Mark Bell's Power Project - Tait Fletcher: The Mandalorian, Importance of Self Belief & Lessons from Martial Arts || MBPP Ep 926

Episode Date: May 1, 2023

In this Podcast Episode, Tait Fletcher, Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza talk about Tait's experience playing the role of Paz Vizsla on The Mandalorian and some of the life lessons that can be learned through martial arts.  Follow Tait on IG: https://www.instagram.com/taitfletcher   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://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://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/powerproject to save 15% off Vivo Barefoot shoes!   ➢ https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off site wide including Within You supplements!   ➢ https://mindbullet.com/ Code POWERPROJECT for 20% off!   ➢ https://bubsnaturals.com Use code POWERPROJECT for 20% of your next order!   ➢ https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order at Vuori!   ➢ https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro at 8 Sleep!   ➢ 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

you're in star wars yeah that it's hard to know that when you're inside of the huge deal and then you're like always taught to like don't think too much of yourself man this is just the job just move on like that's and somebody one of the actors or the director goes well what do you think happens here after this and that and he goes yeah well i don't know he goes i think you guys are going to run through it and you'll film it and you'll feel it out and you'll find out and something will emerge and that's art power project family we have an awesome podcast for you guys are going to run through it and you'll film it and you'll feel it out and you'll find out and something will emerge. And that's art. Power Project family, we have an awesome podcast for you guys today.

We had Tate Fletcher, who is the founder and co-owner of Caveman Coffee, along with being an actor. He recently had a role of Paz Vizsla in Disney's The Mandalorian. And we talked all things from Grogu, his character, Paz Vizsla, more Grogu, how he developed self-belief and a lot of his work in the stunt industry. You guys are going to enjoy this one. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, we would appreciate it if you left us a rating or review because that helps the podcast grow. And if you're watching this on YouTube, subscribe. 44% of you guys want to subscribe, so subscribe to the channel. And I hope you guys enjoy this amazing episode with Tate fletcher well i got a really serious question for you all right have you ever had to change baby yoda's diapers oh no well no um his name's grogu mark grogu there we go thank you and i think that how old parents should do that oh how old is grogu

i think it's inconsequential you said parents we we don't do you know the parents because we haven't seen the parents on the show yet well everybody has parents well grogu has parents yeah but who are they we don't know we maybe yoda he has two parents he has more than one parent i'm not not sure how. I'm not even. What's the phylum that he's from? Do we know? Do we know anything about his species? That's what we're trying to ask you.

Well, I don't know if they just have. I don't know if they need to have one. You've been to some of these planets. I know. How is he on set? I don't pay attention to a lot, and it's hard to see everything in the helmet, and they're so little. It's easy to be, you know, they're inconsequential in that way. How much does he weigh?

Do you know how much he weighs? When you pick him up, like, what does he feel like? Is it a three pound? About three pounds, three and a half pounds. Three and a half pounds? How green is he? Like, you could do like jab training with him, you know, just to hold him as a weight. He knows how to throw a punch. He doesn't even need to. Oh, wow. He can have somebody else throw a punch

for him. He does use the force, Mark. Yeah. Has he ever made you levitate? No, but I dream about it sometimes. Have you seen him changing, getting ready for a shot or something? Yeah, I've seen him with no pants on. I've seen him with the robe pulled up. Well, okay. Is that okay if he's a baby?

He's 52 years old. How is he a 52-year-old baby? Well, they age differently, right? Yeah. Does he eat baby food? He's a slow grower. It's like a dog? Like Groku years?

Well, he only likes to eat primal, really, is his preference. He follows the liver king. I mean, he's not going to go and have like goldfish crackers. He's like, I'm going to have a whole koi. Yeah. You did see him levitating frogs before. So he likes to eat those things whole. Oh, okay.

So you've seen him at craft service. Yeah. And he gets distracted easily. Wow. And then he sees a water cooler and he's thinking maybe there's going to be something in there. Does he have ADHD or is it just because he's a baby? It's go, go, go. You know, and also you're hungry a lot.

I mean, how hungry is he being that small and he has to grow and he's got a brain like that and he has to navigate the force. He's not going to grow that much though, right? No, no, internally. To grow the chutzpah for his to have better. Oh, like the manifestation of who he's going to become. So the force doesn't hurt him. You know, the force will wear him out right now.

So we got to build that resilience. He has the force within him now. Right. But he doesn't have the, he can't hold the space for it yet without getting very tired is he as mean on set as i've heard it's not mean he just doesn't look at you much it's just like it okay you know you're not considered but he's got other things on his mind that's true is he kind of like a like a know-it-all it's just hard you know you're there and it's like katie sackhoff's there and Carl Weathers. There's like real human people around and nobody gives a shit because Grogu is looking at himself in a pond.

And then there's just – you're wondering what's going on over there. Oh, it's – yep. It's that. Oh, everyone's crowded around him all the time. I'll just wait. Not that anybody wants attention in Hollywood, but people have feelings about it. Does he lift? Mentally.

He does a lot of mental weights. Yeah, mental calisthenics, mental judo. How is he with – He's very good at that. Like jujitsu and stuff. Have you ever – Never comes up for him. Okay.

