This episode is sponsored by Bubs Naturals, yet another company that I track down to bring
on as a sponsor because I myself love their products.
They are offering you, the audience of the Behind the Shield podcast, a 20% discount.
But before we get to that, I do want to highlight a few of the products that I use myself.
Firstly, collagen.
I am about to turn 50 and so my hair, my skin, my nails, not really a big concern when I
was younger, definitely a lot more of a concern now.
However, where I've really seen the impact is joint health and gut health and I've been
blown away that when I'm consistent using collagen, Bubbs collagen in this case, I see
a massive improvement in both.
Another area I drink coffee, love coffee and in the morning I use the Halo Creamer.
Now originally I used the MCT Oil Powder but now they have the Halo Creamer which has also
got grass-fed butter in it, a lot more creamy if you're not trying to go for the vegan option
that they have as well.
Now it's important to mention as well the altruistic element of Bubbs Naturals.
The origin story involves Glenn, Bubb, Doherty, one of the two Navy SEALs killed in Benghazi
and a good friend of the founders, Sean and TJ.
So 10% of every single sale goes towards the Glenn Doherty Foundation.
Now as I mentioned before, they are offering you, the audience, 20% off your purchase if
you use the code SHIELD.
That's SHIELD at bubbsnaturals.com.
And finally if you want to hear more about their products and Glenn's powerful story,
listen to episode 558 with co-founder Sean Lake.
This episode is sponsored by a company I've used for well over a decade and that is 511.
I wore their uniforms back in Anaheim, California and have used their products ever since.
From their incredibly strong yet light footwear to their cut uniforms for both male and female
responders, I found them hands down the best workwear in all the departments that I've
worked for.
Outside of the fire service, I use their luggage for everything and I travel a lot and they
are also now sponsoring the 7X team as we embark around the world on the Human Performance
project.
We have Murph coming up in May and again I bought their plate carrier.
I ended up buying real ballistic plates rather than the fake weight plates and that has been
my ride or die through Murph the last few years as well.
One area I want to talk about that I haven't in previous sponsorship spots is their brick
and mortar element.
They were predominantly an online company up till more recently but now they are approaching
100 stores all over the US.
My local store is here in Gainesville, Florida and I've been multiple times and the discounts
you see online are applied also in the stores.
So as I mentioned, 511 is offering you 15% off every purchase that you make but I do
want to say more often than not they have an even deeper discount especially around
holiday times.
But if you use the code SHIELD15 you will get 15% off your order or in the stores every
time you make a purchase.
And if you want to hear more about 511, who they stand for and who works with them, listen
to episode 580 of Behind the Shield podcast with 511 regional director Will Ayres.
This episode is sponsored by Inside Tracker and what makes me smile is before I even started
my podcast seven years ago when listening to other wellness conversations, Inside Tracker
was always the company they recommended for comprehensive blood work.
Well now in 2024 they have begun to offer a brand new first responder panel which will
cover nine biomarkers hitting several of the pillars of health that affect us in uniform.
Stress, heart health, metabolism and gut health.
After a very simple intake form, a blood draw, you will get the results sent to your computer,
smartwatch, phone, not only detailing where you are on the scale from poor to optimized
but also tips on how you can improve each of these markers.
Now this panel is usually $310 but they are also offering first responders 30% off any
of their blood panels.
So that brings this specific panel down to only $217.
Now I myself went through their ultimate which is their comprehensive blood work which also
includes micronutrients, hormones and other areas of overall health.
And I have to say I was absolutely amazed at firstly how easy it was but secondly the
comprehensive information I got and the actionable information on how to improve each of my own
biomarkers.
Now as with all my sponsors if you want to hear more about Inside Tracker you can hear
my conversation with senior sales executive Jonathan Levitt on episode 887 of the Behind
the Shield podcast.
So to sign up or simply learn more go to insidetracker.com and for the first responder panel the easiest
way is to Google Inside Tracker first responder panel.
Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast as always my name is James Gearing and this week
it is my absolute honor to welcome on the show former law enforcement officer and the
man behind fit responder Ted Stern.
So in this conversation we discuss a host of topics from his early life, his journey
into the world of law enforcement, training the tactical athlete, fitness standards, defensive
tactics, entrepreneurial ship within the uniform professions, his transition out and so much
more.
Now before we get to this incredible conversation as I say every week please just take a moment
go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback and
leave a rating.
Every single five star rating truly does elevate this podcast therefore making it easier for
others to find and this is a free library of almost 900 episodes so all I ask in return
is that you help share these incredible men and women stories so I can get them to every
single person on planet earth who needs to hear them.
So with that being said I introduce to you Ted Stern enjoy.
Well Ted I want to start by saying thank you so much for reaching out and coming on the
Behind the Shield podcast today.
Thank you it's a pleasure I appreciate you having me.
So where on planet earth are we finding you this afternoon?
Well let's see I am just near Salt Lake Utah I moved out to Utah about three years ago
from Southern California I was born and raised in Southern California.
So let's start there tell me where in Southern California you were born and tell me a little
bit about your family dynamic what your parents did and me siblings.
I was born in Ventura County which is about an hour from Los Angeles.
I have a bunch of half sisters and a half brother I have a couple of full siblings my
dad's dead and my mom is I don't know where she is drug addicts, mental illness I haven't
talked to her in probably 15 years.
What else did you ask me born and raised in Ventura County that's kind of a family dynamic
I have since created my own family I love very much but what else can I share with you
there?
Well I am sorry to hear about the kind of family dynamic you experience but this is
an important kind of thing to really pull out the shadows that so many of us that saw
a life in uniform have less than Disney like upbringing.
So you know when we talk about the mental health side in the first responder profession
a lot of time we'll be like oh well Ted was on that shooting or James was on that extrication
with the dead child but they don't factor in or what happened from 0 to 18, 20, 25 before
we ever put the badge on.
Now that's true I mean a big influence for me becoming a cop was seeing deputies show
up to my house they talked to me you know they you know dealt with my mom and her various
issues and that they were kind of a source of comfort and like reassurance when I'm a
little kid and you know I looked up to them so yeah that was a big influence on me for
sure.
Now I'm writing a book at the moment I really want to tell the multi-generational trauma
story because no one was born an addict no one was born wanting to be in a gang you know
this is what happens as we evolve or devolve through a series of life events.
When you kind of look back at your parents parents did they kind of were they exposed
to kind of trauma in there did you ever see a kind of causation to some of the struggles
that they had themselves?
I didn't know them that well really I mean but I did funny enough see my mom's room that
she kind of grew up in and it was pretty well preserved and she was like an obvious hippie
and I heard something that she had kind of experimented and you know probably did drugs
and obviously that's a big contributor to a lot of people's mental illness.
I know that she was a drug addict as well throughout her life and an alcoholic so I
wonder you know who knows maybe she just dropped acid once and it sent her off the wrong path
I mean there's a lot of like the butterfly effect right there's a lot of even small events
that could send someone on a totally different trajectory but I don't know of anything
specific in terms of her parents you know experiencing trauma or even her really but
there could have been of course.
