Mark Bell's Power Project - How to Gain Muscle & Strength with Kettlebell Flow - Jarrod Cardona || MBPP Ep. 956

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

In Episode 956, Jarrod Cardona, Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza talk about how Jarrod discovered lifting kettle bells in an unconventional and fun way, why he continues to train this way, and how this style of training helps improve conventional barbell movements. Sponsors mentioned on air: ➢ https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/powerproject to save 15% off Vivo Barefoot shoes! ➢ https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro at 8 Sleep! ➢ https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order at Vuori!   Follow Jarrod on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecrazytrainer/   New Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the new Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw   Special perks for our listeners below! ➢https://drinkag1.com/powerproject Recieve a year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 & 5 Travel Packs! ➢ https://withinyoubrand.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off supplements!   ➢ https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off all gear and apparel!   ➢ https://mindbullet.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off Mind Bullet!   ➢ https://goodlifeproteins.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save up to 25% off your Build a Box   ➢ Better Fed Beef: https://betterfedbeef.com/pages/powerproject   ➢ https://hostagetape.com/powerproject Free shipping and free bedside tin!   ➢ https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!!   ➢ Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 Pumps explained: https://youtu.be/qPG9JXjlhpM   ➢ https://marekhealth.com Use code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off ALL LABS at Marek Health! Also check out the Power Project Panel: https://marekhealth.com/powerproject Use code POWERPROJECT for $101 off!   ➢ Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150   Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://www.PowerProject.live ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject   FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell   Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en   Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz   #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

How'd you get into the kettlebell so deep? I just saw a Turkish getup clip, and I think by position three or four, I was like, where the hell am I? And this is amazing because all these muscles are working at once at the same time, and my brain isn't just going through the motion, it's solving a problem.

You ever drop that shit on your toes, Don? I've never dropped it on my toes. At this point, does working with a kettlebell even feel like a workout? Have you found that in working with clients that this is maybe integrating some athleticism? Bodybuilding is the missionary sex of fitness. And missionary is always good. And it's consistent and it's safe and it feels wonderful. All of my training unconventionally

is definitely making me a stronger mover with the conventional lifts. On a day that you might feel kind of sore, instead of having to attack the barbell or whatever, you can attack some maces, some kettlebells, some rope, and just get some movement in. This is movement freedom. Exactly. How do you think you sound with the headphones? Amazing. There you go.

I love it. That felt great. Crispy. Very crispy. I like that. I did like that. You shouldn't like that. I kind of like that, man. I like that. I did like that. You shouldn't like that. I kind of like that, man.

I like it too. What's happening? Should I move out of the way? No, just take a deep breath with us. In the nose, out the butthole. Wait, what? Hello? Be right at home if you want to relieve that stress.

You've seen it? Seen what? Should we? Yeah, let's. You want to grab it? Theen what? Should we? Yeah, let's. Are you sure? You want to grab it? The butthole clip? Okay.

We should start every show with this. We should. I think every guest needs to be exposed to this. To your butthole clip? Yeah. You know Human Garages? Yes, I have. I've seen the, is it a person?

Yeah, so there's a, yeah, they're a group and they do a lot of great fashion. Yeah, interesting release stuff. That's right. Yeah, yeah. So they group, and they do a lot of great fashion. Yeah, interesting release stuff. Yeah, yeah. So they have a butthole release, pretty much. Is it sphincter? Do they say sphincter? Yeah, sphincter release. But then he just legit just says butthole.

I don't know where. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want us to expose you to this. Please expose me to this sphincter release. Yeah. I think it matches the theme today. It could change your life. It could.

So this is all pressurized. So this tissue here on my lips, epithelial tissue, is actually the exact same tissue as the one on my butthole. That's right. And the tissue goes all the way down the esophagus through this stomach, all the way through the intestines, large intestine, all the way through the rectum. And it's the same tooth. So if we are to torque fascia on the butthole, then it actually should work its way all the way back up to the neck. But what this actually does is that inside the hips, what happens is it gets torqued. If you think about it too, when people bear down, they usually bear down in one direction.

And that's because there's an imbalance in the hips. Now, this is a special device. And we want to get this. Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to turn it counterclockwise. And why counterclockwise? It just seems like it's the best direction because of the way it is. So we're going to hold it, and you're going to breathe through it, Ross. He's in his body and he's breathing.

It does feel really comfortable. This is actually going to unloosen the hips. To change a tailbone, you often have to be a rectal insertion. Or to do pull-me-more for women, it would be vaginal insertion. But this one here, I'm on the outside, really, and I'm just torquing it. This feels so good. I had a colonoscopy when I was younger. It does not feel good.

I feel like... You had a colonoscopy? Oh, yeah. Really? Mm-hmm. Good times. I don't know if we're officially started, but yeah, I had a colonoscopy.

Yeah. What happened? What do they do? A lot of pooping. There's a lot of stomach issues. That's where I guess I have a lot of anxiety or stress. Yeah.

So I didn't like butthole stuff personally. No judgment. Maybe you don't need the same release. No. So what you been doing, man? You been throwing around some kettlebells. Some kettlebells, heavy kettlebells, light kettlebells. Sleep with them.

I drive with them. I do put a seatbelt on them. You flew with those kettlebells here? no I did not I have my friend Melanie thank God with those kettlebells yeah I need those in my life

how'd you get into the kettlebells so deep? I first saw a kettlebell when I went to a private studio kind of sitting there and I just saw a Turkish getup clip and I wanted to see if i could memorize it and so i went for the turkish getup and i think by position three or four i was like where the hell am i and this is amazing because all these muscles are working at once at the same time right

and my brain isn't just going through the motion it's solving a problem so i kind of got that novice feeling when i was doing my turkish get up in that private studio and then from there i played with functional patterns and started to like sling the bell so i do like a cross-body motion and i'd rotate with it and i started to feel out like the leveraging of weight of motion of what we talked about prior so that was another big piece for me and then the flipping ah the flipping that was a game changer for me um yeah so that at first actually i saw drew miller this amazing instructor just going between the legs and it reminded me of basketball and i was really drawn to the playfulness of it the hand-eye coordination and because from the turk getup, I was like, oh, man, like, you know, when you're doing multiple things at once, that ability to disassociate

but associate at the same time, that started to create flow. I started to find flow. And with kettlebell flipping and juggling, I mean, I really started to find creativity, exploration, play. I would drop the bell all the time and not judge myself for it. I would just pick it up again. You ever drop that shit on your toes, Doug? I've never dropped it on my toes.

How have you avoided that? Happy feet. Okay. You got to dance a little bit. You got to stay present. But that's really the big piece is you got to stay watching the bell. You can't just watch it fall onto your feet. You got to do something about it.

