparingly the carbohydrates.

00:30:39
But as soon as I get into the mountains and I get into events, it's it's it's it's generally

00:30:44
a quest for as many calories as I can get into me.

00:30:48
But I'm trying to find the highest quality of of calories.

00:30:51
And I would say for anybody out there that if you just stick with whole foods, you just stick

00:30:57
with, you know, getting away from ultra processed foods, seed oils, staying away from

00:31:02
those types of things and just being very conscious.

00:31:06
And you change the dynamic when you say, what is the food that I need for optimum

00:31:11
performance?

00:31:12
And performance could be, I have to go give a briefing tomorrow.

00:31:15
I have to go I'm gonna be, you know, really, really working hard.

00:31:19
There is an optimal fuel that you will figure out that makes I know when I have to do heavy

00:31:23
intellectual tasks of what types of foods I should stay away from, what types of foods I

00:31:27
should eat.

00:31:28
I know when I'm gonna go put a 4 hour, 5 hour session out there, I know exactly what types of

00:31:32
foods I need to eat, what I'll have to replenish with, and how to do that.

00:31:36
And then when I get out on larger events, it generally I I'm a multi fuel.

00:31:42
I can go off fats.

00:31:43
I can go off proteins.

00:31:44
I can go off carbohydrates.

00:31:46
And there are times I have to you know, that is a that is a, important ability because I might

00:31:52
have, depending on where I am in the world, there might be a shortage of something that and

00:31:58
I have to be able to respond to that.

00:32:00
That's part of the resilience piece of being able to be to roll with it.

00:32:04
Because you're not you're not you're not gonna have optimum conditions all the time.

00:32:08
You're not gonna have the best fuels.

00:32:09
You're not gonna have the best conditions.

00:32:11
But just just relaxing.

00:32:13
But if I say I'm gonna use what's in front of me right now for performance, for recovery, and

00:32:18
then enjoyment.

00:32:18
I think in America, we have it reversed.

00:32:20
It's all about enjoyment.

00:32:21
Right?

00:32:22
And it's it's about feeding the emotional self instead of the physical self.

00:32:27
But I think that's an important part of our lives.

00:32:29
You know, food is a social event.

00:32:31
It's it's a celebratory event, and you should include that as part of your program as well.

00:32:36
I think that's equally as important.

00:32:40
Yeah.

00:32:41
I think we we did an episode of I mean, at the beginning of every like, a year ago about,

00:32:46
like, intuitive eating, which is basically what you were just talking about.

00:32:49
It's like you if you really are in tune with your body, you know kind of what you need in

00:32:52
certain times.

00:32:53
Right?

00:32:53
Like, you've been working out pretty hard.

00:32:55
Like, my body I know when I need to eat some more protein, I start craving things like like

00:33:00
red meat.

00:33:00
I start craving more, like, you know, animal protein, stuff like that.

00:33:03
When I'm craving more carbohydrates, it's probably because I've been doing more endurance

00:33:06
stuff.

00:33:07
My body's like, hey.

00:33:07
We need this more of this energy right now.

00:33:09
You know?

00:33:10
So I love that, man.

00:33:11
It's it's that's what most people are just nodding to.

00:33:14
It's like they're just shoveling some food in their mouth real quick on lunch so they can get

00:33:17
back to their work or at dinner.

00:33:18
They're looking at the TV, eating.

00:33:20
We're not present with our food, and so then the relationship between the food and our body

00:33:26
is gonna be diminished too.

00:33:29
Yeah.

00:33:29
You know, I think one of the things is when I talk to people and if they truly, you know, the

00:33:35
the true want to hear, I think that we make a choice every day whether we wanna be superhuman

00:33:40
or not.

00:33:41
And being superhuman starts with self awareness.

00:33:44
I mean, you have to understand where are you right now spiritually, emotionally, physically.

00:33:49
And, you know, I wake up each morning, I do the same thing.

00:33:51
I've been doing it for 40 years.

00:33:52
Okay.

00:33:52
Where am I at right now?

00:33:54
You know, and I kinda grade what what's going on?

00:33:56
Okay.

00:33:56
Here's a danger area here.

00:33:58
I'm I'm a little low in the emotional side for various reasons or spiritually or something

00:34:02
like that.

00:34:03
Life's a full contact sport.

00:34:05
We don't we don't go through life and everything is hunky dory.