And how old you when you lost your father?
Let's see 24 he was old he was 89 he conceived me when he was like you know what 67, 65 I
don't recall but he was a World War II vet great guy I still think highly of him but
yeah he had me old and I think my mom was 33 and he was old enough to be your grandpa
almost kind of a weird situation but yeah he's my biological dad so he died at 89 cancer
all kinds of issues which was I was able to kind of grieve over time because I knew from
very early on that I knew I knew he's gonna die early you know I knew I wasn't gonna he
wasn't gonna see his grandchildren most likely so that helped a little bit yeah he died I
think I was when I was 24.
We've lost a lot of them I actually sat and interviewed two Iwo Jima veterans back in
December and you know the percentage now is absolutely minute of how many veterans of
that era that we have left and a lot of them didn't speak very openly my grandad was in
the Auckland orkney islands protecting the UK against the German bombers and never never
really talked about the war were you able to share stories either when you were younger
or maybe putting a uniform on opening some doors for that conversation.
He yeah my dad told me stories for sure he had a lot of close calls he didn't get into
the gory details but you know he told me he saw friends die and and it was very hard and
actually he told me from a young age he's like if you ever get into the military he's
like I will disown you like he was so shook I think he was definitely proud of serving
his country and fighting the Nazis was totally like an honorable thing to do I don't think
he necessarily had regrets per se but I think it shook him so badly he didn't he didn't
want his own son probably in a selfish way right like yeah let let let the soldiers fight
the good fight but like I don't want my son to experience that so he told me for a long
time like don't you dare enlist and even when I became a cop he wasn't happy about that
he wasn't happy about me exposing myself to danger or seeing some trauma or whatever but
no he told me some wild stories I mean of nearly getting killed a bunch of times or
or capturing a German without even a weapon by surprise and like all kinds of cool things
so yeah I'm I've written a lot of it down I think it'd be a cool maybe part of the book
or something to share because it's pretty awesome stories and as you said there's going
to be less and less of them as these guys and gals pass away absolutely well I don't
know if this is actually a thing but I can't help but wonder if that generation the the
pendulum swung strongly the other way they've seen so many horrors of war that they try
to protect their own children from which then may in you know down the road as they got
older had factored into you know entitlement and some other things because we always look
at the young kids about entitlement but I would argue that you know some of our pensioners
these days you know can be acting entitled as well and you know they talk about that
when you when you've you know when you've had such hard times you're really kind of
fighting to make them you know for your children to never experience that level of trauma and
suffering so but sometimes that overprotection could almost swing the other way too far.
Yeah and I think that's a that's fair and you know I didn't experience a ton of horrible
things as a cop obviously some things that were bad but I wouldn't I mean unless my kids
were dead set on becoming a first responder I'd probably want to steer them in other direction
too I mean you're going to look at life differently you're going to look at life through a different
lens that I don't know if necessarily is good right I mean maybe there is something to say
about ignorance is bliss right and you know maybe I don't want them to see what could
be seen as a first responder so even in that kind of similarly I'd like to maybe really
caution them if not persuade them to go another direction even though we need it right we
need first responders we need soldiers we need people to fight that good fight and I
have a ton of respect for first responders in military obviously but yeah it's tough
like how do you how do you tell your kids like the people you love absolutely the most
in our program to protect them how do you tell them yeah go ahead expose yourself to
some of life's worst things that you can see.
Yeah absolutely 100% well going back to your early life what about sports and exercise
what were you doing through the school ages yeah so that's funny because you know my dad
liked tennis so I played tennis and wasn't super passionate about it so I did okay with
that but I was pretty weak and scrawny and skinny didn't like working out my dad did
my dad enjoyed lifting weights and he tried to get me into it and I was not into it I
mean I remember being 13 and being in the gym with him and going this hurts like I don't
want to do this I had no desire to be strong buff I came later in life you know and yeah
funny quick story I ran into a one of my coaches from high school later on in life when I was
pretty built and like obviously muscular and he was blown away because all he remembered
was this weak kid who complained about doing push-ups didn't want to work out lazy so he
was like anything can happen this is amazing so yeah I didn't I did not have a strong athletic
background like I said played some tennis you know dabbled here and there but I was
not an athletic kid was not in my wheelhouse at all and it wasn't really pushed in my family.
I moved and played a lot but I was still really scrawny I was very small I had my growth spurt
when I was 18 so at school age which is up to 16 in England you know I was I was tiny
and I had one of my friends on the show supposed to be my very first episode but we had some
technical issues so he came on a little bit later but he was in the interview he said
James just so you know of our entire school you were the last person I would I thought
would become a firefighter and you know obviously I'm not a big big lad now but you know full
career and you know all this athleticism that I've been able to do but it's funny because
people talk about oh it's so hard being overweight well the skinny kids it sucks too like you
know you're you're written off for everything you're picked last in sports and when it comes
to law enforcement or fire you got to put the work in to be strong enough other people
are trying to lose weight you're trying to gain strength which arguably you know if you
look at the physiology is actually harder.
Yeah true because you know you as a skinny guy or gal you can put in a lot of effort
and maybe not necessarily see great results and it can be discouraging I've actually experienced
both sides of the coin you know I was the skinny guy who had a hard time putting on
muscle and then in my early 20s I got fat like I got I gained a bunch of weight after
graduating the academy so I lost a little over 40 pounds of fat which isn't a huge amount
but I can I understand I think the challenge to degree on both sides for sure.
Now what about career aspirations your father's obviously dissuading you from the military
what were you dreaming of becoming when you were in high school?
You know I never had any big passions so I kind of landed on lawyer because I liked to
debate you know it's a fairly lucrative career right it has a good kind of status symbol
in your in most societies so and my dad liked that idea too so that's the track I was on
but then in college I just learned like wow being a lawyer requires much more than standing
in a courtroom and debating with people you're gonna have to do a lot of studying and research
and you know office hours and I don't you know one day I had an experience where I saw
some deputies in action and that's when I clicked and I was like maybe I could do that
that sounds really cool so that was my original track was to become a lawyer but just oh I'm
definitely glad that didn't pan out for sure.
Did elements of that journey factor into your law enforcement obviously they're parallel
careers but what I find fascinating Steve Jobs for example did calligraphy in university
he didn't have any particular track he wasn't pursuing a major he just took random classes
fast forward a few years he creates you know the the Apple Mac and then is the first person
to put fonts on a computer so his random not community college his random college course
factored in later did you see a kind of crossover at any point during your career?
Yeah I mean I was a philosophy major which is either the number one or the second pre-law
major so people go to law school usually are literary or philosophy majors and there's
a lot of like debate and whatnot in philosophy but there's a lot of writing so that helped
me write reports really well I mean my first FTO said I've never seen anyone write reports
so well and so fast which was really a great compliment of course when you're struggling
and stressed out and worried about your job it's nice to hear that but so it did play
a huge role writing those 20 page papers that were due made a three page report that was
very simple English very easy for me but yeah I mean you know even when you talk to a suspect
and you're a detective and you're interviewing like you can kind of think a few moves ahead
and maybe help it helps you corner them and I think that my background with speech and
debate and that kind of thing helped a lot in those circumstances definitely.