You got to stay aware. React. I did have somebody else drop it on me once. That wasn't fun. Where did some of this exploration begin? Because you have a standard background and education as well in exercise science, right? Correct. University of Central Florida. Go Knights. And what do you think, like like what drove you to like kind of find out more like was there was there maybe a missing piece were you in pain like what was going on so pain has been a piece of the exploration of corrective exercise for me but i would say the

playfulness and finding a state of presence was huge when i first really deep dive into kettlebell flipping like this. At the time, I had opened up a facility called The Training Spot, was three months into The Training Spot, and my ex-business partner and I split. And so overnight, I was kind of like couch surfing, homeless, living at a 24-hour fitness a little bit. Sometimes I was in the studio, but I didn't like to live in there because that vibe just ain't the vibe, in my opinion. And so during that time to find playfulness, I would get lost in this craft and I would just go for hours. And I'd bring that energy into my training sessions where we're here to explore. We're here to play. We're here to also have fun. Like it's great. We're going to get our goals done, but we need to have fun. And if I can

transmute that energy into my training sessions, I think it'll carry them throughout their day on a performance level. And so that's what really, uh, made me deep dive for a long time into kettlebell flipping. I think that's a huge missing component sometimes in, in, in exercises, people kind of forgetting about the funding of it all, the all, like the fun part, right? Sometimes it's hard to have fun when you don't have a skill set. Like sometimes you're learning and it can be frustrating. But I try to encourage people to find something that maybe they used to find was fun. Maybe they used to really enjoy riding their bike when they were young.

So maybe at 35 or 40 and your back bothers you a lot and you find traditional exercise to not feel great, maybe you go buy yourself a bike for your next birthday or something and get out and do something that you once found to be fun because odds of you continuing to like it are probably still pretty good. Exactly. And for me, finding that play in everything. So for like, you know, when you work with a lot of clients, because you mentioned that you have older individuals as clients and a lot of combat sports people as clients, do people find you because they want to start learning how to do some of the stuff you do with the kettlebell?

Or is it mainly like because you also do stuff for athletic performance? Correct. Yeah. I get a mixture of both. I think I get people who just want to have fun again. Like I've had coaches who are like, they're burning out. And they're like, I'm not enjoying training people. So they come to me to get more, in my opinion, information.

Because learning is what makes it fun. Like fitness is a relationship and it's a long-term relationship. So it's a constant learning the whole time if you're gonna commit to it lifetime so i get a lot of people like coaches for example who are attracted to just learning more so kind of like continuing education that's what i'm offering um then i get some high performers that i've been working with for a long time like some big ceos that are just really smart really smart playful kind. And they like the problem solving of the kind of training I'm doing. They're doing multiple things at once. They're keeping their mind and body occupied together. So they're finding that kind of flow state. So I find I work with those.

And in the past, I've definitely had a lot of people in pain. And I've enjoyed some of those sessions the most because it's very fulfilling when you can help someone get out of pain. it's very fulfilling when you can help someone get out of pain. It's a crazy bond, I believe, that occurs with that. So that's the other kind of client. And yes, I'd like to work with more, I believe, high-intensity athletes too because optimization to me is for everybody, and I love that I've offered it for general population. For example, the people who weren't necessarily great at PE,

but now they train with me and they're like oh yeah I could kick that ball no problem yeah like they're ready to take on that challenge and to help them I guess heal that past wound or whatever it is of maybe not being picked first but now they're confident in their movements and that's translating and transmuting to other parts of their lives yeah and let me ask you man, because when I came into the gym today, you were doing some kettlebell stuff and you didn't realize I was there for a little bit. I was just recording you a bit, but your eyes were closed as you were literally just like doing stuff with that bell.

At this point, does working with a kettlebell even feel like a workout or does it just kind of feel like, does it feel like play? And is that under the influence of THC? Nevermind. That was literally. It absolutely can be under the influence of THC? Never mind. It absolutely can be under the influence of THC. I am a high-performing athlete. I'm a high-performing coach and a high-performing human.

So it can be done. But with a lighter weight, I definitely feel like I'm just playing, dancing. I'm getting stretches out of the movements. We were talking earlier about slings of fascia that are occurring when I loosen my grip and the kettlebell pulls me in one direction. For example, my bicep tendon will get a really nice length and then I can contract it right back. So a lot of good healing happens when I do a light flow practice. But as you've seen before,

the heavy training, the heavy kettlebells, man, does that get me high. That gets me heated in the best way. Like it gets me primal. Like I want to fucking something up. Like that I love a lot too. I get really a thrill out of heavy kettlebell training too. So much conditioning that goes on with kettlebell work, especially like the flipping that you were doing in that video. I would imagine you kind of get lost in it a little

bit but like any idea on how long sometimes um some of these like flip sessions can last within within like let's just call it like a set well like is it like three minutes or five minutes or you just sometimes i will put a timer on if i have like a routine i'm dedicated to doing that day a specific strength training regimen. I might put a 10 minute flow, let's say, where I'm flowing for, you know, 10 minutes straight and adding a body weight movement in. So it becomes endurance and a conditioning workout. So that might happen during a structured kettlebell flow. But there's some days, for example, that I like to train like a monster, I would say three to four times a week. And the other days I might walk in so tight, right?

All those contractions, super heavy weight. And so walking into the gym and doing some light flow work for the first, sometimes I'll put on like eight, ten songs. I'll just let it go. And maybe 30, 40 minutes in, I've been doing it. And all of a sudden I'm like, I can work out. I feel ready to actually train because I've just loosened up. I've just had a lot of fun. I've found joy in the process. And so now I feel ready to actually train because I've just loosened up. I've just had a lot of fun.

I've found joy in the process. And so now I'm ready to potentially train even harder. Have you found that some of these movements, like we're watching you do some rope flow and we're watching you just do all kinds of variations of movement with the kettlebell. Have you found that in working with clients that this is maybe integrating some athleticism that maybe some of the people have lost?

You know, someone again who's 35, 40 years old, maybe they've been detached from sports when they were younger for maybe a decade or two. And maybe they're not like moving and maybe they're not able to really flow really well. Have you found that incorporating some of the stuff that we see in your videos is ingraining some new athleticism or getting their old athleticism back in some ways? I would say absolutely to the people who were prior athletes,

they're finding that rhythm again. And there's a lot of us, and I think we forget about like most of the planet, Gen Pop who are athletes, but who never found their rhythm. And so I find a lot of these things, these tools help people find their rhythm. And we talked earlier about different modalities

and different positions and different things like that. And for me, sometimes a kettlebell might not get the person I'm working with off. And that doesn't mean I'm not the right coach for them. Maybe they like to slow down with a mace. Maybe that's their vibe.

Or maybe they want to come back to a rope because they used to do jump rope and they don't have the knees for it, but they have that feeling and that remembrance of what it was like to play with the rope. And so even knowing bodybuilding and teaching corrective exercise, they all have value for each person because not everyone wants that cup of tea that we love. Like I love teaching kettlebell, but I still want to help you,

you know, and I want to still be able to help you because someone else might not be able to translate the same way. So, and if bodybuilding was a sexual position, what'd you say? Bodybuilding is the missionary sex of fitness. And missionary is always good.

