WEBVTT

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This episode is sponsored by 5 .11, a company

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to episode 338 of the Behind the Shield podcast

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Behind the Shield podcast, and you will hear

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my interview with Wes Barnett and Joel Totoro

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from Thorne. Welcome to the Behind the Shield

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podcast. As always, my name is James Gearing

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and this week it is my absolute honor to welcome

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on the show active duty firefighter and former

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MMA champion Eddie Wineland. So we discuss a

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host of topics from his journey into martial

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arts, almost losing his brother in a house fire,

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the fighter's mindset, firefighter fitness, mental

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health. sleep and so much more now before we

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get to this incredible conversation as i say

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every week please just take a moment go to whichever

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app you listen to this on subscribe to the show

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leave feedback i do love reading your feedback

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and leave a rating Every single five -star rating

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truly does elevate this podcast, therefore making

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it easier for others to find. And this is a free

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library of over 700 episodes now. So all I ask

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in return is that you help share these incredible

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men and women's stories so I can get them to

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every single person on planet Earth who needs

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to hear them. So with that being said, I introduce

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to you, Eddie Wineland. Enjoy. Well, Eddie, I

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want to start by saying thank you so much for

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taking the time to come on the Behind the Shield

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podcast today. Absolutely. It's a pleasure. Pleasure.

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Absolutely. So where on planet Earth are we finding

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you today? I am actually in my house, in my Four

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Seasons room. As you can see, it's kind of rustic.

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We got our fish mounts. There's more to become.

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But as the boys decide to reel in some big fish,

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we're getting them mounted. But it's kind of

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a rustic room. just in the back room of our house.

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Brilliant. Well, I would love to start at the

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very beginning because I know you weren't born

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in Indiana. So tell me where you were born and

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tell me a little bit about your family dynamic,

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what your parents did and how many siblings.

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Okay, yeah. So the way my parents met and where

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I was born is kind of a funny story, I guess.

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I was born in Harris County, Texas, Houston.

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My parents, they actually met on the way down

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to Houston. So my dad was down to Houston or

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on his way down to Houston with a buddy of his

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and my mom with a girlfriend of hers. And my

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dad and my mom didn't know each other at that

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point, obviously, but they actually passed each

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other on the highway. And my dad, who knew the

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girl that was with my mom, saw them and started

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pointing out to my buddy, you need to pass them,

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need to pass them. So they go blowing by this

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car that has my mom and a mutual friend in the

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car. And as they pass this car, my dad's got

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his ass hanging out the window. So she was struck

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by his brown eye? Struck by the brown eye, yeah.

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So that would be probably the first time my mom

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ever saw my dad was with his ass hanging out

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the car window going down an interstate headed

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to Houston. So I believe they pulled over at

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some point. Hey, what are you doing? We're going

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to Houston. Well, what do you know? Us too. So

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I think the rest is all kind of history. Beautiful.

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That's an interesting love at first sight story.

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It was the wrong end. Right. Or the right end.

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I don't know. Who knows? Depends on what you're

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into, I guess. So what about profession at that

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time or as they started progressing through their

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adult life? What were they doing career wise?

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My dad, he was going down there for work. I think

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he was doing trailer repair at the time or construction.

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He kind of bounced around a little bit. My mom,

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I'm not 100 % certain what she was doing. I think

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they were just going down to Houston to have

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a good time. Back in the late 70s. You know,

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as they like to do, they like to party, they

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like to drink, they like to just have a good

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time. So I think they were just down there having

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a good time and looking for work. Now, Wineland,

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the name, what is the kind of European descent,

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if anything? Wineland, I believe, is German.

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So I got German and Irish. My mom's on my mom's

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side was Galbraith. So my mom is actually Weinkauf

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and Galbraith. Um, on my father's side is Wineland

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at Brooks. So there's some, there's some German,

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there's some Irish. Um, I actually had one of

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those 23 and me's and, but because I've been

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struck in the head so many times, I can't exactly

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remember what it was, but I know I had, uh, like

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basically Cro -Magnon. They said it was like

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2 % of the population has a Cro -Magnon caveman

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gene. And I just so happened to have it. So you're

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related to Clay Guido as well then. Exactly.

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There you go. There's a reason we do what we

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do and why we're so dumb. It's just, oh, smash.

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Yeah. So, yeah, there was like Eastern European.

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There was all kinds of different stuff in there.

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I don't know how accurate that stuff is, but

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I know Weinland, Weinkauf, there's German there,

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there's Irish with Galbraith and all the other

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stuff. Now, what about in your extended family?

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Are there firefighters or are there also first

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responders or firefighters in any of your lineage?

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It's somewhere, but it's been known that none

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of us were going to back down from a fight. All

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right. Well, speaking of combat arts, then walk

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me through your journey into wrestling and or

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any other martial arts at the school age. Yeah.

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So I started wrestling at six and it kind of

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started because. Well, just like any other parent

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does, we're going to bounce our kid around, you

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know, OK, let's play basketball. OK, let's play

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soccer. OK, let's try. Let's try t -ball. OK,

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let's try this. Let's try that. I didn't like

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the balls, the ball and stick sports. You know,

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I not that I wasn't good at them, but. it just

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it didn't appeal to me so i didn't apply myself

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i didn't really like it that much um so they

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put me into wrestling and i i specifically remember

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watching like wwf and all that stuff back then

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so i i specifically remember asking my mom on

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the way to my first practice If she thought that,

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oh, well, do you think there's going to be tag

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teams? I thought it was going to be like like

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some WWF stuff. I mean, I'm going to DDT this

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guy and blah, blah, blah. And I quickly realized

00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:03.379
that that wasn't the case. You know, I got my

00:11:03.379 --> 00:11:05.460
ass handed to me the first couple of times. But

00:11:05.460 --> 00:11:09.379
once I realized what was going on, that that

00:11:09.379 --> 00:11:11.519
was my click. You know, that was my click. Let's

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get in there. Let's roughhouse. Let's get rowdy.

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And I always I like to test myself against somebody

00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:20.480
else. You know, so. All the other ball sports,

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they required one, and this one to me required

00:11:23.179 --> 00:11:26.799
two. You're going in there one -on -one, and

00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:29.419
it's a combat. We're not kicking a ball to each

00:11:29.419 --> 00:11:31.539
other. We're going to see who the tougher guy

00:11:31.539 --> 00:11:35.139
is here. So I kind of gravitated towards that.

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I wasn't very consistent in wrestling from six

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all the way on. You know, I kind of bounced around

00:11:41.059 --> 00:11:43.299
here and there. I don't know if it was if it

00:11:43.299 --> 00:11:45.919
was, you know, my parents working or maybe I

00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:49.820
just wasn't as interested. I don't know. But

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I kind of off and on from from six and then about

00:11:53.419 --> 00:11:55.919
middle school, I picked it up again. So sixth

00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:57.820
grade all the way through high school, I wrestled.

00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:02.220
So that was kind of the extent of it. That was

00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:05.159
always just kind of my thing. I didn't like the.

00:12:05.610 --> 00:12:08.590
the ball sports well it's an interesting contrast

00:12:08.590 --> 00:12:11.029
i played both i did martial arts most of my my

00:12:11.029 --> 00:12:14.049
life never to the level that you did um but i

00:12:14.049 --> 00:12:15.789
had that constant humbling i've talked about

00:12:15.789 --> 00:12:18.669
this before where i won national titles in taekwondo

00:12:18.669 --> 00:12:20.610
and then entered a kit boxing gym and got murdered

00:12:20.610 --> 00:12:23.070
and then kind of got okay at that and then went

00:12:23.070 --> 00:12:24.730
to jiu -jitsu and got murdered again i'm like

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fuck um yeah so i was definitely a weekend warrior

00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:30.159
and a punch bag for some very good fighters ian

00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:31.799
mccall and some of the other people that you

00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:35.059
probably were around in your your area yeah ian's

00:12:35.059 --> 00:12:37.419
a great dude yeah no he's uh you know monster

00:12:37.419 --> 00:12:42.399
in the gym um yes but Then you have the team

00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:44.620
sports as well. And it's an interesting kind

00:12:44.620 --> 00:12:47.220
of mix because when you fight for a team in martial

00:12:47.220 --> 00:12:49.779
arts, yes, you are part of a team. Yes, your

00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:53.220
win matters. But as you said, you are 100 % accountable

00:12:53.220 --> 00:12:56.340
for your performance on the mat versus, you know,

00:12:56.340 --> 00:12:58.519
you might be a very, very good player in a team

00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:01.340
of 11 on the football pitch. But, you know, the

00:13:01.340 --> 00:13:03.139
dynamic of the rest of the team, or maybe you're

00:13:03.139 --> 00:13:05.860
the weakling, you know, you can let down an entire

00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:08.340
team that way. So I found those two contrasts

00:13:08.340 --> 00:13:12.110
very interesting. That's my take on it, and that's

00:13:12.110 --> 00:13:14.870
why I love it. The only one responsible for your

00:13:14.870 --> 00:13:16.970
victory is you. The only one responsible for

00:13:16.970 --> 00:13:20.309
your loss is you. If you lose, there is no pointing

00:13:20.309 --> 00:13:23.370
fingers. The finger that's being pointed is directly

00:13:23.370 --> 00:13:26.990
at you because it's on you. Now, are you helping

00:13:26.990 --> 00:13:29.450
your team to win that match? Yes, because there's

00:13:29.450 --> 00:13:31.429
team points involved, at least in wrestling.

00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:34.350
So wrestling, there are team points involved.

00:13:34.529 --> 00:13:38.629
Your win matters. If you lose, it's on you. You

00:13:38.629 --> 00:13:41.149
know, nobody else out there can can we can't

00:13:41.149 --> 00:13:42.889
pull strings and we're not playing puppet master

00:13:42.889 --> 00:13:45.070
out there. You know, there's not there's not

00:13:45.070 --> 00:13:47.830
any any other bodies out there to help you. It's

00:13:47.830 --> 00:13:50.690
one on one there. And I mean, that to me is that's

00:13:50.690 --> 00:13:52.870
the ultimate test. And that's the ultimate. I

00:13:52.870 --> 00:13:55.289
just like I said, I've gravitated towards that.

00:13:55.350 --> 00:13:57.350
I've always wanted to test myself and I want

00:13:57.350 --> 00:13:59.740
to see who the better person is. Well, I think

00:13:59.740 --> 00:14:01.659
the other side of the combat sports is when you

00:14:01.659 --> 00:14:03.639
lose in football, for example. I'm talking about,

00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:05.740
you know, real football. I was going to say,

00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:07.820
yeah, football or soccer. Hold on here. Football

00:14:07.820 --> 00:14:10.799
with your feet. Football. Right. Okay, real football.

00:14:10.980 --> 00:14:15.139
I understand. I understand. Your ego might get

00:14:15.139 --> 00:14:16.759
wounded, but that's about it. But when you lose

00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:19.120
in jiu -jitsu, when you lose in Muay Thai, it

00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:22.080
fucking hurts. So I think there's another level

00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.379
of fear in those kind of sports that a lot of

00:14:24.379 --> 00:14:28.139
other sports, as amazing as athletes are, never

00:14:28.139 --> 00:14:30.519
understand that the potential of being knocked

00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:33.360
out or choked unconscious is a lot more real

00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:36.320
than, as you said, if your ultimate goal is to

00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:40.090
put a football in the net. It's it's it's completely

00:14:40.090 --> 00:14:41.870
a different breed of people, you know, because

00:14:41.870 --> 00:14:44.169
you are willingly going to lock yourself in a

00:14:44.169 --> 00:14:47.389
cage with you and two other people. One of those

00:14:47.389 --> 00:14:49.149
persons being a referee. So he's going to do

00:14:49.149 --> 00:14:51.330
nothing. The other guy, he's trying to take your

00:14:51.330 --> 00:14:53.809
freaking head off, you know, so so to willingly

00:14:53.809 --> 00:14:56.789
get in there and understand, OK, I may split

00:14:56.789 --> 00:14:59.330
my forehead open. I may break an arm. I may get

00:14:59.330 --> 00:15:01.190
knocked unconscious. I could break my nose. I

00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:03.370
could break my hand. I could bust my jaw. You

00:15:03.370 --> 00:15:06.389
know, the consequences there are real. versus

00:15:06.389 --> 00:15:08.210
getting kicked in the face with a soccer ball.

00:15:08.990 --> 00:15:12.450
Okay, it's going to sting, but for how long?

00:15:12.529 --> 00:15:16.070
A broken jaw is months of pain. You get kicked

00:15:16.070 --> 00:15:19.309
in the face with a soccer ball. Depending on

00:15:19.309 --> 00:15:21.590
what level of pussy you are, you could either

00:15:21.590 --> 00:15:24.669
shake it off or you might fall down and cry about

00:15:24.669 --> 00:15:27.970
it. It all depends. Yeah, it's an interesting

00:15:27.970 --> 00:15:30.669
contrast at the moment because I love the UFC,

00:15:30.789 --> 00:15:33.200
but then I'm watching the World Cup too. And,

00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:35.019
you know, some of the... And it's drama. It's

00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:36.659
just to try and, you know, sell the penalty.

00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:39.500
But it is quite funny that, you know, a mere...

00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:41.899
the flop touch yeah touching the face they're

00:15:41.899 --> 00:15:45.519
all they are all guilty of it basketball baseball

00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:48.120
well baseball so much you get hit with a 90 mile

00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:51.039
an hour fastball i'm sure that it hurts uh but

00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:52.940
you know they're all guilty of it soccer being

00:15:52.940 --> 00:15:55.139
the biggest one i think yeah i think they're

00:15:55.139 --> 00:15:56.679
clamping down there which is good to see there's

00:15:56.679 --> 00:15:58.620
a lot less of that now it was really bad about

00:15:58.620 --> 00:16:01.919
eight years ago they wouldn't even get touched

00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:06.019
yeah there was a one i forget his name but there's

00:16:06.019 --> 00:16:09.289
a video creator and it was one guy that got tackle

00:16:09.289 --> 00:16:11.809
than he i mean this dude rolled i mean literally

00:16:11.809 --> 00:16:14.370
six or seven times it was hilarious but then

00:16:14.370 --> 00:16:16.970
this guy kind of exactly and then he kind of

00:16:16.970 --> 00:16:18.990
superimposed him going through space and going

00:16:18.990 --> 00:16:23.389
through the ocean and it was hilarious anyway

00:16:23.389 --> 00:16:26.210
well back to your wrestling um we'll get into

00:16:26.210 --> 00:16:28.490
obviously the mma evolution but when you were

00:16:28.490 --> 00:16:30.629
wrestling you obviously got to a certain level

00:16:30.629 --> 00:16:33.570
what was it that was allowing you to be somewhat

00:16:33.570 --> 00:16:35.610
successful when some of the other kids that you

00:16:35.610 --> 00:16:39.100
were training alongside maybe weren't So, if

00:16:39.100 --> 00:16:42.740
we're being 100 % honest, my wrestling career

00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:48.039
was not successful. Was not. And again, I'm the

00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:50.659
only one to blame because I didn't apply myself.

00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:53.799
Like any other high school kid, it was just kind

00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:56.860
of, I'm here, but I want to be there, but I want

00:16:56.860 --> 00:17:00.080
to do this. I didn't really apply myself as hard

00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:04.000
as I could. I still say to this day, if I could

00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:05.900
go back to high school with the mentality that

00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:08.339
I have now, It'd be a whole different animal,

00:17:08.460 --> 00:17:10.539
you know, because the mentality that I have now,

00:17:10.660 --> 00:17:13.420
obviously, as a 38 year old man is different

00:17:13.420 --> 00:17:16.920
than a 16 year old kid. I was a 16 year old kid.

00:17:16.980 --> 00:17:18.519
You got different things on your mind. You want

00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:20.019
you want to hang out with your buddies, you know,

00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:22.160
all kinds of different stuff, different things

00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:25.539
going on rather than I want to get in there and

00:17:25.539 --> 00:17:29.759
beat people up. You know, I like to test myself,

00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:33.539
but but I didn't. apply myself as much as i should

00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:35.859
have um truth be told i never made it out of

00:17:35.859 --> 00:17:37.660
i don't know how familiar you are with with high

00:17:37.660 --> 00:17:39.940
school wrestling but they go you have your conference

00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:42.740
then you go sectionals you know so after conference

00:17:42.740 --> 00:17:44.660
everybody makes it the sectionals but after the

00:17:44.660 --> 00:17:47.019
sectionals you have to qualify for regionals

00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:48.559
you have to qualify for semi -state you have

00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:50.279
to qualify for state so you have to be within

00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:54.240
the top the top like four i think in your bracket

00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:58.200
to make it out of each tournament i never made

00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:01.099
it out of sectionals Even as a senior, I never

00:18:01.099 --> 00:18:05.339
made sectionals. Again, didn't apply myself.

00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:07.579
You know, I still to this day, I go back into

00:18:07.579 --> 00:18:09.700
the room and I wrestle with the kids just because

00:18:09.700 --> 00:18:12.240
it's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for

00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:14.160
them. You know, obviously my hometown Chesterton,

00:18:14.299 --> 00:18:16.240
everybody, oh, Eddie Wineland's in the room.

00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:18.059
You know, I don't see it like that, but they

00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:22.559
see it like that. So not only is it good for

00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:26.059
me, it's good for them that testing themselves

00:18:26.059 --> 00:18:28.579
against a professional athlete. You know, to

00:18:28.579 --> 00:18:33.599
show them that the mentality that I didn't have,

00:18:33.819 --> 00:18:36.059
don't worry about who's standing in front of

00:18:36.059 --> 00:18:37.480
you. It doesn't matter who's standing in front

00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:39.039
of you. Just blow right through them. You know,

00:18:39.059 --> 00:18:41.359
whip their ass no matter who it is. That was

00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:43.819
my biggest thing was my mentality. Being a freshman,

00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:46.259
they didn't have anybody to fill the smallest

00:18:46.259 --> 00:18:48.039
spot. So being a freshman, I came in and started

00:18:48.039 --> 00:18:51.319
wrestling varsity. My eighth grade year, I think

00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:56.150
I was like 17 -2 or 17 -0 with 14 pins. So, of

00:18:56.150 --> 00:18:57.789
course, I'm going into my freshman year thinking,

00:18:57.910 --> 00:19:00.829
all right, I'm going to smash these guys. I'm

00:19:00.829 --> 00:19:02.910
pretty sure my freshman year I got pinned more

00:19:02.910 --> 00:19:05.789
times than I won my eighth grade year because

00:19:05.789 --> 00:19:08.029
I'm going in, you know, wrestling seniors. And,

00:19:08.049 --> 00:19:12.509
oh, this kid's got a tattoo. You know, I got

00:19:12.509 --> 00:19:15.750
in my own head. So the best thing that I can

00:19:15.750 --> 00:19:19.490
do for these kids and my boys is to try and set

00:19:19.490 --> 00:19:22.410
their mentality straight. You know, don't worry

00:19:22.410 --> 00:19:24.109
about the person standing in front of you. Believe

00:19:24.109 --> 00:19:26.950
in yourself. Believe in what you've done. And

00:19:26.950 --> 00:19:29.769
just go out there and destroy this dude. You

00:19:29.769 --> 00:19:31.549
know, if you go out there and you give it 100

00:19:31.549 --> 00:19:34.509
% and try absolutely as hard as you can and still

00:19:34.509 --> 00:19:36.670
come up short, what else are you going to do?

00:19:36.990 --> 00:19:38.609
There's absolutely nothing you can do other than

00:19:38.609 --> 00:19:41.210
go back in the room and continue to work. So

00:19:41.210 --> 00:19:44.430
that's the biggest thing that I can do is try

00:19:44.430 --> 00:19:47.269
to give them that side. Well, it's an interesting

00:19:47.269 --> 00:19:48.990
perspective. I wrote a book a couple of years

00:19:48.990 --> 00:19:51.950
ago. One of the chapters I told the story of

00:19:51.950 --> 00:19:54.529
when I first started testing after the fire academy

00:19:54.529 --> 00:19:58.789
and these two bright orange bodybuilders were

00:19:58.789 --> 00:20:01.509
strutting around like, you know, cockerels in

00:20:01.509 --> 00:20:05.690
a farmyard. Yeah. And I was like, well, shit,

00:20:05.789 --> 00:20:08.809
they must be amazing. And this is my naive, you

00:20:08.809 --> 00:20:12.259
know, brand new fire recruit eyeballs. And then

00:20:12.259 --> 00:20:14.359
I watched them proceed to begin this physical

00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:15.680
test that we were all getting ready to do, which

00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:17.279
is basically like the combat challenge, pretty

00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:21.319
much. And both of them tapped out on the third

00:20:21.319 --> 00:20:24.220
story, carrying the empty hose line. And I was

00:20:24.220 --> 00:20:26.779
like, well, shit. And it kind of brought me back

00:20:26.779 --> 00:20:29.660
to when I used to fight. Sometimes I had already

00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:31.740
told myself how good that person must be across

00:20:31.740 --> 00:20:33.220
from me. Because like you said, they've got a

00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:37.380
granite jaw or tattoos or whatever it is. And

00:20:37.380 --> 00:20:39.559
that mind game is terrible because you can absolutely

00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:45.240
lose the fight or maybe be too meek to step up

00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:47.319
for a job position because you've told yourself

00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:50.059
that lie. So what has been the evolution of that

00:20:50.059 --> 00:20:54.539
from that freshman wrestler to fighting some

00:20:54.539 --> 00:20:56.920
of the best MMA fighters on the planet? How did

00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.740
you start dealing with that mental kind of imposter

00:21:00.740 --> 00:21:03.240
syndrome that so many of us suffer from? Right.