So you shift from philosophy to law enforcement walk me through your academy and on-ramp experience?
So my background investigator was also the guy that helped prepare people for an academy
they had a pre-academy and he was so strict and serious and frankly intimidating he made
the academy easy his name's Scott I don't know if he wants me to say his full name probably
never hear this but he made the academy easy because I came into the academy going oh my
gosh this is gonna be the hardest thing I'll ever do in my life and I honestly kept waiting
for it to get harder physically I was already in good shape good enough shape honestly the
academics in the academy weren't hard for me so I don't know not to try to sound like
a big ego or anything but it was easy you know it was a six-month academy you know they
yell at you they have you do assignments they have you do the physical testing so that wasn't
a big deal knock that out.
Now what did the defensive tactics trainer like when you went through school?
It was kind of minimal and honestly the problem I had with it is it wasn't like real-world
application like they had these different moves you do or okay like this is how you're
gonna do a particular wrist lock and hey grab these two fingers and twist them up I never
once saw anyone use those tactics in the field ever there were some things that were good
and applicable like you know learning basic ground control and stuff or striking the bags
but a lot of it was not practical and I'm fairly certain they've revamped it like since
then they've taken a more practical approach to tactics but it's minimum I think you could
probably talk to most cops across the US and they would tell you that the emphasis of defensive
tactics is pretty minimal and that even the ongoing testing for a lot of agencies is like
once every two years which you can't really say is good training or you know consistent
regular training so I think a lot of citizens have this preconceived idea that cops are
gonna be better fighters or like better with defensive tactics than most and I don't necessarily
think so I think they do I think from what I've seen is pretty much a minimal job done
to prepare people in regards to defensive tactics and arrest and control now I'm no
longer with my department it's been a few years I saw them improving that and it's probably
way better than it was back in 2010 when I went through the academy but yeah I think
I think agencies could do better with that for sure.
Well what's scary is you know the level of wrestling that's out there some of these high
school and collegiate athletes you know the MMA world jujitsu you know and obviously you
got the strike in as well it's a crap shoot I just saw it went around social media and
a lot of the the martial artists that I follow it was a fight it must have been in Europe
because one guy was wearing an England football shirt I think the other one was wearing a
French one and I mean these punches were so weak every single one missed and you know
so there's an example of you might get in a street fight and you know have not very
little worries at all and you'd be have no problem getting away from it or detaining
that person but then again you might come across someone who's a trained athlete and
you as a law enforcement officer is entering that conflict with a sidearm strapped to your
belt so you know there's such a spectrum that I mean I think it's terrifying even the fact
that we send cops one to a car that one officer you know they might be a 280 pound former
linebacker or they might be a 90 pound police officer and they're gonna go into that arena
and it you know it might be an arm might be an arm might be a psych patient might be a
hypoglycemic it might be all the things the the fact that there isn't an absolute laser
focus on the strength and conditioning the combatives and the actual real world tactical
firearms training blows my mind you know in some department but we see a complete parallel
on the fire service too there are phenomenal departments out there and there's departments
like the last one I work for that you could have the world's biggest near miss on your
doorstep and still nothing changes it is sad it's sad it's shocking there's a lot of change
that needs to be made but you know you're right like one one thing that's that's interesting
is that there's kind of negative training in the field in the sense that cops are used
to people obeying their orders because 99 times out of 100 or even more you say hey
sit down you know put your put your hands behind your back or whatever they're gonna
do it and what you see in a lot of these cringey videos of cops being unable to control you
know resisting subjects as you see them you know stop resisting stop resisting they'll
say it a hundred times get on the ground get on the ground get on the ground and it's like
their brain can't adjust to the fact that my verbal commands are no longer working so
I need to go put hands on so yeah I think there's that that element of like negative
training these cops get complacent you know and and I'm sure this happens in the fire
service you respond to a hundred different incidents that don't require either a technical
skill or your physical abilities and then all of a sudden you get that call and it's
like oh my gosh I need to do something and I haven't prepared for it my analogy is like
an airline pilot who has forgotten about or neglected to study emergency landing procedures
because they've done a thousand normal landings and all of a sudden now they have to do an
emergency one and it's like crap I didn't study for this I didn't prepare for this it's
been so long since I looked into this because I'm so used to and complacent with the everyday
stuff that tends to go smoothly you know so but I see it all the time as a fitness coach
I get a lot of people reaching out to me for help to lose fat build muscle and a lot of
it is a terrible incident they're involved in Ted I got no foot pursuit I couldn't keep
up or I got into a fight and this 16 year old kid whooped my butt and then they go oh
my gosh I need to get fit I need to lose the fat build the muscle maybe I needed to take
some defensive tactics courses whatever but sadly a lot of them wait until it's too late
when extends beyond the uniform too I was just thinking about this you know say you
are a deconditioned 40 year old in America you know and you know you haven't exercised
and you haven't watched what you've eaten you certainly haven't gone into any kind of
in a martial arts school whatever and then someone bigger than you just simply grabs
your kid and runs imagine that that you knew you couldn't catch him that you couldn't stop
them that to me terrifies me and that's without the uniform now throw on a uniform where you're
not only responsible for your own family but now the community that you serve as well and
more importantly arguably the man or woman to the left or your right so the ownership
element is so so important and even if let's say you know you've kind of got burned out
and you're not as worried about when you're at work then refocus on home when you're not
wearing your gear when you don't have a radio and you get response you know screaming towards
you in a matter of seconds and now it's your family your home your child and this is what
I you know uses the analogy is like how would you feel if your family died because the responder
hadn't trained now imagine you're that responder.