And it's consistent and it's safe and it feels wonderful. It's the only way to get a woman pregnant. Is it? I don't know. I don't believe this truth. I don't believe it. Well, actually, someone should go test that out. I think that's actually, I think you're actually correct. You can't get her pregnant if she's on top and you can't get her

pregnant. Really? Because gravity. Cool. I'd love to know that. You might get yourself pregnant it's possible i'm not sure what that means we'll talk about it i don't know if i like it i don't know are you doing a lot of traditional lifts as well because sometimes we get so excited about like these new things that we're doing that we kind of lose sight of some of the fundamental things are you still doing a lot of like bench squat deadlift barbell stuff the last six months i brought it back into the game and it's more fun than ever like i'm feeling fibers better than ever from

all the other modalities and all the other ways i move so i'm recruiting fibers on a very different level and so even like i i don't remember what i deadlifted recently but i had a very big deadlift i might have it was my biggest one, the biggest. I want to say it was like 500 to 600 pounds, something crazy up in New York recently. And I haven't touched that in forever. But all of my training unconventionally is definitely making me a stronger mover with the conventional lifts. And getting back to that missionary sex we talked about earlier, that good squeeze when we do bodybuilding, I'm enjoying that

again that like i'm making love to my bicep i'm making love to my pec it's nice to kind of feel that again but even deeper and so i like this whole fitness i'm like trying to watch out i'll get sprayed with something over here thanks for having me here guys I'm so excited to be here very grateful that's a really cool thing about like

I mean all the modalities that you have access to and I think anybody you know even if you are working or you have a job and the gym

isn't the only thing you do if you can give yourself to build ability with certain different things like if you don't choose and you don't want to work with a barbell for a little bit you have options

with kettlebell you have options where you can do stuff with a rope if you have maces at your Like if you don't choose and you don't want to work with a barbell for a little bit, you have options with kettlebell options where you can do stuff with a rope. If you have maces at your gym, if you learn that, like on a day that you might feel kind of sore, instead of having to attack the barbell or whatever, you can attack some maces, some kettlebells,

some rope, and just get some movement in. This is movement freedom. Exactly. But when you have only worked that one thing that you're really good at, that's all you have. So it's, it's awesome what you're doing. Thank thank you so much and the reflection of what you're also doing because you're playing and exploring the both of you and constantly looking for that novice that white belt energy

again it's important for me too where do you uh like when you're doing your kettlebell stuff does it feel anything similar to some of the bodybuilding stuff that you're mentioning or is it a totally different feel? For me, it's a very different feeling to access. Like for my heavy kettlebell energy, I would say it's very aggressive. It's very primal,

animalistic. That's the energy I get when I'm doing that kind of thing. When I'm doing flow, like you saw earlier, the flipping, the flowing, the rope, the mace,

that for me is, they talk about like feminine and masculine energy coming together or the letting, you know, what flow, the definition of flow is like letting go and something, discipline and freedom coming together. And I find that I'm accessing that playfulness 100% when I'm doing flows, but then also through the bodybuilding, I'm accessing just slowing down again. So I really believe every modality, every tool, every type of way to move and fitness just brings a little bit different life to life. It looks to me like sometimes when you're doing some of the kettlebell exercises, it looks like there's like an efficiency to it. Whereas I would say that in bodybuildingbuilding that you're almost intentionally trying to have an inefficiency because you're trying to kind of wear the muscle out quickly, get the muscle to burn a lot of energy fast. So you get a lot of, so you get a pump and so you can like dump nutrients

into the area. Whereas when you're flowing and you're doing some of the stuff with the kettlebells, it looks like you're not just like catching, like if you were to bodybuild a kettlebell style thing, you'd probably like catch it and want to like isometrically like hold it. Hold the position. But in this case, you're like, you're going with it and you're really flowing and utilizing the energy of the implement, utilizing the energy of the kettlebell as you're doing certain movements. And one exercise you showed us is where you were jumping like and you jumped you use the kettlebell

to help you like jump uh something on something that was like behind you i think and it's really interesting to kind of have that momentum of the weight carry you through to somewhere else thousand percent so we were talking earlier about fp functional patterns and leveraging motion so leveraging motion was a big piece of my foundations with training of when I started to explore outside of bodybuilding. And once I found the kettlebell and I can pull myself up while the kettlebell is coming upwards with me, it wouldn't be that one.

It would be another clip. But that one's cool too. It's a push-pull. Very important. Yeah, there's also some – there's a movement where you were doing earlier where you actually like, I wouldn't really ever think of doing this. It was just kind of neat to just have that kind of freedom where you are flowing so much that you can just kind of do whatever calls to you. But you like did a roll, like a forward roll with the kettlebell in your hand.

And that's just, that's got to be really neat. That's got to really integrate a lot of cool inputs into the brain that the neural pathway thing is huge for me that's something that's continued to keep me invested into the exploration but also the confidence the internal confidence of not even the way I look it's the way I move and the way I'm holding a position and the way I'm transitioning in between positions if I'm feeling really great about that, that's going to carry on throughout my day. And even no matter where I am, I am home in that sense. I'm like, I'm that confident of where I am in space and time. And so that's the big part of what continues to make,

I continue to practice and discipline all of them. They're super important for, for my homeostasis internally. We talked about that actually quite a bit. The difference between, you know, using exercise in the gym to only focus on the way you look. Because first off, you do look amazing. Like people can see that. Thank you. But there is a...

He's got a pretty thick neck going on. Hey, yo. Very thick neck. Yeah, very thick neck. Thick neck, thick thighs. But there's a very different, like, I guess, relationship that you start to have with fitness and exercise when you realize that you feel good all the time and you can move really well. There's minimal pain. Your body has the ability to move.

And you're more focused on what your body can do rather than what your body looks like all the time. Yeah, so what it feels like. And if you talked about pain, to to me having pain takes away from presence you know when if I'm in this conference right now for example if I'm on a conference in this podcast right now and I'm having crazy pain somewhere and maybe I'm more focused on the pain than I am us in this moment and to take away from presence to me is something that I don't want for anybody so getting out of pain and staying out of pain is really my highest priority as crazy as I do train. It really frees you up for a lot of other things

when your mind is not concentrated on illness. When your mind is not like, you can think about like in a time where you are nauseous, like really nauseous and you throw up multiple times a day and that kind of thing, you can't really concentrate on anything else. Correct. And there's people that are in so much pain that that's all they can concentrate on. And then they keep hearing from me and other

fitness people, you got to get up off the couch, man, you got to go do this. And they just, they don't feel well enough to do it. And so it's kind of hard sometimes to even figure out damn what's square one you know what's square one with some of these people that's why we try to suggest that people get outside try to go for a walk have some good people in your life because all those little things hopefully will allow you to feel good here and there and then maybe when you feel good enough here and there you could at least you know manage a walk you ride the wave manage your pain better and some all that's the basics you know and that's where i'm big on too just start people with the basics good movement good people good music that's really all we need you know good food you just moved to austin texas

just moved to austin texas about two months ago. And where were you previously? Orlando, Florida for the last decade. Yeah. And what was the move about? For my career, it felt like it was the right place to be for me. Fitness is definitely happening there. So that was a big piece. And then I was getting really comfortable in Orlando. As much as I love my people, my clients, my community that I built there,

the days were just starting to feel too much the same. I wasn't getting into that flow state or that peak state where I feel challenged enough to step into the newer version of me. So I knew that moving would be uprooting everything. You know, my business, I went from servicing, you know, let's say like 15 to 20 people to like five all of a sudden that I used to see in person. you know let's say like 15 to 20 people to like five all of a sudden that i used to see in person so i knew i needed to get really uncomfortable and i have had and have really great support in austin which motivated me to move there too a lot of really wonderful people in my life watching you work out with our boy justin yeah my man and his journey has been incredible i'm sure you guys have seen too from someone who was a pro bodybuilder and moving technically in a stiff way