00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:09.920
I quickly realized. Size doesn't matter. I started

00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:12.019
training, and when I first started training,

00:21:12.039 --> 00:21:14.779
it was with Keith and Justin Wisniewski at Duneland

00:21:14.779 --> 00:21:18.200
Ballet Tudor. They used to call them the Polish

00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:22.619
Connection. They were two brothers, and you'd

00:21:22.619 --> 00:21:24.140
look at them, and you wouldn't think nothing

00:21:24.140 --> 00:21:27.079
of them, but boy, don't mess with them because

00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:30.440
they're going to flip your shit, I promise. When

00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:32.859
I first started training with him, Keith looked

00:21:32.859 --> 00:21:35.740
at me and he said, if you really get serious

00:21:35.740 --> 00:21:38.500
about this and you really want to fight, I feel

00:21:38.500 --> 00:21:40.299
like we can make you one of the best in the world.

00:21:41.579 --> 00:21:44.220
Yeah, come on. 18 -year -old kid from Chesterton.

00:21:44.279 --> 00:21:47.640
My wrestling sucks. I like the backyard box and

00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:48.660
that was about it. You tell me I'm going to be

00:21:48.660 --> 00:21:50.059
one of the best fighters in the world. I don't

00:21:50.059 --> 00:21:54.329
think so. I quickly realized that through just

00:21:54.329 --> 00:21:58.609
the constant training and the consistency. Again,

00:21:58.950 --> 00:22:00.289
that's what I'm trying to tell these kids now

00:22:00.289 --> 00:22:06.269
is that it's consistency. Hard work beats talent

00:22:06.269 --> 00:22:09.049
when talent doesn't work, right? That's the biggest

00:22:09.049 --> 00:22:11.549
thing, hard work and consistency being in there.

00:22:11.650 --> 00:22:15.190
So it got a little bit better. Learned how to

00:22:15.190 --> 00:22:19.390
move my body. I kind of learned, as you learn,

00:22:19.490 --> 00:22:21.730
you understand that the size really doesn't matter.

00:22:21.849 --> 00:22:24.470
Okay, he's got big muscles, big deal. You see

00:22:24.470 --> 00:22:27.130
all the memes now with this big, muscly bodybuilder

00:22:27.130 --> 00:22:29.849
getting choked out, and it says the moment you

00:22:29.849 --> 00:22:31.849
realize your max bench press doesn't mean shit.

00:22:32.190 --> 00:22:35.970
You know, that's 100%. My strength and conditioning

00:22:35.970 --> 00:22:38.829
coach, Jason, he's at Applied Strength and Conditioning.

00:22:38.829 --> 00:22:42.569
He's a 260 -pound dude. And, you know, he...

00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:46.319
I wrestle around with him, and I get on top of

00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:48.900
him, and he can't move me. Here's a guy who can

00:22:48.900 --> 00:22:50.940
pick up 600 pounds off the ground, but he can't

00:22:50.940 --> 00:22:53.960
move a 150 -pound guy because I understand body

00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:56.819
mechanics and how it works. That's just what

00:22:56.819 --> 00:23:00.839
he said. It's a very humbling experience to wrestle

00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:04.859
with a guy that's half your size and realize

00:23:04.859 --> 00:23:06.799
there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

00:23:07.019 --> 00:23:08.839
There is nothing you're going to do about it

00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:11.759
because... That small dude there, he understands

00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.980
what he's doing. He's going to fuck you up. There

00:23:13.980 --> 00:23:16.640
was another dude in the gym that he kept saying,

00:23:16.660 --> 00:23:19.039
I can take you. I can beat you. He's another

00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:25.299
big dude, 260 pounds. He got to a double underhook

00:23:25.299 --> 00:23:27.539
on me, and I started pushing on his face. I dug

00:23:27.539 --> 00:23:31.180
my double unders. I say tried. He picked me up

00:23:31.180 --> 00:23:32.980
off the ground. I just got wide. He couldn't

00:23:32.980 --> 00:23:35.819
put me down. 30 seconds goes by, and he lets

00:23:35.819 --> 00:23:39.500
go. He goes, oh. Oh, OK. Whoa, wait a minute,

00:23:39.539 --> 00:23:41.920
motherfucker. It's my turn now. You couldn't

00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:43.859
put me down in the first 30 seconds. So I just

00:23:43.859 --> 00:23:45.579
knee tapped and put him straight to his butt.

00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:49.119
And he stood up. He goes, all right, well, I

00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.000
believe you now. What do you mean you believe

00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:55.559
me? You'd whip my ass. No shit. You know, that's

00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:57.740
what I've been trying to tell you, Ross. I would

00:23:57.740 --> 00:23:59.700
whip your ass. You know, whether you like it

00:23:59.700 --> 00:24:02.980
or not, I'm going to kick your ass. You know,

00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:05.720
so so it's it's it's a humbling experience for

00:24:05.720 --> 00:24:08.960
the big dude, but it's also the little guys.

00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:13.299
It's. I look at these people as a challenge.

00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:16.799
Can I can I do this? I don't know. I don't know

00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:18.660
if I can. I think I can, but I'm going to try.

00:24:18.940 --> 00:24:21.759
You know, I'm either I'm either going to get

00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:23.400
beat or I'm going to beat them. You know, and

00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:25.839
that's that's the way that's the way I've looked

00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:28.640
at it is is one of two things is going to happen.

00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:30.900
And it sounds kind of funny. But when you tell

00:24:30.900 --> 00:24:32.660
somebody one of two things is going to happen,

00:24:32.700 --> 00:24:35.640
I'm going to win or I'm going to lose. I mean,

00:24:35.740 --> 00:24:39.779
that's the truth. You know, that's the truth.

00:24:39.940 --> 00:24:43.359
I'm confident that I'm going to win. But the

00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:45.900
reality that I could lose is there. It's a combat

00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:49.119
sport. It's one, one shot, one shot in your throttle

00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:52.799
on the floor. You know, so just just getting

00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:56.079
past that, that mental hump of seeing the big

00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:58.339
muscles and all. OK, well, this guy's done this.

00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:01.319
This guy's done that. Um, you know, right, right

00:25:01.319 --> 00:25:03.519
early on in my fighting career, when, when I

00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:05.880
fought Antonio Banuelos, you know, I watched

00:25:05.880 --> 00:25:07.599
a lot of his highlights and it was like, man,

00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:10.299
this guy's really good. I don't know if I can

00:25:10.299 --> 00:25:13.500
do this, but I'm going to try it. You know, just

00:25:13.500 --> 00:25:15.859
go and do it. Just try. You don't know if you

00:25:15.859 --> 00:25:18.539
don't try. Right. When I fought Camposano, I

00:25:18.539 --> 00:25:20.279
fought Will Camposano. And I remember watching

00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:22.359
him fight Ox Wheeler, the previous, his previous

00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:25.420
fight. And that dude just nonstop from start

00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:29.619
to finish 15 minutes. The output was insane.

00:25:29.740 --> 00:25:32.599
I says, man, I don't know how I'm going to beat

00:25:32.599 --> 00:25:35.180
this guy. This guy's in amazing shape and I don't

00:25:35.180 --> 00:25:38.039
know what I'm going to do, but just go do it.

00:25:38.059 --> 00:25:40.900
Just go do it because you don't know. So after

00:25:40.900 --> 00:25:42.900
the first five minutes, I remember speaking with

00:25:42.900 --> 00:25:45.359
him afterwards. Great dude, by the way, Will.

00:25:46.259 --> 00:25:50.460
He's a super nice guy. But after talking to him,

00:25:51.180 --> 00:25:53.940
he said, I almost didn't come off the stool after

00:25:53.940 --> 00:25:56.609
the first round. because that constant forward

00:25:56.609 --> 00:25:58.410
pressure, constant forward pressure, constant

00:25:58.410 --> 00:26:01.269
forward pressure, it's a lot different fighting

00:26:01.269 --> 00:26:04.230
under pressure, being the one pressured versus

00:26:04.230 --> 00:26:06.369
the one giving the pressure. You know, when you're

00:26:06.369 --> 00:26:08.690
giving pressure and the guy's like, shit, I don't

00:26:08.690 --> 00:26:10.670
know what to do. I just hit him with the kitchen

00:26:10.670 --> 00:26:14.029
sink and he's still coming forward. That drains

00:26:14.029 --> 00:26:16.170
your gas tank. That drains your gas tank and

00:26:16.170 --> 00:26:18.289
that drains your mentality. And that's, you know,

00:26:18.309 --> 00:26:20.269
the thing I wanted to tell you was, oh, well,

00:26:20.289 --> 00:26:22.130
fighting's physical. Absolutely, it's physical.

00:26:22.490 --> 00:26:25.390
You know, it's it's it's a physical sport. Firefighting

00:26:25.390 --> 00:26:28.609
is a physical thing. All sports are physical.

00:26:29.730 --> 00:26:33.609
But the fight is won mentally, you know, 90 percent,

00:26:33.809 --> 00:26:37.390
90 percent. The fight is mental, 10 percent physical,

00:26:37.569 --> 00:26:41.250
at least in my opinion. If I can beat you mentally,

00:26:41.410 --> 00:26:43.349
I know I can beat you physically because you've

00:26:43.349 --> 00:26:45.869
already beat yourself. You know, how hard is

00:26:45.869 --> 00:26:47.490
it to beat somebody who's already beaten himself?

00:26:47.990 --> 00:26:51.829
It's pretty it's pretty easy. But like I said,

00:26:51.849 --> 00:26:56.609
just realizing that the size doesn't matter.

00:26:56.890 --> 00:26:59.390
Just go try it. You're not going to know if you

00:26:59.390 --> 00:27:01.730
don't try. So that was the biggest thing for

00:27:01.730 --> 00:27:07.089
me was I'm pretty confident in myself. I don't

00:27:07.089 --> 00:27:10.750
know 100 % that I'm going to make it, but I'm

00:27:10.750 --> 00:27:13.230
going to try. Because if I don't try, I'm for

00:27:13.230 --> 00:27:16.289
sure not going to know. If I do try, well, at

00:27:16.289 --> 00:27:18.390
least I can say, hey, I gave it everything. I

00:27:18.390 --> 00:27:20.769
gave it everything. It didn't work. So at that

00:27:20.769 --> 00:27:25.789
point, it's either get back into the gym and

00:27:25.789 --> 00:27:30.670
keep working or move on to the next thing. So

00:27:30.670 --> 00:27:32.970
I want to get into kind of the progression of

00:27:32.970 --> 00:27:35.049
MMA and then obviously the fire service as well.

00:27:35.089 --> 00:27:37.369
But before we do, there was a very pivotal moment

00:27:37.369 --> 00:27:39.869
that happened to your brother. Obviously, it's

00:27:39.869 --> 00:27:41.470
very pertinent scenes with both firefighters

00:27:41.470 --> 00:27:44.650
as well. I think the burn injured, you know.

00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:47.200
boys and girls, men and women of the world, probably

00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:49.099
is some of the most horrendous injuries that

00:27:49.099 --> 00:27:51.859
a human can endure. I would not wish that on

00:27:51.859 --> 00:27:54.599
anybody. Would not wish that on, not on my worst

00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:56.720
enemy. So if you wouldn't mind, kind of walk

00:27:56.720 --> 00:27:58.480
me through that day, because I know there's an

00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:00.819
element of guilt initially from yourself as well.

00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:02.640
And then we'll kind of go through from there.

00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:12.519
Sure. Yeah. So, so back, what was that? When

00:28:12.519 --> 00:28:16.140
he got hurt. it was uh i wanted to go fishing

00:28:16.140 --> 00:28:20.240
so a buddy and me we were walking we were walking

00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:22.640
down the street with our fishing poles our tackle

00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:25.019
box and you know my dad was coming home from

00:28:25.019 --> 00:28:29.160
work in his pickup truck and he saw us walking

00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:31.900
down the street stopped obviously hey what are

00:28:31.900 --> 00:28:33.500
you guys doing well we're going fishing right

00:28:33.500 --> 00:28:35.180
down the road i'll jump in the back of the truck

00:28:35.180 --> 00:28:37.859
i'll take you okay so we jumped in the back of

00:28:37.859 --> 00:28:40.579
the truck and he took us to the lake and off

00:28:40.579 --> 00:28:47.619
fishing we went And as he left the lake to go

00:28:47.619 --> 00:28:49.940
back home, he said he was following fire trucks.

00:28:49.980 --> 00:28:51.420
There was fire trucks. They were pulling out

00:28:51.420 --> 00:28:52.819
because the lake was actually right around the

00:28:52.819 --> 00:28:54.740
corner from the, from the fire department. So

00:28:54.740 --> 00:28:56.799
as he pulled out of the lake, fire trucks were

00:28:56.799 --> 00:28:58.579
pulling out and he's following them and he keeps

00:28:58.579 --> 00:29:00.619
following them. Okay. They're turning left. Oh,

00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:02.220
okay. I got to go left. Oh, they're turning right.

00:29:02.259 --> 00:29:04.140
Oh, I got to go right. Okay. They're heading

00:29:04.140 --> 00:29:07.299
down there. He said, no, wait a minute. They

00:29:07.299 --> 00:29:09.039
stopped, you know, they stopped at our house.

00:29:09.400 --> 00:29:13.650
And my brother, was supposed to be at the house

00:29:13.650 --> 00:29:16.450
behind our house well he must have got bored

00:29:16.450 --> 00:29:18.069
and decided he didn't want to be there no more

00:29:18.069 --> 00:29:21.950
and he ended up coming home and uh well when

00:29:21.950 --> 00:29:24.269
he came home he was he's a motor head he was

00:29:24.269 --> 00:29:28.809
into into anything with a motor and um he must

00:29:28.809 --> 00:29:30.569
have tried to fill this bubble lawnmower with

00:29:30.569 --> 00:29:33.309
some gasoline and then when the flame from the

00:29:33.309 --> 00:29:35.390
hot water heater ignited the hot water heater

00:29:35.390 --> 00:29:38.430
that gasoline that was on the floor just you

00:29:38.430 --> 00:29:40.769
know and he was down in the basement at the time

00:29:41.619 --> 00:29:46.259
And the guilt side of it was every time my dad

00:29:46.259 --> 00:29:48.720
would come home from work, my dad would come

00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:51.140
home from work, he would come running. Dad, dad,

00:29:51.220 --> 00:29:53.099
you know, like any little kid, you know, oh,

00:29:53.140 --> 00:29:58.720
dad's home. Well, my thought was if we wouldn't

00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:00.920
have been, well, I say wouldn't have been going

00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:02.420
fishing, but if we wouldn't have had him give

00:30:02.420 --> 00:30:06.900
us a ride, he would have been home in time. Corey

00:30:06.900 --> 00:30:09.609
would have been upstairs. Even if the house caught

00:30:09.609 --> 00:30:12.730
on fire, everybody would have been out. So, I

00:30:12.730 --> 00:30:16.170
mean, he was 98 % of his body second and third

00:30:16.170 --> 00:30:21.309
degree burns. My mom said the only reason she

00:30:21.309 --> 00:30:24.529
heard faint little screams, and she heard the

00:30:24.529 --> 00:30:27.109
screams, she came down the stairs and saw just

00:30:27.109 --> 00:30:29.869
a wall of fire. You know, she said she saw a

00:30:29.869 --> 00:30:32.509
wall of fire, and she started calling out to

00:30:32.509 --> 00:30:34.049
him, and she said all she could see through the

00:30:34.049 --> 00:30:35.970
flames was just this little black silhouette

00:30:35.970 --> 00:30:39.509
walking towards her. You know, so, I mean, it

00:30:39.509 --> 00:30:41.130
gives me goosebumps thinking about what it would

00:30:41.130 --> 00:30:43.130
be to see that, you know, to see your own child

00:30:43.130 --> 00:30:50.890
walking through a wall of flames. That, yeah,

00:30:51.130 --> 00:30:54.470
that's just, that's a tough one. I don't know.

00:30:56.569 --> 00:30:59.430
It happened for a reason. What the reason is,

00:30:59.509 --> 00:31:02.309
I don't know. Couldn't tell you. I don't know.

00:31:02.890 --> 00:31:06.250
I don't know. I'm kind of at a loss of words

00:31:06.250 --> 00:31:08.930
on that one. And he was two and a half when this

00:31:08.930 --> 00:31:11.549
happened. He was two and a half. Yeah. So if

00:31:11.549 --> 00:31:13.549
you wouldn't mind, I mean, that is such a catastrophic

00:31:13.549 --> 00:31:15.410
injury. I've had, you know, I had a dude walk

00:31:15.410 --> 00:31:18.630
out of a house fire on fire, bizarre, bizarre

00:31:18.630 --> 00:31:21.369
story because anatomically he should have been.

00:31:22.129 --> 00:31:24.329
toast absolutely and then he was talking to us

00:31:24.329 --> 00:31:26.390
and we're like this doesn't make any sense his

00:31:26.390 --> 00:31:28.390
airways all burnt out he's got no tongue he's

00:31:28.390 --> 00:31:32.470
got no nose and so i'm not a deeply organized

00:31:32.470 --> 00:31:36.009
religious person but i am spiritual the only

00:31:36.009 --> 00:31:38.230
way to describe that particular patient was his

00:31:38.230 --> 00:31:40.970
soul didn't know his body was dead the only way

00:31:40.970 --> 00:31:43.569
and from from a medical point of view so to think

00:31:43.569 --> 00:31:46.210
of 98 percent burns on a two and a half year

00:31:46.210 --> 00:31:49.460
old Again, give me some of the cliff notes on

00:31:49.460 --> 00:31:51.880
your brother's recovery, because, I mean, that

00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:54.220
must have just been devastating for you, for

00:31:54.220 --> 00:31:58.180
his parents, for everyone. Yeah, it was. He was,

00:31:58.299 --> 00:32:03.700
if I'm not mistaken. They took the ambulance

00:32:03.700 --> 00:32:07.539
and they the ambulance went. They took him from

00:32:07.539 --> 00:32:11.579
ambulance to Interstate 94, and I believe they

00:32:11.579 --> 00:32:14.140
actually landed the helicopter right on 94. They

00:32:14.140 --> 00:32:16.000
shut down the highway, landed the helicopter.

00:32:16.919 --> 00:32:20.779
lifted him to the University of Chicago. And

00:32:20.779 --> 00:32:23.720
if I'm not mistaken, he was clinically dead,

00:32:23.859 --> 00:32:29.519
I believe, four times in between our house and

00:32:29.519 --> 00:32:33.400
the University of Chicago. So, I mean, it was,

00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:35.140
hey, you're dead. Wait, no, you're not. Hey,

00:32:35.220 --> 00:32:36.579
you're dead. Wait, no, you're not. Hey, you're

00:32:36.579 --> 00:32:39.980
dead. Wait, no, you're not. You know, and they

00:32:39.980 --> 00:32:42.940
got him to the University of Chicago. And the

00:32:42.940 --> 00:32:45.259
doctors, I mean, as you could imagine, said,

00:32:45.380 --> 00:32:46.960
if he makes it through the night, it'll be a

00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:49.859
miracle. You know, unfortunately, we're sorry.

00:32:50.599 --> 00:32:53.920
There's not a whole lot we can do for him other

00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:56.240
than the best we can do. You know, we can do

00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:59.039
the best that we can do, but don't expect him

00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:03.000
to be here in the morning. Yeah, and what, that

00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:09.869
was 1996, I believe. So here we are, 2022. And,

00:33:09.869 --> 00:33:12.009
I mean, he's a knucklehead, don't get me wrong,

00:33:12.150 --> 00:33:18.029
but he's still here. You know, so, yeah, there

00:33:18.029 --> 00:33:22.829
was something there that said, no, you're not

00:33:22.829 --> 00:33:26.069
going. That's amazing. I mean, it is a miracle.

00:33:26.190 --> 00:33:27.829
It truly is. I mean, there's no way to describe

00:33:27.829 --> 00:33:30.190
it, having seen, you know, the devastation by

00:33:30.190 --> 00:33:33.190
fire on a human body personally. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

00:33:33.710 --> 00:33:39.769
Absolutely. What it does to the body. To realize

00:33:39.769 --> 00:33:43.009
98 % of second and third degree burns, you know,

00:33:43.089 --> 00:33:48.009
that it's just, it's not scientifically, I don't

00:33:48.009 --> 00:33:51.089
know how that's possible. Now, what about the

00:33:51.089 --> 00:33:53.470
journey he's been through? I mean, the surgeries,

00:33:53.670 --> 00:33:55.670
some of the deficits, what's he been left with

00:33:55.670 --> 00:33:58.829
after that? Non -stop surgery. I mean, I couldn't

00:33:58.829 --> 00:34:03.210
tell you. I mean, it's hundreds and hundreds

00:34:03.210 --> 00:34:05.750
and hundreds of surgeries. I don't want to say

00:34:05.750 --> 00:34:08.780
thousands because I'm not. for sure. But if it's

00:34:08.780 --> 00:34:13.760
not, it very well could be close. Um, the, the

00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:18.900
surgeries, the skin grafts, the releases, you

00:34:18.900 --> 00:34:21.659
know, cause, cause as, as you get skin grafts,

00:34:21.659 --> 00:34:23.880
I mean, obviously that skin graft doesn't grow

00:34:23.880 --> 00:34:25.960
as you grow. So you're growing and everything's

00:34:25.960 --> 00:34:27.500
stretching and everything would just pull so

00:34:27.500 --> 00:34:29.380
tight and then you'd have to go and they would

00:34:29.380 --> 00:34:32.039
release it. You know, it just opened up like

00:34:32.039 --> 00:34:33.800
a big ax one and then they throw another skin

00:34:33.800 --> 00:34:37.949
graft on there. And, um, He didn't have a lot

00:34:37.949 --> 00:34:41.369
of places to graft skin from, you know, because

00:34:41.369 --> 00:34:45.969
a lot of his, they tried the, I believe they

00:34:45.969 --> 00:34:50.110
grew it in a Petri dish. They tried giving, I

00:34:50.110 --> 00:34:52.510
don't know if it was cadaver skin, and I believe

00:34:52.510 --> 00:34:56.170
he rejected it. So they basically had to, they

00:34:56.170 --> 00:35:01.170
had to scavenge any little bits of skin that

00:35:01.170 --> 00:35:04.150
would actually regenerate itself. They had to

00:35:04.150 --> 00:35:07.000
scavenge off of his body. That they, you know,

00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:12.039
the 2 % that wasn't touched, they had to scavenge

00:35:12.039 --> 00:35:15.840
to do his skin grafts. You know, so I mean, even

00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:19.519
still to this day, it's just a rough go. He has

00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:21.139
problems with his legs. He had to actually have

00:35:21.139 --> 00:35:24.340
his, from his knee down, had to have it amputated.