Yeah, he tries to have no contact, which is probably safest. Well, yeah, he got inside that robot. That was pretty smart. Pretty good. Yeah. I mean, I promise you the whole show is not going to be about him. We're going to do that to him right i want is he here i'm wait wait did you bring did you bring him with you he's gonna wait in the car no way he's in the car sorry can i get his email see if he wants to we'll talk later okay maybe yeah maybe maybe we can do a facetime

something like that hey i'm cool with that okay Okay. I'm curious. Is he fast? Fast. Because he like – Like verbally? No, like running. Like I've seen him jump around pretty good, but is he like pretty quick? I mean I would say in a straight line better than the jumps. I was worried about some of the jumps when he was evading in the hallway and he's jumping up on the girders.

He's doing his own stunts. For sure. Wow. You can verify that. He does. Okay. Because I was worried about that. That's impressive.

He almost got smashed by those Praetorian guards. Remember that? That was close call. Yeah. Very close call. How good is he? I mean, that gave me – with Mando. I was glad that – I was glad he needed help.

Yeah. Let's just say that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And Little Grogu did handle him well. He did. He really did.

Have you felt the force from him? Like you're just sitting down, you're eating in between scenes and stuff. I try to stay away. I don't want him to get in my head like that. Oh. Yeah. Because you've seen him manipulate other people that way. Oh, for sure.

I mean, the whole show is about him. He's going to probably have Mando killed off and have his own show. This is going to be... Holy shit. Right?

I mean, imagine, just think about it. Have you spoken to... You've seen child stars before. You've seen how this goes. They're all the same. They're all the same. Right?

When is his Charlie Sheen moment? I don't know. 10, 15 years? I mean, things look good now. Could be just a boatload of rock and Grogu. We don't know. And, 15 years. I mean, things look good now. Could be just a boatload of rock and Grogu. We don't know. And the only thing he's been saying is, that's all he's been doing. He knows how to talk.

I can't wait until he finds language. That's going to be amazing. It's going to be great. Have you spoken to his agent? I haven't. Okay. I'm curious who represents him. Yeah.

I think all I know is Mando. I think that's his full representation wow yeah so what's been going on with you sir how has mandalorian been for you it's been crazy it's hard to know what's real you know it's like uh you're in star wars yeah that's the thing right it's like you know here's the thing about all i can say is congratulations thank you thank you it's like a privilege to do it and to wear the weight of it. Like I felt super good about the result. I was real proud of it because I, you know, when I went to a first convention and you see the nature of Star Wars fans in that universe and how attention to detail oriented,

everything has to be right. Like you want to do that. You want to do it honor. You want to stand up straight in that. And I was really happy about the result of it. I thought it was dope to do. And then I get in this thing, people like, this is this huge deal.

This is da, da, da, da. And it's hard to know that when you're inside of the thing, inside of the huge deal. And then you're like always taught to like don't think too much of yourself, man. This is just the job. Just move on. Just keep it together and all that.

But it's like one of my friends, he's like, dude, take a minute. This is fucking cool. Take a minute. And just to let it – I don't know. To me, it's like everybody's's though it's like that's such a love character and then all the love that came afterwards i was like this is like a this is such a group effort and i gotta say that too about it it's a group effort for me um you know without without uh tom o'connell and jeremy uh fitzgerald to to to help me with that it's like they they

helped carry the weight of that suit and and present paz and and uh i was really happy with what they did the people that made the suit at legacy tremendous creatives and then also to be able to um you know work and articulate around your body and to make something that's so formidable that movement uh ease and comfort was how cool was it that you're the like hugest guy on the show it's cool man it was dope i mean it's i didn't know what it was going to be you know when i when i looked at the uh at the bags that my underarmor is in you know because you're just your base layer is that and it just says uh heavy bounty hunter that's all they knew about the character then we like in

season we didn't know anything not the people that are making it nothing and so it's it's this unfolding of it was really cool. Like at the final, at season one or season three when I came in and I talked to John the first day I saw him and he goes and he lays it out. He lays out the spoiler for me. He goes, here's how it's going to run down. And I was like, whew. And so it was like trying to hold that and then put it behind me to kind of go through because that was months before we filmed that i mean six months or something yeah and uh and and and to

walk that and see where it was going it just built excitement and excitement excitement and then when we finally filmed the the final scene um and then go okay it's going to come out you know next year like i don't know if i can all right and then it's just that and then next thing you know it's three weeks till and they're like holy shit and then when it came out that opening scene it just it captivated me as a fan because you film it and it's all one thing when you're there on the day and you're like the first day i walk out onto that beach and you see all these mandos and little mandos the adorable little mandos on my their little helmets and just like oh my god this is amazing you know

I mean the first teaser I get I go and see where all the props are and there's like 50 helmets lined up and I'm like this is dope you know because it's like the world is getting fleshed out like you want it to as a fan you know you're

like oh and I want to see all these representations of what this is I must have felt weird because you must have been like like this so exciting like I representations of what this is. I must've felt weird. Cause you must've been like, like this is so exciting. Like I'm in this, this is like, and kind of make you half nervous too.

You don't have a reflection of yourself though, because you're not in a mirror. You're not looking, there's not, it's like, and so they're in that too. If people are like, how do you perform inside the suit?