and then now he's flowing and i'm super proud of him and happy to work with him and show him techniques and now we're flowing together which is crazy to me because when i was 20 to 22 and i was first getting into fitness i really only consumed like very little fitness stuff but one of my buddies got me into his channel on youtube and so i love auto's channel yep so from 20 to 22 you know during my degree in kinesiology and when i was really working on losing weight and all these things i used to watch him as like a pre-workout i would watch one of his clips to get hyped up and excited and then now to be able to hang out work with them share the same passions and it builds together it's been pretty

great yeah yeah i love uh that you know he just has really leaned into this so much and you know he'll like read a poem or read something you know a quote from a song or something and he's just leaning into it man he doesn't give a shit about what someone thinks or perceives that to be he's just it feels good for him and so he shares it i think it's so authentically himself and i believe you know i believe we're all chasing that same path and we are is finding out that version and being cool with it because we're just attracting other people to be that let me ask you this this is this is a side we'll get back things but how has like how has maybe weed or anything like influenced some of your maybe

ideas on movement has as like have any of these substances helped you at all or helped you open up the way you think about things or is that just something fun for you personally i think a combination of both and one big question i think we all need to ask ourselves is what is our intention when we're using these tools potentially these these medicines? And for me, when I was younger and I started smoking weed, I wanted to be lazy. I wanted to eat a lot of food. I wanted to do pretty much like sit on the couch, like a couch potato, right? Absolutely nothing. And so what did I do? I did that every time I smoked. And then as I started to become more disciplined i remember i was working at tropical smoothie cafe and like front desk of a gym and i saw one of my co-workers he was building like three or four smoothies at once he has an airpod in the ear back in the ear pods and he's

jamming out listening to reggae and i'm like you smell like weed and how are you doing all these things at the same time with a smile on your face there's good music in the background but what the fuck man we're at tropical smoothie right now this is you're supposed to be hating this and i saw him doing that i was like man what if what if i start using it to have fun before going do doing things i don't really like too much and so i used to hate the gym it was a chore not want to go burning sweating gross was not my thing for a long time you know i talked to sima earlier about i cut off my athlete hat at 17 and so for those two and a half three years i mean i became a turd i was just i was just sitting there doing nothing just

floating then like the wave take me wherever um so yeah i figured out oh uh so weed excuse me right yeah i'm coming back to the short term but um you know as i got older i started to use it to go to the gym and to kind of use it as a pre-workout because i noticed when i would smoke if i've had a good song playing and i'll get really into the song okay well cool why don't i do that when i work out when i listen to those vibrations and use this tool when i go even running i remember running is something i've continued to do it for and with and yeah it's added to the experience it's fun and there was a time it created a deeper experience i remember the first time i felt my pec squeeze i was high like i was like oh that's what the pec is supposed to do that's why my you know front delts and elbows and shoulders and triceps are feeling everything else and so that did happen you know

on marahuchi that was big for me yeah i know everyone has their their personal opinion some some people are like oh that is that is ruining the people that is ruining youth and lazy blah blah i mean man the times when i like again being intentional with it so i will sometimes smoke and roll and then i know in those rolling sessions i'm doing shit that i kind of just watched and my body's just kind of like i'm not thinking i'm just fucking doing some shit i'm like oh that's cool what the fuck did i do there never done that before sometimes it seems to just open up some pathways to some shit that you've never done. And I know some people really dislike it, but it is,

it can be a very good enhancer for some. Yep. Yeah. Including myself. A thousand percent, man. High performer. I think there's something.

Smoke and roll. That's huge in jujitsu. It's huge in jujitsu. They have tournaments. I think it's high rollers. There's a tournament where everybody gets blazed and then they go compete. Yeah, it's got to take the edge off too a little bit, right? I think so.

For me, for sure. I think there does seem to be something special about THC versus some other things. Like I've run with a bunch of different things before, Kratom, LSD. All the drugs. Yeah, all the drugs. Let's go. Love you, Mom. Me too, Mom.

THC seems to, like, I don't know, it seems to connect the dots in some sort of movement pattern of some kind. That's kind of hard to explain. I remember being on a run, and I was just kind of equating the way I was feeling to, like, being on an elliptical machine. And I was thinking like, oh, the fucking elliptical machine is really brilliant because it's actually taking a combination of like running and walking

and piecing it together so that anyone can do it. But yeah, as your arm moves forward, your leg moves back and vice versa. And you can kind of play around with these movements while you're running or while you're doing something else. And I think having not done THC or having not done Kratom and some of these things that I sometimes will play around with, I don't know if I'd get that same experience. I don't think I'd end up there. So I think people got to do things responsibly. They got to do things in a way that they can still have control.

You don't want to be just totally blasted and go out on a run and stuff like that. It's debatable. What music you listen to. Exchange playlists later. Yeah, all kinds of stuff. But I think that

it's good to explore with that stuff too, honestly. For me, it's beneficial. I'm not saying you got to go do it, but if you don't do it, you're a loser. Just kidding. But it's important for people to explore and listen to themselves ultimately. If it feels good, it's calling to you. Go for it. Be safe.

And Seema, have you rolled on psilocybin? I have. Nice. How'd that go? It's good. Microdose, right? It's not too much. A little bit too much?

I had one session where I did a little bit too much, and I was just like way in there. I was just like, okay, well, you know, it was still a great roll, but I was just like, it was too much. Pondering life. No, no, not even that. It's not that, because I was very present in terms of what I was doing. But I was just like, too much melting. Too much melting. Too much melting.

Too much melting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, I've done it on lower doses of psilocybin, and it's great. Like, you just, you know, you feel aware, you feel good. It's nice. So, you know, each individual has to try it out. You've got to find the right dose. Yeah.

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Quit throwing them everywhere. Most people, they're like, don't crush my air forces. Well, you can just bend me. That's what they're for. Links in the description as well as podcast show notes. Catch you soon.

Where do you have people start a lot of times when you're trying to introduce some kettlebell work or somebody sees some of your videos? Like, man, I want to be able to do that. Do you kind of sometimes say, hey, what's your experience previous? And maybe we should start you with this first.

Almost everybody. I don't care what level you're at. I'll start them. If you're reaching out for at least to work with me, I'll start them out with a systemized training session the first two to three training sessions i offer are very systemized to teach something like gait spinal engine hip stability awareness 3d movement um all three planes of motion excuse me if you will and so you might not even touch a kettlebell the first hour at all or the first two. So I believe the kettlebell is an extension of your body and all these tools are. So the first thing you should learn about is how your body works.

And hopefully I've continued to do a great job of making this very long potential process, a lot more simple and fun for people. What, um, what are some things that you, you took, uh,

from meeting up with David Weck? Cause it looks like in some of the examples of what we've seen on your Instagram, it looks like you're working on the coiling and things like that. What things did you kind of pick up from him? I picked up the coil, which is one of the biggest principles he talks about, which translates to every motion every sport and for people who are in pain it helped significantly the pain i had and just to do my best to explain it as simple as possible the coil is when we create this tension from the hip up through the

oblique through the lat and so we get as short as we can on one side and so the other side can get as long as possible it's like an extreme lat pull on one side. And so the other side can get as long as possible. It's like an extreme lat pull down with one arm and having the other shoulder go way up. You have to help lengthen it and shorten it even more, right? The longer one side gets, the shorter the other side and vice versa. So when I learned the coil, it started to fix or applying it and integrating it really started to help take away the tension I had in my neck, in my shoulder, in my lower back, in one of my glutes. I started to notice like, oh, my left lat, hip and oblique, they don't connect well. Like if you wanted to pull my elbow, you'd immediately jerk it versus my right side.