00:34:09
We all there's nobody in this world that hasn't taken spiritual hits, emotional hits, physical

00:34:13
hits, and stuff like that.

00:34:15
It's just a part of life.

00:34:16
It's just whatever.

00:34:17
But if you have self awareness and you understand and you are tied into, you know,

00:34:23
what are your goals and what is thinking about that predator I put out there, intuitively,

00:34:31
your body is so smart, it knows exactly what it needs to do.

00:34:35
And but you have to allow it, and you have to get rid of the noise.

00:34:38
You have to get rid of and you have to spend some quiet time, which is very hard for people.

00:34:43
But you have to be introspective.

00:34:45
But that's why, you know, when you're doing long distance events and you're doing these

00:34:50
things, and I have zero distractions.

00:34:54
I train with no music, no podcasts.

00:34:57
I am in the moment.

00:34:59
And because I need to be in the moment, because I need to understand, I need to clock my body,

00:35:03
I need to have self awareness.

00:35:05
I need to understand what my body temperature is.

00:35:07
I need to understand what my output is.

00:35:09
And I don't I don't use any electronics.

00:35:11
I I wanna be able to do that just by sensing of where I am right now.

00:35:19
Yeah.

00:35:19
I think that that is something that, I would like to dive into a little bit more because I

00:35:24
think there's this element that we live in today.

00:35:26
You were talking about how that, we can say this is probably, like, more like a world

00:35:32
problem than just geographically in the United States, but, like, we are just always people

00:35:37
that wanna be entertained.

00:35:39
Right?

00:35:39
Whether it be through our phone, whether it be through events, sporting, or whatever.

00:35:42
Like, people just wanna be entertained.

00:35:44
And one thing that I've noticed, I've I've actually taken out the headphones and started

00:35:48
working out and how important that is to be bored almost in your workouts so that you can

00:35:53
be deliberate about your thoughts and the processing of your thoughts.

00:35:57
Because you were even mentioning as you were sliding down that hill, right, with these guys

00:36:02
in front of you that, like, you had to be present with your thoughts at that point.

00:36:06
Like, I have to really kind of work through that processing.

00:36:09
And those are just like those incremental layers that that you feel like you're growing.

00:36:14
Hey.

00:36:14
I can I gotta tweak this area because there's an element of boredom that always comes at

00:36:19
play?

00:36:20
Like, man, this is extremely difficult.

00:36:22
Do I wanna do this anymore?

00:36:23
Well, I gotta push through this.

00:36:28
So that in your training is so that's so like unique in terms of like being present with your

00:36:36
thoughts.

00:36:37
So talk about that even a little bit more, just like that present of, like, that thought

00:36:42
pattern of, like, how you're directing your thoughts and being self intentional about that.

00:36:46
Yeah.

00:36:46
You know, I was very fortunate that I chose a profession that required you to be present or

00:36:53
you were gonna get punished very hard.

00:36:55
You're gonna get punished physically.

00:36:57
You're gonna get punished emotionally and spiritually and stuff like that.

00:37:00
So I I it's not something I came to on my own.

00:37:05
You know?

00:37:05
I I I was I was mentored by some great, great marines and some phenomenal military athletes

00:37:13
and just phenomenal individuals.

00:37:14
And, you know, it was a journey of taking all of these great practices and stuff.

00:37:19
But if you take activities and then all the activities I do requires presence or else I'm

00:37:25
gonna get hurt.

00:37:26
Okay?

00:37:28
If I'm not focused in the moment on a mountain bike in Iceland coming down a very, very rough

00:37:33
piece of terrain with with a lot of obstacles, if I'm not present, I'm going to get hurt and

00:37:41
I'm not going to be able to perform correctly.

00:37:44
So when I talk about every single thing adds up to getting after that predator, I'd say it's

00:37:51
the spiritual and the mental game is equally as important as the as the physical game.

00:37:56
And there is no room for entertainment.

00:37:59
We have to be in the moment.

00:38:00
And part of what I loved about the Marine Corps was all the implicit communications between a

00:38:08
team and and and working together.

00:38:10
And that has only occurred through presence.

00:38:13
When I'm with my partner of of 25, 30 years and we're out there, I'm married.

00:38:18
It's not my life partner.

00:38:20
It's my adventure partner.

00:38:21
Okay?

00:38:22
But, when we're out there, we have to be present.

00:38:27
And we we have to communicate back and forth because that that is a, gives us the ability to

00:38:36
to have a greater output than just one one individual out there.

