Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast. As
always, my name is James Geering, and this week
it is my absolute honor to welcome brain and
body optimization specialists and the founders
of the Bio -Optimization Institute, Jason Griffasi
and Trip Harlan. Now, I personally got to experience
several of these modalities along with my wife
when we went down to their facility in St. Pete.
And I have to say it was pretty incredible. So
we discuss a host of topics from their experiences
as youth athletes, Tripp's TBIs from football,
his powerful sobriety story, the pursuit of brain
health, true altitude training, vestibular training,
optimizing elite athletes. neurodegenerative
diseases, and so much more. Now, before we get
to this incredible conversation, as I say every
week, please just take a moment. Go to whichever
app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show,
leave feedback, and leave a rating. Every single
five -star rating truly does elevate this podcast,
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And this is a free library of over 1 ,200 episodes
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share these incredible men and women's stories
so I can get them to every single person on planet
Earth who needs to hear them. So with that being
said, I introduce to you Jason Grafasi and Trip
Harlan. Enjoy. Well, Jason and Trip, I want to
start by saying thank you so much for taking
the time and coming on the Behind the Shield
podcast today. Thank you for having us. Yeah,
it's our pleasure. So I had the absolute honor
of visiting you at your facility along with Sheila
Thielen, and we'll get to that connection in
a little while in St. Pete. Where are we finding
you this afternoon? St. Pete. I'm over in St.
Pete at the location inside. St. Pete Calisthenics.
Tripp is over in St. Pete as well, just at a
different location. Beautiful. Well, we'll get
into where you are, why you're there at the moment.
I'd love to get a backstory on both of you first,
though. So Tripp, let's start with you. Tell
me where you were born and tell me a little bit
about your family dynamic, what your parents
did, how many siblings. I was born in Fort Myers,
Florida, and I am. I have one other sibling,
a younger brother, and my family dynamic was
unique. My parents were about 21 years older
than me. They were very involved with athletics
and in the middle of life, they were still young,
where a lot of the other parents were starting
to get into their, you know, say 40s when they
were still in their younger 30s. And so they
were a big part of my athletic journey, who I
am as a person. But also they're a lot like myself
and we're all a lot of like. type A type people.
So it's unique family dynamic, especially as
you know, we're going through the, you know,
the aging process, especially with myself being
in health and wellness. It's a unique time where
now I'm able to start to provide value into,
you know, their day to day lives by bringing
in a lot of these new health modalities and ways
of thinking. What about profession? What were
your parents doing? My dad owned and still owns
a hydraulic welding business, and it fabricates
large hydraulic pumps that pump out millions
of gallons of water in places like the Harvey
Canal in New Orleans, in the Philippines. So
it's been a unique thing to have in my... in
my life is to have that family business before
my grandfather owned it so it's been in our family
longer than i've been alive so to have that around.
And then to choose a different path was a unique
dynamic. And so my mom, she was a stay -at -home
mom. She worked as a PE teacher and then eventually
became a nurse. So it's unique to hear the perspective
from her experience in the hospital and the medical
system and start to compare that to a lot of
the stuff we're learning now. With your father's
profession, was there any correlation or did
the Hurricane Katrina disaster cross -pollinate
in the world that he was working in as far as
removing water and keeping areas safe? Well,
even since the early 2000s, when a lot of the
larger hurricanes hit, his business had a big
impact on everything going on. So, you know,
a lot of times hurricanes are a tough thing for
people, but it's the busiest time of the year
for him to get into these locations, to be able
to get the team, the machinery in there, and
to start to clear out that land, you know, before
it starts to do too much damage. What about from
your mom's perspective, being a PE teacher and
then a nurse, you get to see the potential of
forging health in our young people and then the
downstream effects of good or poor health in
the nursing area. What, if any, have been your
conversations about the importance of physical
education in our children and then that factoring
into the rest of adulthood? Well, it all starts
with prevention. you know it's just that's the
time when we need to be leading and teaching
these kids correctly. Obviously, we're finding
flaws in the education system. And it's not only
just in what we're learning in the books, but
it's also how we're exercising, what we're eating
in the cafeteria. So just to be able to have
that behind the scenes kind of view and perspective
from my mom was a big part of, I guess, now like
thinking about it would shape me to who I am
today. What about sports and exercise? What were
you playing and doing when you were in school
age? My main sports growing up were soccer and
baseball. And I really thrived at that. I was
a little bit smaller. I was born a month early,
so I was a little bit smaller than a lot of the
guys my age. But I was faster and I worked harder.
And it was something that I needed that. that
drive if I wanted to succeed. And so eventually
as I got older into eighth grade and freshman
year of high school, I got pretty much as big
as I am right now. And it really helped. And
then I was able to step up and start playing
football. And that became my go -to sport. but
it's all relevant to kind of what we're talking
about. All the football, soccer, and even martial
arts, I did a lot of training behind that. We're
causing a lot of micro -concussions, daily just
CTE issues, and that started racking up over
the years, and especially as I got into my 20s,
a lot of these sports were definitely, I felt
the wear and tear. Now, at the school age, what
were your career aspirations? What were you dreaming
of becoming then? You know, that's funny, and
this will be something unique to say, but they
asked me that when I was a senior in high school.
And the only professional athlete was all I could
think of. But besides for that, I had to list
three things, and the three things I listed was
DEA agent, I was a bodybuilder, and a... Ice
cream vendor salesman on the beach. You could
do all those things simultaneously. You could
be undercover as a bodybuilding ice cream maker.
Well, I mean, think about I'm kind of doing a
lot of that now. You know, with the DEA stuff,
I had a background in high level security. So
even day to day, I make sure, you know, myself,
family and friends are safe. The second part
is the bodybuilder. And, you know, I'm I do my
best to take care of myself. And at times, being
a plant based vegan, I was extremely muscular
and felt that pride at being kind of a. a vegan,
healthy bodybuilder that didn't need the extra
calories through meat. And then the third part
about it is an ice cream salesman. Well, instead
of that, I'm sharing and selling wellness equipment
and I'm educating. So it's not exactly, but it's
also cool because I've chosen exactly. what I
wanted to do in my life. Like everything up to
this point, I created my reality. And that's
a big saying, you know, I share with others is
create your reality. And that's something nowadays
with the post COVID and we're not needing to
work that nine to five. It's a great time where
we can find our passions, create an LLC and be
able to move forward and work with whoever we
want. Find those people, people like Jason, people
like Jeff. is his wife, Jessie, and surround
myself around those people and create my reality.
Beautiful. Well, I want to go to some things
that you talked about, but let's bring Jason
up to speed first. So Jason, tell me where you
were born and tell me a little bit about your
family dynamic, what your parents did, how many
siblings. Okay. So I was born in sunny Buffalo,
New York and spent a good amount of my life there
until college. Um, let's see. So my parents,
my dad owned a construction, a concrete flat
work company, a hundred percent Italian guy pouring
concrete shoes, go figure. Um, um, and then my
mom is, and still is a teacher. She's always
done elementary education. And, um, yeah, so
my dad being an entrepreneur his whole life.
And his brothers and family and then on my mom's
side, a lot of her siblings, she had five, are
entrepreneurs as well. And so entrepreneurship
was always kind of something in my foundation
and upbringing. But of course, I had to learn
to pour concrete floors and go through that experience
so that I could feel what it would feel like
to do manual labor. And if I don't graduate college
and all that good stuff, this is what I get to
do. So I was very fortunate. My parents were
very supportive and caring, even though I joke
about my dad being Italian and he was the typical
Italian contractor. But at the same time, they've
always been very supportive. You know, my mom
being a elementary school teacher, she works
with kids all day and just nothing but love.