I was like, no way, dog. You're not getting there. right side was like no way dog you're not getting there so it was huge for me to meet him because it gave me way more confidence in the way i was moving because i was feeling 10 times better and then the ability to translate that through whether it's a kettlebell a mace or a rope have all been because of a piece of that that that piece of information i was missing he connected a dot that was huge for me. And then seeing Alex Kanellis from Landmine University, who's another good friend of mine,

learning from him, he deepened that sensation with the barbell with me during one of the training sessions because when I first met Weck, I was definitely a bit too high for sure. But I was also just so excited. Well, he understood that. Yeah, I was so excited. I was like, this is insane.

It's my first time meeting people who are like my mentors online I was just so excited. Well, he understood that. I was so excited. I was like, this is insane. It's my first time meeting people who are like my mentors online who I've wanted to connect with forever. So Landmine U helped me also deepen that connection. And the ropes, I also saw when Weck was starting to do the rope flow, and I was following another buddy at the time, Slush Ropes, and CJ, my buddy CJ, Movement Explorer channel, and I started to see them play with the rope. I was like, that looks cool. I think I'll become a better mover

if I do that too. That'll probably make me more mobile, more hand-to-hand coordinated. The neuropathways got me excited, thinking about I've never done that movement before. Gotta catch them all like a Pokemon. I want to feel that. One thing I really love about what you're mentioning right now is the neuropathway thing that you're mentioning.

Because when you do learn something new, or new ways of moving with whatever, you etch a little something into your brain. Like you learn something new. And when you're doing a lot of the same stuff all the time, like don't get me wrong, it's good to do and it's good to move. But like it's good to do things in new ways because all of that will help your global ability to do everything else in the gym. It's made me smarter. I really believe so. I don't read enough books, so they say I don't listen to enough podcasts. But moving in completely new ways all the time has allowed a different type of focus outside the gym too.

I'm more integrated. I'm more on. There's the big baby. Outside the facility too. That's my little pebble. I'm just kidding. It's on. It's a little pebble. I do have one though. How much is that? That is my flex. 202 pounds.

92 kilograms. The kettlebell community would be very upset if they heard pounds first before kilograms. It's cool the way you're saying so connected with that because that size of kettlebell has a tendency to really throw people around. And it feels monstrous

to know like i got that all right i can hold on to it do you feel tight anywhere sometimes but on days that i do i know it's because i've slacked on my recovery i was irresponsible maybe i skipped you know doing release work or seeing someone who does recovery for me. So I do believe when you are going that heavy, you're going to have to have tension built somewhere. Oh, of course. So that comes with it. Like the sandbag stuff I've been doing, same thing. That 200-pound of dead weight, just throwing it on the shoulder, moving with it, that's different.

My body's never felt tension like that. So it's adapting. I can feel it every week when I'm trying new movements, I'm adapting. Yeah. One, one movement where you, you know,

take the, take a sandbag or something like that and you go to shoulder it and just one, you know, odd breath as you go to move. Like you're going to feel those things a lot of times the next day and a little mile faster release or having someone work on you can go a long way knowing how to fix our shit that's the thing right it's like

knowing being aware of it okay cool that's step number one now how do we fix it and so for me I'm still around some of the best coaches in the world I mean even you guys right are incredible coaches athletes you've been around some of the smartest and most intelligent passionate

minds so i utilize those resources um because they support me and i support them so knowing how to unfuck myself is super important i've noticed um that by incorporating new movements and by working on certain things in the gym that when i go and walk or when I go and run, all that stuff makes a lot more sense to me. And I can feel some of the integration. If I simply just am working on trying to activate like a glute medius or something during a particular twist or movement that I'm working on, when I go and run, I can kind of feel that a lot better. And it's easier for me to do like the head or foot principles.

And how much more motivational is that, right? To be a better performer. I don't have to see it in the mirror right now. I can feel it. I'm already feeling like I'm moving better. That's the instant gratification that makes the process fun. So, I mean, I love that for you. And I love that, I hope, for for us all of us yeah it is it

is motivating that's interesting i never really thought about it in those terms you can feel the difference motivating and i'm like i want to go and like test drive this out i want to go and you know play i'm excited to work out because i get to yeah kind of play with it let me ask this you did talk about a little bit but if you can go a little bit deeper on how the skill the rope has been beneficial for you because the rope's so cool because yeah you could take a kettlebell anywhere you could keep a kettlebell at the office or home but the rope's something that's even lighter like you could put that in a backpack and even though the really light ropes like you could just have that with you and if you have a skill with that that that's

it's beneficial but a lot of people when they look at the rope it's just that's just corny right why am i gonna flail around the fucking stupid ass rope right but what's it been for you functional wise i would go back to one the neural pathways the ability to learn a new pattern a new position into the transition so for example you guys probably saw a dragon roll right this is one movement then there's the behind the back sneaks so now the spine is rotating and all these pieces are going together then i have these like tricks that i like to do where it rolls on my neck and i move it throughout my neck so you see like you mills so for shoulder work for spinal rotation for hand-eye coordination for fun for flow you

know there's a million reasons for me I can think about it logically. Like my wrist, my grip, they understand when to release, when to hold on. My hand-eye coordination is through the roof. I know what part of my spine to turn on and where and when. My shoulders are more mobile that I can do these kind of movements behind my back, my wrist. The little things, the fingers, they become smarter. Is that rope? Does that rope have some weight to it? It has a little bit of weight.

I don't know how much, but probably under a pound, like a half a pound, something like that. Yeah, it's kind of nice to have a little weight to it. I love that feedback it gives me. Right. It's the faster you can feel a little bit of the sling of when the weight is pulling you. What are some things you learned from Functional Patterns? Did you do any traditional learning from them? Did you sign up for any of their courses or anything like that or just mainly grabbing some

stuff online i had a friend of mine um and a colleague from ucf who also got his degree in kinesiology who's getting into functional patterns and he really wanted to share it with me very aggressive about sharing it with me and when he started to explain the logic of walking and hey every step is a rep probably should be a quality rep not a shit rep i think about squats if you're doing three bad squats all the time it's going to lead to a problem if the way you're stepping throughout space and time is shit you might feel like shit so when he started to talk about that and showed me some of uh i think i'd done a couple landmine patterns where you step and press um and then i'd done a couple kettlebell patterns very light ones with him like dumbbell patterns

and then i started to feel like just it's also fun to be novice again a natural rhythm it exists there's a structure to it technically um so some of the gate stuff i got was from them or the ideologies not not technically certified or actually registered or anything, but I love what they're about. And I think it's important too. That's cool. I think, I think it's important for people to know like that you don't have to always take courses. Like it's great that people offer things like that. And it's, I would encourage people that want to take a deep dive, sign up for courses and things like that, but there's still so much free information out there.

And you could piece together a bunch of free information. I think you mentioned that you saw some of the stuff from Gota as well and incorporated some of that. But again, probably not. You're not like signing up for courses or going to every seminar they have. You just saw a couple of things online. You're like, hmm, I think I agree with that. I'm going to try it. Or it reconfirms things that we were already trying.