00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:28.460
So now he's not only burned 98 % of his body,

00:35:28.539 --> 00:35:33.380
he's got a prosthetic. So it's been a rough go

00:35:33.380 --> 00:35:36.170
nonetheless. Well, I think it's important to

00:35:36.170 --> 00:35:39.250
hear those stories. I've got a friend, Ryan Parrott,

00:35:39.309 --> 00:35:41.929
who started a nonprofit called Sons of the Flag.

00:35:42.110 --> 00:35:46.010
And he saw a need for the burn injured to be

00:35:46.010 --> 00:35:48.369
able to be connected with the best trauma surgeons

00:35:48.369 --> 00:35:50.769
in the planet. And so he helps veterans and first

00:35:50.769 --> 00:35:53.530
responders usually. And I have one of the guys,

00:35:53.630 --> 00:35:56.269
Shea Askew, who's a high level triathlete, was

00:35:56.269 --> 00:35:59.750
really badly burned. To summarize, I think there

00:35:59.750 --> 00:36:02.289
were bees that came out and they threw gasoline

00:36:02.289 --> 00:36:05.510
on the bees. And it hit him as well. And it ignited.

00:36:05.590 --> 00:36:08.829
And you can imagine the results. So he has prosthetic

00:36:08.829 --> 00:36:12.090
ears. And again, like you said, the... The lack

00:36:12.090 --> 00:36:13.750
of mobility affects, you know, the way he can

00:36:13.750 --> 00:36:16.449
turn his head. Can he hear? Can he chew? All

00:36:16.449 --> 00:36:19.289
these things. So, you know, when we are physically

00:36:19.289 --> 00:36:22.429
and mentally preparing for a life in the fire

00:36:22.429 --> 00:36:25.130
service and setting that bar high, sometimes

00:36:25.130 --> 00:36:27.630
we need to be reminded by stories like your brother

00:36:27.630 --> 00:36:31.349
of what, you know, those seconds may factor into

00:36:31.349 --> 00:36:33.409
this child having a life that you just described.

00:36:34.210 --> 00:36:36.210
Absolutely. And it's like you said, seconds.

00:36:36.590 --> 00:36:39.650
Seconds. We're not talking minutes. It's seconds.

00:36:41.070 --> 00:36:44.949
I don't know. It may still be the same. I'm not

00:36:44.949 --> 00:36:46.849
sure. But with all the synthetics and everything

00:36:46.849 --> 00:36:49.309
that are in furniture and just everything in

00:36:49.309 --> 00:36:53.090
the house, all the synthetics, the last I remembered

00:36:53.090 --> 00:36:56.869
was fire doubles every 30 seconds. So you start

00:36:56.869 --> 00:37:00.849
with a fire this big, in five minutes, your room

00:37:00.849 --> 00:37:03.949
is, the whole room is gone. So in another 30

00:37:03.949 --> 00:37:06.369
seconds, that room becomes half of the house.

00:37:06.449 --> 00:37:08.590
In another 30 seconds, that half of the house

00:37:08.590 --> 00:37:12.840
becomes the whole house. So you're not just increasing

00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:14.880
by this much every time. No, you're going from

00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:19.659
here to here to here to the whole house. It's

00:37:19.659 --> 00:37:24.239
literally seconds, not minutes. And that's obviously

00:37:24.239 --> 00:37:27.280
why it's just so important that we're constantly

00:37:27.280 --> 00:37:29.219
training and trying to get the heck out of the

00:37:29.219 --> 00:37:32.820
house before their house is gone. Get out and

00:37:32.820 --> 00:37:38.000
get there as fast as we can. Absolutely. in so

00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:39.559
many conversations when i've asked the early

00:37:39.559 --> 00:37:43.000
life stories you know they're they're more often

00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:45.400
than not in our profession are elements of trauma

00:37:45.400 --> 00:37:47.780
whether it's you know Seeing your brother go

00:37:47.780 --> 00:37:49.239
through what you've been through, you know, all

00:37:49.239 --> 00:37:52.099
kinds of the whole spectrum of traumas. And I

00:37:52.099 --> 00:37:54.059
think more often than not, whether consciously

00:37:54.059 --> 00:37:56.639
or subconsciously, it drives us towards certain

00:37:56.639 --> 00:38:00.579
paths. When you look back, whether it was the

00:38:00.579 --> 00:38:03.900
combat sports and or firefighting, were there

00:38:03.900 --> 00:38:06.440
any elements of that incident or other parts

00:38:06.440 --> 00:38:08.380
of your childhood that you think drove you into

00:38:08.380 --> 00:38:13.159
the professions that you ended up in? No, I mean,

00:38:13.179 --> 00:38:15.000
as far as like the fighting, the fighting side

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:18.170
of things. Um, when I, when I graduated high

00:38:18.170 --> 00:38:22.710
school, obviously I wrestled and, um, for whatever

00:38:22.710 --> 00:38:27.010
reason outside of high school, I just kind of

00:38:27.010 --> 00:38:29.329
angry all the time. I just, I like, I felt like

00:38:29.329 --> 00:38:31.670
I, like I needed to fight everybody, you know?

00:38:31.690 --> 00:38:34.269
I, okay, well, this guy looked at me wrong. Fuck

00:38:34.269 --> 00:38:35.750
this guy. I'm, you know, I'm trying to fight

00:38:35.750 --> 00:38:39.570
him, you know, but I never really wanted to fight

00:38:39.570 --> 00:38:42.760
people. I just, it was kind of like. I need to

00:38:42.760 --> 00:38:44.519
fight you. I don't know why, but I need to fight

00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:48.940
you. And luckily, I never got into any real altercations.

00:38:49.239 --> 00:38:54.579
I never really acted on those feelings. So a

00:38:54.579 --> 00:38:57.000
buddy of mine who had been fighting since it

00:38:57.000 --> 00:38:59.019
was like our sophomore year in high school, he

00:38:59.019 --> 00:39:00.800
was the one who actually said, hey, you know.

00:39:01.599 --> 00:39:04.019
High school's over. Wrestling's over. You're

00:39:04.019 --> 00:39:05.500
not, you know, you're not wrestling in college.

00:39:05.539 --> 00:39:07.280
I went to like a community college where they

00:39:07.280 --> 00:39:09.320
didn't have any wrestling team. So I didn't really,

00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:11.260
I didn't know what I was going to do. You know,

00:39:11.300 --> 00:39:12.860
I was working outside of the steel mills with

00:39:12.860 --> 00:39:18.900
my dad. I didn't have any real idea of where

00:39:18.900 --> 00:39:22.039
I was going or what I was doing. So my buddy

00:39:22.039 --> 00:39:23.440
just said, hey, you know, why don't you come

00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:25.739
try this? You just come in here and train tonight.

00:39:26.360 --> 00:39:28.699
So I went in and trained with him that night

00:39:28.699 --> 00:39:31.239
and we put the boxing gloves on and I got busted

00:39:31.239 --> 00:39:33.639
in the nose and just leaked like a stuck pig.

00:39:33.780 --> 00:39:36.300
I mean, my shirt was completely soaked in blood

00:39:36.300 --> 00:39:40.320
and this and that. And we got done training and

00:39:40.320 --> 00:39:43.019
he goes, what do you think? This is fucking awesome.

00:39:43.079 --> 00:39:46.059
I love it. I'll be back tomorrow. So, again,

00:39:46.139 --> 00:39:47.659
it just goes back to being a different breed

00:39:47.659 --> 00:39:49.719
of people here. I'm leaking blood all over my

00:39:49.719 --> 00:39:52.460
clothes and I got I got to keep going, you know.

00:39:54.010 --> 00:39:58.510
But to the fire service side of things, I didn't

00:39:58.510 --> 00:40:01.489
grow up aspiring to be a firefighter. Even after

00:40:01.489 --> 00:40:03.949
my brother was hurt, it wasn't, this is what

00:40:03.949 --> 00:40:06.909
I need to do. There was no real calling. My grandfather,

00:40:07.210 --> 00:40:12.230
he was part of a volunteer fire service. I don't

00:40:12.230 --> 00:40:13.949
know that there's a professional side of it,

00:40:13.989 --> 00:40:15.869
but I know there's volunteer service in our family.

00:40:15.929 --> 00:40:19.269
My cousins actually, Liberty Township volunteers,

00:40:19.570 --> 00:40:23.380
they're fire chief. So there is fire service

00:40:23.380 --> 00:40:27.280
in our family. But again, another buddy of mine

00:40:27.280 --> 00:40:30.239
who was fighting, he got hired on in the City

00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:33.519
of LaForte Fire Department. And he had said,

00:40:33.639 --> 00:40:36.780
hey, we're hiring, you know, why don't you come

00:40:36.780 --> 00:40:42.079
try out? Okay, cool. So I went and tried it out.

00:40:42.260 --> 00:40:45.860
And the more you think about it, I like to think

00:40:45.860 --> 00:40:47.760
of myself as a good person. I like to try and

00:40:47.760 --> 00:40:50.380
help people. I like to do what I think is the

00:40:50.380 --> 00:40:55.159
right thing. Try not to be a dickhead. But it

00:40:55.159 --> 00:40:57.159
doesn't always. Sometimes you have to be a dickhead,

00:40:57.239 --> 00:41:01.650
I guess. The more you think about it, if I could

00:41:01.650 --> 00:41:04.110
help somebody like my brother, they're trapped

00:41:04.110 --> 00:41:07.070
in a house fire. If I can get to them before

00:41:07.070 --> 00:41:08.889
they have to go through what my brother went

00:41:08.889 --> 00:41:12.070
through. Thank God in 14 years of service, I

00:41:12.070 --> 00:41:15.050
haven't had to run a call like that. And I would

00:41:15.050 --> 00:41:17.349
be completely happy going my entire career without

00:41:17.349 --> 00:41:21.170
having to run a call like that. But to think

00:41:21.170 --> 00:41:24.489
that I can potentially affect someone's life

00:41:24.489 --> 00:41:29.860
by doing that for the better. You know, it just

00:41:29.860 --> 00:41:34.940
brings a sense of, it just makes me happy. You

00:41:34.940 --> 00:41:36.760
know, it makes me happy to help people. You know,

00:41:36.780 --> 00:41:38.639
I want to see other people happy. I want to see

00:41:38.639 --> 00:41:44.280
other people just, yeah, I like that feeling.

00:41:44.420 --> 00:41:46.980
I like that feeling that I get knowing that somebody

00:41:46.980 --> 00:41:50.900
is happy because of something that we did or

00:41:50.900 --> 00:41:54.099
that somebody is going to survive because of

00:41:54.099 --> 00:41:59.039
something that we did. I tried, back to making

00:41:59.039 --> 00:42:03.460
a long story, a short story long. I tried out

00:42:03.460 --> 00:42:06.820
for the fire department and I got hired on. You

00:42:06.820 --> 00:42:11.159
know, I think I got hired on. And again, that

00:42:11.159 --> 00:42:13.900
was another reason why I was able to compete

00:42:13.900 --> 00:42:16.119
at such a high level of MMA was because of their

00:42:16.119 --> 00:42:19.400
schedule. You know, so their schedule, I then,

00:42:19.599 --> 00:42:23.840
we do a funny schedule rather than 24 -48. It's

00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:25.699
a one -on -one -off, one -on -one -off, one -on

00:42:25.699 --> 00:42:28.320
-four -off. So every five days we get basically

00:42:28.320 --> 00:42:30.059
a small vacation. I don't know if you guys get

00:42:30.059 --> 00:42:32.500
Kelly days or furlough days or anything like

00:42:32.500 --> 00:42:35.539
that, but every 14th working day, we just basically

00:42:35.539 --> 00:42:39.679
get a free day off. So if you, if you're on the

00:42:39.679 --> 00:42:41.840
beginning or the tail end of your shift, you'll,

00:42:41.840 --> 00:42:45.639
you'll work one off one, work one off six or

00:42:45.639 --> 00:42:47.920
vice versa, or you'll work one off three, work

00:42:47.920 --> 00:42:52.260
one off four. So the schedule was just perfect

00:42:52.260 --> 00:42:56.679
for, for what I was doing. you know so there

00:42:56.679 --> 00:43:01.000
was never any real aspirations to be a firefighter

00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:03.260
until i got hired on and it was like man this

00:43:03.260 --> 00:43:06.519
is this is pretty cool i really like this this

00:43:06.519 --> 00:43:09.219
is this is this is me i could i could see me

00:43:09.219 --> 00:43:13.039
retiring from this now going back to what you

00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:15.159
said about the anger because you know you could

00:43:15.159 --> 00:43:17.360
probably psychoanalyze that some of that was

00:43:17.360 --> 00:43:19.500
related to you know what happened with your brother

00:43:19.500 --> 00:43:21.139
or maybe some of the guilt that you carried initially

00:43:21.139 --> 00:43:25.650
i have observed in myself that You know, there's

00:43:25.650 --> 00:43:28.289
a lot of compounding elements that make us more

00:43:28.289 --> 00:43:31.409
and more or challenge my mental health as you

00:43:31.409 --> 00:43:33.150
progress through a career, sleep deprivation

00:43:33.150 --> 00:43:37.010
and so many other areas. But I was so calm and

00:43:37.010 --> 00:43:39.710
chill after Muay Thai, after Jiu Jitsu, people

00:43:39.710 --> 00:43:41.329
would cut me up and I'd be like, whatever, dude,

00:43:41.429 --> 00:43:43.730
you know, just let it go. Whereas before I was

00:43:43.730 --> 00:43:47.090
like screaming at them. Did you find as you got

00:43:47.090 --> 00:43:49.789
into the MMA training that that focused some

00:43:49.789 --> 00:43:51.929
of that aggression and took it away from everyday

00:43:51.929 --> 00:43:55.170
life? A hundred percent. I mean, it was like

00:43:55.170 --> 00:43:58.190
almost instant. That first night, that first

00:43:58.190 --> 00:44:01.909
night, it was like, what am I mad about? You

00:44:01.909 --> 00:44:03.530
know, what do I have to be angry about? You know,

00:44:03.530 --> 00:44:08.269
now it's in order to get me riled up, you can

00:44:08.269 --> 00:44:13.090
say, do whatever you want to me. Don't fuck with

00:44:13.090 --> 00:44:17.269
my family. You know, my boys, my wife, my mom,

00:44:17.429 --> 00:44:19.610
my dad, you know, don't mess with my family.

00:44:19.869 --> 00:44:21.989
You know, mess with me all you want. I don't

00:44:21.989 --> 00:44:24.519
give a shit. But you start messing with family,

00:44:24.599 --> 00:44:28.420
then we got issues. But there's no point. There's

00:44:28.420 --> 00:44:32.119
no point to be upset about stupid, petty little

00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:37.820
stuff. I heard something the other day, and I'm

00:44:37.820 --> 00:44:39.860
probably going to butcher it really bad, but

00:44:39.860 --> 00:44:45.599
somebody says something bad or calls you names

00:44:45.599 --> 00:44:47.719
or whatever, and you get all worked up, get fired

00:44:47.719 --> 00:44:50.960
up about it. These are just words. They're literally

00:44:50.960 --> 00:44:53.340
vibrations that go in this year and come out

00:44:53.340 --> 00:44:56.480
this year. And how you perceive that and how

00:44:56.480 --> 00:44:59.579
you let that affect you is up to you. They're

00:44:59.579 --> 00:45:03.880
literally words. It's a vibration. So if you

00:45:03.880 --> 00:45:06.440
want to let that irritate you, that's on you.

00:45:07.280 --> 00:45:11.360
It does absolutely nothing to you physically,

00:45:11.519 --> 00:45:17.639
emotionally, unless you let it. Why? There's

00:45:17.639 --> 00:45:20.460
no point in getting worked up. Well, I would

00:45:20.460 --> 00:45:23.380
argue that's probably behind why we're seeing

00:45:23.380 --> 00:45:28.039
it so easy to divide people at the moment. I

00:45:28.039 --> 00:45:29.539
mean, the last two years, and I want to get to

00:45:29.539 --> 00:45:32.219
actually a COVID topic as we get in a little

00:45:32.219 --> 00:45:34.719
bit further. You had a fight at an interesting

00:45:34.719 --> 00:45:40.780
time with Sean O'Malley. You take away physical

00:45:40.780 --> 00:45:43.099
education, take away an environment that encourages

00:45:43.099 --> 00:45:45.579
physical education. Now you add a poor diet,

00:45:45.699 --> 00:45:49.320
you know, you add more stress. To me, you know,

00:45:49.320 --> 00:45:51.960
you can't get in that relaxed phase, that post

00:45:51.960 --> 00:45:55.719
-coital or post -fital phase that you have after

00:45:55.719 --> 00:45:57.880
you, you know, leave the gym where you're like,

00:45:57.920 --> 00:46:00.260
you know, okay. I've got all that shit out now.

00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:02.800
And that is why I think people are so damn triggered

00:46:02.800 --> 00:46:05.599
at the moment. Not everyone, but it seems to

00:46:05.599 --> 00:46:08.179
be very, very easy to get people angry. And I

00:46:08.179 --> 00:46:10.679
would argue it's because they physically do not

00:46:10.679 --> 00:46:12.900
have an outlet. And I've talked to people in

00:46:12.900 --> 00:46:16.420
the UK. We don't have that high, high level of

00:46:16.420 --> 00:46:19.019
performance in most schools and college level

00:46:19.019 --> 00:46:21.039
sports. We just don't, unless you're an elite

00:46:21.039 --> 00:46:23.539
football player or rugby player. But what you'll

00:46:23.539 --> 00:46:27.190
see is longevity in... sports in general so people

00:46:27.190 --> 00:46:29.590
keep playing in their 20s 30s 40s and beyond

00:46:29.590 --> 00:46:33.269
and what i see in america is this elite performance

00:46:33.269 --> 00:46:36.150
and then this massive drop -off with a whole

00:46:36.150 --> 00:46:38.309
bunch of uncle rico stories about how you were

00:46:38.309 --> 00:46:42.469
going to be the next nfl star you know over a

00:46:42.469 --> 00:46:45.789
quarter mile but it's but it's a sad you know

00:46:45.789 --> 00:46:49.690
truth because now you don't see And it reflects

00:46:49.690 --> 00:46:51.789
in society. I mean, it's horrible. I mean this

00:46:51.789 --> 00:46:53.789
from a place of compassion and kindness. It breaks

00:46:53.789 --> 00:46:56.630
my heart that we have people that were gifted

00:46:56.630 --> 00:46:58.690
this miracle, the human body, and it's being

00:46:58.690 --> 00:47:02.630
slowly broken down, which is then magnifying

00:47:02.630 --> 00:47:05.269
the stress within themselves and destroying relationships

00:47:05.269 --> 00:47:09.070
rather than building them. I mean, you hit the

00:47:09.070 --> 00:47:13.530
nail on the head, honestly. I think a big one

00:47:13.530 --> 00:47:16.849
is social media. I think a big one is the news

00:47:16.849 --> 00:47:21.739
outlets. I just think the problem is people are

00:47:21.739 --> 00:47:24.780
too busy. They're doing this. They're too busy

00:47:24.780 --> 00:47:27.280
doing this. They're too busy eating fast food.

00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:30.619
Like I said, diet to me is a huge one. I notice

00:47:30.619 --> 00:47:32.900
a big difference eating whole foods versus eating

00:47:32.900 --> 00:47:39.900
shit foods. I read this thing, and again, I don't

00:47:39.900 --> 00:47:41.239
know if there's any truth to it because I haven't

00:47:41.239 --> 00:47:44.480
dug into it, but if you look at TikTok. You know,

00:47:44.500 --> 00:47:46.880
TikTok, I believe, is a Chinese -owned company.

00:47:47.000 --> 00:47:50.920
So the algorithms for their TikToks, the Chinese

00:47:50.920 --> 00:47:54.380
children. Their algorithms are other children

00:47:54.380 --> 00:47:57.679
and other people being successful and doing big

00:47:57.679 --> 00:48:00.159
things in life versus you look at the algorithms

00:48:00.159 --> 00:48:02.500
for our American children and our American people.

00:48:02.579 --> 00:48:04.960
They're watching big booty bitches shake their

00:48:04.960 --> 00:48:07.679
ass all over the screen, you know. So they're

00:48:07.679 --> 00:48:09.380
getting accustomed to, oh, I want to keep watching

00:48:09.380 --> 00:48:11.059
that. I want to keep watching that. Whereas these

00:48:11.059 --> 00:48:13.639
Chinese kids, that's why they're becoming so

00:48:13.639 --> 00:48:15.300
successful is because they're watching all these

00:48:15.300 --> 00:48:19.619
people do good things. And they get tied into

00:48:19.619 --> 00:48:22.059
that, I believe. They get tied into that. Okay,

00:48:22.159 --> 00:48:24.440
well, all I got to do is be an influencer. All

00:48:24.440 --> 00:48:26.360
I got to do is take a bunch of funny videos.

00:48:26.960 --> 00:48:31.380
They're making it – it's just the social media

00:48:31.380 --> 00:48:37.000
and the media outlets are – it's just – it's

00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:42.099
not good. It's not good for the human to sit

00:48:42.099 --> 00:48:44.639
there. Eight hours a day and just do this and

00:48:44.639 --> 00:48:46.960
do this and do this and do this. Because what

00:48:46.960 --> 00:48:48.599
else are they doing? They're doing nothing productive.

00:48:48.920 --> 00:48:51.079
They're not eating right. They're not exercising.