Everyone says that their mom's the best and nicest
mom in the world. But I think I take that one.
Yeah. Yeah. So I have a sister, she's adopted
from Korea. She's four years younger than me.
And yeah, amazing human. Beautiful. With your
mom, have you had any conversations about the
evolution or devolution of education at that
elementary level? So she came from, she's always
worked in Catholic schools. And so more of the
private sector, and they tend to be I think,
you know, I don't want to say she got lucky,
but I don't think it's the same situations that
you deal with public schools. Right. And in fact,
you know, I mean, the parents are always there,
always interacting. She's getting the messages
on the day and the evenings and weekends. So
the but the biggest thing was she got paid garbage
for her whole life. Like, it's crazy. And we
that that's something we do talk about. It's
crazy that, you know, you're influencing this
youth and. They spend more time with the teacher
than with their parents half the time, especially
with all these working parents. And their pay
is still minimal. So that would be the biggest
one. That's so wrong. I mean, the priorities
are just so shifted. And if you look at some
of the top education systems in the world, like
Finland, the teachers are required to have a
higher level of education because, as you said,
it's a very important thing that they're doing.
But I'm pretty sure they're well paid for it
as well. And it's lunacy that you can get equally
paid in the restaurant industry, for example,
as someone who's literally taking care of your
kids five days a week. Yeah. No, and it's the
same thing for the medical system too, right?
When we get into nurses, my wife's been a nurse
and it's the same thing. So it's like you said,
priorities are a little interesting. We, which
I know Trip agrees, we don't think that's a coincidence.
That's not by accident as well. So, but that's
a whole nother, that's a whole nother podcast.
Yeah, I'm sure we'll untie that in a minute.
What about sports and exercise? What were you
doing in school age? Soccer and hockey. I mean,
I was brought up on baseball. And so that's what
I was playing first growing up. But I fell in
love with hockey in high school and growing up
over during high school in the suburbs of Clarence,
soccer was a big one. So that was basically my
training and, you know, building up stamina for
hockey. But hockey was my real passion. And what
about career aspirations? What were you dreaming
of becoming? A stockbroker. My whole life, I
really liked how money could make more money.
And so I thought that, you know, that was the
smart way to go and went to school, got a finance
degree and going through the process, I learned
just how corrupt and crooked that industry is,
right? With not caring what they're selling more,
just make the sale, close the stock. And so it
just really turned me off. I just couldn't. Couldn't
continue even after getting my finance degree.
What really, what I struggle to comprehend is
when you make a lot of money, that's other people's
money that you've got. People that worked as
a nurse, as a teacher, pouring concrete, you
know, whatever it was for, you know, 40, 50,
60 hours a week, grinding, trying to make ends
meet. And now you're able to finagle this, these
finances to accumulate everyone else's basically
work hours is what you've got. And I don't understand
how we have devolved to think that that's something
to aspire to, that the monopoly is this kind
of holy grail of being an American, for example.
Right. And it's interesting. I think the world
is opening up to that and understanding it more.
But to your point, it's always been a grind.
And if you're not doing 17 things and 12 of them
are to make money, right? um then you're lazy
and you're not doing it yeah and then you get
all those youtube motivational videos that you
got to get up earlier and run and have a nice
bath and then go steal people's money right yeah
no that's exactly it all right we'll trip back
to you so you're dreaming of slinging dairy products
on a beach while lifting weights and looking
for bad guys talk to me about where that led
you professionally well After college, I was
trying to find my way. And an exciting thing
that I did, I got my pilot's license. And that
was a really cool time in my life going through
that training. But that was also the big awareness
that my brain wasn't working correctly, especially
when you're getting your visual. you know, pilot's
license, a lot of multitasking, looking around
like you're not fixated on the instruments. You
got to look around all the time. And when I would
get done, I was worn out. And it was it was something
I knew that I needed to get back on. more cognitive
level before I was able to do that safely. And
that was obviously because of the concussions.
And through that process, a lot of that agitation,
CTE issues were kicking in, and I was self -medicating
with alcohol. Obviously, alcohol is something
used as a celebration tool when I was playing
sports or hanging out with the friends or on
the weekend. But then it started turning into
isolation. drinking and it progressed into something
that was daily and then i knew there was an issue
and it was like that awareness was probably the
greatest thing that put put me into the position
i am right now i understood i didn't want to
feel like that I knew I was destined for a better
life. And that was something that led me down
the path to find and do everything that I'm doing
right now. Obviously, going through the process
of alcoholism, I got the opportunity to go to
a handful of rehabs, which were like. life vacation
like resets there it's almost like summer camp
you got to go there work on yourself physical
mental and i learned a lot about how recovery
programs could work the good the bad and I evaluated
that and I saw where they were excelling but
then also where the issues were and I always
said to myself if I had my own program I would
do it better I would do it like this and that's
where it started to lead me into that direction
of how could I heal myself but then also how
can I duplicate this and share this with others
always in the back of my mind so it led me into
yoga which was all about community nutrition
but then it was the first awareness of the breath
and how important breathing is and that was a
really unique thing I was changing my life everything
was good but I still didn't feel like I had that
real electricity blood flowed through my brain
that was dulling me down and it wasn't until
I got into high altitude oxygen which is one
of our more advanced modalities that we work
with is that I was the first time I was able
to get that blood flowing through my brain. I
felt like my body was alive, charged. I didn't
have that dullness and you could see it in my
eyes. And I almost immediately started speaking
better. I was more cognitively aware of what
was going on in my life. And from that point
on is when things really, really progressed for
me to be able to put a lot of this together.
put myself in the situation to be around experts
and find the people smarter than myself learn
from them level up and then it led me into finding
people like jason who had the same dream and
same future and it was just a beautiful combination
of not only just like business knowledge but
then the ability to create this and make this
a tangible business to help others You hit on
a really important point, and I want to get your
feedback on what you saw that was broken, because
I've heard so many horror stories when it comes
to more so like being put in front of the wrong
counselor or psychologist and that being detrimental.
You have first responders, I hear it over and
over again, and they pour their heart out to
this person and the person starts crying. And
they say, I can't help you. And you think about
someone who's in crisis and they hear that, that's
basically verifying, yes, you are a piece of
shit. You should just probably just finish it
now. Obviously completely wrong, but that's what
they're going to perceive in that moment. And
then with recovery. I've heard many, many success
stories too, but I've also heard a lot of people
say that it's big business. The recovery centers
are big business. So therefore, again, back to
what Jason was saying, what is the focus? Is
it actually making people better or is it the
bottom line? So what were you seeing, firstly,
as far as the things that were negative that
may be even detrimental to the addicts out there?
Well, it was a business. It was a big business
too. The insurance game. was something that made
these owners of these rehab centers multimillionaires.
The fact that they were looking for people who
had great insurance and they wanted them to relapse
and then come back in, go through the program
again, charge their insurance. Not only that,
but then the aftercare. If you had the right
insurance, they would put you in. You would have
a safe halfway house and integration process.
But if you didn't, you know, good luck. And,
you know, a lot of times if your insurance ran
out in the middle of your treatment, they would
just and people were doing great. They would
let them go. And it was just kind of on them.
So that was really. Something that made me upset,
just watching that through that process. And
then also the aftercare, the way these halfway
houses can manipulate a lot of these people trying
to recover. Also, not only on the men's side
of things, too, but also watch how they treated
a lot of the women. They don't have money. They
don't have resources. They don't have anywhere
to go. And so they put them to work. And sometimes
it's. things to help, you know, maybe make some
phone calls or answer the phones that bring people
into the, the rehab center, or it could be some
more, you know, evil stuff where they're, you
know, you know, using their bodies or helping
a lot of these people relapse. So there's a lot
to it. And that's something that we You know,
and it's just like something I've always wanted
to offer the better version. And now that the
system is getting called out and we're understanding
that these options of what have kept us into,
you know, these dark places for a long time,
like I wanted to recover, but it was just the
system was tough. It was I had to change my surroundings.