Right. For me, when I saw GoTo do what they're doing, I was like, oh, technically a piece of this I've been doing for years. I didn't know what GoTo was, but I felt it. Right. I felt what they were talking about with the Boeing. So to me, when I saw that confirmation, I was like, oh, cool. So another place to integrate or reconfirm. Or again, like, do I want to keep this in my toolbox?

Do I want to dispose of it? Let me ask this. How do you think personally about your progression as a coach because you are continuing to learn so many things you're applying it to yourself you're applying it to your clients you're not dogmatic though like you're not like it's amazing how you've been able to take ideas and the concepts from these different things from functional patterns go to weck etc and landmine and you mush it all together into some of the things you do and some of the things you practice um but how are you consistently keeping an open mind surrounding myself with people who are like who just stronger than me who are exploring more skill sets than me and i just i need to it's important we're leaders you know we need

to constantly re-evaluate us as people as coaches we got to check ourselves too like it's important to be around others who can check me super important that helps to finding other people who are also extremely non-dagmatic non-dogmatic so i think that's a big piece just kind of surrounding myself with as much of those kind of people like yourselves like even right now like I'm around people who are constantly exploring so it's gonna like today we talked about maybe I will go do jiu-jitsu today I would like that I'm a novice I'm only gonna go if I'm around people who are doing it so even like Pilates yesterday with Ryan like that was my first Pilates session same here like you know that was amazing and so I keep an open mind for sure what about food what do you do from a diet perspective um right now the last like three or four months I dropped I want to say it was like 10 pounds but

from like 194 to I think about 180 ish right now and a perspective flip that happened recently was choosing food instead of food choosing me. And I wanted to feel free when I was eating something, not that I earned this or I got to go make up for it the next day. And noticing that food has been choosing me for the last couple of years for the most part, which accumulated more body fat, that kind of upset me because I was like, man, that's not freedom. That's not me being authentically me. That's me giving into my emotional distresses, and I'm letting my emotions make decisions for me. So when you say food choosing you, you mean like,

what do you mean exactly by that? Can you go deeper? I do my best to do that here because this is still a new journey for me to explain it this way. But ice cream was something I had almost every day or some lots of chocolate i love chocolate so that was something very easy for me to grab is two or three protein bars so before i would just go grab it versus like actually taking time like is this for the function or is this for pleasure and if this is for pleasure how much pleasure have I been having?

Do I want to have too much pleasure? And so starting to examine it like that, is this a pleasure food? If it is, cool. I love that. But is this aligned right now with your goals is to experience just this pleasure? Are you happy with where things are there?

So taking more time to be thoughtful when I made a food decision and still do yeah and like why does this food rule rule over me you know why why can't i you have disciplines in a bunch of other areas and you're like i think i'm pretty badass when it comes to working out like i don't have any problem with that i'm throwing around these kettlebells like i should clean up my diet stop being such a pussy straight up i want to stop being a little bitch that's the point i want to own myself i want to make sure that i can walk the walk all the way and yeah i got to feed myself the best fuel i can still completely working on that journey like i said but i'm getting the hang of it even when i

was in new york i noticed the trend where usually when i hang out with whether new people or old friends I want to indulge with them as much as possible because I love them and I love the moment that's happening and I want to share that through even a bigger sensation which is 3d right like 3d food like feels so good and I started to notice day one I was in New York and I'm eating trash with my buddy who that's what he likes to eat um and I was like man like I not only am I seeing the difference in my body I'm eating trash with my buddy. That's what he likes to eat. And I was like, man, not only am I seeing the difference in my body, I'm feeling more sluggish. I'm not feeling like I'm in control right now. This isn't a full pleasure decision.

This is just me eating out of the love for being with somebody instead of having some real dialogue. Let's have some real conversations, which when I recognized it that day, day two, we connected way more because I had real dialogue with him, my buddy Tom out in New York, the Strength Factory. Shoot him out there. He's a great guy. And yeah, just catching my pattern there where I'm like, man, when I'm around people, I just want to eat or really I just want to connect.

And so I'm going to connect through dialogue or training or something else. Super common. You know, like you meet a friend out and you eat a bunch of pizza or drink. You know, drinking is always kind of associated in there somewhere too for a lot of people. And it just doesn't need to be. Like you're going to see your friend that you haven't seen in a long time. Why can't you just drum up a good conversation? And if you feel like you need alcohol

or food to do it, then I don't know. Maybe it should just be a little question mark. It doesn't mean anything bad. If you want to. That's the truth of it for me right now. Because alcohol is something I've not fully eliminated out of my diet. But sometimes, yeah. Like even yesterday, I had a little glass of tequila

and a joint. And I was like, oh, this is so nice. I'm just chilling. I'm not doing shots every day. This is just a mood. It's a Wednesday. I just got to Sacramento. It's beautiful sunset. I'm with good company.

I'm with good people. I feel safe in the environment. I'm not going to do something to create instability right now. So I think it's a, again, it comes back to a freedom, like balance, right? Do I really want this? And if I do again, it comes back to freedom, like balance, right? Do I really want this?

And if I do, like, cool, because I'm here to be a human too. I'm here to fuck around and find out and party. Because me and my buddy Justin, you guys know, we were talking about like 4D, and we are love. Everyone's love, right? Amazing, amazing.

So we're love, that's great, but I'm here on Earth in 3D to have a good time too, to feel things, to experience pleasure, to experience life. And why not enjoy the suit? Why not enjoy the process of it and exploration of it? Because we're here to do that. That's true. That's why

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Again, eightsleep.com slash powerproject. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. How about, because you have taken the landmine stuff to a pretty decent level. Like you're moving some weight with that, right? How has that helped out? Like what did that help you access? And what have you noticed different about maybe the way you move and the way you handle other things? you access and what have you noticed different about maybe the way you move and the way you handle other things well landmine itself the principles of landmine university which are the

principles of david wex coiling and all that led to a lot of awareness in the lat hips on both sides but it's just made me more powerful i mean it's it's brought me back to that explosive energy as an athlete that i needed to gravitate to again, that aggression, tapping back in. And it's made me stronger in my kettlebell jerks and my snatches and every single thing I do. I'm faster than I've ever been when I go for a full sprint. It's very beneficial for gait, in my opinion, to know when and what limbs go where, the front of the feet,

the back of the feet, all this stuff. Jumping with it made me more explosive too and again it comes back to fun it's fun to get three plates up in the air with that movement I'll do sometimes that's a high, I mean you talk about powerlifting I never got into competitive powerlifting

I never was around it growing up I got my degree in kinesiology I learned a little bit of bodybuilding then I went to explore so I never got too into the powerlifting world but i imagine that same high exists when yeah i just lift a thousand pounds bitch like fuck like not that you're walking around trying to hurt anybody but just with the knowing of i am that strong and that's that's bad it's a good bad you know and so i started to feel that with the landmines again when i started to

put a weight two plates three plates of like damn this is probably what it's like to to live as a powerlifter no wonder they don't want to fucking give up the weight because now you're you can't walk around with like i lift elephants and i can throw you and your man literally with an arm so you know like right now it gives me that energy too like and i never had that growing up that kind of confidence or or in athleticism and in myself. So right now to know that, yeah, three plates I can, whoosh, whoosh, in the middle of the year, I'll land safe. Like I don't fight yet or like at least for practice.