You know? And it's like, you need help with that too, because you don't know how a little head tilt reads. Yeah. So unless I have different people that are going, Oh no, a little less, this a little more chin up, you know, you don't know how a little head tilt reads yeah and so unless i have different people that are going oh no a little less this a little more chin up you know you don't really know and uh and especially with light reading the helmet and the reflections and all that

yeah um you said that uh john favreau sound like he laid out the whole thing is that uh is that normal like have you worked with him before is that normal for him or is that uh standard with some other directors you worked with before? Yeah. The only time I got the pleasure of working with John was on Avengers and I just had a few days on there. But like what I felt from that, from being on other movie sets was that everybody was cool. Like not that everybody's not cool but like the kindness and the there's sometimes there's guys that are yelling there's people that are trying to get shit done all this stuff right yeah

um or people that are like wanting to show how much they care so they throw a fit instead of actually just taking care you know there's there's there's all of it right but there's not on his sets like it's just cool or else it's like, hey, thanks a lot for your work today. We'll see you later. Call you if you need you. And it's like that. And I really appreciate that standard. And I felt that as soon as I walked onto Mando, John's the same way. And what's different about him too is that he'd come up.

I never had a guy that was like, he's an EP and he's the director. He's a creator. And he's there every morning to talk the cast through, hey, here's what I was thinking here, and da-da-da-da-da, and what do you think about that flown in? Does that jive with it? And we're having, there's six or eight of us

that are in a conversation about this every morning. I mean, it was magic, dude. I've never had that before, where you have that kind of interaction, you have that kind of communication, and that kind of communication is usually where shows break down, and people are like, I can't believe what a shit show this is.

It's usually because people don't communicate very well and nobody knows each other's desires or timetables and this and that. And so, but not there. It was like the efficiency was something else at the highest level. Yeah, it was a real masterclass for me. Yeah, having a leader like that's got to be, make everything that much more exciting. Totally, totally. And then he can get ramped up and excited. And Filoni is just – he's just mellow. Just like, oh, well, I think it's – and then the allowance with that too.

There was a time when we were talking and somebody, one of the actors or the director goes, well, what do you think happens here after this? And he goes, yeah, well, I don't know. He goes, I think you guys are going to run through it, and you'll film it, and you'll feel it out, and you'll find out, and something will emerge. And that's art. And so here's a guy that created it, that's seen it in his mind,

and that's going, I want you to present it this way. And then he's going, no, no, no, the magic will be when you guys figure it out in the moment. And I'm like, that's cool, man. Because a lot of times you can think, I have to be fastidious about art. I have to make sure all the angles are correct. Fastidious? You know what I mean?

What does that mean? I have to take care of all the details with like an OCD kind of thing to where I don't move. You can get frozen inside of that. And then it can look clunky. But he goes, to do all the work, lay it all down with that kind of precision, and then take your hands off of it and just let it come, whatever's going to come. And I thought that was a real learning point, you know,

because you want to grip things. It's hard to let things be as hard. hard, and to let something just come is hard. I mean it's like coming onto a podcast and going, okay, I want to direct it and I want to talk like this. You can't have a podcast like that. You know what I mean? It's just – it's not a thing. And so it's that kind of allowance which I think is so special to notice

because I think you can easily think, am I doing it, am I getting it wrong? Or, you know, you could get hypercritical and it's like, there's no flow in that. And I like that on a big corporate level, Jon Favreau creates a place

where you can have flow in your work, which is dope. You know, I love The Mandalorian and I really like Star Wars, but I'm not as deep into it as a lot of fans,

but I do watch YouTube videos and it is crazy. The way you're talking about like Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, like the fans love those dudes. So it's really cool to see like you've had personal experience with them and you can see why people trust these guys with Star Wars so much. Yeah. It's fucking awesome. Yeah.

And the kindness that's there, it's really cool. Yeah. Well, did you have to like, for the part of Paz Vizsla, did you just get that part because you were already in it from the beginning or were there, was there competition for that specific part? So I walked in, into the casting agent, which is this little house on Larchmont and it's the usual suspects, right? it's the usual suspects, right? So it's like there's lanes in the stunt world and in the performing world of guys. Okay, he can do that. Like Scott Adkins, he's a great actor

and he can do all the business, right? Or whatever. Like you can look at Michael Jai or something. You can look at a lot. There's a lot of guys that you could point to like that, right? And so there's those guys that are in that realm that can do the business and that can act. A lot of guys that are great stunt performers that can do all the business, they're like, I'm not saying – and so you get in these different lanes and like there's guys that are –