And so now it's just like I see a better version.
I'm really excited to share that with others.
And just to add to that real quick, Tripp, you
would always say, I mean, the food in there is
garbage, right? I mean, the overall games that
they did, there was no up -leveling. It was pretty...
Go ahead. No, no. I mean, that's you're exactly
right. You know, some places had great food.
And, you know, if you if you had the insurance
and other places, it was just a place to get
you off the streets for a little bit and a transition.
So it was rehabs, jails and morgues. And, you
know, a nice number here that makes me feel good
as a human being, showing that I had that discipline
and I put the work in, I think only. Seven percent.
No, it's 3%. 3 % of people that go through the
door of rehab centers actually recover long -term,
and it's probably even less than that. So it's
something that even though people are wanting
to change their lives, how many millions of people
go through their entire lives fighting this,
fighting something, and they never win. They
never get it, and they're just—that's their life.
I'm very blessed to have— beaten that um the
mental spiritual part of things and to have that
obsession gone and it's been seven and a half
years since i've drank and that's probably the
most probably the thing that i'm proud of about
myself you know athletic accomplishments business
doesn't compare to just having that discipline
to to kick that after all the failure well it's
just symptomatic of what we're seeing a lot of
the moment you know for example i've said this
many times I never stand on an ivory tower and
say, well, I'm in shape, so why don't other people
just make good decisions and they can be in shape
too? I grew up on a farm in England where we
grew our own food. There was orchards with fruit.
We had our own meat and chickens and all the
things. So my baseline was hard work, discomfort,
and food in its natural form. So now you compare
that to someone who's been raised in an urban
setting and maybe the bodegas where they get
their food from and, you know, TV at night or
video games more recently. It's a completely
different environment. My environment set me
up to really have a healthy life. Ultimately,
someone else's environment, as we see some of
these young kids that are already morbidly obese
and diabetic at 14 years old, or the spine is
already curved, like, you know, an 80 year old,
they're not exactly set up for success. So pulling
these issues out of the shadows and front and
center and just asking, is this system set up
to make us healthier or recover, or is it set
up for the opposite? And I would say that our
current society is set up for disease, which
we were alluding to earlier, companies make trillions
of dollars from. Where's the draw to make people
healthier when these companies are making so
much money, whether it is a fast food company
or a drug company or a rehab facility? And just
to add to that, right, we've, it's not an area
and with everyone that we work with, we're coaches
and consultants and we point people in the right
direction. But there are things like NAD, for
example, for addiction that people don't realize
is an option. And that's something like the,
I'll have to confirm, but I think it's something
like 10 % actually relapse, right? Compared to
before. And so these are simple things and, you
know, they're not cheap, but at the same time,
relatively speaking, when it comes to what you're
paying, I think trip, you know, some of your
places were 20 grand for, uh, 30 days. Right.
Uh, you know, I mean, so picture that and there's
at least 10 people in there. I mean, 200 that,
right. So like if they took that and got these
things that, uh, at wholesale. There are just
so many more solutions that, again, to Trip's
point, they're just not even considering. You
could go on a cruise for 30 days cheaper than
that. Right? You'd probably be better off. Yeah.
All right. Well, Jason, let's go to you, and
then obviously we'll pull both of you into what
you're doing now. But you were laying concrete,
then you got into the financial world. Walk me
through your steps to where you are today. You
know, I always growing up and being in sports
always had a focus on my physical abilities and
being able to work out and, you know, just throw
up the most weight. And so it was always something
that I took care of or at least thought I was
taking care of and was conscious of. But so a
big one in high school was I was the skinny kid.
trying to put on weight, which I think is pretty
common for a lot of us. And so I'd say when college
hit and all of a sudden my metabolism changed,
the food that I was eating, the garbage that
I was eating caught up to me and just made me
blow up. I was like 220 pounds and just looked
like muscular, but it was all hidden under a
whole bunch of inflammation. And so it made me
really, you know, realize from a personal standpoint,
again, not getting into supporting anybody else,
but just myself, realizing, okay, there is a
difference with what you eat. It's not calories
in, calories out. And so that was something that,
you know, then through college, you'd work out
with your buddies and enjoy that to be in shape
and look good for, you know, going out. But then...
Taking it a step further, as 2017 rolled around,
I got a big rash that took over my whole body
and just scared the crap out of me. I went down
to Florida and came back and was itching my leg,
thought it was just a bug bite, but it ended
up turning into a rash that took over one leg,
then another leg, then it was going up my stomach
and my neck and on my lip. And it just really
scared me and opened my eyes up to, you know,
anything can happen at any time if you're not
taking care of yourself. It's not just this nutrition
thing because I was still, I was in great shape.
I was working a construction job. You know, if
you looked at me physically, you'd think, okay,
you know, he's taking care of himself. But it
was a stress thing. It was an emotion, an emotional
thing. I was going through some serious emotional
situations personally. And like I said, working
crazy hours in construction and it just beat
me up. And then, yeah, then there I was at certain
points, I was thinking I had a flesh eating bacteria
that was taking over, you know, my mind just
goes to the worst case things. And so that was
at that same time, I was diving deep with a good
friend of mine into the gut microbiome for mental
health because of one diet. And then two, the
gut microbiome and bacteria that's in the gut
can influence the brain, right? The brain gut
access is a very well researched space. And so
again, it always was this piece that I had loved
doing. We started a company called Mindful and
we were just sharing with the world how the gut
microbiome and what you eat can influence your,
not just your body, but your brain. So then fast
forward to 2020 when everything shut down and
people were working from home and I started to
get into business coaching and consulting from
my business background. You know, we had run
a construction company. We actually started a
conference for seven years where we taught people
how to start, run and grow a polished concrete
business, started an online university, concrete
polishing university. And so I had always, again,
had that entrepreneurial background. So I took
that and went into business coaching and consulting.
And 95 % of my clients were in the wellness space.
So whether that ended up being a functional health
coach, chiropractor, a boxing gym, lymphatic
drainage, all the way to like Germanic new medicine.
So, you know, God just kept giving me. these
people that I was passionate about. And it was
just this very symbiotic relationship. And so
I'd always wanted to, you know, again, just keep
going deeper with that and share that and, and
had slowly started sharing more and more. And
then met my wife, who is a RN. And she You know,
of course, a huge passion for the medical space
started doing her started in the hospital and
all of that Western medicine. And then, of course,
2020 opened up her eyes as well. And we met probably
three years ago and Trip was one of her clients
for IVs. And I think that was maybe three years
ago, Trip, something like that, two or three.
And so, yeah, so Tripp and Jesse had met prior
to me meeting Jesse and Tripp was always wanting
to build his vision. And so when Jesse was finally
time to leave her work and Jesse and I were together,
she was like, you know, there's this guy Tripp
that keeps reaching out and that wants to really
work and build this vision that he has. And so
he had Voltage Health back then and was building
that. brand. And it just fit, you know, it fits
so seamlessly, because we were all just very
passionate about helping people, helping ourselves,
right, we all come from these pain to purpose
stories. And then I'll go further into another
additional one that is kind of made me dive deeper
into certain areas of the brain. But, but yeah,
it was just always a passion for health and wellness,
coaching and consulting. The finance degree,
stockbrokers just weren't doing it. I ended up
doing mortgages for a while because at least
that was a big investment for somebody that I
knew I could help and put my heart into them
getting the right place. But there's always just
been this deep passion for my body and then understanding
other people and how their body works so that
they could really optimize their life. My business,
coaching and consulting. had transformed during
that time or prior to to trip and even meeting
jesse it was build your business around a balanced
life and again my my rash i know came from my
immune system being shut down from overworking
it's that hustle culture Right. It was like,
well, do do 10 things and you should be having
your main job and your side hustle. And then,
you know, when when nine o 'clock comes and this
is what I saw my parents doing, they were both
workers, even though my mom was a teacher, she'd
still stay up late working. It was that hustle
culture. And so I knew there was something better.