00:48:51.420 --> 00:48:53.039
They're not they're they're just not getting

00:48:53.039 --> 00:48:55.760
out. You know, get out and get out in the sun.

00:48:55.900 --> 00:49:00.460
Get out in. I don't want to sound like a hippie

00:49:00.460 --> 00:49:02.599
dippy, but take your shoes off and walk in the

00:49:02.599 --> 00:49:06.539
grass, you know, become grounded. You know, I

00:49:06.539 --> 00:49:09.679
think that's huge. I think that's huge of good

00:49:09.679 --> 00:49:14.429
diets and good habits. yeah 100 even with the

00:49:14.429 --> 00:49:16.570
grounding i've trained barefoot for years within

00:49:16.570 --> 00:49:18.789
reason you know i mean certain things like um

00:49:18.789 --> 00:49:21.030
double unders with a wire rope that they're uh

00:49:21.030 --> 00:49:24.489
yeah they're better with shoes but but yeah overall

00:49:24.489 --> 00:49:26.570
i'm barefoot most of the time and i agree 100

00:49:26.570 --> 00:49:29.210
and that's what's so sad and like i said i'd

00:49:29.210 --> 00:49:31.349
love to revisit the fighters experience during

00:49:31.349 --> 00:49:33.550
covid but covid in general and i've talked about

00:49:33.550 --> 00:49:35.230
this all the time and the reason why i revisit

00:49:35.230 --> 00:49:37.949
it is because the lessons weren't learned but

00:49:37.949 --> 00:49:40.590
if you look at what was told to the average person

00:49:41.019 --> 00:49:42.880
and you're you're an athlete you know we're both

00:49:42.880 --> 00:49:45.480
tactical athletes so we have a good understanding

00:49:45.480 --> 00:49:48.000
of exercise nutrition etc but the average person

00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:51.250
who maybe didn't were told stay inside Don't

00:49:51.250 --> 00:49:53.409
be around your family and friends. You know,

00:49:53.429 --> 00:49:55.429
the gyms are closed. The beaches and parks are

00:49:55.429 --> 00:49:59.010
closed. But we can send alcohol and fast food

00:49:59.010 --> 00:50:02.409
to your house while you watch Tiger King. I mean,

00:50:02.409 --> 00:50:04.809
you can't blame the average person who's not

00:50:04.809 --> 00:50:06.750
educated in this area. They weren't taught well

00:50:06.750 --> 00:50:09.070
in school. They're not taught well on television.

00:50:09.369 --> 00:50:11.570
We've created an environment that sets them up

00:50:11.570 --> 00:50:13.710
for success rather than failure. I mean, excuse

00:50:13.710 --> 00:50:15.150
me, I got that backwards. Failure rather than

00:50:15.150 --> 00:50:19.150
success. Right. If you can't see through all

00:50:19.150 --> 00:50:22.829
of those, signs that you just said, here, we'll

00:50:22.829 --> 00:50:24.530
give you, we'll give you booze and fast food

00:50:24.530 --> 00:50:27.369
and you can watch these stupid shows, but don't

00:50:27.369 --> 00:50:29.929
go exercise. Don't, don't do what's healthy for

00:50:29.929 --> 00:50:32.349
you. You know, if you can't see through that,

00:50:32.349 --> 00:50:36.210
that I'm sorry, but you got bigger problems.

00:50:36.730 --> 00:50:40.190
You know, you got bigger problems. I, I, um,

00:50:40.929 --> 00:50:44.190
I wrote the poll 360 on the whole COVID thing.

00:50:44.250 --> 00:50:47.969
I, it started out as, okay, this is kind of stupid

00:50:47.969 --> 00:50:52.539
too. Okay, maybe it's kind of serious too. This

00:50:52.539 --> 00:50:55.579
is stupid. This is just dumb. For some people,

00:50:55.579 --> 00:50:58.340
I get it. For some people, I understand. But

00:50:58.340 --> 00:51:00.519
for those people, like I said, get out and move.

00:51:00.900 --> 00:51:03.400
Get out and move. Just move a little bit. Literally

00:51:03.400 --> 00:51:07.119
go for a walk. Go for a walk outside. See how

00:51:07.119 --> 00:51:09.519
it changes everything. Every day, go for a walk.

00:51:10.099 --> 00:51:13.440
It's that simple. They sit here and... They just

00:51:13.440 --> 00:51:15.460
sit there and then they don't understand why

00:51:15.460 --> 00:51:17.500
they're sick and why they're fat and why their

00:51:17.500 --> 00:51:19.760
back hurts. And they don't understand all this

00:51:19.760 --> 00:51:25.039
stuff. Just go out and do something. I've always

00:51:25.039 --> 00:51:28.300
been a big believer of the day you stop moving

00:51:28.300 --> 00:51:32.619
is the day you start dying. There's 100 % truth

00:51:32.619 --> 00:51:35.820
to that. Whether you're 30 years old or whether

00:51:35.820 --> 00:51:38.869
you're 90 years old. You know, now the 90 year

00:51:38.869 --> 00:51:41.150
old, there may be some issues to where they can't

00:51:41.150 --> 00:51:43.989
move. But if you're physically able to move and

00:51:43.989 --> 00:51:48.650
you continue to move, you're just adding minutes

00:51:48.650 --> 00:51:51.829
to your life. You know, versus a 30 year old

00:51:51.829 --> 00:51:53.210
who's just going to sit there and play video

00:51:53.210 --> 00:51:55.789
games and 12 hours a day sitting on a video game

00:51:55.789 --> 00:51:58.190
chair and just playing video games. You know,

00:51:58.210 --> 00:52:03.030
you watch the South Park. about these kids playing

00:52:03.030 --> 00:52:08.170
video games. They get fat and got acne. That's

00:52:08.170 --> 00:52:12.550
truth. That's America. That is the truth. You

00:52:12.550 --> 00:52:16.909
sit there and do nothing. Your body just starts

00:52:16.909 --> 00:52:23.469
dying. Your muscles literally start dying. I

00:52:23.469 --> 00:52:25.969
don't know what the answer to that is other than

00:52:25.969 --> 00:52:27.809
to tell people to get out and go do something.

00:52:28.139 --> 00:52:30.199
you know you you can tell you can tell them all

00:52:30.199 --> 00:52:32.360
day long oh yeah i know i need to do it i need

00:52:32.360 --> 00:52:34.800
to do it well you know you need to do it then

00:52:34.800 --> 00:52:37.519
do it you know well it's just it's hard no it's

00:52:37.519 --> 00:52:41.619
not it's mental it's mental it's all mental it's

00:52:41.619 --> 00:52:44.699
it's it's i was a buddy of mine at work he was

00:52:44.699 --> 00:52:47.719
actually listening to a podcast of a woman who

00:52:47.719 --> 00:52:52.969
had I believe they had just had a kid. She was

00:52:52.969 --> 00:52:55.429
losing her job. He lost his job. It was all about

00:52:55.429 --> 00:52:59.409
the COVID thing and this and that. And she said

00:52:59.409 --> 00:53:02.170
one day she woke up just feeling like a big fat

00:53:02.170 --> 00:53:05.210
piece of shit and not worth anything and this

00:53:05.210 --> 00:53:08.230
and that. So she told herself, tomorrow when

00:53:08.230 --> 00:53:11.030
my alarm goes off, I'm getting up and I'm going

00:53:11.030 --> 00:53:14.630
to do something productive. And she told herself

00:53:14.630 --> 00:53:16.730
in her head, she would count down, 5, 4, 3, 2,

00:53:16.750 --> 00:53:20.099
1, and then go. And then 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and go.

00:53:20.179 --> 00:53:21.840
Anytime she wanted to do something, it would

00:53:21.840 --> 00:53:24.280
be 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And it was something about

00:53:24.280 --> 00:53:28.940
reteaching the brain or the brain learning that

00:53:28.940 --> 00:53:31.820
as soon as it hears 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, something's

00:53:31.820 --> 00:53:33.960
about to happen. We don't know what we're going

00:53:33.960 --> 00:53:36.139
to do yet, but we're going to go do something.

00:53:36.840 --> 00:53:40.239
So 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, get up and go, no matter what.

00:53:41.239 --> 00:53:46.070
And again, I... I'm really bad at retaining information.

00:53:46.690 --> 00:53:49.010
He knows that he knows it better than I do, but,

00:53:49.010 --> 00:53:51.329
but I don't know if she's become super successful

00:53:51.329 --> 00:53:53.989
because of it and has turned her life around

00:53:53.989 --> 00:53:56.349
and they're no longer, you know, they, they can,

00:53:56.389 --> 00:53:58.250
they got a roof over their head. They can feed

00:53:58.250 --> 00:54:00.570
their kids and all this garbage, but the mental

00:54:00.570 --> 00:54:03.289
side of things of just get up and go, just get

00:54:03.289 --> 00:54:05.469
up and go, just get up and go. You tell yourself,

00:54:05.550 --> 00:54:08.329
just get up and go and go do it. Go do it. Don't

00:54:08.329 --> 00:54:10.530
tell yourself, okay, I'm going to go. And then.

00:54:12.849 --> 00:54:14.110
If you're going to tell yourself you're going

00:54:14.110 --> 00:54:16.469
to get up and go, you got to get up and go. Because

00:54:16.469 --> 00:54:18.449
the brain is going to think, oh, okay, yeah,

00:54:18.510 --> 00:54:22.230
you're crying wolf again. Get up and go and go.

00:54:26.789 --> 00:54:32.090
It's easy to say, I guess. If you get the right

00:54:32.090 --> 00:54:34.369
mindset, it's easy to do. You just got to do

00:54:34.369 --> 00:54:37.159
it. Do it a few times, and a few times turns

00:54:37.159 --> 00:54:39.940
into a weekly thing, turns into a monthly thing,

00:54:40.039 --> 00:54:42.039
turns into a yearly thing, turns into a lifelong

00:54:42.039 --> 00:54:47.900
thing. It's not just a thing that you do for

00:54:47.900 --> 00:54:51.679
a month. It's a thing that you do for life. And

00:54:51.679 --> 00:54:54.840
I think that's where people get lost. Oh, well,

00:54:54.880 --> 00:54:57.659
if I do this for a month, I'll probably – no.

00:54:57.820 --> 00:55:00.539
If you do this for a life, you do it for a lifetime.

00:55:00.880 --> 00:55:05.519
Set good habits. Get into good habits. and continue

00:55:05.519 --> 00:55:08.019
that habit. It's consistency. Consistency is

00:55:08.019 --> 00:55:12.119
key almost everywhere. Almost with every aspect

00:55:12.119 --> 00:55:14.780
of life, consistency is key. If you're not consistent

00:55:14.780 --> 00:55:18.219
on it, you're not going to keep doing it. Yeah,

00:55:18.219 --> 00:55:20.280
I would argue as well. You get a little pushback

00:55:20.280 --> 00:55:23.920
for martial arts and CrossFit. Oh, it's expensive.

00:55:24.619 --> 00:55:26.599
I think what people don't understand is when

00:55:26.599 --> 00:55:29.280
you walk through the door of a dojo, of an MMA

00:55:29.280 --> 00:55:32.280
gym, of a CrossFit gym, there will be an element

00:55:32.280 --> 00:55:34.809
of 5 -4 -3 -2 -1. Like you just have to make

00:55:34.809 --> 00:55:37.090
it across the threshold wearing the right clothes.

00:55:37.349 --> 00:55:39.130
An hour later, you're going to look back and

00:55:39.130 --> 00:55:41.510
go, well, shit, I just worked out or I just rolled

00:55:41.510 --> 00:55:44.230
or I just whatever. And that's it. So they're

00:55:44.230 --> 00:55:48.210
a better skilled, more experienced people that

00:55:48.210 --> 00:55:51.289
will lead you through. that i mean i crossfit

00:55:51.289 --> 00:55:54.269
i coach crossfit but i go to other people's classes

00:55:54.269 --> 00:55:56.650
and i go to my you know my jiu -jitsu classes

00:55:56.650 --> 00:55:59.230
and because other people are better than me and

00:55:59.230 --> 00:56:01.929
you know they also motivate me if i walk through

00:56:01.929 --> 00:56:03.809
a door i can't turn around and go yeah i don't

00:56:03.809 --> 00:56:05.469
want to do that you're stuck now you're there

00:56:05.469 --> 00:56:08.190
so then you know you kind of swept along by the

00:56:08.190 --> 00:56:09.869
torrent that is all the people that you're working

00:56:09.869 --> 00:56:11.909
out with some are going to be fitter and stronger

00:56:11.909 --> 00:56:14.269
some might be less fit and strong but collectively

00:56:14.269 --> 00:56:16.550
you're going to go through that together And

00:56:16.550 --> 00:56:18.070
you're going to turn around an hour later going,

00:56:18.150 --> 00:56:21.630
I'm so glad I showed up today. 100%. I can't

00:56:21.630 --> 00:56:25.469
tell you how many times. I mean, countless. I

00:56:25.469 --> 00:56:29.230
have a regimen of every Sunday, Tuesday, and

00:56:29.230 --> 00:56:32.010
Thursday. Those are my run days. And I don't

00:56:32.010 --> 00:56:36.190
like to run distances because distance to me,

00:56:36.250 --> 00:56:39.289
for what I do, distance to me doesn't do me anything.

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:42.739
OK, I like my sprint intervals. I have I have

00:56:42.739 --> 00:56:45.440
to run intervals. I like I like the heart rate

00:56:45.440 --> 00:56:47.559
going up and down, up and down, rest and recovery,

00:56:47.820 --> 00:56:50.300
rest and recovery. So every every Sunday, Tuesday

00:56:50.300 --> 00:56:53.360
and Thursday, I have a 30 minute sprint interval

00:56:53.360 --> 00:56:55.780
thing that I do on the treadmill. And I can't

00:56:55.780 --> 00:56:58.300
tell you how many times it's just been. I don't

00:56:58.300 --> 00:57:00.780
want to do this. I don't feel good. I don't I

00:57:00.780 --> 00:57:04.420
don't go and do it. Go and do it at the end of

00:57:04.420 --> 00:57:07.400
those 30 minutes. OK, I'm really glad I did that.

00:57:08.079 --> 00:57:10.769
I want to keep going. So then you just continue

00:57:10.769 --> 00:57:13.130
on to doing some accessory work or something.

00:57:13.210 --> 00:57:14.869
Because usually Sunday, Tuesdays, and Thursdays

00:57:14.869 --> 00:57:16.429
are a little bit lighter days for me anyways.

00:57:16.949 --> 00:57:20.250
So, okay, I'll just continue doing some core

00:57:20.250 --> 00:57:25.329
stuff, some accessory work. But just going and

00:57:25.329 --> 00:57:28.789
doing it. Just getting past that threshold. You

00:57:28.789 --> 00:57:32.070
step into that door, into that realm of I'm going

00:57:32.070 --> 00:57:35.030
to do this. And then you do it. Whether you feel

00:57:35.030 --> 00:57:37.110
good when you do it or whether you don't, at

00:57:37.110 --> 00:57:38.750
the end of it, you're going to be glad you did

00:57:38.750 --> 00:57:42.519
it. And like you said, you go into these other

00:57:42.519 --> 00:57:44.960
classrooms that these people are better than

00:57:44.960 --> 00:57:47.860
you. You get out of your comfort zone. And I

00:57:47.860 --> 00:57:49.880
think that's a lot of people's problems is they

00:57:49.880 --> 00:57:51.340
don't want to get out of their comfort zone.

00:57:51.440 --> 00:57:54.699
Well, I'm comfortable here. I've got my snuggie

00:57:54.699 --> 00:57:58.840
on and I feel good. So what? Take it off, get

00:57:58.840 --> 00:58:01.159
naked and jump in the snow. Get uncomfortable,

00:58:01.420 --> 00:58:05.699
man. That's when I was... Training, you know,

00:58:05.719 --> 00:58:07.719
I still train. Let me say when not when I was

00:58:07.719 --> 00:58:10.320
because I still train. But when I was training

00:58:10.320 --> 00:58:13.420
for fights, I would try to find that deepest,

00:58:13.460 --> 00:58:16.880
darkest hole that I could find, make myself uncomfortable

00:58:16.880 --> 00:58:19.400
and live there for that training session. You

00:58:19.400 --> 00:58:21.840
know, because if I could live uncomfortably for

00:58:21.840 --> 00:58:23.699
an hour, hour and a half in this training session,

00:58:24.019 --> 00:58:28.380
15 minutes of uncomfortable is no big deal. You

00:58:28.380 --> 00:58:31.320
know, so so that's people they just they don't

00:58:31.320 --> 00:58:33.760
like to be uncomfortable. They don't they don't

00:58:33.760 --> 00:58:41.280
like it. certain people certain people i i feel

00:58:41.280 --> 00:58:43.579
they they embrace that they embrace that they

00:58:43.579 --> 00:58:45.599
take it and and i feel like you can point those

00:58:45.599 --> 00:58:49.179
people out in the crowd absolutely what an interesting

00:58:49.179 --> 00:58:50.960
perspective i'd love to get from you as well

00:58:50.960 --> 00:58:54.860
is sparring from when you first started as a

00:58:54.860 --> 00:58:58.280
young man through to now i started in semi -contact

00:58:58.280 --> 00:59:00.179
you know it's kind of tippy tappy taekwondo then

00:59:00.179 --> 00:59:01.840
went to you could knock people out with your

00:59:01.840 --> 00:59:04.519
feet but not your hands and then you know then

00:59:04.519 --> 00:59:08.159
got found myself at shoot box in la which i've

00:59:08.159 --> 00:59:10.500
talked about this before i actually trained with

00:59:10.500 --> 00:59:12.739
anthony johnson he was kind of new fighter back

00:59:12.739 --> 00:59:14.780
then too and we just lost him sadly last month

00:59:14.780 --> 00:59:18.139
yeah yeah that's terrible But it was Fight Club,

00:59:18.239 --> 00:59:20.400
hands down. I got ear perforations. I got my

00:59:20.400 --> 00:59:22.840
nose broken, you know, jaw probably dislocated

00:59:22.840 --> 00:59:26.840
again. And, you know, had headaches and trying

00:59:26.840 --> 00:59:29.510
to go back to... a shift when you're still foggy

00:59:29.510 --> 00:59:31.110
and you've got black eyes, it doesn't, doesn't

00:59:31.110 --> 00:59:34.289
look great. It's not a good optic. Um, fast forward

00:59:34.289 --> 00:59:37.409
to today, I'm seeing a lot of the coaches and

00:59:37.409 --> 00:59:40.289
gyms now are pulling away from that. Oh, you

00:59:40.289 --> 00:59:42.269
can condition the brain by murdering each other

00:59:42.269 --> 00:59:45.389
to a lot more pad work, a lot more light sparring

00:59:45.389 --> 00:59:47.929
and saving the real hard contact for the ring

00:59:47.929 --> 00:59:51.190
or the Octagon. What was your evolution, if any

00:59:51.190 --> 00:59:53.429
of the level of sparring through your career

00:59:53.429 --> 00:59:57.760
in the 20 years? It's, I mean, you, basically

00:59:57.760 --> 01:00:01.000
just said it that was when i first started fighting

01:00:01.000 --> 01:00:03.219
it was before it was the cool thing to do i mean

01:00:03.219 --> 01:00:08.980
my first fight was april 2003 um so back then

01:00:08.980 --> 01:00:12.139
it was let's it went from let's put some headgear

01:00:12.139 --> 01:00:15.480
on and beat the shit out of each other to yeah

01:00:15.480 --> 01:00:17.300
let's not even worry about the headgear and beat

01:00:17.300 --> 01:00:21.139
the shit out of each other to okay we're and

01:00:21.139 --> 01:00:24.170
that's uh The gym that I went, that I go to on

01:00:24.170 --> 01:00:26.590
the North side of Chicago, new breed with Mark

01:00:26.590 --> 01:00:29.170
Vives and Bob Hemrich. We went to a lot of offense

01:00:29.170 --> 01:00:32.750
defense type sparring. Okay. You are, you are

01:00:32.750 --> 01:00:35.130
only allowed. And they basically yell switch,

01:00:35.309 --> 01:00:39.190
switch, switch offense defense. Okay. And you

01:00:39.190 --> 01:00:41.230
pull your punches obviously. Cause if we're,

01:00:41.230 --> 01:00:45.130
we're sparring with small gloves and you are

01:00:45.130 --> 01:00:47.170
throwing a hundred percent, you're going to throttle

01:00:47.170 --> 01:00:49.469
people. You know, I mean, you are, they're, they're

01:00:49.469 --> 01:00:54.929
going to get sparked for sure. But, um, I think

01:00:54.929 --> 01:00:57.429
the thing is knowing your range, knowing your

01:00:57.429 --> 01:01:00.570
distance. I can pull my punch, but I know if

01:01:00.570 --> 01:01:03.949
I were to fully follow through, you're mine all

01:01:03.949 --> 01:01:07.869
day long. The body and the brain is only going

01:01:07.869 --> 01:01:10.750
to take so much damage. And that's the boat that

01:01:10.750 --> 01:01:13.949
I'm in right now. That is why my last three fights,

01:01:14.130 --> 01:01:17.710
you watch O'Malley. O'Malley sparked me. But

01:01:17.710 --> 01:01:21.809
I feel like if I fought O'Malley five, six years

01:01:21.809 --> 01:01:25.800
ago, Yeah, he may have dropped me, but I don't

01:01:25.800 --> 01:01:27.280
think he would have. I don't think it would have

01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:29.460
been on. I don't think he would have starched

01:01:29.460 --> 01:01:33.059
me. But then you look at Castaneda. I fought

01:01:33.059 --> 01:01:35.699
Castaneda. That dude didn't hit me hard. He hit

01:01:35.699 --> 01:01:38.179
me a lot. You know, he hit me with a lot of punches.