So it's a discipline. Scary if you did. But boy, if I threw a punch, like I would not want to get elbowed on the other side or a punch or something because that explosiveness I know is there. And even the sandbag, like I think I've done a 250-pound sandbag where I get it over shoulder and whatnot. I mean, the weight, the process of getting it up and over. Imagine a 250-pound person, you just throw them over your shoulder.

I feel like a monster. I feel very like, I need that shit. Like it's important to get back into that that state as an animal how often do you mess around with the sandbag stuff generally three to four times a week i mix modality train so i'll have like a sandbag kettlebells landmines maybe something conventional or some kind of conditioning equipment with it sometimes just pick them up and just walk with them literally so this is at zilker park in austin with me and my buddy every uh wednesday we go out there just to fuck around make friends community show them stuff like this more lifestyle kind of things

and so this was something that we were like let's just fuck around and find out and so that was a 200 pound sandbag and then a 20 kilogram kettlebell to see if i could hold the instability and did i have tension the next day yes yes i did did i go get my release done absolutely thank you kristen seriously um and that's what i'm saying like if you're gonna fuck around like just make sure you if you're gonna train like an athlete please recover like an athlete that's the simple way to put that any other recovery methods like hopping in a cold plunge type thing or what else you doing cold plunge i love i used to be doing them daily since I moved to Austin. I probably do it biweekly or once a week.

And it's really for a mental state for me to be completely transparent with you. A way to get still. A way to remember I'm a badass in another way. I can sit still and I can breathe through it. And when I used to do cold plunge, hot plunge together. I don't know if you've ever done the cold plunge and the hot plunge. Yeah, it's like a hot tub right next to it. Oh, my God.

I love it, dude. Like, yeah, when you get the, that's a big high from that blood flow, jumping from the cold plunge and you got nothing, and then into the hot plunge, the blood just flows everywhere. It's a fun feeling. So I really enjoy that. Saunas are cool. I spend a lot of time doing myofascial

release on myself, unless I can find a consistent rhythm with another person. I might go see Oscar tomorrow. What kind of tools do you use for myofascial release? Foam roller, sometimes. Lacrosse ball's big. I need something that's generally pretty aggressive. I like the Solrite 2 for the

hips. Mac, a buddy of mine, that's a good guy, created the Soulrite. And that's for the most part. It's kind of in seeing other people. There's no better way than having somebody else do the work, in my opinion, who you can build a consistent relationship with. Like training, right? It's like I really know your body.

I can tailor the experience accordingly. So having a body worker, I'm in the middle of finding that rhythm again. Gotcha. Breathwork's there too. Breathwork does help yeah how do you use that just taking even deep breaths between this conversation helps just taking deep breaths in the middle of a kettlebell transition holding a position taking a couple deep breaths just slows you down and as you practice even conscious breathwork which i've only done a handful of times where I've sat still and just went through inhales and exhales with a rhythm with some guidance on the other side, it was AirPods. But that helped me release a lot of tension, just being and noticing, letting my body melt into the ground with the breathing.

I know some of you guys already know, but we did an episode with Justin Lovato, and he has a guided breathwork routine. That's the one I did. That's the one you did? Yeah. Amazing. It's life-altering for me. Yeah, no, I send Justin messages all the time. Yeah, no, that breathwork stuff is cool.

I've had the most psychedelic experiences through that than through actual psilocybin. Incredible. It's just so wild to me. I know. That's so cool. And the. Which is so wild to me. I know. That's so cool. And the cool thing is it's like, it wasn't like a one-time thing. It wasn't like a one-off. It was like every single time for like the first like 10 times I did it,

I had, I came back with something like, holy shit, like I'm going to implement this or that, or I have like a cool story to tell somebody like every single time. It was really cool. And then since then it's, it's mellowed out for sure. But that's what Justin said. He was like, it, you know, when you know, when you enter this realm or whatever, it will help you as long as you need help. And then once you kind of work through things, it's like you're good.

Like you can kind of chill out and go like. You can always come back. Yeah, you can go into the world with what we've given you. And if you need help, you can always come back. And it's just like the most amazing thing ever. I love that for you. I appreciate that. most amazing thing ever. I love that for you. I appreciate that. Um, when it comes to, uh,

like mental health type stuff, uh, I think you mentioned recently that you went through a breakup. Um, how has fitness helped keep you kind of grounded and, um, has it helped you in the past with, uh, mental health? Uh, just doing something that disciplines us, something that grounds us over and over again, knowing that that's me. I always have my back. And just because I feel low doesn't mean I need to act low. So for example, if I have, you know, whether it was a death or any kind of transition that's tough, that creates, you know, lower vibrations, quote unquote, like I'm not going to stop training. That makes me feel good. I'm not going to only play music that makes me feel good. I'm not going to only play music that makes me feel sad. Then I'm going to keep feeling sad.

So fitness has always been something where I come back to me. I know I'm great at it. I love it. I always feel better for it. And so I haven't stopped in 10 years. I can't. Also, have you always been a, you seem like a very sociable person. You seem like someone who likes to make a lot of friends and connections.

Have you always been that way, or is that something that you started doing a little bit later? I've always loved people. When I think about when I was a child, I did go up to older people and would just chat and explore. And even the kids, I was pretty playful. And that got in my head for sure from probably middle school through almost half of college most of college and finding flow and a lot of these practices really helped me pull pull my head out of my ass it brought me back to like man people are here to connect with not i'm not an npc character here to walk my whole life just fucking doing the motions there's

main characters everywhere and it's a way more fun game right like life's a video game in that sense like it's a way more fun game when you find your team to go on quests with and to do fun things with. And so I really picked that up as I got into personal training and meeting and connecting with individuals. And when I owned a gym, my facility for four years, you've got to build relationships. It needs to be who you are.

It's got to be a truth of who you are so yeah I think I've always been pretty social but the last I'd say 10 years and 7 years especially in training has made me way more confident just getting to know people on an interpersonal level personal training we start to realize we're all the same

we're all fucking freaks we're all weird in our own ways and everyone's just doing their best to get by. So I'm always down to connect with someone. When you're working with somebody that is in pain, like let's just use back pain as an example. Some of these coiling movements and stuff can be painful. How do you talk somebody through and convince them to trust

that their body can handle these movements because i know for me personally whatever it was it's like oh my back's gonna stop me before i even try you know so like how do you go about convincing them that they're like their body is capable i believe they need to convince themselves so just guiding them through potentially different stuff like for example maybe coiling does make them hurt. Who am I to tell them their pain is not valid? So maybe we start with release work. Maybe we start with getting rid of some of the inflammation around the area, and now you feel a little pain relief, so now you have hope.