OK, here's guys that are over 200 pounds or whatever that are da-da-da-da-da. So there's a half dozen there. So you know kind of who it is, right? It's like one of us is but we don't know why we're there and so then we just go read i think we all read for the alpha trawler and then um which was the opening scene in season one and uh and then all i know is that after that two days later i get a call and they say favreau saw your audition and i was geeked out i was like favreau saw my god damn and then uh he

goes he wants to play this other part I said okay and he says okay go to legacy get the email go to legacy effects and all that and then I see his Lucasfilms on the bottom of the email I'm like what am I doing right now like what is this right yeah and uh and I go out there and they've got the shape of water guy that is the big step they I mean they've done all these things modern warfare guys are coming out of the ceiling and there's darth vader and stormtroopers that are coming they're nine feet tall functional on a set you know and that iconic and so i'm just like what somebody's carving a dinosaur leg and in order wax right you're looking at all these artists a room full it's always like you're it's like a warehouse of artists and all of their,

here's all of our great things that we, you know? And so then I go into a room, they go, okay, just put on the under armor and lock your bag and shit in there and come out. So then I'm in a room. If there was a wall here, it's about this big and there's like 12 people in there and they're measuring every bit, every, everywhere. And I go, what are we doing? You know? And they go, well, another guy was going to do this. And then he got busy and they, john had pulled you in and the big thing is if your

head fits this helmet because we already made the helmet like okay cool and so you know 15 15 minutes later a helmet comes in and it's a flat black boba fett looking helmet and i go oh my boba fett right now like what is going on because all i hear is it's a bounty hunter show good lord and i was like that's the coolest thing i ever saw it was dope i i wish there were flat black mandos like it's a dope look um so anyway we we go through it and we build that for the next couple months yeah and i go back periodically as they progress and um and then the opening day, you know, when I wear it and go out on set,

before we do that, it's this exposure party. Like, we're going to have to go and present you to all the Disney execs and the people at the toy place and da-da-da. You're going to go take pictures for all the poses for the toys that he's going to do. And I was like, this is insane. And so it's just like a different lane

than I'd ever been in in film, you know, for all the, like, never played a character where they're like, yeah, we're going to make an action figure of him. Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah. It's intense. Did you have a traditional like acting background or you got into stunt stuff first? Yeah, I did.

When I was a kid, I did some performance stuff but like pre-11 years old probably. And I was really into Charlie Chaplin back then. I was like a real hero. Him and Buster, like these guys that were action and storytelling at the same time were just phenomenal to me. And they were silent films and all that. And I would go to the museum because my mom was an artist and she would set up these community events. artist and she would set up these community events and so i would sit in the basement of the museum and i'd watch these charlie chaplin and um and and buster films and and just be tripped out and so then years later and then i just you know the way life when it seemed unrealistic right

that i'm ever going to be in a movie like i'm a kid from michigan and it's like i life's what it is i don't see anybody writing books or being in movies around it's not what happens and so i just i never really thought of it as a route, right? I didn't have much belief. You know, I didn't have any confidence in that way. I thought I want to try to make it work in this life. And I don't know that that's possible because I see a lot of people not, right? And I had this empathy in that way where I just thought this is a cold motherfucker,

this life in some ways. And I don't, you know, i don't you know i don't know and it seems like everybody's got their back against the wall and they're and seems sketchy right and so life goes on and i'm working at a nightclub and uh in santa fe new mexico and um and i just started competing like as an amateur and i'd travel all over the country to go compete wherever i could go compete. I would go fighting. Yeah. Like jujitsu,

submission wrestling. Oh shit. And prior to that, like I was, I was working out. I didn't travel much for it. I'd go to Hermosa beach sometimes, but I fought with a group called the dog brothers,

which is an international stick fighting group. And, uh, I was just going to say like, is this some like back alley type of stuff? Like a limousine picks you up. So, so,

so the, it's an invite only deal. It's a, it's a Kumite. Yeah. Um see. It's a kumite. Two guys, Arlen Sanford and then top dog, they call him Eric Knauss. And Mark Denny is a third. And Mark was a lawyer and wrote it all up. Fighting with sticks.

Imagine that. And they fought at an international stick fighting thing in L.A. Arlen came from Santa Fe and fought Eric and they took first and second. He goes, I'm not satisfied that when you came across that I would still be able to come in. Those are just points because we're so armored that it's hard to read, right? And so Eric says, how would you like to come over to my house in Long Beach for the weekend? You're not leaving until Monday and we can work some stuff out. And Arlen's like, yeah, let's do that.

So they put on batting gloves and they put on a fencing mask and then they fight and break a couple fingers and get knocked out and they learn more. And they start this credo, higher consciousness through harder contact. The higher the consequence, the greater the rub, right? I mean – but it gets – as it goes up, it fractionates. And so that's where I began. I started a real passion towards who are you under these conditions? And when this is what matters, who is it that shows up? What self are you defending?

You know, when a stick's whizzing by your head type of thing. up what self are you defending you know when a stick's whizzing by your head type of thing yeah and um and it was the first time i really felt where i'd done i'd done a lot of things before i'd been like in a flow state feeling like that but i didn't know i thought it was like accidental when i fought the first guy i fought uh mike kibitz they call him dogzilla and i just seen tapes of him he was a marine uh lineman in football. And then he was a screw in a penitentiary out in Hawaii, I guess, like a federal joint. And he's this big monster of a dude. I've just seen him run dudes down, you know, and I'm a kid. I'm like, and Arlen's, I'm there with Arlen. It's the first fight ever. And he goes, Hey, what's up, Mike? How you doing?