01:01:38.199 --> 01:01:41.079
Now, again, five years ago, I would have walked

01:01:41.079 --> 01:01:43.059
through that and smiled at him, told him, keep

01:01:43.059 --> 01:01:46.840
coming. Now you go to my Stammen fight. You look

01:01:46.840 --> 01:01:49.179
at Cody Stammen. He just grazed me right on the

01:01:49.179 --> 01:01:50.820
side of the head, right? Just right in the right

01:01:50.820 --> 01:01:52.809
spot. just hit me with the side of his glove,

01:01:52.909 --> 01:01:54.769
and that was enough to send me into a stupor.

01:01:55.690 --> 01:01:59.570
The body only takes so much damage. You can only

01:01:59.570 --> 01:02:02.570
take so much until that button's been pushed.

01:02:02.869 --> 01:02:05.750
I can't do a cartwheel without getting dizzy

01:02:05.750 --> 01:02:09.349
anymore. Now, part of that is probably age. I

01:02:09.349 --> 01:02:12.989
get that. But part of that is also 20 years of

01:02:12.989 --> 01:02:17.170
sparring and getting hit and fighting and 40

01:02:17.170 --> 01:02:19.989
-plus fights and God knows how many rounds of

01:02:19.989 --> 01:02:24.659
sparring. You can only take so much damage. And

01:02:24.659 --> 01:02:29.619
when that damage is done, you either need to

01:02:29.619 --> 01:02:32.619
change your game plan and not get hit, or it's

01:02:32.619 --> 01:02:36.039
time to walk out the door. You know, and that's

01:02:36.039 --> 01:02:42.599
the boat that I'm in. I can still take a decent

01:02:42.599 --> 01:02:47.219
punch, depending on where it's at. You hit me

01:02:47.219 --> 01:02:48.739
right in the right spot, and it's kind of like,

01:02:48.840 --> 01:02:53.769
whoa, hold on a minute here. So, um, the, the

01:02:53.769 --> 01:02:58.909
heavy sparring, I don't want to say there's not

01:02:58.909 --> 01:03:03.050
a place for it because it's, it's the, the way

01:03:03.050 --> 01:03:05.150
to get better at fighting, I feel is fighting

01:03:05.150 --> 01:03:06.690
just like the way to get better at wrestling

01:03:06.690 --> 01:03:08.469
is wrestling. You obviously, yeah, you have to

01:03:08.469 --> 01:03:10.010
train and you have to go through the motions

01:03:10.010 --> 01:03:11.869
and you have to do this, but if you're just going

01:03:11.869 --> 01:03:17.389
through the motions, it may just be going through

01:03:17.389 --> 01:03:18.929
the motions when you get in there and compete.

01:03:20.539 --> 01:03:22.280
I don't think you need to be knocking each other's

01:03:22.280 --> 01:03:24.579
heads off, but I think you need to know that

01:03:24.579 --> 01:03:29.420
you can still touch that person. You know, again,

01:03:29.500 --> 01:03:31.820
muscle memory. You know, your muscle memory.

01:03:31.880 --> 01:03:34.659
If my muscle memory is, and I'm only throwing

01:03:34.659 --> 01:03:37.619
my punches to here, well, I'm not going to be

01:03:37.619 --> 01:03:40.739
used to fully extending. You know, okay, okay,

01:03:40.840 --> 01:03:42.639
okay, I got you, I got you, I got you. Well,

01:03:42.760 --> 01:03:45.360
no, you really didn't because if I can reach

01:03:45.360 --> 01:03:48.420
out and touch, I'm not throwing 100%, but I still

01:03:48.420 --> 01:03:52.320
touched you. So if I know that I can touch you

01:03:52.320 --> 01:03:55.300
and my distance and my space is correct, well,

01:03:55.340 --> 01:03:57.340
I know that when I throw hard, it's going to

01:03:57.340 --> 01:03:59.159
be faster, it's going to be harder, and I still

01:03:59.159 --> 01:04:02.320
got you. Well, I think a scary thing as well,

01:04:02.380 --> 01:04:03.719
a lot of people come on here, whether they're

01:04:03.719 --> 01:04:07.059
combat martial artists or whether they're breachers

01:04:07.059 --> 01:04:10.360
or special operators, whoever they are. You have

01:04:10.360 --> 01:04:12.219
the TBI element, which is obviously what you're

01:04:12.219 --> 01:04:14.340
experiencing at the hands of another person or

01:04:14.340 --> 01:04:18.679
feet. But then the amplifying element is sleep

01:04:18.679 --> 01:04:20.920
deprivation. And a lot of people in the first

01:04:20.920 --> 01:04:23.820
responder professions don't realize how damaging

01:04:23.820 --> 01:04:26.719
that actually is. So, you know, I think that

01:04:26.719 --> 01:04:29.019
that's a thing that we really need to take a

01:04:29.019 --> 01:04:31.079
step back and look at as well. My goal is that

01:04:31.079 --> 01:04:33.980
we... we give more rest and recovery between

01:04:33.980 --> 01:04:36.400
shifts i know you said your your schedule is

01:04:36.400 --> 01:04:38.519
pretty good but it also depends on you know the

01:04:38.519 --> 01:04:40.619
core volume too but a lot of people that work

01:04:40.619 --> 01:04:44.559
the 24 48s they never get the chance to to process

01:04:44.559 --> 01:04:47.340
that so if you add you know whether it's your

01:04:47.340 --> 01:04:49.360
profession that's causing concussions or your

01:04:49.360 --> 01:04:53.079
your sport um you add that to not sleeping that's

01:04:53.079 --> 01:04:56.360
a recipe for amplified brain brain challenges

01:04:56.360 --> 01:05:01.239
in the future i agree i and i used to be a a

01:05:01.239 --> 01:05:04.619
believer of, I can sleep four hours and I can

01:05:04.619 --> 01:05:09.059
go, go, go, go, go. I can just keep going. Not

01:05:09.059 --> 01:05:12.559
so much anymore. You see all these people talk

01:05:12.559 --> 01:05:16.260
about how, oh, this millionaire, he sleeps till

01:05:16.260 --> 01:05:18.099
three o 'clock and he gets up and does this and

01:05:18.099 --> 01:05:20.019
does this and does this. That's bullshit, man.

01:05:20.440 --> 01:05:25.099
Absolutely not. You cannot function, at least

01:05:25.099 --> 01:05:28.000
highly function, on three, four hours of sleep.

01:05:28.639 --> 01:05:32.619
It just doesn't work that way. The sleep is,

01:05:32.739 --> 01:05:36.980
I think, as important as the training, you know.

01:05:37.860 --> 01:05:40.920
That's where most of your recovery, I would almost

01:05:40.920 --> 01:05:42.659
venture to say all of your recovery happens,

01:05:42.860 --> 01:05:45.739
you know, because the body needs to rest and

01:05:45.739 --> 01:05:48.760
repair and recover. Well, when you're sleeping,

01:05:48.980 --> 01:05:52.480
good deep sleep, that's what the body is focusing

01:05:52.480 --> 01:05:56.440
on is good rest, recovery, and repair versus.

01:05:57.050 --> 01:05:59.389
I'm training. I sleep for four hours. I'm up.

01:05:59.469 --> 01:06:01.449
I'm training. I'm doing something. I'm working.

01:06:02.130 --> 01:06:04.989
The body, like I said, has no time to recover

01:06:04.989 --> 01:06:10.030
and repair. It needs that time. I used to believe

01:06:10.030 --> 01:06:14.489
that. Not anymore. Not anymore. I got to have

01:06:14.489 --> 01:06:18.130
that. I like that rest and recovery. My body

01:06:18.130 --> 01:06:20.869
functions better. Again, when I first started

01:06:20.869 --> 01:06:23.010
working with my strength and training coach or

01:06:23.010 --> 01:06:26.519
strength and conditioning coach. We would get

01:06:26.519 --> 01:06:29.420
into a training session and he, dude, just take

01:06:29.420 --> 01:06:31.920
a break. No, I can't. I can't. I got to fight

01:06:31.920 --> 01:06:36.199
this dude. I got to be ready. Take a break. Just

01:06:36.199 --> 01:06:38.280
take a break. It took him probably the better

01:06:38.280 --> 01:06:40.519
part of three to five years to get me to actually

01:06:40.519 --> 01:06:43.360
learn to take a break. But you got to listen

01:06:43.360 --> 01:06:45.960
to your body. You know, you get into a good.

01:06:46.059 --> 01:06:48.880
Now, I'm not saying don't. train when you don't

01:06:48.880 --> 01:06:50.920
feel like it, you know, cause, cause light work,

01:06:50.980 --> 01:06:53.639
light work is okay. But if you've got a heavy,

01:06:53.679 --> 01:06:56.260
hard day ahead of you and it's like, okay, I

01:06:56.260 --> 01:06:58.860
am not feeling this. Well, maybe you need to

01:06:58.860 --> 01:07:01.280
sit that day out, you know, listen to your body.

01:07:01.300 --> 01:07:04.260
And if you're supposed to have a hard, a hard

01:07:04.260 --> 01:07:07.500
training day, or it's a sparring day, or, you

01:07:07.500 --> 01:07:09.960
know, if it's just a hard day and your body's

01:07:09.960 --> 01:07:13.519
telling you, no, that hard day is, is going to

01:07:13.519 --> 01:07:15.239
be that much harder. And then the next day is

01:07:15.239 --> 01:07:18.010
going to be even hard again, because. your body's

01:07:18.010 --> 01:07:21.829
not ready for it. I would take three days of

01:07:21.829 --> 01:07:24.550
training at a hundred percent versus six at 60.

01:07:25.090 --> 01:07:28.710
You know, if I'm training six days at 60%, again,

01:07:28.809 --> 01:07:31.710
back to muscle memory, if I'm training 60%, that's

01:07:31.710 --> 01:07:33.869
what my body thinks. Okay. 60%. See, that's what

01:07:33.869 --> 01:07:36.550
your body's used to. If I get three days of training

01:07:36.550 --> 01:07:38.829
at a hundred percent, not only am I getting better

01:07:38.829 --> 01:07:41.809
training, but my body knows what a hundred percent

01:07:41.809 --> 01:07:45.570
feels like. So to, to get that rest and recovery.

01:07:46.460 --> 01:07:48.980
If your body needs a rest day, do jump on an

01:07:48.980 --> 01:07:52.820
airdyne bike just for 30 minutes, just nice and

01:07:52.820 --> 01:07:57.360
slow pace, just consistent movement. Take that

01:07:57.360 --> 01:07:59.599
rest when you need it. Take that rest when you

01:07:59.599 --> 01:08:02.579
can get it, especially for people in our profession

01:08:02.579 --> 01:08:05.260
because there's been countless nights that I

01:08:05.260 --> 01:08:07.440
can think of, okay, the tones went off at 9 o

01:08:07.440 --> 01:08:09.760
'clock. Okay, the tones went off at 11. Okay,

01:08:09.820 --> 01:08:11.820
the tones went off at 3. Okay, the tones went

01:08:11.820 --> 01:08:15.760
off at 5. Fuck. I'm lucky if I slept 30 minutes

01:08:15.760 --> 01:08:19.079
that night, you know, by the time you get back,

01:08:19.100 --> 01:08:21.500
you get back in bed, you do our reports, you

01:08:21.500 --> 01:08:24.939
sit down. Okay. Okay. Let's go again. You know,

01:08:24.939 --> 01:08:27.199
and not, not, not only just the constant up,

01:08:27.260 --> 01:08:29.600
down, up, down, but what that's doing to your

01:08:29.600 --> 01:08:31.180
heart, your blood pressure. Every, every time

01:08:31.180 --> 01:08:34.460
those tones go off, boom, that's a jump. You

01:08:34.460 --> 01:08:36.439
know, your, your, your, your system's getting

01:08:36.439 --> 01:08:38.800
a jolt every single time those tones go off.

01:08:39.100 --> 01:08:42.189
So. Getting that recovery when you can, I think,

01:08:42.189 --> 01:08:43.729
is important. Getting that rest when you can,

01:08:43.789 --> 01:08:46.149
I think, is huge. Yeah, I think we're really

01:08:46.149 --> 01:08:48.810
bad at telling ourselves the fairy tale that

01:08:48.810 --> 01:08:51.550
we have all this time off. We are bad at that.

01:08:51.710 --> 01:08:54.569
Because if you take the 24 -48, which I worked

01:08:54.569 --> 01:08:57.850
for a lot of my career without Kelly, that's

01:08:57.850 --> 01:09:01.069
always one on, two off. Well, a day is eight

01:09:01.069 --> 01:09:04.770
hours, plus an hour lunch to nine. So it's three

01:09:04.770 --> 01:09:07.069
days on, one day off. And it's, oh, it's only

01:09:07.069 --> 01:09:09.430
10 days a month. No, if you do that equation,

01:09:09.609 --> 01:09:12.390
it's 30 days a month. You know, it's a 56 -hour

01:09:12.390 --> 01:09:14.229
work week. So when everyone else is exhausted

01:09:14.229 --> 01:09:16.390
from their 40 -hour office job and gone to bed,

01:09:16.609 --> 01:09:20.170
you're awake working pediatric megacodes and

01:09:20.170 --> 01:09:22.909
trying to pull someone out of a fire. So we're

01:09:22.909 --> 01:09:24.909
our own worst enemy with that. You know, if you're

01:09:24.909 --> 01:09:27.090
going to ask someone to do the jobs that we do,

01:09:27.270 --> 01:09:30.029
we should at least be at a 42 -hour week. If

01:09:30.029 --> 01:09:32.510
not, you could argue even less. But, you know,

01:09:32.510 --> 01:09:35.840
until we... change this kind of fairy tale that

01:09:35.840 --> 01:09:37.960
we talked about which was probably amazing when

01:09:37.960 --> 01:09:40.420
we had dalmatians and horses and steam powered

01:09:40.420 --> 01:09:43.180
you know the horse gone buggies yeah but that's

01:09:43.180 --> 01:09:46.039
not 2022 so i think we have to really look at

01:09:46.039 --> 01:09:49.600
that and hearing people who are athletes in the

01:09:49.600 --> 01:09:52.600
fire service and understanding the negative mental

01:09:52.600 --> 01:09:55.079
health element of not sleeping and the negative

01:09:55.079 --> 01:09:57.399
performance element therefore the higher level

01:09:57.399 --> 01:10:00.960
of injury um all those i mean it's it's nonsensical

01:10:00.960 --> 01:10:02.960
when you look at the whole equation but we need

01:10:03.630 --> 01:10:05.609
the real leaders in the fire service to step

01:10:05.609 --> 01:10:07.909
up and say, look, we, we, we've been doing it

01:10:07.909 --> 01:10:09.949
wrong for so long. You know, I don't know what

01:10:09.949 --> 01:10:12.989
your pattern works out to be per week, how many

01:10:12.989 --> 01:10:15.149
hours, but you know, the average person, like

01:10:15.149 --> 01:10:18.109
I said, 56 hours a week, this is insane. I think

01:10:18.109 --> 01:10:20.189
that's what ours, what ours is based off of is

01:10:20.189 --> 01:10:23.510
a 56 hour work week. You know, cause there's,

01:10:23.550 --> 01:10:25.930
there's times when we'll work, we'll work three

01:10:25.930 --> 01:10:27.750
days out of the week. There's times when we'll

01:10:27.750 --> 01:10:29.390
work, you know, again, depending on a Kelly,

01:10:29.449 --> 01:10:31.750
but we'll work one or two days out of the week.

01:10:31.789 --> 01:10:35.199
So it's all dependent. um but i believe that's

01:10:35.199 --> 01:10:37.539
what ours is based off of also it's a 56 hour

01:10:37.539 --> 01:10:41.340
week yeah now with with that were you wc champion

01:10:41.340 --> 01:10:43.239
before you became a firefighter ever got that

01:10:43.239 --> 01:10:51.399
right chronologically yes so wec was 2006 when

01:10:51.399 --> 01:10:55.699
i won the belt if i'm not mistaken and i fired

01:10:55.699 --> 01:10:59.560
i hired on the fire service in 2008 okay so as

01:10:59.560 --> 01:11:01.420
you're progressing through and you know you have

01:11:01.420 --> 01:11:03.319
this realization like oh shit i'm actually a

01:11:03.319 --> 01:11:06.140
champion of something legit um you know you're

01:11:06.140 --> 01:11:07.779
you're climbing and i mean you look at the people

01:11:07.779 --> 01:11:09.600
that you fought as incredible all the you know

01:11:09.600 --> 01:11:13.380
the who's who of your division um when you joined

01:11:13.380 --> 01:11:15.840
the fire service as you progress through did

01:11:15.840 --> 01:11:19.000
you notice the impact of that schedule and the

01:11:19.000 --> 01:11:21.020
job itself on your training because the reason

01:11:21.020 --> 01:11:24.189
i ask tim kennedy's been on I think three or

01:11:24.189 --> 01:11:27.090
four times now. But in one of the first interviews

01:11:27.090 --> 01:11:30.029
I had with Tim, he said, well, look, it wasn't

01:11:30.029 --> 01:11:32.369
making excuses, but he was an active duty Green

01:11:32.369 --> 01:11:35.010
Beret as well, still performing at a high level,

01:11:35.130 --> 01:11:38.510
but serving his country simultaneously. So, you

01:11:38.510 --> 01:11:41.470
know, was there a takeaway or did you notice

01:11:41.470 --> 01:11:44.189
some sort of diminished performance because of

01:11:44.189 --> 01:11:46.029
the fact that you were also wearing a uniform?

01:11:46.949 --> 01:11:50.640
No, actually. And again, back to Tim Kennedy,

01:11:50.720 --> 01:11:52.760
I love that dude. That dude, absolutely amazing

01:11:52.760 --> 01:11:54.960
human being. Love that guy. Love everything he

01:11:54.960 --> 01:11:59.340
does. But as far as like a diminishing performance,

01:11:59.479 --> 01:12:02.420
I actually think I had an increased performance.

01:12:03.140 --> 01:12:07.460
Because before that, I was working 60 hours a

01:12:07.460 --> 01:12:09.619
week outside of a steel mill, just dirty, nasty

01:12:09.619 --> 01:12:12.960
work. So I would work from 6 .30 in the morning

01:12:12.960 --> 01:12:15.569
till 4 .30 in the afternoon. And then I would

01:12:15.569 --> 01:12:17.529
go lift for an hour and then I would go train

01:12:17.529 --> 01:12:20.510
for an hour and a half. So, I mean, my 10 -hour

01:12:20.510 --> 01:12:24.829
day quickly became a 14, 16 -hour day of work

01:12:24.829 --> 01:12:31.130
every day. You know, and again, I won a WEC title

01:12:31.130 --> 01:12:33.770
at that, but I was also young. You know, I was

01:12:33.770 --> 01:12:38.970
also young. So, as my age increased and that

01:12:38.970 --> 01:12:42.289
schedule, I think, helped me to maintain that

01:12:42.289 --> 01:12:44.630
level. You know, especially with the four days

01:12:44.630 --> 01:12:46.890
off, you know, you get you get a recovery day

01:12:46.890 --> 01:12:49.029
and then, OK, I'll go train hard for a couple

01:12:49.029 --> 01:12:51.630
of days. I get a recovery day. I go back to work.

01:12:52.390 --> 01:12:55.149
You know, my work days, I would work out while

01:12:55.149 --> 01:12:57.869
I was there, but not as intensely. Obviously,

01:12:57.989 --> 01:13:01.029
should we catch something or, you know, just

01:13:01.029 --> 01:13:03.449
sometimes you just need it, depending on how

01:13:03.449 --> 01:13:07.550
my four days went off. But I feel like that schedule

01:13:07.550 --> 01:13:10.189
actually increased my performance and allowed

01:13:10.189 --> 01:13:13.329
me to continue down that path for as long as

01:13:13.329 --> 01:13:16.210
I did. Beautiful. All right. Yeah, it's funny.

01:13:16.329 --> 01:13:18.550
Ron Ortiz, the high -level CrossFit guy, and

01:13:18.550 --> 01:13:21.130
he had a similar thing. But I think his dynamic

01:13:21.130 --> 01:13:22.829
at that station specifically, I think he was

01:13:22.829 --> 01:13:25.109
at a beach station. I don't think they were up

01:13:25.109 --> 01:13:27.050
all night. So it's a different dynamic to some

01:13:27.050 --> 01:13:30.369
people listening, myself included. All right.

01:13:30.369 --> 01:13:32.270
Well, then I want to get to nutrition. But just

01:13:32.270 --> 01:13:35.060
before we do. I used to train with Felicia Spencer

01:13:35.060 --> 01:13:38.039
and her fight with Amanda Nunes. You were on

01:13:38.039 --> 01:13:40.279
that card against Sean O'Malley. Again, yet another

01:13:40.279 --> 01:13:42.880
phenomenal athlete. But what was interesting

01:13:42.880 --> 01:13:45.340
is you've got these people who were about to

01:13:45.340 --> 01:13:47.819
step in the cage and spit and bleed and all over

01:13:47.819 --> 01:13:49.720
each other. But at the time, they're wearing

01:13:49.720 --> 01:13:52.020
3M masks that were probably doing absolutely

01:13:52.020 --> 01:13:55.060
nothing. But it was very much, as you said, sadly,

01:13:55.140 --> 01:13:58.699
deeper into this COVID thing. It was more the

01:13:58.699 --> 01:14:02.329
visuals, the optics than... actual medical science

01:14:02.329 --> 01:14:06.270
with you know fitted n95s etc etc so what was

01:14:06.270 --> 01:14:09.770
that experience for you as an mma fighter during

01:14:09.770 --> 01:14:12.289
covid and then we'll take that one ufc for an

01:14:12.289 --> 01:14:15.689
example well they're all wearing their masks

01:14:15.689 --> 01:14:20.109
i mean you can probably uh venture to guess what

01:14:20.109 --> 01:14:22.390
my what my stance on the whole covid thing is

01:14:22.390 --> 01:14:24.630
if you watch our weigh -ins i had the mask and

01:14:24.630 --> 01:14:26.149
that's people are you supposed to wear it around

01:14:26.149 --> 01:14:29.029
your nose to be effective really come on anyways

01:14:29.029 --> 01:14:35.380
um It was weird. It was really weird. And when

01:14:35.380 --> 01:14:36.840
they when they when they said that they're going

01:14:36.840 --> 01:14:39.399
to continue fights, but it's going to be the

01:14:39.399 --> 01:14:42.260
fighters in their corners. I mean, that was that

01:14:42.260 --> 01:14:45.439
was strange to me. You know, it's like it's kind

01:14:45.439 --> 01:14:47.659
of like the old school Brazilian days, you know,

01:14:47.659 --> 01:14:50.159
OK, our best fighter from our gym and your best

01:14:50.159 --> 01:14:52.000
fighter from your gym. We're going to meet here.