Amen to that I mean I've seen it like I remember I was at a park on a soccer field and it looked
like a kid is maybe two to three years old was running toward the street and the dad
was very significantly overweight is yelling stop stop and you see him like try to get
up and try to run and it's just pathetic like his three-year-old absolutely outpaced him
in and for a moment I'm like I'm gonna have to start running I'm gonna go save this kid
this guy's kid because he's running for the street and you know I feel terrible this kid
got hit by a car and luckily the kid finally stopped and listened to whatever it's like
how does a moment like that not tell him and maybe it did but tell the dad oh my gosh I
am not being a good dad I'm not being a good dad because to me a good dad is somebody who's
is capable of protecting their kids for at least normal stuff I get it you get punched
in the face by some MMA professional and they out of nowhere and they steal your kid I mean
you know there's not much you could have done to prepare for that but like can you prepare
to keep up with your child if they're running can you prepare to reasonably defend yourself
against the average person you know and and I think a lot of it too is people have inflated
egos maybe they remember what they used to be able to do but now they've gotten more
out of shape and haven't been tested in years or or they just have overconfidence oh you
know they play out the perfect scenario in their head here's what I would do and they
they think they could handle it perfectly and until that moment teaches them otherwise
yeah I love that phrase I think seals that use it a lot you know you don't rise to love
like expectations you fall to the level of training and it's so true you know the whole
hold me back I just see red we've seen those guys on youtube they don't do very well so
uh yeah well you spoke about being slim when you were smaller and then having to lose weight
after you graduated the academy walked me through that weight gain and then what was
that pivotal change that got you to realize that you needed to take action yep so you
know I was still a weightlifter and my focus is like let's get big and strong and there's
a couple guys that I was working with in the jail so we start in custody who were big strong
dudes and putting away a lot of food so I'm like okay that's the way to do it you know
I want to get big and strong and um it eventually turned into a bad habit you know and I think
anyone who ends up overweight usually didn't expect to get there and they might have this
moment where they're like I didn't realize how fat I've gotten and I knew I was gaining
some fat but and you know you ignore it you brush it to the side whatever I'm still fine
I still got it um so a couple things happened like you know I'm eating a lot of food eating
food that's not that good for me I'm snacking here and there and even though I was lifting
weights you know and I was still pretty strong which also gave me a false sense of confidence
hey I'm still strong you know hey um a couple of wake-up calls I remember I responded to
a fight in the jail another deputy was in a fight and just getting there I was winded
and somebody made a content comment like were you even were you even involved in the fight
like you're breathing so hard and I was like oh my goodness that was one thing another
one is I saw a video of me running and I looked silly running like it just did not look athletic
and I was like oh and then the final straw I went to the doctors and you know they're
like yeah your blood pressure is out of control here's your meds here's your prescription
and they're like don't worry you know it's genetic you said you said your mother and
that side of the family has blood pressure issues it's just genetic I've seen doctors
say this a million times but I also took a look at myself in that moment I'm like I am
240 pounds I have a belly I have I have love handles and I'm like let me try to do this
the right way so I ended up through a few steps you know losing that fat and you know
lo and behold my blood pressure was good again you know I can move again I felt good and
I learned a better way to approach building muscle and not get fat in the process but
yeah that's you know one thing led to another and one day I was overweight and I just decided
in that moment I needed a change.
What was the training philosophy that you had was it more of a powerlifting side then
if you put on the weight because I mean usually bodybuilders they have the kind of off-season
weight gain but then they slim down for competition but the powerlifting community tends to be
a little heavier because they're looking just for that strength.
Yeah it was definitely very powerlifting focused which is great but unnecessary fat gain is
not great and never a good thing so and I would kind of engage in periodic cuts when
I saw a picture myself that I didn't like or I would try to lose some weight but I was
approaching it like bodybuilders would at the time and you know like chicken and broccoli
and turkey and sweet potato and eat every two hours and this is actually what led to
me starting the fit responder program is that I had a coach who was telling me all right
you know eat your turkey and asparagus and your you know your six almonds and these it
was kind of a really rigid schedule workout six days a week for an hour and a half to
two hours and I was having trouble keeping up with it but I you know I was determined
hey I can be a fit guy I can do this but I remember I had an incident where I was on
a traffic collision for like six hours directing traffic and I told my coach it's like I missed
two of the meals and I'm dang exhausted like I if I can take the day off from the gym today
that'd be appreciated and he said oh you must not want this bad enough and yeah I'm sure
his intent was to motivate me but I felt pretty discouraged like what what did this guy want
me to do say I'm not gonna stop I'm gonna stop directing traffic now I need to go eat
my meal that's timed every two hours and in that moment I'm like I could probably do this
better but it didn't come till a little bit later that I decided I wanted to actually
coach people but that was a big inspiration for me and starting fit responders I realized
like a good coach is also someone who understands the actual challenges their client is dealing
with and rather than giving their client a cookie cutter approach might give them things
that are actually doable given their life given their preferences given their schedule
and all that and it might take somebody with that understanding with that background so
that's kind of what it was a big moment that inspired fit responder.
It seems like some of the more extreme versions of dieting they've literally sucked all the
fun out of cooking and food and eating so where you know where I kind of find the middle
ground is yet of times you obviously have got a got to start reeling in certain elements
macros etc but if it becomes the the point where you're just staring at 12 Tupperwares
that with the same shit and that's all you're gonna eat for you know three days straight
then you got to ask yourself if I if I'm this miserable eating then what is that point if
I'm literally going to train for Mr. Olympia I get that kind of fanaticism but I'm a firefighter
you know do I need to be all the way on that extreme the same way as even lifting do I
need to to constantly figure out what my one rep is or do I need to be able to pull five
reps with great form at 80% of what I can so I can foster strength and longevity yep
100% agree with that so you mentioned about you got to a point where you really kind of
got into the coaching world what what again kind of led you onto that path sure thing
so like I met my wife and so my girlfriend at the time and she saw me prepping you know
a dozen Tupperware with with chicken and rice and she goes you know you could do this easier
right like she was in great shape she had already done a fitness show she's also a personal
trainer and you know she introduced me to how she approaches food definitely imperfect
you know like kind of budgeting so to speak for the date night and for deviations and
also just making food more fun that isn't bad for you you know different ways to make
burritos and tacos and lasagna that is to your palate really enjoyable still kind of
hits that that button that we need to enjoy our food right I mean there's food is fuel
but it's also a little bit of recreation too so she just taught me kind of new ways to
go about it and that was really eye-opening for me it definitely helped me lose the weight
I was looking to lose and we started sharing these methods with people at work and people
were getting great results and they loved that and we're like we're changing lives and
that was when I was like why don't we just coach people officially let's let's get clients
and coach them she's pretty skeptical at first she's like no one's gonna want we're not
professional bodybuilders no one's gonna want us as coaches come on but I put it out there