There was a better way for us to operate, to
optimize. And that's yeah. Then then I met Trip
and the rest is history. Well, before we move
forward with the Bio -Optimization Institute,
I think it's really important for us in 2026
to continue having conversations about the pandemic.
Because in my eyes, a lot of things were done
very poorly. And at the end, people were like,
well, we just don't want to talk about it now.
And that does such a disservice to the people
that we lost. And it certainly doesn't help lower
the deaths. and increased prevention when it
comes to whatever the next virus is going to
be. So when you reflect back on that period,
you know, what are some of the things that you
wish that we had learned from and made changes?
I personally think that it was done strategically.
It was probably the greatest awakening tool that
could have been used to get people to look past
the day -to -day, to stop following Hollywood,
to understand about fake news, to realize that
this isn't the best option that we could have.
And through that process now, like years later,
and we're finding out that we were correct in...
having doubt about the system and after being
gaslit and act like we were the ones who were
the evil ones to not inject ourselves with that
like we were spreading some sort of disease to
people when we had our natural immunity and we're
the ones who didn't fall for that social experiment
as well too the fact that we have our pure blood
is something you know i say that i'm proud of
not drinking alcohol for seven and a half years
probably right up there maybe even more is the
fact that i was intelligent enough to not fall
for their programming i didn't get vaccinated
and luckily Luckily, most of my friends and family
around me that I trust didn't get it either.
When it all went down, I lived in a high rise
in downtown St. Pete and the divide that it caused
and people in the building as we're going up
and down the elevators to see the way, you know,
and like we we were standing up for what we believed
in, but still without facts. You know, I mean,
we it was our instinct. It was the fact that
we had discernment that made us who we were.
And now after all these years that we're finding
out that we were right, like I don't. think there
should be any tiptoeing around to be honest with
you when you brought this up it actually got
me excited and my heart started beating a little
bit because a lot of times we go into these conversations
and we're like well you know it's like i don't
know what your side of things are it's like sorry
it's like we you got to understand that this
there's a huge issue and people make mistakes
you know i'm being very firm with the way i say
you know how this science fair project or even
social experiment went down but also it's like
there were millions and billions of dollars of
programming to get you to do that. People were
forced out of their jobs. People were lost family
members and friends. So now all these years later,
this is not only that redemption time, but like,
let's just get it right. Let's make sure it doesn't
happen again. First of all, if you don't learn
from the past, you're bound to repeat it, right?
So I think we're all just being naive if we don't
want to discuss the situation. I also think there's,
to Tripp's point, there's a lot of purpose in
that struggle. There was, you know, and it's
one of those things, you know, our parents tell
us certain things when we're growing up and they
say, don't do that. Don't touch the fire, right?
It's hot. It's going to burn you. a lot of us
have to actually touch the fire to realize that
it's hot and it's going to burn you. And that
felt like one of those situations where we kind
of were all thrown in together and have to learn
from the struggle. And that's where I see a blessing
in it, you know, and I don't know whether, you
know, there's a part of me that also thinks that
there was good, you know. big believer in God
and that kind of, you know, there's a reason
for everything. And I think there was a good
side that was also almost allowing it to happen
to kind of let us all wake up to it, right? Because
look now what's going on. Now the discussions
are around things like the vaccines. I mean,
organic food, natural food, clean food, right?
The toxins in the air. I mean, there wasn't an
awareness like that until there was such... a
issue even you know the overweight issues that
go on that have gone on forever it's still something
that would still keep going on to this day wouldn't
even be addressed if i think if if covid didn't
happen so you know to to ignore it and just let
it go um we're doing a disservice to to ourselves
but i i think there was a big blessing in in
it happening it woke us all up what was interesting
for me because i've find myself standing in the
middle. Usually, you know, that's, that's kind
of, I don't know. I just, I find this where most
of the normal people are. And when that first
happened, it was like world war one, you know,
there was two trenches. And if you weren't in
one of the two trenches, then both of them were
shooting you basically. But when you stand in
the middle, whether someone believes wholeheartedly
that the vaccine was a solution or whether it
was a Chinese conspiracy, you know, whatever
the two extremes were, there was one truth. The
healthier the human being, the higher there is
a chance of a good outcome, period, point blank.
Yes, there were some anomalies who seemingly
from the outside seemed like very fit people,
but there was an abnormality. There was something
inside that made them susceptible to that virus.
So the only truth that I found during that whole
time was that if you can make people healthier,
you are going to improve the outcome. If you
believe in a vaccine, then your immune response
to the vaccine is going to be stronger. If you
don't believe in the vaccine, your immune response
to the virus unprotected is going to be stronger.
But none of that happened. God forbid that you
suggest that comorbidities were contributing
to the deaths, you were heretic. And so this
is what disgusts me is I don't feel like we really
have had a wellness conversation after, you know,
this is from both sides of the aisle, both are
complicit on this. Because the obesity crisis
is like 30 years deep now, three decades. We
should have had a complete control or delete
on supporting local farmers to grow clean food,
putting PE programs back in schools, cooking
food in schools, real food, pedestrianizing downtowns,
all the things that we know other cultures do
and forge a lot of health in their nation. But
going back to the money point of view. I don't
feel like any lesson was learned. And the only
thing that we've really heard as far as health
is let's remove food dyes. Food dyes that other
countries stopped using about 40 years ago when
I was a child. So I feel like we've still got
a lot of, you know, of discussions to have on
how do we actually halt this? Because, you know,
I feel like there was just a sweeping under the
rug, whether you had the vaccine or not. And
the actual most important things, which is basically
the opposite of what everyone was told to do.
So, you know, don't see friends and family where
we know community is a big part of health. You
know, don't see the sun where we know vitamin
D is a big part of immune system. You know, gut
bacteria, as you alluded to, and mental health.
Get fast food and alcohol delivered to your house.
And then, you know, binge watch Tiger King, as
I always say. So we need to completely, you know,
I think. level this whole conversation and start
from scratch and put the real wellness initiatives
in, but I haven't seen any of them post COVID
to be honest. Yeah. And that's, you're totally
right. And, you know, the, the business model
of ours has definitely progressed and from an
actual physical training, delivery, recovery
into more of an education. type thing data collection
and part of that education is showing the before
during and after the results you know everything
from blood work to the you know all around you
know bio, you know, bioenergetic readers balance.
So we're actually showing in real time. And sometimes,
you know, you can't just rely on old stats and
statistics. Actions speak louder than words.
So for us living that, bringing and surrounding
ourselves around the people that can really explain
it, who have been in the trenches right there
and actually have data and, you know, can be
the whistleblowers is a really unique thing for
us. So it's like. And I think we want all the
data and the truth to come out right now, like
immediately. But it's like we can only process
so much. It's like the awakening doesn't happen
overnight. You just can't grab someone by the
collar and shake it into them. It's got to be
repetition, repetition. And sometimes it takes
10, 15, 20 times to watch an Instagram video.