00:38:40
So our team output has got a high output.

00:38:42
And we're we're we're we're feeding off of each other, and we're we're measuring each other all

00:38:47
the time.

00:38:47
You can't do that if you have an entertainment mindset.

00:38:50
You're climbing a mountain.

00:38:52
I have to be 100% present.

00:38:53
If he's lead climbing, he's focusing on where we're going.

00:38:56
I need to figure out the bigger picture and keep an eye on weather.

00:38:58
I need to, you know, keep an eye on other conditions that are changing.

00:39:03
So it allows him to do that.

00:39:05
So that is a great skill to have in life, and especially whether you're, you know, with your

00:39:10
wife or with your best friend or anything like that.

00:39:14
Having the ability to sit with that and to be in the moment is that's what makes you

00:39:20
superhuman because you're not you're not focused on getting entertained.

00:39:27
And in that, you you I I'm not a, very religious type of person, but I I feel it

00:39:33
inside myself.

00:39:33
When I'm on course or I'm doing an event, you know, it is it is spiritual because you're

00:39:39
you're there in the moment.

00:39:40
It it could be the the worst conditions possible.

00:39:44
It could be the worst conditions possible.

00:39:46
And knowing that you have in the in your tank, okay, I've been here before.

00:39:51
I'm present with this.

00:39:52
Yeah.

00:39:53
My body is cold.

00:39:54
I am tired.

00:39:55
I am hungry.

00:39:57
Being able to process through those things.

00:40:00
And, you know, all of a sudden your body goes, well, okay.

00:40:02
You're cold.

00:40:03
You're wet.

00:40:04
But it's only 34 degrees.

00:40:06
You can't get frostbite.

00:40:09
Right?

00:40:09
You get frostbite under 32 degrees.

00:40:11
That's the only time you could freeze.

00:40:12
So you're like, alright.

00:40:13
Hey.

00:40:13
Great.

00:40:13
I can't get frostbite.

00:40:15
I could get hyperthermia, but I can't get frostbite.

00:40:17
So you're like, alright.

00:40:17
Great.

00:40:18
I can't get that.

00:40:18
So now how do I work up from there?

00:40:20
But presencing, it's it's an exercise that anyone can do every single day is just sit

00:40:25
quietly for 5 minutes and just work through yourself and ask yourself the question, where

00:40:29
am I at spiritually?

00:40:30
Where am I at emotionally?

00:40:31
Where am I at physically?

00:40:33
Get rid of the headphones, get rid of the entertainment and not only be self aware, but

00:40:38
be contextually aware.

00:40:40
Okay?

00:40:41
The other thing I like to do is as an exercise, as I'm running or I'm on a bike, I wanna be

00:40:45
self present, but I'm not in a cocoon.

00:40:47
I need to be aware of my environment.

00:40:49
So I have to teach myself those skills.

00:40:51
So I try to remember things.

00:40:52
Try to remember, okay, I'm keeping an eye on it.

00:40:54
As I'm going through, I'm I'm still doing it.

00:40:57
To maintain the skill of being with partners and teams, I'm clocking people in the gym of

00:41:02
what they're doing, you know, in my periphery.

00:41:04
So it's it's it's I'm getting a good workout mentally.

00:41:07
I'm getting a good workout spiritually.

00:41:09
I'm getting a good workout physically.

00:41:12
Yeah.

00:41:12
Yeah.

00:41:12
I mean, I would say on that, you know, I do like when it comes to, like, lifting heavy or

00:41:17
if I'm going for something that I know I gotta I gotta push it.

00:41:20
I like some heavy metal in my ears, you know, from time to time, that adrenaline from that.

00:41:24
Right?

00:41:24
Just somebody screaming.

00:41:25
It's just, like, it does help in a sense.

00:41:27
However, I've noticed I do also enjoy lifting from time to time without any anything, any

00:41:33
music.

00:41:33
But the biggest thing for me is the start and the end of my day.

00:41:37
I silence.

00:41:39
Complete silence.

00:41:39
Like, I wake up in the morning, I don't put on any TV, I don't put on any music.

00:41:44
It's just silent.

00:41:45
And that's where I could be with my thoughts and be present and really capture where's my

00:41:49
mind going.

00:41:49
Right?

00:41:50
Am I being distracted?

00:41:50
How do I reel it back in?

00:41:52
And then at the end of the day, for me, it's like, that's how I decompress.