01:14:52.510 --> 01:14:53.710
And we're going to fight. We're going to see

01:14:53.710 --> 01:14:55.189
who's got the best fighter and who's got the

01:14:55.189 --> 01:14:58.770
best gym. That's almost exactly what it was.

01:14:58.949 --> 01:15:01.170
It was so creepy. I mean, you could hear every

01:15:01.170 --> 01:15:04.590
smack, especially on the TV. You really got to

01:15:04.590 --> 01:15:06.989
hear what it's like to actually be in there.

01:15:07.130 --> 01:15:09.350
You could hear the corners clearly. You could

01:15:09.350 --> 01:15:14.869
hear the smacks clearly. Just a strange, eerie

01:15:14.869 --> 01:15:18.850
type of. realism you know this is this is as

01:15:18.850 --> 01:15:21.250
raw as it gets you don't have the crowd screaming

01:15:21.250 --> 01:15:24.869
this is this is a fistfight this is what a fistfight

01:15:24.869 --> 01:15:27.149
sounds like if you've ever wondered what it's

01:15:27.149 --> 01:15:31.189
like when leather cracks skin here you go um

01:15:31.189 --> 01:15:37.130
it was it was it was um an interesting experience

01:15:39.079 --> 01:15:42.359
Now, just with that as well, you have this 20

01:15:42.359 --> 01:15:44.520
-year career. I mean, you were fighting earlier

01:15:44.520 --> 01:15:47.520
on WEC, then UFC, and then for this high level,

01:15:47.680 --> 01:15:50.079
you've been a champion WEC. You're fighting phenomenal

01:15:50.079 --> 01:15:53.119
athletes all the way through your UFC career

01:15:53.119 --> 01:15:57.579
as well. I see a lot of people struggle when

01:15:57.579 --> 01:16:01.520
they transition out of a profession that... they

01:16:01.520 --> 01:16:03.779
have identified with and you know obviously we're

01:16:03.779 --> 01:16:05.899
invested in that career some people transition

01:16:05.899 --> 01:16:09.180
flawlessly but some people if you watch for example

01:16:09.180 --> 01:16:11.359
the documentary the weight of gold or you know

01:16:11.359 --> 01:16:13.000
you look at some of your fellow firefighters

01:16:13.000 --> 01:16:15.640
i'm sure you know you're on the back door now

01:16:15.640 --> 01:16:19.119
you're not that thing anymore and and some people

01:16:19.119 --> 01:16:21.039
struggle with that identity with that purpose

01:16:21.039 --> 01:16:24.279
with that that loss of tribe was when you know

01:16:24.279 --> 01:16:26.159
what was it that made you finally pull the trigger

01:16:26.159 --> 01:16:28.500
on retiring and then what was that transition

01:16:28.500 --> 01:16:32.159
out where you went from being in the cage to

01:16:32.159 --> 01:16:34.100
obviously still being immersed in the community

01:16:34.100 --> 01:16:36.760
but not being under the spotlights anymore so

01:16:36.760 --> 01:16:39.880
i i feel like my transition is the former the

01:16:39.880 --> 01:16:43.119
flawlessly everything is just like everything's

01:16:43.119 --> 01:16:45.880
in the right place at the right time i have i

01:16:45.880 --> 01:16:48.100
have two small boys uh six and eight years old

01:16:48.100 --> 01:16:50.460
uh both of them are wrestling i coached their

01:16:50.460 --> 01:16:53.380
wrestling team um you know i coached their wrestling

01:16:53.380 --> 01:16:56.739
team last year uh it was a little bit harder

01:16:56.739 --> 01:17:00.439
i i made most of their practices um but you know

01:17:00.760 --> 01:17:02.840
When you're training and you have your own thing

01:17:02.840 --> 01:17:07.060
going on, the unfortunate thing for them is dad's

01:17:07.060 --> 01:17:09.100
training is a little more important than a six

01:17:09.100 --> 01:17:10.640
-year -old wrestling's training, you know, because

01:17:10.640 --> 01:17:13.079
dad's training is what's going to make the house

01:17:13.079 --> 01:17:17.899
payment and this and that. But as far as, like,

01:17:17.899 --> 01:17:23.420
getting out of it, I think I'm happier now than

01:17:23.420 --> 01:17:29.350
I've been in a long time. In a long time. I can

01:17:29.350 --> 01:17:31.729
focus on my boys. I can focus on their wrestling

01:17:31.729 --> 01:17:34.369
team. I can focus, not that I wasn't focused

01:17:34.369 --> 01:17:37.430
on the fire department, but I have a captain.

01:17:39.090 --> 01:17:41.890
He was the former assistant chief. Now he's back

01:17:41.890 --> 01:17:44.369
down to captain, but he would always give me

01:17:44.369 --> 01:17:46.590
shit about the fighting and this thing. He goes,

01:17:46.689 --> 01:17:47.829
well, when are you going to quit that fight?

01:17:47.869 --> 01:17:49.710
Then you can focus more on your part -time job.

01:17:51.949 --> 01:17:54.050
So I guess, you know, I'm at a point now where

01:17:54.050 --> 01:17:56.430
I can focus more on my part -time job. You know,

01:17:56.430 --> 01:17:58.670
not that I, again, I was never not focused on

01:17:58.670 --> 01:18:00.409
it because if you're not focused on a job like

01:18:00.409 --> 01:18:02.689
firefighting, I mean, the consequences are real.

01:18:02.750 --> 01:18:06.649
You're not coming home. You know, so everything's

01:18:06.649 --> 01:18:08.229
just kind of in the right place at the right

01:18:08.229 --> 01:18:11.789
time. Dad's ride's over. My boy's ride is just

01:18:11.789 --> 01:18:14.069
beginning. You know, what should it be, whatever

01:18:14.069 --> 01:18:17.470
they want to do. But as far as coaching the wrestling

01:18:17.470 --> 01:18:19.850
team, and if dad doesn't make it to the gym for

01:18:19.850 --> 01:18:23.409
his training session, well, there's really no

01:18:23.409 --> 01:18:26.949
consequences for it. I don't have to worry about

01:18:26.949 --> 01:18:30.710
am I in good enough shape to fight another elite

01:18:30.710 --> 01:18:32.710
athlete. I just need to worry about am I in good

01:18:32.710 --> 01:18:35.050
enough shape to fight your average everyday American,

01:18:35.210 --> 01:18:41.710
which that's not very hard to do per what we've

01:18:41.710 --> 01:18:45.319
already talked about. You know, the transition

01:18:45.319 --> 01:18:51.060
is, I'm in a good place. You know, mentally,

01:18:51.279 --> 01:18:54.920
physically, I just, I feel more healthy. I feel

01:18:54.920 --> 01:19:01.960
more sane. I'm not worried about my training

01:19:01.960 --> 01:19:04.699
as much as I am or as much as I used to. You

01:19:04.699 --> 01:19:07.979
know, and as far as the decision to walk away

01:19:07.979 --> 01:19:10.420
that night, the night that I retired, I didn't

01:19:10.420 --> 01:19:12.470
know I was going to retire. It was in the back

01:19:12.470 --> 01:19:14.489
of my head. I know a lot of people gave DC a

01:19:14.489 --> 01:19:16.310
lot of shit for, oh, why didn't you give Eddie

01:19:16.310 --> 01:19:17.890
the mic, blah, blah, blah, blah. He was taking

01:19:17.890 --> 01:19:20.770
his gloves off. I wasn't taking my gloves off

01:19:20.770 --> 01:19:22.989
because I was ready to retire. If he would have

01:19:22.989 --> 01:19:25.069
handed me the mic and back, oh, okay, here we

01:19:25.069 --> 01:19:28.050
go. Let's do it. Do what, man? What are you talking

01:19:28.050 --> 01:19:30.329
about? I'm just taking my gloves off because

01:19:30.329 --> 01:19:35.869
here we are. You know, so it, I remember going

01:19:35.869 --> 01:19:41.020
into that fight. Before I actually signed to

01:19:41.020 --> 01:19:42.819
fight, I would go to the gym and I had fun. It

01:19:42.819 --> 01:19:44.779
was fine. Okay, I want to be here. This is great.

01:19:44.880 --> 01:19:47.699
I'm having fun. No big deal. As soon as I signed

01:19:47.699 --> 01:19:49.319
that line, hey, okay, we're going to fight in

01:19:49.319 --> 01:19:51.880
June. And the next day I showed up to the gym

01:19:51.880 --> 01:19:54.260
like, this fucking sucks. I don't want to be

01:19:54.260 --> 01:19:59.720
here. So it just wasn't fun. I think that's a

01:19:59.720 --> 01:20:04.920
lot of, even like Cowboy said, a lot of his reasons,

01:20:05.000 --> 01:20:09.229
that's my reason. You know, that was, we've been

01:20:09.229 --> 01:20:11.649
in it for a long time. It just, it wasn't fun

01:20:11.649 --> 01:20:14.409
anymore. When you have to do it, it's not fun.

01:20:14.770 --> 01:20:17.130
When you want to do it and just because you want

01:20:17.130 --> 01:20:21.350
to be there, it's a blast. So, you know, that

01:20:21.350 --> 01:20:24.409
night I sat down and talked to Sean Shelby and

01:20:24.409 --> 01:20:27.649
I, you know, basically I told him, he said, dude,

01:20:27.729 --> 01:20:30.270
you need to retire. It's time to retire. So,

01:20:30.310 --> 01:20:32.350
well, you know, well, I goes, dude, no, you need

01:20:32.350 --> 01:20:34.729
to retire. You need to retire. He said, Sean,

01:20:34.829 --> 01:20:37.590
okay, we've had this discussion before. If you're

01:20:37.590 --> 01:20:39.829
ever thinking about cutting me, just let me know

01:20:39.829 --> 01:20:41.850
so I can retire. I said, so if you tell me right

01:20:41.850 --> 01:20:44.029
now that if I don't retire, you're going to cut

01:20:44.029 --> 01:20:47.729
me, then okay. He goes, what don't you fucking

01:20:47.729 --> 01:20:51.090
get? You are retired. I specifically remember

01:20:51.090 --> 01:20:53.210
him looking at me. What don't you fucking get?

01:20:53.270 --> 01:20:56.170
You are retired. Okay, Sean, I'm retired. We're

01:20:56.170 --> 01:21:00.250
done. And that moment right then and there when

01:21:00.250 --> 01:21:03.579
I said, okay, I'm good. I'm done. It was like,

01:21:03.600 --> 01:21:11.180
just everything released. Just a, okay, I'm done.

01:21:11.500 --> 01:21:15.100
I probably should have done it a little while

01:21:15.100 --> 01:21:18.579
back. But we always hold on too long, you know,

01:21:18.619 --> 01:21:22.659
especially in that sport. I even told him in

01:21:22.659 --> 01:21:24.560
the locker room, my thought was, okay, let's

01:21:24.560 --> 01:21:26.720
get this fight done and over with. Let's go win

01:21:26.720 --> 01:21:28.859
this fight. Let's walk away. We're done. And

01:21:28.859 --> 01:21:30.220
he looked at me and he goes, no, you wouldn't.

01:21:30.840 --> 01:21:32.739
Absolutely not. If you would have won that fight,

01:21:32.939 --> 01:21:34.880
you would have been begging me for when's my

01:21:34.880 --> 01:21:38.680
next one. And he's probably right. He's probably

01:21:38.680 --> 01:21:41.479
almost 100 % right. Because even though I had

01:21:41.479 --> 01:21:43.439
it set in my mind, let's go win this fight and

01:21:43.439 --> 01:21:46.319
walk away on a win, he said 2 % of people walk

01:21:46.319 --> 01:21:50.159
away on top. And those 2 % of people, unfortunately,

01:21:50.260 --> 01:21:55.079
I'm not in that 2%. And that's fine. Like I said,

01:21:55.100 --> 01:21:57.199
I'm in a good place physically and mentally now.

01:21:57.340 --> 01:22:05.029
So I can focus. My boys, my wife, my part -time

01:22:05.029 --> 01:22:13.750
career. Again, right place, right time. I'm up

01:22:13.750 --> 01:22:15.590
for a promotion in January, so I'll be getting

01:22:15.590 --> 01:22:17.550
promoted to a captain spot. There's a spot in

01:22:17.550 --> 01:22:19.630
the dive team opening up in the springtime, so

01:22:19.630 --> 01:22:25.010
I can focus more time on that. Right place, right

01:22:25.010 --> 01:22:28.779
time. Well, it's so important to hear your perspective.

01:22:28.840 --> 01:22:30.199
Obviously, you're talking about fighting specifically,

01:22:30.500 --> 01:22:33.119
but I've seen this in some people in the fire

01:22:33.119 --> 01:22:39.159
service, too. People stay 20, 25, 30 years because

01:22:39.159 --> 01:22:41.060
their pension tells them that you need to stay

01:22:41.060 --> 01:22:44.659
20, 25 or 30 years. That doesn't mean that's

01:22:44.659 --> 01:22:46.520
the actual shelf life of your career, depending

01:22:46.520 --> 01:22:48.659
on the department. I end up transitioning out

01:22:48.659 --> 01:22:51.859
for totally. separate reason i i found myself

01:22:51.859 --> 01:22:54.779
ultimately after working at what i would argue

01:22:54.779 --> 01:22:56.359
one of the best fire departments in the states

01:22:56.989 --> 01:22:58.430
working for one of the worst fire departments

01:22:58.430 --> 01:23:00.670
in the States. And after five years of making

01:23:00.670 --> 01:23:02.970
changes, you know, the universe was like, listen,

01:23:03.069 --> 01:23:04.869
dipshit, I don't know how to make this any clearer.

01:23:04.949 --> 01:23:07.050
You need to go do this podcast thing because

01:23:07.050 --> 01:23:09.310
you're not going to change it here. And so that

01:23:09.310 --> 01:23:11.750
was my transition out. But what used to break

01:23:11.750 --> 01:23:15.449
my heart was seeing firefighters or cops or whoever

01:23:15.449 --> 01:23:18.130
else with an app on their phone that count you

01:23:18.130 --> 01:23:20.430
down. Oh, I need another nine years, you know,

01:23:20.449 --> 01:23:23.489
three months, 27 days. And I'm like, oh, for

01:23:23.489 --> 01:23:26.369
fuck's sake. you need to either change departments

01:23:26.369 --> 01:23:29.170
or maybe it's just time. You don't have to stay

01:23:29.170 --> 01:23:32.010
because a pension tells you to. That's 10, you

01:23:32.010 --> 01:23:34.069
know, whatever many years of your life that you

01:23:34.069 --> 01:23:35.569
could be doing something that you absolutely

01:23:35.569 --> 01:23:38.630
love instead. Yeah, if you're counting it down,

01:23:38.750 --> 01:23:43.489
and again, if you've made it to your, okay, my

01:23:43.489 --> 01:23:45.409
last year, okay, I'm retiring. Now, okay, now

01:23:45.409 --> 01:23:47.729
you got your ticker. Now you got your, I get

01:23:47.729 --> 01:23:50.270
that. But if you've got your ticker 10 years

01:23:50.270 --> 01:23:55.699
prior, Those 10 years, they're probably going

01:23:55.699 --> 01:23:59.079
to go by fairly slow. When it's time, it's time.

01:23:59.159 --> 01:24:01.060
And you need to know and you need to walk away.

01:24:03.439 --> 01:24:05.460
I don't know when I'll walk away. I couldn't

01:24:05.460 --> 01:24:07.779
tell you. I'm not thinking about it. It's one

01:24:07.779 --> 01:24:10.479
of those, like you said, if you start counting

01:24:10.479 --> 01:24:13.159
down the days and those days are five, 10 years

01:24:13.159 --> 01:24:17.670
down the road, you're already too late. You know,

01:24:17.689 --> 01:24:20.250
the thing that our department has is you can

01:24:20.250 --> 01:24:22.529
sign into what they call a drop where they'll

01:24:22.529 --> 01:24:24.409
freeze your pension for the last three years.

01:24:24.470 --> 01:24:26.149
And then basically when you walk away, they give

01:24:26.149 --> 01:24:28.210
you that check for your last three years of your

01:24:28.210 --> 01:24:31.109
pension. So you get a giant check, but your pension

01:24:31.109 --> 01:24:33.810
is frozen. So your pension doesn't grow anymore.

01:24:35.489 --> 01:24:38.090
So I can understand counting down the last three

01:24:38.090 --> 01:24:41.720
years, at least on our department, because. I'm

01:24:41.720 --> 01:24:43.619
signed into the pension. I'm retiring in three

01:24:43.619 --> 01:24:45.500
years. I've already set, you know, the wheels

01:24:45.500 --> 01:24:50.840
are in motion. This is happening. But any more

01:24:50.840 --> 01:24:53.960
than that, you're just not enjoying it anymore.

01:24:54.399 --> 01:24:57.199
You know, if you're, okay, okay, I can't wait.

01:24:57.260 --> 01:24:59.460
Now, don't get me wrong. When I get to work,

01:24:59.539 --> 01:25:00.939
there's days when it's like, okay, I just can't

01:25:00.939 --> 01:25:04.939
wait to get home. You know, that's just human

01:25:04.939 --> 01:25:08.060
nature. I like my family. I like my boys. I love

01:25:08.060 --> 01:25:12.220
my wife. I like being home. I'm a homebody. So

01:25:12.220 --> 01:25:15.000
I know there's some people that they got to,

01:25:15.000 --> 01:25:18.159
I just got to get away. Give me five minutes.

01:25:18.800 --> 01:25:20.699
There's times when my boys are driving me up

01:25:20.699 --> 01:25:24.739
the wall. It's like, oh, what? Come on. I get

01:25:24.739 --> 01:25:27.340
five minutes down the road. Okay, I can't wait

01:25:27.340 --> 01:25:29.539
to go to work. Can't wait to go to work. I get

01:25:29.539 --> 01:25:31.260
five minutes down the road. Okay, I'll go back.

01:25:31.460 --> 01:25:33.420
I can go back now. I just need a five -minute

01:25:33.420 --> 01:25:38.350
reset. So, you know, counting down that many

01:25:38.350 --> 01:25:40.850
years, I think that's too much. That's too much.

01:25:40.850 --> 01:25:42.189
It's time to, like you said, go do something

01:25:42.189 --> 01:25:45.729
else. Go do something else. Find something. Now,

01:25:45.869 --> 01:25:48.930
if you're counting down five years and you're

01:25:48.930 --> 01:25:52.050
five years, because 20 years until we're vested

01:25:52.050 --> 01:25:54.550
into a pension, I would assume it's probably

01:25:54.550 --> 01:25:58.090
the same for you guys. But if you're counting

01:25:58.090 --> 01:26:00.750
down five years and then in five years I've got

01:26:00.750 --> 01:26:04.100
my 20, I'm going to go do something else. So,

01:26:04.140 --> 01:26:07.359
I mean, it's kind of a double -edged sword there.

01:26:07.800 --> 01:26:10.279
If you're counting down, if you've already got

01:26:10.279 --> 01:26:12.180
your 20 and you're counting down another 5 or

01:26:12.180 --> 01:26:16.659
10 years, just go out the door. But if at 20

01:26:16.659 --> 01:26:18.420
you want to walk out and go do something else

01:26:18.420 --> 01:26:22.680
and you've got 15, 16 years in, okay, we can

01:26:22.680 --> 01:26:26.479
count down the last couple of years. So knowing

01:26:26.479 --> 01:26:30.119
when it's time is a big thing. Because if you're

01:26:30.119 --> 01:26:33.829
not happy there and you're not doing – or you're

01:26:33.829 --> 01:26:36.869
not focused on that job again that job could

01:26:36.869 --> 01:26:38.949
potentially be yours or somebody else's life

01:26:38.949 --> 01:26:41.649
absolutely yeah i think that's it if your heart

01:26:41.649 --> 01:26:44.430
isn't in it you know and you're unhappy then

01:26:44.430 --> 01:26:47.109
no amount of money is worth that and then like

01:26:47.109 --> 01:26:49.170
you said that pays back the other way if you're

01:26:49.170 --> 01:26:52.130
not dedicated to the profession you might become

01:26:52.130 --> 01:26:54.369
a liability which will cost you know your own

01:26:54.369 --> 01:26:56.430
life one of your partner's lives or someone that

01:26:56.430 --> 01:26:59.170
we're supposed to be responding to absolutely

01:26:59.170 --> 01:27:03.550
absolutely Well, staying on the longevity for

01:27:03.550 --> 01:27:07.069
one moment as well, I heard you touch on a pretty

01:27:07.069 --> 01:27:10.050
powerful story that steered your... kind of journey

01:27:10.050 --> 01:27:12.090
when it came to your own nutrition so i'd love

01:27:12.090 --> 01:27:14.569
to just kind of hear your perspective on that

01:27:14.569 --> 01:27:17.149
because there's a lot of uh i know there's all

01:27:17.149 --> 01:27:18.970
kinds of shit going on the liver king spouting

01:27:18.970 --> 01:27:21.170
and all these fucking idiots that we hear on

01:27:21.170 --> 01:27:24.369
on online and there's a lot of anti -plant -based

01:27:24.369 --> 01:27:28.050
vegan vegetarian rhetoric too to me everyone

01:27:28.050 --> 01:27:30.590
has to explore and find their own nutritional

01:27:30.590 --> 01:27:34.460
path but i find that the whole food is usually

01:27:34.460 --> 01:27:37.319
the kind of true north. So what was the story

01:27:37.319 --> 01:27:39.520
that kind of, you know, the personal story that

01:27:39.520 --> 01:27:41.600
steered you towards that different, you know,

01:27:41.600 --> 01:27:46.220
that change in direction nutritionally? So nutritionally,

01:27:46.220 --> 01:27:48.899
dude, I didn't start eating greens until I was

01:27:48.899 --> 01:27:52.760
probably 26 years old. And at 26, it was green

01:27:52.760 --> 01:27:55.420
beans, canned green beans at that. Oh, I'll try

01:27:55.420 --> 01:27:58.239
green beans. Hey, not too bad. You know, so green

01:27:58.239 --> 01:28:00.119
beans stemmed until, okay, maybe I better eat

01:28:00.119 --> 01:28:03.239
a little bit better. And it started. When I first

01:28:03.239 --> 01:28:05.859
started fighting, it was pizza and McDonald's.