I said hey you know Emily and I were a fit couple and we know what it's like to be a
first responder let's coach you let's help you so the results and the word spread really
fast the the the attention to us like exploded we had more clients than we knew what to do
with after a point and fitness is great because when you get people fit they're like a walking
billboard hey John you look so good how did you do that oh you gotta talk to Ted and Emily
so that was really the beginnings of fit responder what were you seeing within your department
as far as the fitness standards and the the kind of what's the right word culture the
fitness culture within that department as well I think it's a lot like most departments
in America like there's this general understanding that of course we should be fit and there's
you know you'll see a poster in the building somewhere that says you know you gave up the
right to be out of shape when you put on the badge and there is a little bit of that culture
but there's next to no incentive I mean other than the really important ones like not dying
and doing your job and but there's no other external incentives to keep people fit and
the problem with departments and agencies in America is they find themselves in this
battle where if they demand somebody to be fit they're often met with litigation like
oh you're discriminating against me because I'm overweight you know or you know oh so
you're gonna force me to work out well I got hurt so I want you to cover that because you're
forcing me to work out you know I need workers comp so a lot of agencies know they need their
people to be fit and healthy but they just don't know how to get their people to do it
and then then you do have both ends of the spectrum you have fit fit first responders
who recognize the importance and take action and you have the other end of the spectrum
where you got people who are literally morbidly obese walking around in uniform on the front
lines expected to be able to perform and do their physical demands of the job when intense
situations arise and they're incapable of doing it and you have everyone in between
but if you look at especially in the US and I don't know what it's like over there in
the UK but like first responders are some of the most obese groups of professions in
America you look at the statistics and they end up damn near the top of the list if not
top of the list and that's so sad and ironic I mean first responders ought to be some of
the fittest people like it is in your job description that you may need to do things
that require your physical abilities jump walls run climb flights of stairs carry out
victims carry out your partners fight you know bust through doors endurance strength
all of these things so yeah I mean I'll tell you that the I guess gonna wrap it up like
the internal culture was this kind of understanding that we ought to be fit in the academy they
preached it get fit they enforced it in the academy but then after the academy you kind
of just left everyone's left to their own devices I found that crazy as well and it's
someone made an interesting point when you got the right culture you don't need fitness
standards and I agree like Anaheim when I worked out there the first 12 months of probation
in the academy and then probation was was hard like really really hard and if you didn't
make the cut they let you go they literally had a 25% attrition rate of every class at
least when I was there and so after that year you know there was just this culture of excellence
not saying that I achieved excellence but the pursuit of excellence and you know we
would work out all the time we'd play sports we'd you know we'd run at the track we'd
do all the things because that's just what you do but then you know I ended up changing
to other departments and seeing you know like you're talking about the other side and it
maddens me because if you ask the SEALs the Green Berets the PJs the SAS if someone doesn't
cut it they're out they have standards and they have you know not so much a fitness test
but an overall performance level that they've got to maintain you ask the ocean lifeguards
of the world and I was a lifeguard in open water not not the oceans but lakes you know
if I fail my swim test I cease to become a lifeguard I just don't understand how in police
and fire I mean it should be EMS as well how we allowed it to you know unions administrative
whatever it was the combination to resist an annual fitness standard because if in in
Florida where I went to fire school we call it minimum standards so they label it that
this is the absolute shittest you should ever be and you're asked to climb stairs and dummies
and you know breach doors and all the things so they've set the bar no one can say oh it's
not fair that was your fucking front door so I blows my mind but then you're like oh
it's not fair to test me I mean I just I'm still waiting for someone to give me a good
answer how the fuck especially when we have unions that beat their chests saying that
they're just the strongest union in the country and we can't even set a fucking fitness standard
for a profession that depends on our fitness it does blow my mind as well and there are
there I know there's ways to reform it because there are departments especially the troopers
a lot of trooper departments which are highway patrols have standards I mean I've had clients
who come to me to help because they go I know I'm not going to pass the test this year unless
I lose some weight and I prepare better for the physical demands and they can't lose their
job so there are some agencies that have the standards that hold people to the standards
and obviously are able to avoid any of the worry about unions or litigation but you know
I remember talking to a guy who's pretty high up in my department and when I brought these
things up he immediately was like yeah that's a dead end he goes I've tried everything there's
no way and I just I don't believe it yet I don't believe it I think he just I know he
believed what he was saying he probably felt like he tried a bunch of different things
and there's just there's no way but I think it's just going to take some really strong
people who are in the management who are in the leadership positions to put their foot
down and maybe deal with some backlash maybe deal initially with some litigation with some
problems and until they can solidify it maybe it maybe it's new contracts moving forward
with new hire ease to say you must abide by these it's in your contract that you need
to be fit and we're going to hold you to standards fine you know but I yeah there's a ton of
room for improvement and you're right it blows my mind it's sad and it's freaking pathetic
and embarrassing too I mean I can't I cannot put myself in the shoes of someone who's 50
plus pounds overweight can't pass a physical test oh it's my department's fault because
they won't you know do xyz and you're being unfair you're discriminating no like open
your eyes you are the problem well I've been very fair to really you know over and over
and over and over and over again bring great great minds to come on and talk about especially
in the fire service our work week which absolutely sets us up for failure and you look at law
enforcement you know you've got these long hours you know in your your profession the
shifts swinging from nights and days you're in a car you know you've got the belt now
you've got postural issues so we are set up for failure a lot of us so it's not just on
the responder it is on you know the the employer as well but again when you were expected to
do a certain amount of things at the front door and then you have the audacity to say
oh it's not fair no one you know especially the one I hate is oh they're trying to take
our jobs like I don't get me wrong if they said right starting tomorrow if you're not
fit you're out of course that's completely unfair you'd have to introduce an on-ramp
system where over a series of two or three years everyone has to get to that standard
again because you've allowed them to devolve up to that point but it all goes back again
to what would you how would you feel if your family died because that obese firefighter
tapped out three floors up or that bodybuilder firefighter tapped out because all he focused
on is to paint himself orange and not actually be able to do the job properly so this is
the thing we've got to remind ourselves that not only to our family first but the people
that we serve we swore an oath to be able to do the thing and as you said I'm not going
to be able to beat an MMA fighter but I hopefully will be able to hold my own with the average
Joe I'm not going to be the fastest person up you know Grenfell Tower I'm not going to
be able to carry the most weight but I'm going to make myself the best version of James Gearing
in that uniform to be able to do it so it's not about taking jobs I mean defending someone
who can't do a job as a firefighter is trying to persuade the school bus company allow the
blind guy to drive you know if you can't do the job you can't fucking do the job.