00:41:54
I'm talking to patients all day long.

00:41:56
I'm doing meetings, calls, this kind of stuff.

00:41:58
My brain needs to turn off.

00:42:00
Right?

00:42:00
So, like, when there's, like, constant input all the time, I don't think we give our brains

00:42:05
enough time to process, like, everything.

00:42:07
Right?

00:42:08
And so I I love that, man.

00:42:11
I I I train without headphones a good amount, actually, you see me in in the gym.

00:42:15
I got a I got a question, though, because I, I took an evaluation.

00:42:20
I, recently went up to New York, and I visited West Point.

00:42:24
And so I saw a bunch of cadets, and, obviously, there was a young cadets.

00:42:29
But I I evaluated because I keep myself at a pretty high standard of, fitness as well and

00:42:36
just keeping my body, and I'm, like, always trying to attain new goals and do various

00:42:39
things.

00:42:41
But I I definitely saw, like I almost thought to an extent of, like, is the army a little bit

00:42:46
soft on odd Standard.

00:42:49
Odd standards of of physical activity?

00:42:52
I don't know if that's something that maybe has shifted in the military, but I'd like to and

00:42:58
number 1, thank you for your service.

00:42:59
28 years of service.

00:43:00
Wow.

00:43:02
But from, from that, is that something because you had a core group of guys within the marine

00:43:08
corps that set that standard, or is it was that evolved over time?

00:43:14
How did that form, or is it kind of globally, has that shifted in our in our military that

00:43:21
they become a little bit softer with with their standards of physical activity?

00:43:28
Yeah.

00:43:29
I've been out for 12 years.

00:43:31
I can say, you know, coming in in the 19 eighties, early eighties into the Marine Corps.

00:43:38
It was a highly physical organization.

00:43:40
Marine Corps is known as a highly physical organization, a high performance organization.

00:43:47
But I would say that the quick answer is the military is a reflection of society today, and

00:43:53
you guys have a really, really good sight picture on what is going on in society today in

00:44:00
regards to kids' physical ability, in regards to adults' phys you're starting to see it now.

00:44:05
It's it's coming into the forties now, I mean, in regards to those things.

00:44:09
And it's I I don't look at it as it's good, it's bad.

00:44:13
I just look at it as this is just what it is right now.

00:44:16
And, you know, you're looking at guys that you're probably training guys in the forties

00:44:20
who never ever participated in a team sport.

00:44:25
You're probably looking at guys that never actually been hit in the face, never got into a

00:44:30
fight.

00:44:31
You know, those seminal things that were okay.

00:44:33
And I'm not saying it was that's that's a better way of growing up or anything like that.

00:44:36
It just when you look at the military, the military has to flex to what is available to

00:44:41
them.

00:44:42
And they are having a hard time with with just getting viable candidates that are at the

00:44:48
lowest level, based upon, you know, societal trends of, you know, we have an epidemic of

00:44:53
obesity.

00:44:54
We have an epidemic of diabetes, and we have an epidemic of not being able to do basic

00:45:00
strength, basic power, basic functional fitness types of things.

00:45:04
So you're going to see that is going to to come across the military.

00:45:10
It it it it just has to show up just based on demographics alone.

00:45:16
Yeah.

00:45:16
It makes perfect sense.

00:45:17
Almost like, there's less optimal candidates to pull from because

00:45:22
Yes.

00:45:22
Health Exactly.

00:45:23
Just so yeah.

00:45:24
That makes total sense.

00:45:26
Yeah.

00:45:26
And and the the thing that you're trying to understand

00:45:28
is when you start looking at 2030 and beyond, it gets worse.

00:45:33
And it's a global problem.

00:45:34
It's not just the United States problem.

00:45:37
Definitely.

00:45:38
Yeah.

00:45:38
I think the United States maybe is the leader in this problem, but it's doesn't mean we're

00:45:42
the only one to deal with it for sure.

00:45:44
Awesome, man.

00:45:45
Minh, one more question I have for you before we kinda maybe wrap up a little bit and let you

00:45:49
kinda tell us more about what you're doing.

00:45:50
You know, you talk about we talked about physical.

00:45:53
We talked about nutrition.

00:45:54
We talked about how you're training.

00:45:56
What do you do as far as, like, you know, daily mental preparation, any kind of mindfulness

00:46:02
spirituality?

00:46:03
Like, what are you doing on that front?