01:28:05.880 --> 01:28:08.380
I eat whatever I want because 22 -year -old man,

01:28:08.500 --> 01:28:12.220
your metabolism is just on fire. So I turned

01:28:12.220 --> 01:28:15.859
26 and metabolism changed a little bit. And it's

01:28:15.859 --> 01:28:17.859
like, I'm gaining a little bit of weight I don't

01:28:17.859 --> 01:28:19.439
want to gain. So I started eating a little bit

01:28:19.439 --> 01:28:21.659
better. Notice as I started eating better, I

01:28:21.659 --> 01:28:23.699
started feeling better. Okay, well, we'll get

01:28:23.699 --> 01:28:26.119
rid of this and we'll add this. I change things,

01:28:26.220 --> 01:28:28.039
feel a little bit better. Get rid of this, add

01:28:28.039 --> 01:28:29.640
this. Change things, feel a little bit better.

01:28:32.620 --> 01:28:36.159
About five, six years ago, maybe even eight years

01:28:36.159 --> 01:28:40.659
ago, I don't know, about the early 30s, I went

01:28:40.659 --> 01:28:44.439
from in camp, I would eat clean and I would eat

01:28:44.439 --> 01:28:47.859
good, what I would call good. Looking back now,

01:28:48.060 --> 01:28:51.319
probably wasn't super good. And I still don't

01:28:51.319 --> 01:28:54.840
eat super good. But back then, I would eat clean

01:28:54.840 --> 01:28:59.180
while I was in camp. And it would take me. all

01:28:59.180 --> 01:29:01.500
six to eight weeks of camp to get down to my

01:29:01.500 --> 01:29:04.300
weight where I needed to be. You know, I like

01:29:04.300 --> 01:29:08.000
to train around 149 to 151, somewhere in there.

01:29:09.520 --> 01:29:12.859
And then after camp, I would go nuts. Pizza every

01:29:12.859 --> 01:29:15.800
day. I had bags full of Reese's and just fall

01:29:15.800 --> 01:29:19.699
off the rails. I think I jumped up as the highest

01:29:19.699 --> 01:29:23.539
I've ever been was 163, 164, which I know all

01:29:23.539 --> 01:29:25.920
of a sudden you look at Al Jermaine, he's 176.

01:29:27.210 --> 01:29:29.810
fuck did you do that man how do you go from 136

01:29:29.810 --> 01:29:35.250
to 176 in a week how did that work um so i i

01:29:35.250 --> 01:29:38.270
quickly realized that that all of this work trying

01:29:38.270 --> 01:29:41.649
to get down to a training weight just to you

01:29:41.649 --> 01:29:44.170
know it takes me six weeks to get down to my

01:29:44.170 --> 01:29:46.829
training weight well after those six weeks then

01:29:46.829 --> 01:29:49.810
it's just a recover repair and keep things sharp

01:29:49.810 --> 01:29:54.250
get down to fight weight and fight so I quit

01:29:54.250 --> 01:29:57.090
doing the binging off the rails, and I started

01:29:57.090 --> 01:30:01.149
my fight diet. Everybody says diet. Well, your

01:30:01.149 --> 01:30:03.949
diet should just be what you eat every day. I'm

01:30:03.949 --> 01:30:05.409
going to try this diet. I'm going to try that

01:30:05.409 --> 01:30:08.409
diet. I'm going to try this diet. Fuck the diet

01:30:08.409 --> 01:30:11.729
fads, man. Just eat good food. I started doing

01:30:11.729 --> 01:30:15.810
that, and I quickly noticed that my weight wasn't

01:30:15.810 --> 01:30:19.010
shooting up. My weight stayed outside of camp.

01:30:19.090 --> 01:30:25.289
I was maybe 154, maybe 155. And then to get back

01:30:25.289 --> 01:30:29.869
down to 151, it was just doing away with pizza

01:30:29.869 --> 01:30:32.090
once a week. You know, that's just a family thing.

01:30:32.149 --> 01:30:33.890
I think a lot of families do the Friday pizza

01:30:33.890 --> 01:30:36.350
night. You know, so we would do pizza once a

01:30:36.350 --> 01:30:38.710
week. And outside of that, I'd eat fairly clean.

01:30:39.109 --> 01:30:41.829
And it was, I mean, my weight was right back

01:30:41.829 --> 01:30:43.630
down to where I needed to be in training camp.

01:30:45.130 --> 01:30:47.770
I tried the whole, I tried the keto thing, which,

01:30:47.829 --> 01:30:50.050
again, if you're a keto advocate, I'm sorry,

01:30:50.149 --> 01:30:53.380
but fuck keto. Um, especially for, for an endurance

01:30:53.380 --> 01:30:55.800
athlete, maybe, but, but for somebody, a high

01:30:55.800 --> 01:30:58.960
intensity athlete, no, it didn't work. I felt

01:30:58.960 --> 01:31:01.640
fantastic for about the first two weeks and then

01:31:01.640 --> 01:31:06.039
went, just felt like garbage. Um, I tried the

01:31:06.039 --> 01:31:08.619
plant -based thing, uh, plant -based with eggs.

01:31:08.800 --> 01:31:11.380
You know, I would eat, I would eat eggs and,

01:31:11.439 --> 01:31:14.340
um, actually felt pretty good. I did that for

01:31:14.340 --> 01:31:19.800
about six months. And then I don't know if I

01:31:19.800 --> 01:31:23.859
was getting sick. Or if it was just the lack

01:31:23.859 --> 01:31:27.100
of meat or I don't know what it was. I just was

01:31:27.100 --> 01:31:29.380
feeling off one day. I said, you know, I'm going

01:31:29.380 --> 01:31:31.300
to have a burger. I'm going to try some meat.

01:31:32.000 --> 01:31:36.460
And then went back onto the mostly plant -based

01:31:36.460 --> 01:31:40.199
but a little bit of meat. And I'm still in limbo

01:31:40.199 --> 01:31:42.840
with the plant -based versus omnivore versus,

01:31:42.880 --> 01:31:46.319
you know, that type of dieting. But I think it's

01:31:46.319 --> 01:31:48.140
like you said. I think everybody is different.

01:31:49.550 --> 01:31:52.789
This person could eat 100 % vegan and do fantastic,

01:31:53.130 --> 01:31:55.909
be great on it. But somebody else eats it and

01:31:55.909 --> 01:32:00.229
they're iron deficient and anemic and they got

01:32:00.229 --> 01:32:04.510
all these issues. I think straight carnivore,

01:32:04.529 --> 01:32:07.069
I don't think there's enough evidence on that

01:32:07.069 --> 01:32:11.329
long term to justify eating straight carnivore.

01:32:11.390 --> 01:32:13.710
I think you're lacking sufficient nutrients in

01:32:13.710 --> 01:32:18.029
your plants and vegetables. You know, I was listening

01:32:18.029 --> 01:32:24.170
to a podcast. Gosh dang it, I don't know. I don't

01:32:24.170 --> 01:32:26.729
remember who it was, but it was basically, it

01:32:26.729 --> 01:32:30.430
was a carnivore diet advocate. He's a doctor.

01:32:30.949 --> 01:32:32.649
If you said his name, I would know him. You may

01:32:32.649 --> 01:32:34.510
even know who he is. I don't know. But I was

01:32:34.510 --> 01:32:38.010
listening to a podcast of this guy debating plant

01:32:38.010 --> 01:32:41.210
-based versus carnivore. And the plant -based

01:32:41.210 --> 01:32:43.689
guy said, well, you know, there's no long -term

01:32:43.689 --> 01:32:47.390
studies. on straight carnivore diet. A, it hasn't

01:32:47.390 --> 01:32:50.970
been around long enough. And B, they're not doing

01:32:50.970 --> 01:32:53.710
these years and years and years long studies.

01:32:53.750 --> 01:32:56.090
You get, well, what about this study? They studied

01:32:56.090 --> 01:32:58.250
this many peoples and it was eight weeks. And

01:32:58.250 --> 01:33:01.949
Bali goes, eight weeks. You just said it, eight

01:33:01.949 --> 01:33:04.069
weeks. That's not a long -term study. You know,

01:33:04.069 --> 01:33:08.529
so I feel like you can benefit by doing it short

01:33:08.529 --> 01:33:11.489
-term, but in the long -term. I don't think it's

01:33:11.489 --> 01:33:13.949
going to be sufficient. I believe it was Chris

01:33:13.949 --> 01:33:15.770
Kresser. I don't know if you've ever listened

01:33:15.770 --> 01:33:19.569
to anything he talks about. He talked about –

01:33:19.569 --> 01:33:21.649
him and – it might have been Huberman. Andrew

01:33:21.649 --> 01:33:23.869
Huberman might have mentioned something about

01:33:23.869 --> 01:33:28.529
basically a two -thirds plants and veggies and

01:33:28.529 --> 01:33:32.350
meat. You know, good meats. You know, and this

01:33:32.350 --> 01:33:34.930
thing every little while. This burger, that –

01:33:34.930 --> 01:33:38.510
no, good plant – or not plant, grass -fed beef.

01:33:38.989 --> 01:33:41.109
you know and again i get it that's expensive

01:33:41.109 --> 01:33:43.609
not everybody can do that but i think the two

01:33:43.609 --> 01:33:46.810
-thirds fruits and veggies and then the other

01:33:46.810 --> 01:33:50.710
the other third being from meats whether it be

01:33:50.710 --> 01:33:54.029
beef whether it be uh liver whether it be chicken

01:33:54.029 --> 01:33:56.449
you know just just i think there's nutrients

01:33:56.449 --> 01:34:00.989
in all of the food that your body needs um that

01:34:00.989 --> 01:34:03.619
you need to take in and again people are different

01:34:03.619 --> 01:34:06.500
so the two -thirds may work for you may work

01:34:06.500 --> 01:34:08.199
for you may work for you but it's not going to

01:34:08.199 --> 01:34:11.800
work for you you know so it's a matter of trying

01:34:11.800 --> 01:34:16.479
things and seeing how you feel and and taking

01:34:16.479 --> 01:34:20.060
it from there well and again back to that environment

01:34:20.060 --> 01:34:22.640
you know i had the exact same experience with

01:34:22.640 --> 01:34:24.979
you at six months on plant base which i felt

01:34:24.979 --> 01:34:26.960
amazing had the best poos saved a whole bunch

01:34:26.960 --> 01:34:30.279
of money on toilet paper um it was incredible

01:34:30.279 --> 01:34:32.659
but i felt And again, it might have just been

01:34:32.659 --> 01:34:34.800
I was fighting something off at that time, but

01:34:34.800 --> 01:34:36.939
I felt there was there was at that six months

01:34:36.939 --> 01:34:39.720
there was a diminished strength, diminished energy.

01:34:40.699 --> 01:34:43.159
And so then I introduced meat. And I think that

01:34:43.159 --> 01:34:46.380
when you look at, you know, some of these things,

01:34:46.439 --> 01:34:48.039
I mean, the carnivore, I struggle to understand

01:34:48.039 --> 01:34:50.920
because prehistorically we're not good at catching

01:34:50.920 --> 01:34:53.520
animals. So I don't know how the hell we're supposed

01:34:53.520 --> 01:34:56.079
to be designed to eat meat all the time. Yes.

01:34:56.159 --> 01:34:58.439
And then the same with with plant based. I mean,

01:34:58.460 --> 01:35:00.920
I think that we were probably. if you look way,

01:35:00.960 --> 01:35:02.619
way back, we were probably scavengers. We probably

01:35:02.619 --> 01:35:05.680
were sucking out, you know, bone marrow and eating.

01:35:05.840 --> 01:35:09.340
If you look at our digestive tract and our teeth,

01:35:09.560 --> 01:35:12.760
okay, yeah, we have sharp teeth, but we also

01:35:12.760 --> 01:35:15.859
have grinder teeth. You know, I believe, like

01:35:15.859 --> 01:35:19.140
you said, and I think it was the Game Changers

01:35:19.140 --> 01:35:23.859
documentary that I watched with... James Wilkes.

01:35:24.279 --> 01:35:28.569
Yes, Wilkes. I think, yes. Talking about our

01:35:28.569 --> 01:35:30.350
digestive tract, he said if you look at the digestive

01:35:30.350 --> 01:35:33.850
tract of a carnivore, it's this long. If you

01:35:33.850 --> 01:35:37.170
look at the digestive tract of an herbivore or

01:35:37.170 --> 01:35:40.250
omnivore or whatever, it's this long because

01:35:40.250 --> 01:35:42.390
there's so much other stuff going on there that

01:35:42.390 --> 01:35:49.069
you need to break down. We have this digestive

01:35:49.069 --> 01:35:54.130
tract. We don't have that digestive tract. I

01:35:54.130 --> 01:35:57.739
don't know. I don't know what. is right for everybody

01:35:57.739 --> 01:36:01.640
but i i feel like i feel like the again the two

01:36:01.640 --> 01:36:05.000
-thirds whole foods you know and anything that's

01:36:05.000 --> 01:36:08.180
that's if it took any kind of processing to make

01:36:08.180 --> 01:36:10.800
it i don't think it's i don't think it's right

01:36:10.800 --> 01:36:13.199
for us no well i think you hit the word on the

01:36:13.199 --> 01:36:15.340
head what i've seen are the commonalities between

01:36:16.000 --> 01:36:17.619
the carnival diet though i take it back some

01:36:17.619 --> 01:36:19.520
of the people i see that are very pro carnivore

01:36:19.520 --> 01:36:21.560
eating it in and out all the time which i don't

01:36:21.560 --> 01:36:24.460
think is clean meat but that aside removing that

01:36:24.460 --> 01:36:27.000
bad example you know whether it's vegetarian

01:36:27.000 --> 01:36:29.579
vegan you know a lot of these there is a common

01:36:29.579 --> 01:36:31.619
denominator and i had james on the show because

01:36:31.619 --> 01:36:33.920
i was nauseated by i think it was chris chris

01:36:33.920 --> 01:36:36.840
or on um joe rogan's and they were just demonizing

01:36:36.840 --> 01:36:38.880
veganism i'm like for fuck's sake you wasted

01:36:38.880 --> 01:36:42.140
six hours just trying to prove a point that you're

01:36:42.140 --> 01:36:43.899
not going to win because not everyone's the same

01:36:43.899 --> 01:36:47.500
but where you all agree is you remove processed

01:36:47.500 --> 01:36:50.319
shitty food that's where it all aligns so if

01:36:50.319 --> 01:36:53.659
you choose your right fix for you and that is

01:36:53.659 --> 01:36:55.340
the common denominator you're probably going

01:36:55.340 --> 01:36:59.619
to see amazing results 100 it's it's whole foods

01:36:59.619 --> 01:37:05.159
non -processed shit um And again, I watched the

01:37:05.159 --> 01:37:08.840
Cressor and Wilkes while they were debating back

01:37:08.840 --> 01:37:12.619
and forth on Rogan. And it's funny because I

01:37:12.619 --> 01:37:15.899
feel like they don't feel any different. I feel

01:37:15.899 --> 01:37:20.619
like they feel the same. But Wilkes, he was at

01:37:20.619 --> 01:37:22.840
his throat because he was attacking his documentary,

01:37:23.020 --> 01:37:26.739
which I understand that. He did a really good

01:37:26.739 --> 01:37:29.439
job, I think, of defending all of his research

01:37:29.439 --> 01:37:31.199
and everything he did. I think he did a very

01:37:31.199 --> 01:37:34.300
good job and basically hit the nail on the head.

01:37:35.779 --> 01:37:38.760
But again, at the end of the day, as much as

01:37:38.760 --> 01:37:41.340
they were at each other's throats, well, I say

01:37:41.340 --> 01:37:43.220
at each other's throats. Chris, I don't think

01:37:43.220 --> 01:37:46.199
really ever was at his throat, but James was

01:37:46.199 --> 01:37:49.659
just pounding, pounding, pounding. I feel like

01:37:49.659 --> 01:37:51.720
they feel the same. It's like, okay, you guys

01:37:51.720 --> 01:37:54.340
are on the same. Exactly. team here you're on

01:37:54.340 --> 01:37:57.180
the same team here what are we throwing punches

01:37:57.180 --> 01:38:01.020
for so but again it was because Crestor I think

01:38:01.020 --> 01:38:04.880
was was trying to debunk his his film yeah yeah

01:38:04.880 --> 01:38:06.199
and I think that's the problem is they looked

01:38:06.199 --> 01:38:09.640
at it at absolutes and I've what saddened me

01:38:09.640 --> 01:38:11.560
is again that was six hours as you said they

01:38:11.560 --> 01:38:13.239
could have come together and I actually had James

01:38:13.239 --> 01:38:15.800
on before he went back on Joe's show so I had

01:38:15.800 --> 01:38:18.359
to hold off releasing it until it went out so

01:38:18.359 --> 01:38:21.659
I didn't give away any secrets but you know again

01:38:21.659 --> 01:38:25.430
it's You could have spent six hours saying, okay,

01:38:25.590 --> 01:38:27.710
well, you know, you say this and, you know, that

01:38:27.710 --> 01:38:30.390
may not be entirely true. You know, in the documentary,

01:38:30.649 --> 01:38:32.789
there's kind of absolute there. But I see what

01:38:32.789 --> 01:38:34.789
you're saying about increased fiber and multi

01:38:34.789 --> 01:38:36.369
-nutrient and all this thing. Well, yeah, and

01:38:36.369 --> 01:38:38.090
I see what you're saying about carnivore. I disagree,

01:38:38.250 --> 01:38:40.369
but I understand. And they could have brought

01:38:40.369 --> 01:38:43.250
all this information to the people. But I have

01:38:43.250 --> 01:38:46.970
never seen, I mean, we hold debates on this pedestal.

01:38:47.189 --> 01:38:49.229
I've never seen a debate where someone's won.

01:38:49.880 --> 01:38:51.960
oh you know what i've totally changed my mind

01:38:51.960 --> 01:38:54.079
now now you two shout each other for for three

01:38:54.079 --> 01:38:56.420
hours thank you so much i'm gonna go and totally

01:38:56.420 --> 01:38:58.659
change my life no it's absolute bullshit it's

01:38:58.659 --> 01:39:01.039
an ego competition where they're massaging each

01:39:01.039 --> 01:39:04.220
other um and it's fucking boring to watch and

01:39:04.220 --> 01:39:07.500
you take away nothing so figure out where you

01:39:07.500 --> 01:39:10.520
actually align and talk about that instead yeah

01:39:10.520 --> 01:39:12.760
it's it's hard it's hard to watch and it's hard

01:39:12.760 --> 01:39:17.640
to listen when so far right and so far left and

01:39:17.640 --> 01:39:19.500
they're trying to find that middle they're just

01:39:19.500 --> 01:39:23.060
there is no middle ground because and again back

01:39:23.060 --> 01:39:26.140
to back to the internet the media the social

01:39:26.140 --> 01:39:29.659
media stuff i i feel is a lot at fault here because

01:39:29.659 --> 01:39:32.000
if i want to find an article that tells me that

01:39:32.000 --> 01:39:36.239
sky is green i can find it there's there's information

01:39:36.239 --> 01:39:39.520
on right and there's information on left depending

01:39:39.520 --> 01:39:41.739
on how you want to feel and how you want to believe

01:39:42.539 --> 01:39:44.640
You can find that information out there. Well,

01:39:44.699 --> 01:39:46.460
this says this. Okay, I get that. Well, this

01:39:46.460 --> 01:39:48.659
says this. Okay, I get that. But what about this?

01:39:49.020 --> 01:39:52.220
Okay, so obviously we are not going to meet in

01:39:52.220 --> 01:39:54.239
the middle here. Let's just cut our ties and

01:39:54.239 --> 01:39:56.880
go our separate ways. Rather than sitting here

01:39:56.880 --> 01:40:00.140
and sounding like a bunch of children, let's

01:40:00.140 --> 01:40:02.699
just, well, okay, this is the way you feel. This

01:40:02.699 --> 01:40:05.880
is the way I feel. See you later. You said it's

01:40:05.880 --> 01:40:08.119
blue. I said it's green. But can we both agree

01:40:08.119 --> 01:40:10.340
that we want it to be clean so our children don't

01:40:10.340 --> 01:40:13.140
get horrendous respiratory diseases? Boom. There's

01:40:13.140 --> 01:40:18.239
your commonality. Bingo. 100%. 100%. Beautiful.

01:40:18.239 --> 01:40:21.159
All right. Well, I want to transition to Mustache

01:40:21.159 --> 01:40:23.199
Mafia quickly before we go to some closing questions.

01:40:23.500 --> 01:40:25.300
So you're wearing the shirt. Obviously, we're

01:40:25.300 --> 01:40:27.500
in a profession where the mustache is revered.