He goes, cool. He says, here's Tate. Oh, cool. Cool. And he just kind of ignores me. And I don't know. He goes, he's never had a fight before. He'd be a good first fight for him and uh he goes who trains him he goes i train him he goes i'm not fighting him just like that that's how arlen's name is like arlen is a hammer he's like lead with power let's go doesn't need to be fancy we lost a lot of the martial part when it got too artsy yeah and so he was that kind of guy and motherfuckers were scared of him because a lot of people would try to be really artsy and a big overhand caveman would change a lot of the way people felt about things. I can search for stick fighting. Yeah.

Dog brothers. Probably. They do it in a gym now, I think. But we used to fight in a park in Humboldt Beach and guys would get lawn chairs like there'd be 200 people that would circle up and there'd be 20 guys that came to fight And it'd be like being at a dance and going, hey, do you want to go next? And then we'd go tell Mark, hey, we're going to go next. I'd be like, nope. And it was like that. And it was a trip.

You paid a couple hundred bucks? No. No, this is for fun and for free. This is fun and for free. This is experience. This is love of the game, right? And it was like, and who are you? And then also, that was Eric, I think.

I just saw him for a second, but I think that was Eric Canals. So how do you know when somebody loses? Do they just like, stop, stop, stop? Oh, yeah. And so if you get a clean shot, too, it stings. You can get hit on the top of your arm, and it bruises instantly underneath. It just transfers. I've seen guys get hit across the thigh where the skin swells soises instantly underneath right it just transfers i've seen guys

get hit across the thigh where the skin swells so much that it splits right away just from the swelling right and so arlen was great about it and he goes listen when you get hit with this stick that's mark denny um when you get hit with this stick it's gonna hurt that's eric and he's a powerhouse he's like six six and uh i hit him once with the best shot ever right across the inside of his thigh he was opened up i went low crack start i could see the mark instantly and he just looks at me he goes nice shot and that's what arlen would say he's like you got to put the pain somewhere else yeah or the pain's going to direct where this goes and you can deal with that later and so like that whole thing about this idea about put discomfort aside,

it was like during those expenditures were the only times where I really was faced with that kind of stuff where there is that high of consequence. And if you are thinking about something else, now you're unconscious. So you better discipline your mind to think about the task at hand. And so it was like, people look at fighting, but it's like I gained so much in those kinds of ways from it. You know? I mean, my whole view of life is through jujitsu really fancy man dang do you think like okay because i would assume maybe you already are good at dealing with pain at this point in your

life but like having to learn how to deal with this type of pain especially for you getting into stunt work later i feel like it probably helped out yeah i'm not sure i mean it's the thing you know i started learning early on like are you hurt or are you injured and those are different things right the one thing we're going to get more ongoing damage the other thing is just uncomfortable let's go and you don't always know you know i've been i mean truly injured and i thought let's just go because you i mean that's the mindset you build but i think that there's more benefit in that than there is i ran too hard down the road you know how fitting that you were wearing a helmet for that you know right and then you ended up in this

helmet if you know what i mean like it fits you then you got the role yeah me and isaac we used to fight when we first met arlen we fought it was like 40 days we had a training before we went to the first gathering but isaac and I must have fought each other eight times a day. We would fight all the time. I worked in his nightclub. We had a big disco ball and we had a, I think it was like a 2,000 square foot dance floor. It's a big dance floor. And we would

go because we had to wait. The bouncers had to wait until everybody counted their money out at the end of the night. So we're sitting around in there and so I'm like, anytime we can train, let's train. And so we'd bring sticks in. I would get other bouncer. All my bouncer are like all these tough guys, but nobody tests. It's not like now where there's jiu-jitsu guys.

You're like, we can find out what's true right now. You know what I mean? But these guys are like, I don't know. Okay. And so then I'd get all these guys into stick fighting. Arlen's like, how do you get all these other training partners? Because the only reason he wanted to train me is so he could hit somebody with a stick. You know what I mean? It's like, it's hard to find

somebody to train, you know, to train sticks with. And so he's like, so excited. He's like, I bring Isaac, I bring Pat, I bring Vic, and we're all fighting under disco lights at night, at three in the morning, you know, waiting for the bartenders to change and that's how they got turned on to it. Yeah, it was dope. It was a fun time.

But I like that. There's truth there. You know, and that's the thing, is like to it. Yeah, it was dope. It was a fun time. Oh, man. But I like that. There's truth there. And that's the thing is like I'm always like, what's the nature of truth and what is that? And what's the nature of life in that way? And if we don't have these wellsprings of truth, how do we come from it? And if I'm over here deluded about who I am,

let's find out. Let's put yourself in a position where you really find out. And that's kind of, I think, I don't know. I'm glad I ran down that road, you know? You've still been searching for it. Sure, man. I think it's a lifelong thing because it's like the river changes as you take every step, right? And it's like, how do I reassess now and rebalance?

I mean, I think that's the thing. You get to hold space and you get to be balanced in life. And then things change and now you have to readjust a little bit. And it's all that thing about how to be in allowance but also own your own space. I don't think we're supposed to know, but I think it's good to continue to work to try to find it out. Totally, man. I remember I watched this. You ever see Hamilton?

Yeah. I haven't. I know. I know. I've heard so much about it, but I haven't seen it. Dude. And when you're done here, go and get the musical. I think it's on Disney Plus, right? Yeah, I know. I've heard so much about it, but I haven't seen it. Dude. And when you're done here, go and get the musical. I think it's on Disney Plus, right?