00:46:04
Any, like, habits or practices you have, like, specific things?

00:46:08
Yeah.

00:46:09
I'm a victim of habit.

00:46:11
And, you know, I like to have a very solid routine.

00:46:17
I know what what is I I wrote my owner's owner's manual.

00:46:20
I know it works.

00:46:21
I know it doesn't work.

00:46:22
And what works for me is exactly what you do every single morning, which is quiet.

00:46:28
Nothing.

00:46:28
Just just go through some stuff.

00:46:31
And if something pops up, I just I just clear it.

00:46:33
I'm like, okay.

00:46:34
Or I identify it and go, okay, here's something I need to keep an eye on today.

00:46:39
And before I end the day the previous, you know, the previous day, I know exactly, you

00:46:44
know, as far as what I'm gonna do the next day in my program.

00:46:48
I know down to what I need, and I prep the day the night before.

00:46:52
So there's no looking for this or looking for that.

00:46:55
So the vehicle is loaded.

00:46:56
The the bag is packed.

00:46:57
Everything that I need for that particular day, my my breakfast is figured out.

00:47:01
My my fueling is figured out.

00:47:03
So it it's it's really what it comes down to is I have a very peaceful morning.

00:47:09
I I think I'm introspective.

00:47:11
I think through what it is I have to do that particular day.

00:47:14
I do visualize of what needs to be accomplished in the gym, what needs to be accomplished on

00:47:18
the run, the bike, whatever it is that I'm doing.

00:47:21
I have I have breakfast.

00:47:23
I sit quietly.

00:47:24
I don't I don't look at a phone or anything like that.

00:47:27
I try not to do any electronics until after I'm done with working out because I have to, you

00:47:33
know, I have to jump into work and do things like that.

00:47:37
But I do make sure that everything is prepped up prior.

00:47:41
And prepping is not just stretching, it's also, like you said, it's it's the it's the spiritual

00:47:46
and it's the emotional.

00:47:48
And a very simple thing I just go through is I just start.

00:47:51
Okay.

00:47:52
Where am I at spiritually today?

00:47:54
1 to 3.

00:47:55
You know, 33 being the best, one being the worst.

00:48:00
Where am I at emotionally?

00:48:01
Okay.

00:48:02
Why am I why am I feeling something emotionally?

00:48:04
Identify it.

00:48:05
Can I deal with this right now?

00:48:06
Is it something I can resolve right now or is it something I need to work through?

00:48:10
At least identify it and know it's out there.

00:48:12
It's it's something that I need to be.

00:48:14
And the same thing with physically.

00:48:15
Where am I at?

00:48:16
Where am I at with hydration?

00:48:17
Where am I at with sleep?

00:48:18
Where am I at with nutrition?

00:48:20
And where am I at ready to execute today's day?

00:48:25
So before I even start the day on prime, I already know exactly what I'm doing.

00:48:30
So I've taken off the table anything, any distractors.

00:48:34
And I think it's so important to show up each day spiritually, emotionally, and physically

00:48:40
prepared, and doing those types of things helped me to get to that point.

00:48:43
Yeah.

00:48:44
I think that's huge.

00:48:45
I one of the big things in terms of, like, that that priming, like, you're you're you're

00:48:53
gearing up the day for the purposes of, like, I'm gonna execute.

00:48:57
I'm gonna execute execute the deliverables.

00:49:01
That's one thing that even I started doing, like, preparing my protein shake the night

00:49:05
before, putting it in the refrigerator.

00:49:07
I don't need it.

00:49:07
Like, it's a nonnegotiable because it's already it's already prepared for me.

00:49:12
Those things are you don't realize that that's a decision you have to make in the morning

00:49:18
during your optimal peaking, like, thought hours that can that one decision could take

00:49:23
away from maybe a little bit more of an important decision that you would need to make

00:49:28
during that priming hour.

00:49:29
I love the idea too.

00:49:31
So we had built out a scorecard, and we we focus off on our pillars.

00:49:36
And so I asked, you know, all of our clientele to do essentially a 5 minute reflection at the

00:49:44
end of the day on the scorecard, and they just make a circle.

00:49:46
And it's based off all our pillars.

00:49:48
So mind, spirit, work, fuel, movement, sleep.

00:49:52
And I have them scale it at a 1 to 10, but what I'm actually gonna be taking away from you, I

00:49:57
love the idea of just doing it in the threes.