You know, someone says it out loud to start or
you feel it. physically you know like this isn't
just a perspective thing because a lot of the
stuff that we see was always just you know from
our tv in the movies or on our phone so now for
the we lived the movie you know it was pretty
wild you know everyone had their own independent
uh you know lives you know everyone was in their
own unique cities and whatever but it was a wild
time that was like something to be remembered
so you know this is you know to tie all that
up it's a unique time to be alive because even
though we're not getting to these solutions immediately
at least they're being talked about because if
you try to talk about it about all this years
ago and you're a natural wellness healer you
know they you might have gotten blackballed or
even you know just you know you know the nicest
way possible maybe you know they just got rid
of you yeah and i mean You both bring up great
points. And the thing that they do and they continue
to do is just politicize everything. So no matter
what, right, no matter what you think, the first
words that come out of your mouth instantly put
you into one of the two categories, which is
crazy to me. And I think a number of people agree,
you know, when you talk about it. I mean, first
of all, it's right wing and left wing. It's wings
of the same bird. right like they're so they've
they've got us so just kind of arguing on the
situation and that's kind of you know to me that's
how they make they discredit everything and then
of course ai's here now and so it's even harder
to have these conversations um but it's great
james that you're bringing it up um you know
i i i'm interested you know you don't think that
they're diving deeper into it you know with things
like the the food dies but then the food pyramid
And then, you know, the biggest thing is also
these research papers, like everybody writes
a post and talks about research papers and says,
oh, well, the research says this. And then you
look into the research and see that it was funded
by the manufacturers of that product and whatnot.
So like they've just got so much deception. And
then again, emotion with politicizing things,
politicizing COVID and and now health and wellness.
I think that's where. A lot of people just shut
down because no one knows how to communicate.
There's a big challenge in open conversation
and saying, okay, here's my side. Now let me
present or let me listen to your side. It just
goes right into, you know, you're threatening
my family or my life by telling me that I should
or shouldn't have gotten the vaccine, right?
Yeah, yeah. And I think what maddens me is if
you look at... The main principles of how we
would make a massive dent into the physical and
mental health of this nation, it's literally
live as we did 100 years ago. Move like you did,
eat like you did, have community like you did.
And this is a problem going back to the corporate
model, is people want to make money. from these
hacks and these shortcuts and these quick -fix
pills. And the reality is, no, it takes time
and it takes just deconstructing. And then you
can take a lot of these scientific innovations
that we're going to get to and then level up,
absolutely. But we've got to tear down the things
that are destroying us first before we can then
really forge performance. So it would be such
a short... message i'm actually working on a
tv show at the moment from from a book i wrote
and that's going to be infused in one of the
the elements of that because if you could just
present some of these basic principles to the
masses and they went well i could do that today
that's exactly it like it's not about oh how
do we add to all the things to make you healthier
so how do we remove most of these things to make
you healthier no i mean we talk about you know
one of the core things that we talk with people
about is detoxing right so everybody's talking
about what can you put in but there are simple
things like just sweating you know doing the
doing the sauna and getting some binders and
getting all the garbage out of you right so as
you mentioned you know removing uh is just as
important if not more important if you look at
a you know there's a lot of those videos where
people fill the glasses of water and your glass
of water can only take so much if that glass
is full and you're pouring a bunch of expensive
supplements that are gonna heal you, it doesn't
matter. That stuff's just getting clogged up
because you're, because you're full. So, you
know, we're, we're big proponents and fully agree
on the whole, you know, less is more. And even
when we get into our equipment and talk about
that, right. I mean, these, for some, for some,
their life, you know, it's the only option, but
for others, they are streamlined options or ways
to be more efficient with your time spent. But,
you know, you're talking about red light while
you're talking about the sun. Right. I mean,
when we're talking about when we get into the
oxygen, you know, you can do to certain levels,
you can breathe and get different breath work
going. Right. So to your point, you know, that
we're in an interesting time, too, where people
kind of overcomplicate some things. You joked
about the influencer that gets up and does his
ice bath and his cold plunge and then has his
chlorella drink mixed with. Right. And, you know,
that's a great option. But I think. I think,
and again, we get into so much, there's so much
psychological to it too. Like, it's almost like,
well, maybe if we could make it seem overwhelming,
then people won't even worry about their health.
Because no way do I have time to do those 10
things and get all those supplements. You know
what? I'm just going to deal with it and it is
what it is. Or even, you know, the argument for
a lot has always been like, well, you know, I
grew up drinking from the water hose. That should
be fine. Well, it's not the same water hose anymore,
right? I mean, it is the same water hose. It's
literally the same exact one, only the metals
and everything have built up in that hose now
to where you're actually ingesting that. So it's
a different world. But I love your point of what
can we remove and how can we make this simpler
for people to be able to digest and move forward.
Absolutely. I know when I see the influence getting
up at 4 .30, you're like, you know what the best
life hack is? Get up at 8 .30. You cannot out
eat the amount of sleep that you need. So let's
just stop that bullshit. All right. Well, then
moving on to the studio then. So Trip, what...
What were the modalities that you felt most important
to put within the four walls? Well, our process
always starts off with a priming series, which
is typically a product called Centropix Cloud.
And a lot of people have heard of PEMF, pulse
electromagnetic frequency or field therapy. This
particular low frequency device is PEMA, molecular
activation. And so for this first priming part,
before we even get into the core of the protocol,
we are getting into a place where we can start
to downregulate the nerve. nervous system, start
to charge the cells, get the blood moving. And
it's a place where we can really get into getting
the mindset because a lot of people are coming
in with a lot of stress in their lives. holding
on to that, to be able to get a couple deep breaths,
let go of the stress, the trauma, the tension
on some exhales, and to start to downregulate
the nervous system is one of the best things
to get them out of that fight or flight process.
So at the beginning part, we always prime the
body with the PEMF. A lot of times... What will
even magnify that is we'll add a heat, potentially
through a photobiomodulation to add that red
light, that charge, and even to warm the body
up. The whole process is preparing it for step
two, which is our oxygenation. Most people, when
you think of oxygen therapy, you think of hyperbaric
chambers, 90%, 100 % oxygen just being pressurized
in a tube into the body. it's actually uh the
opposite the body and cells can only absorb so
much oxygen at a time and especially when you're
someone who's not healthy you know that your
energy is not flowing you're not getting the
blood to your toes your fingertips your brain
as efficiently so we need to create a demand
to absorb more oxygen and that's where the science
and studies behind breathing high altitude oxygen
you know instead of 90 percent 100 percent 10%,
you know, somewhere between eight and 14 % stimulating
high altitude, high altitude environments. And
so when you're doing that, you're creating a
fight or flight in the body. And when that's
happening, you're increasing red blood cells
and a big part of it. Two is you're increasing
oxygen demand in your tissue, and that's brain
tissue as well. So you create that demand by
doing specific breath work, breathing through
a mask, high -altitude oxygen. Then after we
drop you in the hypoxia, which is 92%, 93 % oxygen,
your body starts to go through that fight or
flight, screaming for oxygen, saying basically,
if you give me oxygen right now, I'll absorb
it much more than I would regularly. So. when
that time is right, then we contrast the oxygen
to that hyperbaric recovery style. And it just
stimulates and soaks into the body far more efficiently.
And as I talked about earlier, that was where
I had my aha moment was when you're starting
to flood the body with oxygen after depriving
it, creating that demand for oxygen in your tissue,
brain tissue as well. I literally felt that blood
pumping through my brain and dull parts that
haven't had that blood or oxygen in years and
maybe ever uh flooding through there and it literally
gave me that aha blood through you know through
the pineal gland your third your third eye and
ever since then i just felt that awareness that
connection you know even on a spiritual connection
feeling that higher power so and then the third
part about the high altitude oxygen you're getting
it not only are you healing the body, helping
the brain tissue recover, but you're also getting
to elite athletic performance. Through this process,
we're stimulating EPO or erythropoietin, and
that is legal blood doping. That's what Lance
Armstrong and a lot of the boys did in the Tour
de France synthetically and illegally to help
them maximize their athletic performance. We're
doing that just by breathing high -altitude oxygen
for periods of time. So we are improving the
blood. We are doing that by alkalining the blood.