01:40:27.640 --> 01:40:30.399
So talk to me about the origin of that and how

01:40:30.399 --> 01:40:35.659
people can get the products. The mustache, my

01:40:35.659 --> 01:40:42.060
mustache, I grew my first one. Boy, I couldn't

01:40:42.060 --> 01:40:44.199
even tell you how long ago it was. But, you know,

01:40:44.199 --> 01:40:47.039
just as a joke, we're all going to grow handlebar

01:40:47.039 --> 01:40:49.260
mustaches. Okay, so we all grew them. All right,

01:40:49.260 --> 01:40:51.520
shave it off. I don't like dealing with it anymore.

01:40:53.399 --> 01:40:58.279
The origin of the mustache for me stems back

01:40:58.279 --> 01:41:01.720
to my dad. And I'll never remember or I'll never

01:41:01.720 --> 01:41:04.949
forget. He was talking about going to the barber,

01:41:05.050 --> 01:41:06.850
and he's at the barber, and the barber's cutting

01:41:06.850 --> 01:41:08.829
his hair, cutting his hair. Next thing you know,

01:41:08.850 --> 01:41:10.750
he switches to his mustache. My dad right now,

01:41:10.810 --> 01:41:13.630
he's a giant beard, but he's always had a mustache.

01:41:13.869 --> 01:41:15.630
Sometimes he shaves the beard off, but always

01:41:15.630 --> 01:41:17.550
had a mustache for as long as I can remember.

01:41:18.590 --> 01:41:20.869
And this barber switches from the hair and goes

01:41:20.869 --> 01:41:23.350
to the mustache, and he starts, he didn't shave

01:41:23.350 --> 01:41:25.170
it off, but starts trimming it above his lip.

01:41:26.510 --> 01:41:30.229
Oh, he fucking flipped out. He said, what are

01:41:30.229 --> 01:41:33.430
you doing? I'm just trimming your mustache up.

01:41:33.489 --> 01:41:35.689
I didn't tell you to touch my mustache. This

01:41:35.689 --> 01:41:37.970
mustache is older than you are. Blah, blah, blah.

01:41:39.310 --> 01:41:44.729
It kind of stemmed from there. He's always had

01:41:44.729 --> 01:41:47.270
a mustache his entire life. But since he could

01:41:47.270 --> 01:41:49.090
grow a mustache, he's had one probably since

01:41:49.090 --> 01:41:52.989
middle school. Who knows? But I had one going.

01:41:53.170 --> 01:41:55.750
And then when we had our first born, Jack, in

01:41:55.750 --> 01:42:00.220
2014. I told her, okay, when we have our kid,

01:42:00.359 --> 01:42:02.600
because she hates it. She still hates it to this

01:42:02.600 --> 01:42:06.340
day. I said, okay, I'll go shave it off. I went

01:42:06.340 --> 01:42:08.899
and shaved it off and let it go, let it go, let

01:42:08.899 --> 01:42:10.619
it go. Finally, a couple years later, I grew

01:42:10.619 --> 01:42:14.260
it back. I think it was 2019. I grew it back.

01:42:15.739 --> 01:42:19.000
Just for giggles, because I had shirts made before,

01:42:19.079 --> 01:42:25.060
but not of this type. I went and had shirts made.

01:42:25.359 --> 01:42:27.270
I said, you know what? Just for giggles, I'm

01:42:27.270 --> 01:42:29.430
going to send off for a trademark. And I sent

01:42:29.430 --> 01:42:31.970
off for a trademark on the Mustache Mafia and

01:42:31.970 --> 01:42:35.449
it actually came back. It got accepted. So there's

01:42:35.449 --> 01:42:37.989
a trademark on Mustache Mafia. So the unfortunate

01:42:37.989 --> 01:42:41.710
part for her is she's stuck with it now. You

01:42:41.710 --> 01:42:43.189
know, it's just it's just a thing. And I'm not

01:42:43.189 --> 01:42:46.270
as far as getting product. I have I do have products,

01:42:46.390 --> 01:42:50.970
but I am not very diligent at upkeeping or I'm

01:42:50.970 --> 01:42:54.970
not a I'm not a social media marketing or I never.

01:42:55.560 --> 01:42:59.680
really marketed myself um i don't really market

01:42:59.680 --> 01:43:03.399
this i need to like i said i have i have stuff

01:43:03.399 --> 01:43:07.760
for sale but um it's my my instagram is official

01:43:07.760 --> 01:43:12.960
mustache mafia and uh again i i kind of started

01:43:12.960 --> 01:43:15.520
it because it was back to the whole pussification

01:43:15.520 --> 01:43:18.279
of everything going on like this is stupid man

01:43:18.279 --> 01:43:21.859
grow a mustache be a man you've got balls and

01:43:21.859 --> 01:43:25.939
testosterone let's fucking act like it um It's

01:43:25.939 --> 01:43:31.020
just irritating to me to see the way that the

01:43:31.020 --> 01:43:41.079
young men in America act. A friend of ours who

01:43:41.079 --> 01:43:43.500
used to put on fights, she said it best, it's

01:43:43.500 --> 01:43:48.380
just unapologetically masculine. It's all things

01:43:48.380 --> 01:43:51.180
manly. If you're into hunting, if you're into

01:43:51.180 --> 01:43:53.159
fishing, you don't necessarily have to have a

01:43:53.159 --> 01:43:56.979
mustache to... Be in the mustache mafia or support

01:43:56.979 --> 01:43:59.840
the mustache mafia. Just support man shit. You

01:43:59.840 --> 01:44:03.439
know, even for women. I did the very first podcast

01:44:03.439 --> 01:44:06.180
interview I did after the mustache mafia. You

01:44:06.180 --> 01:44:07.859
don't you don't even have to be a man. Just if

01:44:07.859 --> 01:44:09.699
you're a woman and you enjoy mustache rights

01:44:09.699 --> 01:44:12.920
to get on in. I can't believe you said that.

01:44:13.500 --> 01:44:17.020
I don't care if you if you don't like it. You

01:44:17.020 --> 01:44:19.279
don't you don't have to look at my stuff. You

01:44:19.279 --> 01:44:23.539
know, I don't like dancing around things. Well,

01:44:23.600 --> 01:44:25.539
what if they don't like this? What if they don't

01:44:25.539 --> 01:44:28.460
like that? I don't care. You don't like it, don't

01:44:28.460 --> 01:44:30.300
buy it. You don't like it, don't look at it.

01:44:30.359 --> 01:44:32.760
You don't like it, don't listen to me. I don't

01:44:32.760 --> 01:44:35.239
care whether you like me or whether you don't.

01:44:35.239 --> 01:44:37.479
I don't care. It makes no difference to me. I'm

01:44:37.479 --> 01:44:40.909
not going to lose any sleep if I've got. A million

01:44:40.909 --> 01:44:43.550
people said, oh, this guy, he's just a fucking,

01:44:43.729 --> 01:44:46.770
he's a sexist, he's this, he's that. No, I'm

01:44:46.770 --> 01:44:48.770
not. I'm not against women. I'm not against women's

01:44:48.770 --> 01:44:54.329
rights. I believe that men should be men. Well,

01:44:54.350 --> 01:44:56.710
it's interesting because the word toxic masculinity

01:44:56.710 --> 01:45:01.329
was thrown around a lot. I think that best describes

01:45:01.329 --> 01:45:04.869
the false masculinity. I mean, you're about 10

01:45:04.869 --> 01:45:07.109
years younger than me, but our generation roughly

01:45:07.109 --> 01:45:10.520
was sold when we were young. The boys don't cry,

01:45:10.720 --> 01:45:13.199
rub some dirt in it, you know, revering these

01:45:13.199 --> 01:45:16.079
bodybuilders. When you actually realize that,

01:45:16.079 --> 01:45:17.880
no, if you watch the Band of Brothers, the real

01:45:17.880 --> 01:45:20.779
men that speak in each of those episodes, they're

01:45:20.779 --> 01:45:23.119
in tears because what they did for this country

01:45:23.119 --> 01:45:25.319
and the people they lost and the memories they

01:45:25.319 --> 01:45:28.279
brought home can crush a man, you know, but.

01:45:28.729 --> 01:45:31.750
The other side is obviously that you become a

01:45:31.750 --> 01:45:34.149
protector in your community. And I totally get

01:45:34.149 --> 01:45:35.970
the projecting on a young girl that you need

01:45:35.970 --> 01:45:38.569
to wear a dress and like dolls is also not a

01:45:38.569 --> 01:45:40.590
healthy thing because there are, you know, young

01:45:40.590 --> 01:45:43.630
women that can do a full spectrum of quote unquote

01:45:43.630 --> 01:45:46.510
man shit. But so that's where I think that the

01:45:46.510 --> 01:45:49.689
talk that the kind of faux masculinity conversation

01:45:49.689 --> 01:45:52.550
is really dangerous. And I think it's swung so

01:45:52.550 --> 01:45:54.270
far the other way, as you said, that people are

01:45:54.270 --> 01:45:57.760
scared to talk about manliness at all. Is actually

01:45:57.760 --> 01:46:00.039
where we need to be talking about the dangers

01:46:00.039 --> 01:46:03.819
of masculinity is all these men, you know, in

01:46:03.819 --> 01:46:06.100
this particular case that are fucking sticking

01:46:06.100 --> 01:46:08.840
guns in their mouth because they believed in

01:46:08.840 --> 01:46:10.699
this fairy tale of what a man is supposed to

01:46:10.699 --> 01:46:13.239
be. And a man is supposed to be strong as is

01:46:13.239 --> 01:46:15.699
a woman, but also kind and compassionate. And

01:46:15.699 --> 01:46:17.899
there's no better example of that than a firefighter.

01:46:17.899 --> 01:46:21.100
We do manly or womanly stuff when we're wearing

01:46:21.100 --> 01:46:24.319
the uniform that. has to have courage and, you

01:46:24.319 --> 01:46:27.619
know, be well prepared for. But we also have

01:46:27.619 --> 01:46:30.579
to process the horrible shit that we see and

01:46:30.579 --> 01:46:32.560
understand that it was kindness and compassion

01:46:32.560 --> 01:46:35.239
that drove us to ever put a uniform on in the

01:46:35.239 --> 01:46:38.560
first place. Absolutely. I mean, it's like you

01:46:38.560 --> 01:46:40.579
said, you have to be able to deal with that.

01:46:40.840 --> 01:46:45.239
And the unfortunate side of it is a lot of people

01:46:45.239 --> 01:46:48.039
liked it. They just hang on to it. They hang

01:46:48.039 --> 01:46:50.779
on to that. They don't let it go until it's too

01:46:50.779 --> 01:46:56.090
late. And the unfortunate side of that is, like

01:46:56.090 --> 01:46:58.289
you said, they're sticking guns in their mouths.

01:46:58.329 --> 01:47:02.590
They're hanging themselves from rafters. It's

01:47:02.590 --> 01:47:08.329
okay to express your feelings. That's fine. You

01:47:08.329 --> 01:47:13.229
still are a man because of the actions that you

01:47:13.229 --> 01:47:17.789
do. Just because you are distraught by something

01:47:17.789 --> 01:47:21.649
that you saw. doesn't make you any less of of

01:47:21.649 --> 01:47:27.829
what you are so um yeah but that that's like

01:47:27.829 --> 01:47:33.170
i said it's back to i i feel like the the media

01:47:33.170 --> 01:47:36.689
and the social media i feel is is number one

01:47:36.689 --> 01:47:39.149
culprit here yeah well i heard i forget who it

01:47:39.149 --> 01:47:40.649
was now but someone was saying that a lot of

01:47:40.649 --> 01:47:42.989
this is also coming from from colleges and universities

01:47:42.989 --> 01:47:45.529
and this is not you know something i've visibly

01:47:45.529 --> 01:47:47.470
seen with my own eyes this is second -hand information

01:47:47.470 --> 01:47:50.310
but it makes sense you know we know how many

01:47:50.310 --> 01:47:52.689
people are experts in certain fields that have

01:47:52.689 --> 01:47:55.029
never actually done the job they've gone from

01:47:55.029 --> 01:47:57.250
you know being a student to being a professor

01:47:57.250 --> 01:47:58.949
and they're don't get me wrong are phenomenal

01:47:58.949 --> 01:48:02.609
people in education but with this you know pendulum

01:48:02.609 --> 01:48:06.489
shift the other way This cancel culture is actually

01:48:06.489 --> 01:48:10.250
stopping communication, which is not only, what's

01:48:10.250 --> 01:48:13.350
the right word, discouraging conversations on

01:48:13.350 --> 01:48:16.989
obesity, on, you know, combat and all these things

01:48:16.989 --> 01:48:20.130
that make our country healthier and safer. But

01:48:20.130 --> 01:48:22.689
they're also discouraging communications for

01:48:22.689 --> 01:48:24.829
children, men and women to be able to talk about

01:48:24.829 --> 01:48:28.050
how they're really feeling and therefore seek

01:48:28.050 --> 01:48:30.550
help, you know, seek tribalism, seek community.

01:48:30.609 --> 01:48:34.260
And it's very, very dangerous conversation. Yes,

01:48:35.159 --> 01:48:39.119
they are vilifying, like you said, the conversations

01:48:39.119 --> 01:48:43.579
of what's right, what's wrong. Apparently everything

01:48:43.579 --> 01:48:45.460
is right now. It's okay to do this. It's okay

01:48:45.460 --> 01:48:46.880
to do that. It's okay to do this. You can be

01:48:46.880 --> 01:48:48.220
this. You can be that. You can do this. You can

01:48:48.220 --> 01:48:52.260
do that. No, absolutely not. Absolutely not.

01:48:53.460 --> 01:48:57.720
If you speak that this is wrong or this is the

01:48:57.720 --> 01:48:59.380
right way or that's the right way or this is

01:48:59.380 --> 01:49:02.020
the wrong way. Well, you're just an asshole now.

01:49:02.159 --> 01:49:05.399
No, I'm not. I'm sorry that I'm telling you what

01:49:05.399 --> 01:49:08.060
is the truth and that I'm not afraid to say what's

01:49:08.060 --> 01:49:09.880
the truth. That's the problem is people, they

01:49:09.880 --> 01:49:11.600
don't like hearing the truth and they don't want

01:49:11.600 --> 01:49:13.119
to accept the truth. I've got a captain at the

01:49:13.119 --> 01:49:18.300
firehouse. I remember when this new guy he hired

01:49:18.300 --> 01:49:21.260
on and he got sent out to the east side of town,

01:49:21.319 --> 01:49:23.800
which is where we were at. And he went back to

01:49:23.800 --> 01:49:25.659
the downtown station and he told our battalion

01:49:25.659 --> 01:49:28.420
chief, he said, man. Please don't send me out

01:49:28.420 --> 01:49:32.479
east anymore. He's just kind of mean. So he got

01:49:32.479 --> 01:49:35.840
brought into the office. He said, you're kind

01:49:35.840 --> 01:49:37.539
of being a little bit of an asshole. I don't

01:49:37.539 --> 01:49:39.760
know what you're talking about. He said, all

01:49:39.760 --> 01:49:41.460
I require is that you're there and you do your

01:49:41.460 --> 01:49:45.479
job. I am equally an asshole to everybody. And

01:49:45.479 --> 01:49:49.880
when he says I'm equally an asshole, he's just

01:49:49.880 --> 01:49:51.680
telling them the truth. He's telling them how

01:49:51.680 --> 01:49:54.930
he feels. He's up front. He tells you what he

01:49:54.930 --> 01:49:57.090
sees. This is what I expect. This is what you're

01:49:57.090 --> 01:49:59.789
doing. People don't like to hear that. People

01:49:59.789 --> 01:50:01.949
don't like to hear the truth, and people don't

01:50:01.949 --> 01:50:04.750
like to hear what other people see or think of

01:50:04.750 --> 01:50:10.329
them. Well, I don't know what to tell you. I

01:50:10.329 --> 01:50:14.289
would rather you come straight to me and say,

01:50:14.369 --> 01:50:17.529
hey, fuckhead, quit being an idiot. Well, how

01:50:17.529 --> 01:50:20.029
am I being an idiot? Tell me how I'm being an

01:50:20.029 --> 01:50:22.810
idiot. You know, if I am indeed being stupid

01:50:22.810 --> 01:50:25.390
or doing something dumb, well, then we need to

01:50:25.390 --> 01:50:28.670
address that. You know, whereas if you come to

01:50:28.670 --> 01:50:30.550
somebody else and, hey, you're being stupid,

01:50:30.630 --> 01:50:33.909
you're doing something dumb. Oh, my God, he's

01:50:33.909 --> 01:50:38.430
so mean. He told me I'm being stupid. No, I'm

01:50:38.430 --> 01:50:40.189
telling you that you're being stupid because

01:50:40.189 --> 01:50:41.930
you're going to you're either going to get somebody

01:50:41.930 --> 01:50:44.369
hurt or I'm sorry, you're just stupid. You know,

01:50:44.369 --> 01:50:48.670
so it's it's you. People don't accept the truth.

01:50:49.069 --> 01:50:50.670
they don't accept the truth they don't like being

01:50:50.670 --> 01:50:53.829
told the truth and and for them it's it's people

01:50:53.829 --> 01:50:55.569
just being assholes and you're not allowed to

01:50:55.569 --> 01:50:59.170
do that why not yeah well i think especially

01:50:59.170 --> 01:51:01.090
in the fire service you know we've got to maintain

01:51:01.090 --> 01:51:04.170
those standards you know and i've seen that you

01:51:04.170 --> 01:51:06.050
know in in i've talked about this a lot even

01:51:06.050 --> 01:51:08.050
in our unions and certain you know departments

01:51:08.050 --> 01:51:10.909
across the country they will oppose fitness standards

01:51:10.909 --> 01:51:12.949
well you can't that's not fair you know you're

01:51:12.949 --> 01:51:15.170
trying to get rid of everyone no not trying to

01:51:15.170 --> 01:51:17.829
get with anyone if you found yourself deconditioned

01:51:17.829 --> 01:51:21.250
there should be a one two year on -ramp program

01:51:21.250 --> 01:51:23.310
to get you back to where you were absolutely

01:51:23.310 --> 01:51:28.010
but if you're offended by being required to physically

01:51:28.010 --> 01:51:30.430
perform in a job where your people's lives are

01:51:30.430 --> 01:51:32.850
in your hands then you're in the wrong profession

01:51:32.850 --> 01:51:35.369
i'm sorry but this is a you know this is not

01:51:36.310 --> 01:51:38.510
And no disrespect to any accountants out there,

01:51:38.630 --> 01:51:40.649
but if an accountant screws up, you know, you

01:51:40.649 --> 01:51:43.470
mess up someone's bank balance or they pay too

01:51:43.470 --> 01:51:46.560
much on their taxes. If we screw up... And as

01:51:46.560 --> 01:51:50.380
with your brother, we go in to potentially rescue

01:51:50.380 --> 01:51:52.539
a little two -year -old who's about to get burned,

01:51:52.619 --> 01:51:54.939
and we fuck up, and now he has the life that

01:51:54.939 --> 01:51:59.020
he has. So you can't have that hypersensitivity

01:51:59.020 --> 01:52:00.979
in some of these professions where lives are

01:52:00.979 --> 01:52:03.720
at stake. You just can't. But you can also act

01:52:03.720 --> 01:52:06.079
professionally towards each other and not be

01:52:06.079 --> 01:52:09.239
a complete a -hole either. Absolutely. And like

01:52:09.239 --> 01:52:13.479
you said, you need to be physically able to complete

01:52:13.479 --> 01:52:18.800
your tasks. And I feel like the fire service

01:52:18.800 --> 01:52:23.279
needs to hold them to that standard. You are

01:52:23.279 --> 01:52:26.180
here to do a physical job and potentially save

01:52:26.180 --> 01:52:29.479
somebody's life, maybe even your own. How that's

01:52:29.479 --> 01:52:34.100
not enough motivation alone to keep you in any

01:52:34.100 --> 01:52:37.159
kind of physical form, I don't know. Because

01:52:37.159 --> 01:52:39.420
if I know potentially it could be me not coming

01:52:39.420 --> 01:52:42.979
out of there because of my lack of physical fitness.

01:52:45.120 --> 01:52:49.840
I'm not okay with that. So I feel like the physical

01:52:49.840 --> 01:52:53.739
side of things really needs to be upheld. Absolutely.

01:52:54.220 --> 01:52:56.279
Well, Eddie, for people listening, you mentioned

01:52:56.279 --> 01:52:59.140
about the Mustache Mafia site. Where else can

01:52:59.140 --> 01:53:02.979
they find you online? Again, Instagram is just

01:53:02.979 --> 01:53:06.279
Eddie Wineland. I think it's still got the blue

01:53:06.279 --> 01:53:07.699
checkmark. I don't know. That's how you know

01:53:07.699 --> 01:53:10.720
you got the right one. Yeah, so between that

01:53:10.720 --> 01:53:12.779
and my Mustache Mafia page, that's where most

01:53:12.779 --> 01:53:15.979
of my... Most of my stuff was posted. Brilliant.

01:53:15.979 --> 01:53:17.819
Well, I want to thank you so much. It's been

01:53:17.819 --> 01:53:20.840
such an interesting conversation. I truly feel

01:53:20.840 --> 01:53:24.560
like of all the sports, MMA probably closest.

01:53:25.530 --> 01:53:28.369
is the closest replica of the demands of the

01:53:28.369 --> 01:53:30.869
fire service just because you can't say oh i'm

01:53:30.869 --> 01:53:33.149
going to be running 100 meters in a straight

01:53:33.149 --> 01:53:35.529
line or i'm going to be catching a ball you know

01:53:35.529 --> 01:53:39.409
the diverse exactly so to hear your journey not

01:53:39.409 --> 01:53:41.810
only into the martial arts you know your brother's

01:53:41.810 --> 01:53:44.010
tragic story as well but your service in the

01:53:44.010 --> 01:53:46.210
fire service i want to thank you so much for

01:53:46.210 --> 01:53:48.649
being so generous with your time today absolutely

01:53:48.649 --> 01:53:50.770
anytime james i've enjoyed it anytime