Yep I'm with you 100% right and I've said that too like I don't need you to be a professional
athlete you know like but will you be able to get into an incident that requires your
physical fitness and say you know I reasonably prepared for this right it would be like you
know you respond to an active shooter and they have you know a tank like okay well I
can't beat them but I still came reasonably prepared you know that you could absolutely
get involved in something that virtually nobody could overcome but my goodness like if you
like just look at the normal kind of scenarios that you might be involved in you might have
to run up four flights of stairs to get to a victim could you do it and don't think yeah
I could do that well when's the last time you tested yourself really you know a lot
of there's there is an alarming statistic I want to say it was like 90% of men who are
over the age of 35 will never sprint again did you hear this James did you ever hear
that statistic no I didn't yeah and I want to say it was 90 but it was a staggering amount
of people and you know how many of those guys at the age of 40 would say oh I could handle
it if whatever incident occurred that required me to it's like we you haven't sprinted in
five years so yeah I mean you know I think it makes absolute sense that first responders
whether you're fire cops like you need to have a reasonable standard of fitness for
yourself but you ought to be able to run you probably should be able to hop a four-foot
wall you probably should be able to run up four flights of stairs and not be absolutely
winded or you're useless now so like test yourself get into the damn gym workout because
you're right like you you don't want to be that guy or girl that goes man like I'm not
the first responder I would want come into my aid or my family's aid you know don't wait
till then where you take care of it now there's a pushback against the term tactical athlete
and I was at a the Orlando Fire Conference once I asked one of the Denver Chiefs how
how many stories do you expect your firefighters to be at a climb and he said to the top of
the tallest building we've got and I that was a mic drop moment to me that's exactly
what I was hoping he was going to say where I just finished working next to my station
and this is a you know a department where a lot of them said oh we'll just get the elevator
if we have an issue there's a 28 story hotel tower and we would do a thing where you simulate
then when I say we like I would organize this it wasn't a department thing at all but we'd
simulate a high-rise exercise and so you'd have your bunker gear on your pack but then
you'd have spare air bottles because when you climb that high there's no one to turn
around to and just get you more everything you you need you got to take up with you the
section of hose and a forceful entry tool so you're not pack mule ing it you're just
the bare minimum of everyone so that when you get up there you've got the resources
to work and then it was 28 story climb now when we did that I weighed myself without
my gear and then with all this and it was a hundred pounds of gear on my skinny ass
in a hundred and sixty eight pound frame at the time no one gives a shit how fit I am
how old I am what color I am who I sleep with they just want to make sure that I can get
to the top and get their children so this is the thing when there's pushback against
tactical athlete and it's the complacency that you were talking about 90 percent of
the calls you run on may take minimal physical exertion but when someone starts shooting
from you know a hotel in Las Vegas when bombs go off in London you know when the tower in
Grenfell Tower is ablaze in in London and you have to make you know make entry or climb
numerous amounts of stairs or drag people out that is what you're training for you're
not training for the everyday nonchalant calls you're training for the worst case and like
you said you're not expected to be Superman but you're expected to at least perform at
the highest level that you physically can.
Amen to that absolutely and you know I think that you can reasonably be said that if you're
entering the first responder profession and applying for a position that's going to require
and potentially and realistically require a high level of fitness you are when you swear
that oath you ought to also be swearing an oath that you're going to stay fit and you
will do what it takes or freaking resign but get out of there stop being a liability to
yourself and others for sure.
Absolutely well let's talk about the kind of training philosophy that you have then
I do a class every week for free here in Ocala and I've been in CrossFit now for like 16
years I've kind of moved away a little bit and focusing on more kind of Macy's kettlebells
the Wolf Brigade programming now which I'm really enjoying but when it comes to the missing
piece from the CrossFit space I've always loved sleds sandbags kettlebell carries because
it's the kind of real world application especially for the fire service we're pushing pulling
climbing dragging so talk to me about the kind of principles and philosophies that you
like to use when you're coaching.
I love that yeah I love the sled love those like practical pieces of equipment what I
found with people when most people I'm coaching have a problem with their habits right and
they have a problem staying consistent so what a lot of people do is they inject themselves
into some kind of program or style of coaching that they can keep up with for a period of
time as they ride that motivation wave but then fall out you know fall back in old habits
so I realize as a coach what's important really to help people see long-term success is giving
them very achievable small steps to accomplish day by day and you know eventually ramping
them up to the person who's doing a strenuous workout with different pieces of equipment
and challenging them but it's it really needs to be kind of a step-by-step simple process
so yeah when I coach it's kind of an individual basis like let's start with where you're at
now are you already working out pretty consistently and you know your way around the gym your
process is gonna look a lot different than the person who I also am coaching who really
just struggles not overeating you know really struggles just avoiding snacking you know
and really struggles just getting in the gym once or twice a week giving them steps that
are achievable and doable given their mindset as it is you know what I mean like coaching
a program for someone should not feel like pounding a square peg into a round hole so
yes ultimately if somebody has kind of graduated to like that achiever status I would say yeah
we're gonna be working with them on a higher level like let's work with equipment that's
really practical let's challenge you let's like push the boundaries but I guess like
to zoom out my perspective on coaching as I said is very like on an individual basis
and that's why I think like kind of custom one-on-one coaching makes sense is you know
for some people the idea of counting calories just sounds incredibly difficult and two-time
consuming whatever that's fine so for that person I might say like what are foods you
like you know let's just work on portions right now let's avoid let's kind of preset
parameters on the number of snacks you eat per day simple stuff you know just to get
that momentum rolling give them confidence allow them to see some progress with with
the process that's doable does that make sense no it does completely and it's another interesting
observation I've made I'm curious to get this this is more really within the department
so I was able to kind of be one of the voices in the wellness program of the last place
I worked and we're the first finally got the first class through a PT program first orientation
class you know new hire a class they weren't even doing PC with them before but what I
realized was especially in our guys in a department that aren't you know off their own back coming
to a gym there's a lot of fear a lot of fear of looking stupid a lot of fear of other people
realizing they're not as fit strong fast as they thought they were and again I commend
anyone who then steps up regardless of that but coming from the CrossFit space where there's
snatches and you know a lot of kind of more complex movements the sandbags the sleds you
know the carries it was like all you got to do is pick that up and walk over there and
they're like oh okay and so you reduce that fear that anxiety of looking stupid because
you've made it a real-world task conversely you know if I gave someone a snatch and their
mobility is terrible and they can't even squat down with the bar over their head I'm really
adding more to their their desire not to work out them building confidence exactly right
yeah because even though they may fake it and go through the motions in that moment
they're thinking man this is too hard this is not for me I'm not a fit person I'm not
made for this I don't like this I'll never be fit right but you give them steps that
are achievable and simple enough and it starts it allows them to start building that confidence
like okay okay I can eat better I'm doing it or I can work out I just got it done and
I'm sore okay you know even though maybe to me that's a pretty elementary workout super
simple like super basic but it's allowing them to feel that it is achievable it's doable
and they see the results from it and then they can begin to ride that momentum wave
and and be more eager to try new things and challenge themselves that was one of the things
I really liked about CrossFit you know when you're let's say you are in a bodybuilding
style gym you know a regular globo gym if they determine they like to use and you know
you you put the pin down you know you add a little bit more weight on your peck deck
not really a feeling of achievement but what I loved about the kind of play element of
CrossFit the rope climbs a pegboard the handstand walks was that you know as a 40 year old dude
and you do a handstand you're like this is this is brilliant and there's a sense of achievement
a sense of short-term goals and I think that's important because if we just go to the gym
and do the same movements three sets of whatever there's never really you know a sense of accomplishment
but when there are some of these tasks woven in because I mean even the sandbags you go
up a sandbag okay great but it's not a huge thing but you climb a rope for the first time
when you couldn't even as a child that is a huge accomplishment so I love kind of weaving
in some of those those kind of play elements that are you know are physical as well so
that someone has a real sense of wow I'm doing something I couldn't do before yeah that's
great and something we do inside the fit responder program in our app when people are consistent
with their workouts they get like these little badges these little achievements if they hit
a PR in the gym you know they they do more or you know more weight or more sets whatever
they get a badge for that and then we'll commend them on it so there's like a community aspect
to it as well so there's there's also another sense of encouragement like man I got 10 workouts
in a row done you know and I hit a new personal best so yeah I found that that's something
like our clients look forward to keeps them engaged kind of similar to what you were talking
about with CrossFit.