If you have a little hope, now you trust me a little more. Hey, Karen, yeah, I need you to fucking walk. I need you to squat, whatever karen yeah i need you to fucking walk and you just squat whatever it is i need to rotate like they they're probably more prone to listening when the pain starts to go down so i always address pain first when someone mentions it to me because i believe if we don't and a lot of the industry and trainers ignore this is they'll hear like oh my knee hurts okay cool get 10 more squats if we don't listen to the person in front of us like what the hell are we doing that's not being a leader it's not guiding it's not coaching so start with the addressing pain and make sure that they're heard yeah uh

what if somebody just simply wants to get jacked would you still recommend like some of this flow work kettlebells and landmines and that sort of thing i think it can play a role i don't think it should be your main sauce only i think having structure is super important so for example for me right now i'm working on staying lean putting on a little more size but staying extremely fluid so i don't flow like flip and flow five days a week or i used to when i was younger a few years ago now i'm only doing that maybe twice a week um maybe three times a week if somehow it comes down to it like on Wednesdays doing that Zilker Park thing with Justin um that's a way to keep me accountable to play because else I get too lost in like the very aggressive lifts and that starts to translate in life sometimes uh yeah and I don't always need that aggression that energy all the time i just

want to be able to access it yeah it's kind of it's really cool kind of how you you kind of described it earlier in the podcast like some of those heavier things may get you feeling a little bit tight but those other days where you're getting the flow it's like you're working out but decompressing to get you ready again for those heavy days and am i butchering that or is that seems to be kind of how you look at it that is how i look at it yeah it'll it'll like for example on a day we were showing with the crazy kettlebell stuff sandbag super heavy the next day i might not start off with flipping i might start off with a very light kettlebell 8 kg to 12 kg and start doing some light flows into cosec squats into 90 90s kind of what you saw me doing earlier in the gym today before the flipping.

I was just getting my body to decompress. Gotcha. Yeah, so I do feel better generally after and sometimes I can get a great lift in. And originally I was like, oh man, I'm fucked up today a little bit. Slow down and then I'll do that and I'm ready to go. Right now I know you're looking in the mirror.

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20% off your order. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. Fucking hell. You mentioned you didn't really like the gym. What was kind of your first exposure to the gym and why do you think you didn't like it? I want to say it was basketball. One of my weight training coaches. And they didn't show us how to do it.

You know, I think when we are not confident at whatever we're doing, we don't want to go keep doing it. So not knowing why I was doing leg press, even though it's not going to make me jump higher really. Is that really jumping off two legs like that? I don't know. All these things, they didn't create the intention for it. What's the logic of it?

What's the why? They just said, go do it. And so that really took the fun out of learning. So that was one. I sucked at it at the time. So that was two. I didn't want to keep doing it. So that was the beginning exposure, sadly, looking back at it.

Wow, great question. I didn't think about that in a long time. I didn't like it so much. And then what got you kind of back into it? What do you think it was? Well, after high school, I stopped playing basketball at age 17 competitively. And for a couple years, I accumulated a lot of body fat. And I just was not feeling great about me or my body.

And, you know, I was thinking 19 or 20. I was like, I'm not getting with any girls. Everybody else is getting with everybody. Like, what the hell is going on? Everyone's in shape. I'm not. This must be the answer else is getting with everybody. Like, what the hell is going on? Everyone's in shape. I'm not. This must be the answer. And so my ego really drew me back to the gym.

I can honestly tell you that. I was like, I need six-pack abs today, tomorrow, please, now. It's going to change everything for me. In a lot of ways, yeah. You know, it got me into the door. You know, we talked about earlier, you know, get you off the couch. Bar stars, right? We talked about earlier, know get you off the couch bar stars right we talked about earlier bar stars pull-ups crazy like gymnastics looking stuff yeah that's something that

made me want to try new fun training like make me feel badass be lean right but then also a being i wanted to get with women and if that's going to do it having six-pack abs if i think that's the way i went to go follow that way and it was at the answer sometimes just depends yeah um so i would say like that's what kind of drew me back in and then i took a health and wellness course my sophomore year at a commuter school i was going at a miami-dade college community college and we started to learn about physiology and i started to look at like my forearms and the way fibers work and i was was like, oh, this is applicable now. I can integrate the information today, tomorrow. And so I decided to go for a degree in kinesiology. And that really, I would say, expanded my journey on the exploration of going into the gym

and feeling my pec muscles actually move when I bench. Like that's what I'm looking to do. I actually feel my biceps squeeze, my lats. Do you have any tools at home that you keep? Well, you're in Austin, but what do your habits outside of the gym look like? Coal plunge, for sure, when I can. Right now I'm looking for that rhythm and Austin being new to it, but lately being going to Barton Springs out there,

hanging out in the sun a lot. Movement will happen usually twice a day if it's very intensive or it's light. Hang out in the sun a lot movement will happen usually like twice a day if it's very intensive or it's light hang out with my dog a lot uh i watch some some cartoons i eat a lot of poke a lot of poke thank you poke works atx delicious the first athlete you know poke sponsors it um but i eat a lot ofé. I'm enjoying right now traveling and meeting other enthusiasts or coaches, people in the space. And even living their life a little bit for a few days is really fun, kind of seeing the mirrors of their gyms, the people that come into their doors. And I've been enjoying a lot of that too. Content creation I enjoy.

You have like a kettlebell at your house, like next to your bed or something like that? Yeah. Or you pick it up and swing it around? I have a kettlebell in my car at all times. I do. And I have a kettlebell. I have multiple kettlebells at home. I haven't really used them, but they are sitting there for sure.

Have you done that for a while now? Like have you had kind of a kettlebell or some sort of access to working out close by that's something other than just a gym yeah i'd say when i opened up my studio and i started to get more tools at the time my training spot gym i just started to have a tool always with me a mace a rope a kettlebell just in case i wanted to go do it yeah it's kind of nice just to walk outside backyard and just start moving yeah right start feeling good i don't need to go to the gym i love going to the gym there's a competitive like when you go to the right places and right environments there's a good energy for it so for me when i go to on it like hell yeah i'm here to

perform there's high performers here there's athletes here who are pushing their shit that's gonna enhance my vibration and my workout seeing other animals get after it if you will so but also sometimes i don't want to be around people yeah and i understand my my clientele some of them and my friends and family who's like they don't either so having that option at home is beautiful it's no excuse that way yeah um so i have one more question but before i ask that where can people find you and like everything about you on instagram at the crazy trainers my handle and that's kind of majority of our keep my life right now it looks like okay and in austin texas and on it that's

what i was going to ask actually what's it like you know being around on it because like we were talking before like before i came to super training like i was such a huge fan of aubrey marcus on it you know i i drove out there to visit just because i was a big fan um you being able to just train there and and there, like what's that like? Right now it's been incredible. I believe they're in a state of connection and rebuilding their community and nurturing it, solidifying it. They're reinvesting in the facility.

I see the equipment's upgrading. Murals are beautiful. There's new flooring, new turf. So new cold plunges. Nissan on here selling them. But it does come down to they're really building a lifestyle facility, a lifestyle community. So they're doing a fantastic job. And then even other colleagues, trainers, they're higher standard than where I'm used to being around.

I don't usually see someone who's as invested, in my opinion, on the person that's in front of them as they should be. So being in that environment and being around more class acts, if you will, more leaders, it's happening there. Even the individuals coming there as clients, I'm brand new, but I'm super fascinated with half of their stories, let alone how much they actually love the space and the people in there, how vocal they are about like what it's done for them. So as someone who used to own a facility, and honestly, I made the training spot in

a way it was influenced by a company like on it had unconventional training, it had superheroes, right? It had like your superheroes, the Avengers, like, I was like, man, like, I want to build that version in Orlando. And so being at the vision that I was you know building in Orlando and being in it it feels incredible yeah I think you mentioned that Aubrey Marcus bought it back huh correct that's really cool yeah so that to me was big too that shows it to me he's why he's investing back into it community always wins the support the

people they have to come first to like it's weird we have to come first but we