Yeah, it is. Well, no, but I mean, you just listen to it in your car. Okay, okay. It's amazing, just that. Anyway, in it, I'm looking at it, and I'm going, the king thinks he's a good guy. Aaron Burr thinks he's a good guy. Everybody thinks they're a good guy.

Yeah. And then I think about everybody I know. Everybody thinks they're a good guy. I mean, you know, I know some criminals, but it's like most people think that they're good. Yeah. And so then it begs the question, am I a good man? Right? And it's, again, you might not ever get an answer, but it's a good question to ask, you know, because there's these blind spots.

And that's why it's good to have a core group of people, you know. It's just like being in the suit, and I don't know how it looks. It's like I need people to tell me, dude, that looks funny, dude. You're rubbing this guy. What are you doing, man? Why are you torturing these people, Tate? You know what I mean? So are you good at handling pain?

I don't know. Let's fight with these sticks and find out, right? It makes sense. It makes sense that that's kind of where you started. Yeah. Try to find out what's true. And I think when something hurts, it's like almost like the only thing that we know is real, right? I think it's easier to deal with any emotional stuff that you might – you know what I mean?

It's like there's – at that time in my life, there's no way I'm going to be able to hold any – like whatever emotional traumas have happened or whatever. You're not going to get through that. The only way I can express it really is pain and expenditure and how do i control this energy inside me and and that was a big part of that of like how to direct and discipline myself and and and and in that can become a responsible and cooperative member of society in a way that is like different you know right that's actually useful because you can't just beat the shit out of people with sticks all the time i mean you know there's a time in your life where you think i need to pull that guy out of the car and he just needs to know that this can happen right and and it's a benefit to everybody

but there's too many people that's obviously not the sustainable way because you can't do that so then i'm going okay so you're tickling some kind of egocentric thing where you want to dot like so we're not doing that, right? It's like – so when you go and go, I want to raise higher standards for my own character, what that looks like, it's like I got to look for new answers if one is not sustainable anymore I think. Yeah. Because your knuckles will get sore. There's too many people that drive like that. You just – you literally will turn your hands to dust.

You can't – And the point might not always even get across and i might be wrong you might be wrong you know we talk a lot about like uh you know fitness being good for your mental health and i've found like you know doing jujitsu for the past few years it's it's something that allows me to i don't go and hurt my training partners i'm not like outletting on my training partners, but I know that I do that. I roll with people, you know. Andrew, is there any truth to this, Andrew?

Afterwards, you feel great. I mean, have people been kind of injured after they rolled with you? Well, I mean, but no, when I was earlier. I know absolutely what you're saying. I'm just being silly. But it feels good afterwards. And I know like for my mental health, it's something I'm going to do for the rest of my life, no matter what. Right.

So for you, when it came to like stick fighting and you said you were in like, uh, you did some, uh, wrestling and jujitsu, but has that been something or physicality? Has that been something that has allowed you to,

I guess, even out your mind? Is that a tactic for you? It's huge. I mean, you know, about jujitsu, it's like you do, you're in it for, you get a blue belt, you know about jiu-jitsu. It's like, you're in it for

you get a blue belt, you get three stripes on your white belt, you're talking to everybody you know about getting into jiu-jitsu. I mean, everybody, right? And then you're like, this is going to be my life. By the time you're a blue belt, you're like, I'm going to have my own school. You know, everybody does that,

right? It's like, everybody that gets sober goes, I'm going gonna be a drug counselor i think you know like it's like there's certain there's certain things that people are just like this is my life has changed you know because it's that good yeah it's that beneficial where you want to give your whole lifeblood to it and and i think that uh i think it's necessary for young people to not only do that just energy-wise to be able to control yourself but like have dominion over your body, right? It's like if I don't have dominion over my intellect and over my emotional state, if I'm leaky emotionally, Jesus Christ, who's more dangerous than that, right? Intellectually, physically, spiritually, if I don't have those four things, like if I'm not looking at them as markers that like, I need to get that into a balance, right. Um, they're going

to overrun you because these are things that are powerful inside you. And so, you know, things will either ask you to feed them or they'll get fed one way or another, right. It's, it's going to happen. And so to be intentional about it, I think it unwittingly, I wasn't smart enough to know any of that. It just, that's what happened in retrospect right but um that's for sure what jujitsu has done and then made me helpful to other people but why i think everybody ought to do it is so they have mastery over their self or and they feel safe because there's a lot of these false sense of safeties that are i mean you know people speak of safe spaces and this and that and they are they are they speaking you know i look at it as a kid a kid and I see America going to give freedom to other countries, right?