We are creating an oxygen demand for... in the
tissue, brain tissue, but then athletic performance
as well. So once we get all the blood flowing,
we get the body primed to the oxygen, then we
get into the activation stages. And depending
on if you're an elite athlete or, say, a concussion
patient, we are tailoring these experiences different
and being able to adjust that. So a lot of the
times, especially, say, we have a concussion
patient, after we've primed the body, got the
blood flowing with the oxygen, everything in
the brain. Then we're taking it over to a device
like vestibular training, where we're spinning
the body, working with the cochlear part of the
ear, the brain, helping rewire the senses. And
we're getting into not only stuff from concussions,
post -surgery anesthesia dullness, vertigo, but
then even into serious brain injuries or issues
like dementia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease.
So it's like once you prime the body, get it,
get the blood flowing, literally get the voltage
and the energy in the body, then we're manipulating
it with stuff like spinning. You know, we also
have the ability to add in micro impact vibration
instead of your typical shake plate. We are adding
very strategic, gentle healing vibration into
the body. A lot of the times you do the shake
plates, someone like myself with brain. injuries,
way too aggressive, not only in the brain, shaking
that around, but then you got to think about
what's going on inside your body, your bones,
even inside your bones is that's where the liquid,
your metabolic tissue is. So it's like, are you
sending a healing frequency into your body? You
know, talking like that Nikola Tesla energy frequency
vibration, or are you sending something that's
aggravating your soft tissue? bones it was just
your brain and that's where we come into all
this is we have biohacked we've gone through
and we've hacked the system we've tried this
that in different orders but now we're optimizing
the flow of these protocols because we have that
experience the data to show and that's a big
part of what we're doing is when you bring all
these white paper studied modalities together
that when you put them in the correct order and
you do them with with strategy Then they work
not only quicker, but then, you know, it gets
you in and out because just like Jason said,
there's only so much time in the day. If you
overwhelm people, then they can't get it done.
So to get that in a very efficient timeframe,
but then also deliver the most healing that you
can in that session to tailor towards that client
is one of the best things that we can do. So
I could probably keep going on and on. This would
be a great time for Jason to fill in the gaps.
But a lot of those are our core modalities and
are not only have helped me, but in real time
stuff like vestibular. Now that with concussions
that I'm starting to spin myself and I'm not
afraid of it anymore, feeling that agitation,
it's actually energizing. It's just changing
my day to day. Tripp, you nailed it with a few.
And as Tripp had mentioned, right, it can go
further when it comes to the individual, what
they're looking at, but also a core one before
we go into those would be red light. And so getting
into the different hertz of the red light. So
you see right behind me, depending on if they're
spinning in red light or vibrating in red light.
I mean, there's growing numbers of studies on
everything from skin to vision. And then of course
brain. And so whether it's just putting it at
a red light and just keeping it on or getting
into different frequencies like a 10 hertz or
a 20 hertz or even 40 hertz where they're talking
about where it's knocking the plaque off of the
brain. Again, as Trip had mentioned, it's specific
to the individual. But those are the core modalities
that would be included. And then with all of
that, everything, we are very aware of the environment.
So we have audio playing, depending on the individual,
that is helping downregulate that nervous system
at the beginning, and then also starting to help
upregulate it in a controlled fashion when they're
getting into more of an athletic type activity.
Same thing with smells. We get into... like essential
oils, for example, lavender, something that's
going to help them downregulate, not putting
them into a sleep state. But again, with all
of this, we're teaching the body to be calm in
chaos. That's where a lot of this nervous system
regulation can occur. And so we're very aware
of that. And then there's also intention setting
that set the tone in the beginning with the priming
where we're talking to the individual. The individual
is literally talking to their body. And I know
some people can listen to this and think it's
woo woo. But the science and studies are catching
up, showing that that that connection, that mind
body connection has profound impacts. I mean,
even if you get into things like Germanic new
science. or Dr. Sarno, where they talk about
emotions are what can cause things like cancer.
So there's a lot of impact. And as Tripp had
mentioned, as soon as we get someone in, we want
to get them to forget about the outside. That
outside world is always... I mean, your phone's
right there, your thoughts. As soon as you come
in, you may be here physically, but you're thinking
of, oh, what bills do I have to pay? Or, man,
right after this, I got to go get dinner to make
sure that everyone's got something to eat. And
so we're very aware of the environment that we're
bringing the individual or group into. Well,
you guys gave me the full gamut and Sheila was
there that day. So we did the vestibular training
as well. Absolutely amazing. My wife was there
too. So it's pretty cool watching her go through
it. But doing the altitude training, and it's
funny because if you think a few years ago, those
masks came out and everyone called them altitude
training masks and all they were were small straws
that you were breathing through. Same exact resistance
training is what it was. But it really was interesting
because it makes so much sense. And I felt that
kind of panic response when you lower the oxygen
concentration because you're on the bike, so
you're going through exertion as well. And you
could feel your body just wanting to receive
that high concentration oxygen again. So that
makes so much sense to me, as does the aggressive
shake plate versus the tuned vibrations and the
IV light. Talk to me. I mean, all those, like
you said, you talked about everything from neurodegenerative
diseases all the way through to athletic performance.
So talk to me about the kind of people that you
are getting walking through the doors on the
healing level as well as the elite performance
level. We do get a good number of the simple
one is elite athletes looking to run a faster
mile or do a quicker marathon, right? Everyone
looks at oxygen. And so initially when they see
that, they've heard some things. And so we get
a good number of people that are looking to run
faster. Then it's been growing in the aging population.
with systems such as the vestibular, where you're
not only getting into that cognition challenge
of Alzheimer's or dementia, but balance is a
huge piece. And especially being down here in
Florida, we do have quite a large aging population
and falling over. is a big issue. And so between
the vestibular for the balance and for the brain,
and then even the micro impact getting into that
for the bone health and being able to strengthen
those bones. And so we do have a good range in
that. We have a good amount of people that are
coming to detox. Again, as Tripp had mentioned,
that oxygen going through the body is not just
helping with the lungs and helping with the brain,
but that's flushing out toxins as well. It's
going deep into that tissue. Their clients will
have to give binders to after they do that to
make sure it can mop up any toxins that are kicked
out. Or we have our lymphatic drainage suit,
which also gets big into moving the toxins out.
And we've had a growing number of kids coming
in, whether it's mental health challenges that
are going on because Sheila's vestibular has
been doing some amazing work with ADHD and autism.
But then also, again, getting into the oxygen
and being able to work with kids that are told
that they're, you know, they're too wild or they've
got too much energy and they can't sit still
and they can't focus. Well, a lot of that comes
from whether it's concussion issues, as Trip
had mentioned, growing up and playing sports
and it not being addressed, but then also getting
into gut issues and different bacteria. And believe
it or not, they're even getting into vision and
how that is causing kids to be able to operate
properly, right? If their vision is impaired
and the brain is not getting the proper signaling,
then they've... then there's chances that there
are going to be some type of mental challenges
or may seem like they're hyperactive. So we're
getting the full range, and that's why people
will ask us, you know, what clients do you work
with? And it really is that complete package.
And then even, you know, at med spas that we'll
be positioned at for skin and skin health, that's,
again, a detox and lymphatic drainage situation.