This is kind of a little bit more of a bizarre question but as a martial artist and someone
who's you know on the slimmer side I've been trying to figure out that happy medium between
the cardio element and my motor has always been good but also the strength because the
less strong I am the more effort it has for me to create strength against a bigger opponent
my aerobic side is is kind of coping with it but then if I built more strength does
that in turn improve my you know my capacity so talk to me about that especially in law
enforcement you obviously you need you need the muscular endurance but at times improving
overall strength as an asset too.
Definitely and I think what can really help people is workout efficiency so like you know
there was a time where I was preparing for a SWAT tryout and I do not like running I
don't enjoy it but I knew that running four plus miles was a requirement of this tryout
so what I did in my workouts is decreased the rest periods and increased my reps and
decreased the weight so that like I was able to get some cardio benefits from my weight
lifting and lo and behold with minimum running to prepare for this tryout I did quite well
and so that's that's a feature I think people ought to consider is that you often can kill
two birds with one stone but I mean frankly it's very possible to have decent endurance
and be strong as heck you know I've done it but yeah if your sole focus is one or the
other you will end up neglecting you know the other side of the spectrum I mean marathon
runners are typically very thin and probably not strong and conversely you have competitive
power lifters probably couldn't run a mile to save their life so you know I think as
a tactical athlete as you said or as a first responder you ought to be decent in both you
ought to have decent endurance you ought to have decent mobility decent strength but not
necessarily a specialist in one or the other.
As you progress through your own training from as you said carrying too much weight
to where you were was there a moment where you started to see that physicality and or
performance really factor into success it seems like a lot of the very fit very well
trained when it came to you know defensive tactics officers I've had on here report
a lot less hands on because these people are looking at them going yeah I'm not even going
to try and mess with that guy so talk to me about as you got fitter and stronger if you
notice any either any kind of de-escalation through physicality and or the actual calls
where your strength helped.
Oh my gosh so many and I need to say this with the preface that I'm not trying to brag
here I really am not but so many times in my career looking obviously fit helped and
being fit helped literally an application so I mean there's times where you know like
some guys getting agitated and you know I'm telling them what to do and he's like look
I'm not going to mess with you clearly you could kick my ass.
He has no idea how proficient I am in martial arts or whatever but he made an assumption
like this guy looks built he doesn't look like a big fat slob and he looks like he's
got some muscle and you know I probably saw the veins coming down my forearm and he's
like this guy probably could beat me up he made that assumption.
I remember there was another incident where there is a guy who would not get in the back
of the cruiser and he had his hands his hands were already handcuffed behind his back and
a couple of my partners were trying to convince him to get in come on like just get in we
don't want to fight you you're already cuffed just get in the car and I ended up just walking
up and he looked at me and he goes oh I see you sent the bruiser I'll get in the car now
and he just got in the car.
I don't know what he assumed thought I was going to kick his ass but obviously my physical
presence did something.
I used to get comments like that all the time you know just some comments about how I looked
or that I was obviously muscular I saw definitely practical benefits I did get in fights as
a cop I got in foot pursuits I had to kick indoors I did stuff like that no question
my physical abilities helped in those moments.
So yeah I mean I loved it and I wanted a reputation that I was capable I wanted my partners to
know that oh if Ted's backing me up like we're good and there was one incident where I got
into a fight and ended up knocking the guy out and he ended up going to the hospital
and some somebody else in the department made a comment saying that like well the guy's
lucky oh he fought stern like that guy's lucky he didn't end up in a body bag and I just
loved it that was my reputation a lot to do with me being you know fit strong having that
kind of being known as the fit guy.
I love that and just the idea of anyone whether it's a victim or a suspect or my partners
the idea of someone looking at me going oh Ted would be way too fat to help me out or
I don't have any confidence that Ted could help me that's awful just embarrassings like
just the idea of that is just I could not even allow that to ever be a possibility so
yeah long story short without trying to brag 100% I saw my fitness benefit me numerous
times throughout my career.
Beautiful well we talked about the training side what about rest and recovery I was kind
of totally naive and it was Jeff Nichols from the SEAL team strength and conditioning
coaches he was both that really opened my eyes you know I used to go off shift and go
to the gym and you know do Murph or whatever was the workout the day because I would sweat
out my stress air quotes and then he kind of made me realize right James you know you're
already in the red and then you go to the gym and you do a workout that's going to put
you more in the red where is the sense in that and I'm like fuck you're right so understand
the days to hit it hard the you know the deload days you know the sleep versus a day in the
gym when you have a lot of people that you coach now that do work shift work you know
what are the nuances between some of these professions that you've seen since you've
been coaching?
Yeah right and that's something I've had to learn over time is to not over train and to
really value and take advantage of my opportunities to recover as a way to progress because I
remember my dad telling me hey Arnold worked out eight hours a day you know just try harder
and I've seen influencers online say there's no such thing as over training you know just
go so on the one hand obviously over training exists and we ought to give ourselves a good
chance to recover because muscle is built during the recovery process and there's obvious
benefits to not allowing ourselves to recover I mean there's a point of diminishing returns
right like with effort and time if it was a graph you would see you know accelerating
benefits and then after enough time and effort those benefits tend to decrease and then eventually
you'll have the other side where you'll be hurting yourself literally if you work out
too much and don't recover enough and you don't sleep enough.
One thing I'll say though is I think we're not the best subjective judges of how much
recovery we need because on the one hand you could be like me and ignore a lot of signs
and symptoms that ought to be taking it easier myself but well hey I'm a badass so I'm going
to keep pushing that's one end of the spectrum but I would say more often than not people
are on the other end of the spectrum I ought to take a break oh I'm sore so I'm not going
to work out or I'm kind of tired so I ought to just sit on the couch so I think for most
of us especially if you're out of shape you are way more likely to give yourself more
excuses to not work out and to not you know because I've just seen this from working with
out of shape people for a long time hey you know I had a tough day on patrol you know
you walked for like an hour so I'm going to I'm not going to do my leg workout today but
you walked for an hour and you think that was your leg workout what are you what are
you talking about you know so I think we are if you're out of shape and you're listening
to this you ought to realize that you're way more likely to be giving yourself excuses
to rest when you don't need it then conversely but you know at the same time like if you're
in legit pain or your soreness is pretty much debilitating then it's those are good signs
and symptoms you do need to recover so yeah it's like where do you draw that line right
I've had clients who go man I only slept five hours last night should I work out you got
to zoom out I mean how many workouts have you gotten in this week you know do you have
an opportunity to rest more tomorrow night you know do you really feel like you're dragging
ass like it's you're just gonna have a useless workout or you can you get something done
can you work out for 30 minutes 20 right so there is a lot of gray area within that but
yeah I mean I think one thing I could just say is get a good coach who understands the
need for recovery and understands your lifestyle fit responder could do that by the way wink
wink but that can help you kind of guide you and help you understand when you do need that
recovery and when it's time to say no it's time to work even though I'm tired I know
a lot of the wearables you know they'll tout things that they claim to do that they just
don't and I've had you know people from the tech industry and people you know neuroscientists
on here that like no for example your watch cannot tell you what phase of sleep you are
in at certain time they can tell you if you didn't move but they can't tell you if you're
in you know deep sleep or whatever that's basically fake news however one of the places
that they're really good at which ties into this conversation is HRV so you know if you
have this completely linear space between your heartbeat that's a sympathetic response
so if you get off a 24 as a firefighter and your HRV is the metric is high or how they
measure it but you you clearly are in a high sympathetic stress state that's not the day
to do Murph but conversely it might be a great day to do a gentle row or go for a swim or
or rock or so still move still exercise but maybe don't do your max lifts do you know
like you said higher higher rep you know lower weight but then when it's the opposite when
you've got this variability now you're in that that rested parasympathetic state now
is a great time for you to do the ones that are really going to test your you know neuromuscular
system and and challenge your body a little bit more so that's one of the things that
I think the HRV element of wearables is really giving responders an insight into how am I
doing of course how you feel as part of it but physiologically if you're still like
dripping with cortisol may not be the best time to do you know your your full marathon
that day trying to break the record.