00:50:01
And the reason why is because, like, you can gauge things very clearly in 1 to 3 just like

00:50:08
you can do 1 to 10.

00:50:10
Do that.

00:50:10
Man.

00:50:10
And it just gives you good, bad, or, you know, good good and different or, good and different

00:50:14
or bad.

00:50:16
So the 1 to 3, is really good, and you still could come up.

00:50:20
I have them dial in a percentage, based on that.

00:50:23
But I asked them, where did you score low in one area?

00:50:27
And then what's your focus point gonna be tomorrow to, like, improve that by, a couple a

00:50:32
couple points?

00:50:33
So but I love the idea of just dubbing it down into really a 3 plot system of, like, hey.

00:50:39
I can I can quickly grab on to whether it's 1, 2, 3?

00:50:43
When you get into that 10, although it's easier for me, some guys, they're like, oh, well, I

00:50:48
was at a 5, maybe, but what is a 5?

00:50:51
Yeah.

00:50:52
So I like the idea of just, hey.

00:50:53
Were you were you good?

00:50:55
Were you okay?

00:50:56
Or were you bad?

00:50:57
Yeah.

00:50:57
And what helps too is to help reinforce it is if if you're doing workouts with people and

00:51:04
you're doing it in a group environment, is to, you know, team people up.

00:51:09
Because me and my partner, we do it each morning.

00:51:12
We're like, okay, where you at?

00:51:14
I'm here.

00:51:14
I'm here.

00:51:15
I'm here.

00:51:15
Alright.

00:51:15
Got it.

00:51:16
Alright.

00:51:16
What's what's going on?

00:51:17
You might have a nagging.

00:51:19
You might have some fatigue or whatever, and you just wanna be identified that right up

00:51:23
front.

00:51:24
It's I think it's important to learn how to communicate that.

00:51:32
It's good because you learn how to identify things better and you learn to, you know, have

00:51:39
a different level of communication with people.

00:51:42
And when you do it in a team environment, you throw out a task and you say, okay, where are

00:51:46
you at?

00:51:46
And you just have people check-in with each other and then they go execute that and then

00:51:50
they check-in with each other after the end of that.

00:51:52
Where are you at?

00:51:54
We we do it in the morning, and we do it when we when we wrap up that particular day.

00:51:57
Some days, the days don't wrap up.

00:52:00
But, we it's I think it's a great skill, and it just teaches you it it gets you into, self

00:52:07
awareness.

00:52:08
And it's just something that's that's in your hip pocket all the time.

00:52:11
Well, tell us a little bit about then, we wanna dive into definitely what you're doing, not

00:52:17
right now specifically.

00:52:18
And then and then you have a nonprofit you're working with and very closely with.

00:52:22
So if you could tell us a little bit more about that, and then what specifically, maybe what's

00:52:27
on horizon in the near future for you.

00:52:31
Sure.

00:52:32
So it's a it's the season has filled up for 25.

00:52:38
And, well, first of all, I have to close out, you know, 24.

00:52:41
I have a few events coming up.

00:52:42
I'm going down to Key West to do a, Half Ironman myself, self directed.

00:52:47
I'm just testing out some principles, and I'm gonna do what's called an Australian level try,

00:52:55
which is, open water swimming for about 2 miles.

00:52:58
It's gonna be a prone paddle board for 2 miles, and it's going to be a 8 mile surf ski, and

00:53:04
it's gonna go around the island of Key West for a total of 12 miles.

00:53:08
That kinda ends up the season, for me for 24, and then I I run right into, 25.

00:53:17
I'd say the the 2 predators 3 predators out there are the biggest one is gonna be in

00:53:23
November.

00:53:24
I'll be down in Patagonia for a pretty extended, trip.

00:53:27
The mileage hasn't been figured out and the modalities haven't been figured out, but it's

00:53:31
gonna be in some pretty tough terrain, tough weather for probably about 8 to 8 to 9 days.

00:53:38
Myself and my partner will do that.

00:53:40
Prior to that, we'll be in Lander, Wyoming training for that event in probably the

00:53:46
September time frame, and there's gonna be a bunch of spin up events.

00:53:50
In April, I'll be in Croatia for a kind of I would call it a pentathlon.

00:53:56
It'll be an open water swim.

00:53:57
It'll be a paddle.

00:53:58
It'll be a stand up paddle.

00:54:00
It'll be a run.

00:54:01
It'll be a bike.