The result never looked like freedom, right? And I just thought you can only take your own freedom. It's the only, you know, nobody can give that to you. And nobody can give me safety. You know, I have to have my awareness to have safety. I have to have some modicum of uh of ability uh to have safety and and to assume that i have it without that is insane and and so i think jujitsu is the best thing ever for anybody because i mean i love more like so yeah you know you get we were talking

earlier i had a bad brain injury in 2019 i got hurt pretty bad and had to recover from it a lot. And so I hadn't done any very little physical stuff. And I started kickboxing last weekend. Nice. But I hadn't hit mitts in four years because I'm afraid of the concussion. I didn't know if the sound would – because sounds were real sensitive to me. And then I didn't know if – I didn't know. And so I – but then I finally go, fuck it. I got feeling good enough to where I didn't feel like I'm going to melt into a puddle

and I need to shoot myself in the chest. I wasn't feeling like that anymore. And I thought maybe I could go a little. And I go, you got to push into it, Tate. You got to push into it. You got to push. And so one of my black belts, Ruben Rivera, he just started a Dwayne Ludwig school at our jujitsu school in Santa Fe.

Yeah. And so I just started hitting mittwayne Ludwig school at our jujitsu school in Santa Fe. Yeah. And so I just started hitting mitts with him last week. And that kind of like a breathing life back into you of feeling like I hadn't had that in all those years, brother. And that thing is a gift, you know. And so like that movement is a gift. And like I want to curate that. I want to, you know, it begets more. You know, it's just like the thing, the bad thoughts that I want to sit around, like shit, it compounds to where you can't move, but so does the good

stuff. And so if you can just push into those little walks, you know, like when you'd be going, just walk for 10 minutes a day, you guys, or you go and break into a run. I'll go slow down, Mark. Easy now, you know, but like I can do that. I can do that. And, and just, you know, and it's like before I got, it was like, I just, I just need you to try.

I just want you to try, man. Just don't stop trying. You don't have to get anywhere. Just don't stop trying. If you're in the try, at least you're in the conversation. And, and that's where I just, you know, go, I had to re-talk my, get back into the try. You know, I was started fresh again, but it's, uh, I think it's one of the best things that I can do for my life. You know, that project family, how's it going? Now we talk about

sleep all the time on the podcast, because it's one of the biggest things that helps you with your health and fitness, your recovery, your muscle gain, your fat loss, everything. That's how I've partnered with eight sleep for such a long time now, because the technology behind the mattress allows you to track your heart rate, the amount of times it takes you to fall asleep, your tosses and turns, your heart rate variability. It changes its temperature through the night based off how you sleep, but not only yourself, but maybe your partner on the other side of the bed. It is an amazing mattress. Andrew, how can they learn more?

Yes, head over to 8sleep.com slash powerproject. That's 8 spelled out, E-I-G-H-T, sleep.com slash powerproject. Along with more information, you guys will actually save $150 off of your entire order automatically. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. You mentioned you said the term leaky emotions. Yeah. And I think that's really critical that people kind of pause on that one because it's leaking into other aspects of your life and it's going to impact your relationship. It's going to impact your reactions to things.

Yeah. It poisons people around me. It's if I'm coaching, right? And I'm in a room and there's people that are looking to me to lead them and give them some kind of skill acquisition or whatever. And I'm like, Hey,

how are you guys doing? Uh, yeah, my dog just died today. So just have, man, I've just fucked the whole class. But they're not there.

It's not my therapy here. I'm here for them. And so I think that kind of stuff, it's like I can see in different ways where, where do my emotions leak out and affect other people in an adverse way or something, right? It's like, what do I want to leave folks with? And it doesn't mean don't be vulnerable and don't talk about losses, but it's like time and place and who's in front of me it matters a lot and it matters to be able to hold the space of that stuff so that those emotions aren't ruling my every day because if i'm saying that in class

that means i'm not paying attention to what class is and i'm not gonna you know what i mean i've been lost already and uh that's kind of i mean there's a lot of dangers of it but and not even being expressed but fuck you go crazy if your emotions rule your mind it's a dark place to be you know and so i think i think those disciplines where you have non-negotiables that's what i'm doing now build my non-negotiables back i'm gonna get in the ice every day there's not a conversation i'm gonna go and i'm gonna move every day i'm gonna be in the light every day i'm you know and and you start to build these non-negotiables and that, that becomes a life, right? And, um, and then if it slips, you got to get back on it because it's not like you get off

the road and people are like, Oh, I got off track a little bit. If we're on a track, it's going uphill. So if I get off track a little bit, it keeps going uphill. And I've waited, I've retarded my growth by however long I've waited. I just, so that i say stay in the try i don't care how little it is i'm like when when guys like you go out and are like just do this littlest bit man that's enough stay in the fucking game whatever it is i mean taking care of my friend harrison a few years ago this uh the 90 year old gentleman that i hung out with he was like doing what he wanted to get off the toilet by himself.

He wanted to be able to clean himself. And so we'd go to the gym like that, but it's like, he'd keep moving. He'd dance. He did, you know? And it's like, that's the thing. It's like you say jujitsu for the rest. Yeah, man, if I can't do jujitsu, I'm going to do flamenco. I'm going to, I need to be in movement where I'm thinking I'm in unison.

I'm with somebody else because that thing about fighting that other guy, that first time at that dog brother's turn was like God came in. There's like another energy that comes. You're with somebody else and you're giving your all to them. And I think that's the rule. You can't be trying to not lose. You're both giving your all to this thing. There's another expression that happens that inculcates the two people that are there.