And so aesthetic -wise, this protocol and this
equipment, we've worked with many in that space
as well. So it really is a wide range. It's why
we have created the protocol we have. And sometimes
we pull pieces out depending on the individual,
but it's all encompassing. Which lymphatic suit
do you have? It's not Flopresso, is it? It's
not Flopresso. um we have we have a more economical
version flowpresso is amazing um but yes the
the price point and i'm sure they have their
reasons but the price point is a little higher
so we don't have that one right now okay i had
the founder you're familiar with yeah Yeah, she
was on the show for a couple of years ago now.
I got to try that. It's the thing, I get to be
a guinea pig from all these guests that I have
on the show. But yeah, it was interesting too.
I mean, my profession especially, the detox element
obviously is extremely important. I mean, they
don't talk about it enough. Again, kids, right?
When they have, if you've got toxins in your
body, you've got metals or you've got parasites
that are telling the brain, messing with the
signal of the brain or... The gut microbiome
is telling the brain the wrong thing. It's as
simple as detox, or not as simple as, but starting
with the detox is a big piece. Same thing with
athletic performance, right? You better believe
that your signaling in your body is not operating
optimally if you've never detoxed. Absolutely.
One more thing. When I was there and I got to
meet your father and we were talking about NuCalm,
A lot of people haven't heard of New Calm. I
would argue it's one of the technologies every
single person needs to have on their phone. Talk
to me about that technology through your eyes.
So what I love is I would use the nap program
is one of my go -to regular programs because
it's allowing me to get that rest and recovery
that I don't always get. As you mentioned before,
getting up at 8 .30, there's a great life hack
for you because you're getting sleep. Your body
is going through that whole glymphatic system
detox process. What I love about it is being
able to go to a space, go into my car, and just
turn it on and take a nap. It's bringing me through
that process without anything else other than
just putting headphones on. And then that same
goes for a workout, right? And being able to
get the body amped up and get the adrenaline
going and it's all through sound. And so I love,
you know, just the concept of being able to listen
to something and it alter your state. And it's
very efficient, something you can carry with
you anywhere. Yeah. I mean, I can't recommend
it enough. It's one of those number one tools
that everyone should have. 100%. Well, I want
to get to St. Pete Calisthenics. It's a really
interesting gym that you're embedded in. But
one last area, Tripp, you talked about obviously
your concussions when you were younger, some
of the journey that you've been through. What
are you seeing now on the back end of the creation
of your own studio and these modalities that
you've been talking about today? Once again,
I created my reality. I saw that I was having
issues. I saw that I wasn't living life to...
the to the fullest, I knew I could be a better
version of myself. And I took the action. And
that's something every day is changing. And you
know, it's a lot of struggles being an entrepreneur,
a lot of stress. And you know, it could be far
easier for me to go out and just work a real
job, be a manager of whatever business out there.
But I I chose and I believe I was chosen to do
something better in my life and to not only,
you know, be the best version of myself, help
my family and friends around me, but then monetize
and duplicate this business to be able to help,
you know, to help whoever needs it around the
world. And a big part of like we talked about
is the prevention and be great for, you know,
when I see. younger children or people who are
in their teenage years to be able for them to
not have to go through the issues that I did
through my 20s, not to have to waste all those
years, which, you know, I looking back, they
were a great life lesson. But in hindsight, man,
what I would do to have those years back. And
that's something that I can help share. And,
you know. give that awareness and education so
people don't have to go through and do this again.
And this is the generational curse that's being
broken. While you mention that, this is something
I talk about frequently. I think it's not a conversation
that I hear. I think it's starting to now, but
I always preface this with this story. When I
first came to the States, After a couple of years,
I started realizing that I kept hearing these
Uncle Rico stories, like these men that were
now either side of 30, very deconditioned. And
they would tell me that they were destined to
be in the NFL, the major leagues, whatever it
was, had it not been for their ACL, their labrum,
their insert injury here. And it was really strange
to me. I was like, what the hell are they doing?
in these schools and colleges that are breaking
children. And then you live here a little bit
longer and you see the pedestal that high school
and college sports have put on. And in these
conversations then with these high -level athletes
and high -level coaches, you start asking them,
is the line blurred between... forging performance
through these youth athletes and actually acknowledging
their wellness and their longevity. And I think
in a lot of places it has been. And obviously
when we're talking about head trauma. in hockey
and football and martial arts, which I did my
whole life. You know, that is an important conversation
because as you just said, I wish I could get
those years back. Well, we get to get those years
back for the next generation if we have the right
conversations. Because I mean, for example, I'm
not saying everyone goes to flag football, but
athletically flag football is. equally as good,
if not better than tackle football, if you actually
look at the game itself. So what are ways that
we can tweak these sports? A lot of the martial
artists, you know, they're not having these heavy
sparring. I've trained with shoot box for about
a year and I don't know what my half, my brain's
probably still on the dojo floor as we speak.
It was just fight club, you know, and I know
it's not supposed to talk about it, but it was.
So, you know, now we're evolving and we're learning
and we're protecting the next level of youth
athletes. So with that kind of being said. What
is your perspective on the performance of our
young athletes versus the wellness and longevity
and that balance between the two? I love football.
Contact football is one of the greatest games,
but it's too much. There'll be a lot of changes
made, especially at a younger level. You can't
be putting 14 -year -old kids, 15 -year -old
kids in high school football against 18 -year
-old, 200 -pound men. I mean, I was returning
kickoffs as a 15 -year -old sophomore, and it
was one of the most dangerous things I've ever
done in my life. I look back, and I'm proud that
I did it, but it's like... Something needs to
change. And honestly, as I realized I wasn't
going to play at a high level of college football
after the concussions and the injuries, flag
football was probably the best sport I've ever
played. The way that I could go across the middle
of the field on a slant or on a post and know
that I just was safe and I wasn't going to get
destroyed by the safety. Or even just playing
it on a rugby level, to add that extra bit of
lateral, the trick plays, was so much safer and
better to play than a whole game full of linemen.
Just way too much behind that. I mean, yeah,
it's a warrior sport. It's as close as we get
to having real -life gladiators, but there needs
to be... there needs to be some safety implements
being put in and even real time stuff that Jason
and I are starting to see where you, if you do
get a concussion on the field, you can be tested
right there on the sidelines to see where you're
at. Should you go back in the game? Cause a lot
of times it's just, all right, let's hit them
with the flashlight. You know, it's just like,
ask him a couple simple questions. How many fingers
am I holding up? And for the most part, it's
like, let's get them back in the game. And now
it's like, let's have that safe. and have those
different options and even let's educate young
athletes to show that like there is an only small
percentage that are even going to go to college
a way smaller and almost impossible percentage
just going to make it to professional let's find
something that you can still have you know create
your dreams and they're not just going to crash
because you know you didn't make it to the NBA
Yeah. Jason, anything to add? You know, I'd rather
finish up with trips than put mine in because
I think it's, I don't see football going away
anytime soon, unfortunately, right? Hockey's
not going away anytime soon. And so it's kind
of one of those things where, yes, trip to your
point, what I love would be to educate them on
the bigger picture and get them there. A lot
of us need to go through these challenges. The
biggest thing is, put pieces in place that can
help you recover from those quicker, right? Like
you see the vestibular right there. I mean, if
they put that into a gym class and, you know,
we're doing that after all of these concussions
that they had or the oxygen right there, right?
And they did that, at least figure it out a way,
you know, it's 20 minutes. It's not a long time.