00:54:02
It'll start at one part of Croatia and go all the way down.

00:54:05
That's that's about 4 days.

00:54:06
So that that's actually something that I'm very much looking forward to doing that.

00:54:12
Prior to that, I'd like to put a plug out there for an organization that I I work closely with

00:54:19
for the last 10 years.

00:54:20
It's the Navy Seal Foundation, specifically, the Tampa Bay Frogman Swim, which is local.

00:54:27
It is a 3.5 mile swim across Tampa Bay for charity, which is the 3rd week in January.

00:54:35
It's it's the Sunday excuse me, the Sunday right before Martin Luther King every day every

00:54:40
every year.

00:54:41
Last year, I believe, raised well over a $1 for the charity, and we have about

00:54:48
200 swimmers, 200 kayakers show up to support that.

00:54:52
It is something I've contributed to because it's in my community.

00:54:56
It's it's it's kind of my tribe I've been associated with for for many, many years.

00:55:03
And it is probably an epic event, you know, physically.

00:55:06
I'm the safety director for it.

00:55:08
So I generally do the course a few days prior to check it out, but then I'm on water as the

00:55:13
safety director.

00:55:14
But I have to tell you what a great energy.

00:55:19
If you wanna talk about, you know, we all work out for reasons, but sometimes it's great just

00:55:24
to get into a big event of like minded people and and see exactly what what occurs on that.

00:55:31
Also, probably the world's best after party ever.

00:55:35
Epic.

00:55:36
Goes on forever.

00:55:37
So it's not just here.

00:55:38
Here's your here's your crappy sandwich and, you know, whatever.

00:55:42
It's it's it's it's really a world class event.

00:55:44
So if you could, in the show notes, if you could put the Tampa Bay Frogman Swim and the

00:55:50
Navy Seal Foundation, if anybody wants to be part of it.

00:55:53
And you can track what I do on Instagram at steve_corcoran, stevecorcorcoran, c o r c o r c

00:56:02
o r a n.

00:56:04
And I generally post some of the stuff, probably about half of the stuff I do.

00:56:09
And if you're interested in following me on that or if you wanna reach out and get ideas, I

00:56:13
am passionate about getting a community of interest together of people that are just doing

00:56:18
things their own way, and I'd like to learn from other people.

00:56:21
I'd like to share.

00:56:22
So that's how you that's how you can get a hold of me on that.

00:56:25
Awesome, man.

00:56:27
Man, this was this was awesome.

00:56:28
This was so great to do it.

00:56:30
Maybe, you know, we'll probably have to do another one too to get a little bit more after

00:56:33
you've done some of these things to get you back on and and hear how they went.

00:56:37
Man, you're you're super inspirational to me as a young man, and and you've kind of paved the

00:56:42
way.

00:56:42
And really just, like, the fact that, you mean, you're just doing it, and and I think a lot of

00:56:48
people need to level up what they can do.

00:56:51
They they can do it.

00:56:52
Right?

00:56:52
This is a matter of, holding themselves to that higher standard.

00:56:55
So we thank you so much for coming on the show, man, and we'll definitely be in touch and and

00:57:00
have you back on here in the near future.

00:57:04
Thank you so much.

00:57:05
It's it was fun chatting with you guys.

00:57:07
And I I I wrote down a few notes from you guys, so this was a great exchange.

00:57:12
I I really appreciate the opportunity to to share ideas and to talk about things that we're

00:57:16
we're all passionate about.

00:57:18
We appreciate your example.

00:57:19
And, as always, we like ending it with Live Full Fuel, baby.

00:57:23
Live Beyond Limits.

00:57:24
Let's talk.

00:57:25
Alright.

00:57:26
Thank you, guys.

00:57:27
As always, we wanna give a shout out to our sponsors, Nutrition Solutions.

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00:58:00
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00:58:07
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You have our superpower that is lifting people up.

00:58:23
So, unfortunately, most businesses aren't gonna use the highest quality ingredients.

00:58:27
What's your approach?

00:58:28
Jack.

00:58:28
I know he's Jack.

00:58:29
That's why I'm asking him.

00:58:30
I'm like, he changed.

00:58:30
I don't think he left.

00:58:32
Yeah.

00:58:32
It's consistency in everything that we do that really compounds.

00:58:36
Only way we're gonna get the word out is with you.

00:58:38
Live full fuel.

00:58:39
Live the own limits, baby.

00:58:41
Let's go.