Yeah yeah a couple things to say there like I think that's interesting how technology
is evolving in that realm and I think we will get way better insights into our biology physiology
and really how to treat ourselves based on that feedback but yeah I mean another thing
to say is that I think that a lot of a lot of us are gonna get pretty reliable biofeedback
from ourselves if we push it too hard so if you do lean lean toward that end of the spectrum
of I'm just gonna push it when I don't feel like it first of all I like that because it's
gonna build a mindset that's great it's gonna build character that I will do hard work even
if I don't feel like doing it I love that aspect of just doing it even when you don't
feel like it but you know through my own experience through working with clients like if you ignore
obvious pain and your body is sending a signal from whatever part of your body like we are
in pain stop like probably listen to that you know but also know that if you are stressed
out that working out is proven to be very therapeutic exercise could actually do great
things for you you know don't see that oh I had a stressful day so the right coping
mechanism is for me to eat a bunch of food and sit in front of the TV that's actually
not a good outlet you know so recognize it actually pushing yourself to get in a workout
when you don't feel like it not only builds that character but is a proven means to improve
your mood and alleviate stress right and recover so yeah a couple points to make there.
Yeah absolutely I think it's just understanding intensity what we know it's not it's not a
lesser workout if your intensity is low you need undulation you need highs and lows so
you know if you're moving like you said you got off shift and you made yourself go for
a bike ride or whatever it is you will absolutely feel better but I can say having come off
shift you know you then go into a CrossFit gym and it's a high intensity workout that
involves snatches and other highly technical elements you're gonna leave more pissed off
than when you went in so understanding that kind of spectrum of intensities I think is
important sitting down doing nothing unless you're absolutely crashing is probably not
the best thing but what can you do where you're moving the blood is pumping you know you're
breathing hard you're getting daylight on your face but you're not crushing your soul.
Yeah and I think it's also giving yourself some grace in that learning that balance takes
time I'm still figuring it out it takes time so like know that there will be times where
you might go yeah I'm gonna get after it I'm gonna do this workout and go man I feel like
crap and I hurt myself I mean it happens there's risk right I mean there's risk involved in
fitness and whatever else but I think if you generally have good intentions especially
if you have a good coach and you lean more toward getting the work done when you don't
feel like it more than the other end of the spectrum you're gonna end up all right you're
gonna end up just fine.
Absolutely well I want to get to the app so I'm mindful of your time but just before we
do I ended up transitioning out and doing this full time which was a real leap of faith
obviously you're giving up the so-called quote unquote stable job you know with benefits
and pensions and stuff but at that crossroads in my life this was actually doing the greater
good so I took that jump.
Talk to me about what made you decide to go all in with Fit Responder and leave your law
enforcement profession.
Yeah I mean I can resonate with what you just said it's like the greater good and I just
saw there was a huge need for it we were obviously good at it.
It was already a stable source of income for me and I had a choice I had to go well do
I want to do it half and half like keep my career and just keep a small number of clients
and keep fit responders small or give up fit responder that was not an option in my mind
and focus on the career or go all in go all in with Fit Responder and quit my career and
I had just promoted I loved my job I had I think I had a good reputation on the department
I worked a lot of different assignments but I think when you're obsessed you know it literally
was a calling for me I knew I had to do it like I just had to do it was scary right because
you do give up the pension and everything you invested in but I just knew I had to do
it and I knew also that 10 years 20 years from now if I didn't do it I would always
wonder what if what if I had just gone all in with fit responder what could I have done
with it you know so I knew I just had to do it was definitely scary but absolutely no
regrets here like as you said like it's just a calling I I've helped way more people as
a fitness coach than I could have ever helped as a cop for sure I've had I have clients
saying all the time Ted I'm no longer on medications I feel great or I got into a foot pursuit
and I was successful or we had a raging fire that I responded to and for the first time
I had no fear of tapping out or you know using all my tank like and and then the ripple effect
of that the citizens are able to help you know them not only themselves but just the
partners and the victims and and patients that they're working with and there's a huge
need for it obviously with first responders so yeah that's that's how I jumped back in
two thousand and twenty one that was when I officially quit my job as a cop and went
all in actually funny story I got hurt at work I snapped my ankle and my ankle swelled
so badly I could no longer work light duty I was still trying to work behind a desk despite
the injury and my doctor said you're gonna need at least two weeks where your foot is
like totally elevated for most of the day we got to get this swelling down and it was
during that time I really focused on fit responder I was like well I'm laying on the couch I'll
coach people talk to more people and that's when I saw I saw real in real time how I was
getting a return on my investment of effort in time and I'm like what if I did this full
time and that was really when I was like I could I could do this so well it's so good
to hear I mean there's people out there that are wondering the same thing you know and
we're we're groomed to say oh you stay 25 years because that's when you get your pension
well a pension you know deadline is not the burning desire in the profession and I adore
the job till the end but I realized that doing this was a false multiplier if you help a
bunch of firefighters and police officers and how many people do they in turn end up
you know helping so it's it's a beautiful beautiful kind of amplification of your experience
plus your new skill set so for people listening where can they find fit responder online apps
etc yeah for sure so easiest thing would probably be fit responder.com fit responder r e s p
o n d e r.com you get a little introduction to our program and you can apply it right
there otherwise a lot of people find me through social media so on instagram it's also at
fit responder and or you can just email me ted at fit responder.com so a few different
avenues right there to check us out and see what we're doing beautiful well ted I want
to thank you I know you've got to go and take care of some some family issues now but it's
been an amazing conversation I truly appreciate you being so generous with your time and coming
on the behind the shield podcast today I feel the same James thank you I hope that this
was impactful to some of your listeners you do an awesome job love your stuff so thanks
for having me on appreciate it.