So I think our... you know my my biggest thing
and this is why you know thank you for having
us on your podcast james and for continuing to
spread these messages because i think the biggest
thing is or not the biggest but a big thing is
is what can we do to mitigate these challenges
so that over time it's not as much of a challenge
and maybe they can get to the level of understanding
okay hey i'm not going to be a pro so Maybe I
don't need to go as hard with this. But I think
that's, again, where we get to these technologies
and support that we have in this day and age,
where there are ways we can really help mitigate
this if people, you know, just kind of pay attention
and then open their minds to the possibilities
of, well, what if we did this a little different?
And, you know, back to then the flag football,
there's a great solution, right? You're still
getting the football activity, but not getting
that same pain. And so. I think that's the biggest
thing is we've evolved too much as humans to
just let things keep going the way they are.
How can we step into mitigating and then eventually
eliminating? But yeah. Well, I think the other
thing that I saw was a steep drop off after this
high level of performance in college or high
school to inactivity. And as we just alluded
to, 75 % of the country is obese or overweight.
So there's your science right there. We don't
need to look any further. Whereas you look at
some other countries that don't forge such a
high level in their education systems, it's more
play. And again, the natural athletes are going
to find their way to professionals or the Olympics
anyway. It's a path. Erin Jackson from Ocala,
where I'm sitting, is now in the Winter Olympics,
along with some of her teammates that are all
vying for the speed skating. I think she got
into it when she was 22, if I'm not mistaken.
So there we go. Erin is a perfect example. But
the rest of us just enjoy playing sports. But
if you have this kind of specialization in this
sport, you end up destroying the love of play,
the love of games. And therefore, now our adults
don't want to do it anymore because they're broken.
They're burned out mentally versus a lot of other
places around the world where they do play multiple
sports. I mean, hockey is played all over the
world, especially Scandinavia. And yet there's
a very, very active population that plays all
kinds of sports. So I think we can even play
these, as you said, and use contact sensibly.
But I think Tripp's point was amazing. This facade
that all these young kids are one day going to
be playing professionally is destroying our children
rather than allowing them just to play and then
letting the natural uber athletes surface naturally.
All right. Well, with that being said, one more
area, because I want to make sure we touch on
this because it was really interesting. Your
office is embedded in St. Pete Calisthenics.
I've never seen a gym that looks like that before.
So just quickly talk to me about that facility.
So St. Pete Calisthenics is in the warehouse
district of downtown St. Petersburg, Florida.
Our business model. was to, our business model
is to up -level existing businesses, whether
it's a med spa, a gym, a doctor's office, all
the way to professional sports organizations.
And we were very fortunate to partner with this
location, St. Pete Calisthenics. Not only is
the actual facility amazing, but the owners are
great, Aaron and Tyler. So in this business,
there's seven different businesses and everything
from what we're doing with the recovery and the
bio -optimization to aerial where people are
working on a lot of the circus handstands type
thing. We're even getting into coal plunge sauna,
but a big part of what St. Pete calisthenics
and the dream behind it was, was to create a
very intelligent way to get people back, to playing
again a lot of times there's a gap between the
physical therapy and back into the real world
where people go to physical therapy after their
injury or surgery they're released and then They're
just going to the gym and maybe they're not fully
recovered or they haven't been educated how to
do things correctly. So that's where we're bringing
people into St. Pete Calisthenics to help them
return the play, going over their limitations,
their goals, step by step, give them a timeline.
And by working with us, we are able to reduce
that timeline to getting them back to. to reaching
their goals whether it's just you know something
basic like being able to pick up their grandchildren
and play with them or you know are we going to
set a goal to climb Mount Kilimanjaro so with
this return to play program it's a really neurological
intelligent base where you're getting that mind
-body connection all the way down, especially
like Jason mentioned earlier, to balance. And
so that, especially as you get anywhere past
30 into the aging population, how can we tie
in that intelligent training, be able to recover
quicker, but then add a community. At St. Pete
Calisthenics, it doesn't feel like you're walking
into a... gym like your typical crunch style
gym you're walking into a place where it is the
lighting is is great. The smells, uh, you feel
welcomed. It's a community. Uh, you're not having
that CrossFit aggressiveness, the injuries potentially
happening. It's a very strategic guided program
from start to finish. And I know when I go in
there, especially in the evenings, I feel like
it is exactly where I need to be. I get my training
in after a long day of working, I get my cold
plunge and sauna and you know, it's just a. perfect
place to have these day -to -day trainings and
then eventually events webinars like a big part
of what we're doing is community -based education
so there's probably not a better place in the
tampa bay area to do that anything to add jason
no he nailed it the the beauty of this place
is they really get you in the mindset to play
you see the jungle gyms basically right when
you came here you saw the different bar systems
and so instantly it gets you in that mindset
of playing and having fun and being a kid again.
And I think that's, that's the core to all of
this. If we can get back to that, we could communicate
with each other better. We could heal. We could,
you know, we could just all move forward. So
I think that that's probably the core that we
love about here is just they instantly put in
that mindset returning to play. And then it's
also. your body, right? So again, we talk about
this technology that we have that can streamline
things, but the cool thing about calisthenics,
what you learn is how powerful your body is by
doing these activities, just using your body,
right? They have an assessment that's very cool.
And it's something that's just watching your
movement, right? And, you know, I know we all
know this from the past or have seen this, but
When they're able to use such little technology
to do things, it creates this awareness, again,
just to life, the bigger picture. And I think
they really, as Tripp nailed it, the community
here just brings all that in. I've said this
on here many times. This, I think, is really
the draw for CrossFit and for mud runs. It's
not... the movements and no one loves thrusters.
We just did it the other day and we don't normally
do it anymore. We used to be a CrossFit gym and
now we've changed programming, but it's not for
that. But the handstands, the ropes, the peg
boards, the, the jungle gyms, the muscle ups,
you know, and then you go into the mud, mud run
world, you know, all the different things. You're
just, you're being a child again. And it goes
back to what I was saying with this drop off.
If you're just playing a sport and you're getting
it rammed down your throat that, you know, if
you're not first, you're last. And, you know,
participation trophy if you get anything other
than first, which I think is bullshit. Like I'm
pretty sure they give a trophy at the end of
every marathon, for example. So you're telling
me that none of those people are worth, you know,
rewarding. I think we have this discouraging
conversation about exercise. And I think that
we need to get back into play, whether playing
a game of football. I do soccer every Sunday
with a bunch of lads, you know, or playing in
a CrossFit gym or go and do in a mud run or whatever
it is like. just doing something because you
enjoy doing it and then having that community
and you feel part of something, fast forward
a year later, you'll be fitter and happier. That
just happens by osmosis then. You nailed it.
With that being said then, so Trip, for people
listening, where can they find the bio -optimization,
I'm struggling with that word, the bio -optimization
institute online and then where can they find
each of you online as well? On Instagram, the
go -to is, what is it, Jason, you might be better
off at this. So to the website, you'd go to theboi
.health, right? And then you can find all of
our socials from there. But yes, our Instagram,
YouTube, LinkedIn, those will all either be the
BioOptimization Institute or BioOptimization
Institute if it was too long and we couldn't
fit it in there. And then you can find Trip at
Trip Harlan, right? I think that's your Instagram,
right? And then I'm at Jason Grafasi on Instagram.
And then from there, you can find all the others.
Brilliant. Well, I want to thank you. I want
to thank Sheila first for making this connection.
Give her a shout out. Always thank you, Sheila.
Yeah, Sheila's a rock star. Oh, man. Damn dynamo,
that's for sure. And then I want to thank you
for putting my wife and I through all the treatments
and really getting to experience this firsthand
and coming back again to do the vestibular the
second time. And then most importantly, I want
to thank you both for being so generous with
your time and coming on the Behind the Shield
podcast today. Thank you, James. Thank you. It
was an honor.