And there's a third entity that is like it's like a god energy or something and I don't know I've been grateful for opponents for that for a long time because I can't I can't get that by myself you know I need to be in that hard rub against somebody else that also has a dominate like and then something happens outside of that I mean that's why guys hugs that's why they're so fucking grateful after they come. I mean, you know, who loves each other more than guys that just fought each other? It's like it's insane, you know. But that's what's happening.

There's a bigger thing that happens when we come together to make each other better. And that's the end of the day. It's competition. But that's what we're doing. You know, in the Dog Brothers, they would talk about it all the time. You know, this is to make the tribe stronger. It's not for somebody to dominate another member. And that's what Eric would do so well.

These guys that are fucking mentors, man. Eric would fight to your level, to where I would think I was doing good. Okay? You know the guys, right? They're so good that they make you like a child and they can also lead you to, oh yeah, you almost got me there.

You know what I mean? And then you see them against somebody that is just masterful, and they just – and you're like, I'm not that good. I remember working – I remember sparring with guys at the gym. And it was me – I'll say it was me and Keith, and we're sparring, and then one of my students is there, and he's watching us. I just invite him to come. Just like whatever. But afterwards, he learned two us. I just invite him to come just like whatever.

But afterwards he learned two things. Shut up about whatever happens in the gym because you don't even know what you're looking at and just come in and keep your head down and work hard. Because he says to me afterwards, he goes, you're doing fucking great. Dude, you're lighting him up. You're doing great. I go, what are you talking about? And I go,

do you understand that he's trying to do just a three-part combination and that's what he's doing he's not doing anything else he's not taxing me anywhere he you don't even know what you're looking at right and that's when people are really good it's like they can do all kinds of shit and be safe yeah did anything come to mind when he was talking about that oh just like yeah training partners and stuff and it's just like man i think you know like i'll uh i'll talk to you guys or i'll come home and be like dude i got like my first submission today and then i'll see that same guy and be like oh wait a second he looks like he's about to be a blue belt like oh i see what's happening he's letting me work

you know it's like early on i had no idea but yeah no i've i've been that guy yeah and it's great that's the great thing you get to evolve in a short time in jiu-jitsu. Oh, absolutely. What takes 10 years to know that, oh, I made a mistake in life? Like your coach, whoever you're training with, can go, no, well, you didn't put a whizzer in, and that's where it went wrong. And then I swept you, and then I took your back. But if you'd have just done that, then none of that happens, right? You change history.

And you get to be that guy like when new guys would come in i go listen and they go this sucks this is fucking hard these guys aren't top i don't have any breath there's a lot of things you come up against when you come into class yeah and then you're getting trounced by everybody everybody and i go dude if you leave you'll never find out he goes find out what i go you know how you feel like a bitch right now? He goes, yeah. I go, well, one day there's going to be somebody that walks in the door real soon and that'll be your bitch.

But you're never going to meet him if you leave. But that's the thing is like, you know, you work on your defenses then for six months or a year and then all of a sudden you're like, I got a Kimura on a guy, you know, and it's like that, you know, and you break through. How different was jujitsu when you started? Was it, were people kind of walking into these academies and stuff like that, which there were probably few and far between with like a chip on their shoulder, like wanting like

fight rather than like, oh, I want to learn jujitsu. Like it's different now, right? Yeah. But you know, the guys that stay are like super nerds. You know what I mean? It's like dudes that are cerebral that stay. It's like,? Yeah, but you know, the guys that stay are like super nerds. You know what I mean? It's like dudes that are cerebral that stay. It's like,

it's not any of those, those guys that watch the UFC, I mean, we'd have those guys that come in and they, because it looks easy. And if you're dumb, you're like, that must be easy.

You know what I mean? And so you come in and you go and you're confounded. 90 seconds later, you realize you're out of your mind. And the same story

again and again, regardless if it's a child, a woman, me, whoever it is. We're all going to have the same result with you. And so there was that. I mean we did a thing because back then you needed to be in Florida, Southern California. Carlos Machado was in Texas. Henzo had gone up to – he moved to New York and started – and people thought he was crazy.

His cousins, everybody, it, so cold up there, you know, and it was weird, a Brazilian in New York. Right. And, and Henzo with his smile, he warms up any room he's in. So it's just like that. And, and so, but you had to be in specific places. And so the reason Greg Jackson got big down in Albuquerque was because Crystal Trow uh stewarded on the planes and he would go to different places he'd go to florida he'd go train pick some stuff up there he'd go up to washington and and um he'd go and train up there a little bit he'd go see

eric paulson and he i mean so he'd pick things up and bring him back to a group of highly aggressive wrestlers that were in albuquerque and so then they just started submission wrestling in this in this in this new world that was coming up with competitions you know wrestlers that were in Albuquerque. And so then they just started submission wrestling in this new world that was coming up of competitions. Wrestlers can actually now go and compete because after you're in high school if you don't make it, you're done. And so there was that kind of thing and a fight team broke

out of that. Now an hour north is where me, Arlen Sanford, Alberto Crane came back. He was a brown belt. He just, I think he just I don't know, he won the States. And anyways, he came back really good, Jiu-Jitsuero. And he coached me until I was a purple belt. And then I went to L.A. and started with Eddie Bravo and trained with him since.

And Renato Migliaccio, who was another buddy of mine from Brazil that lived with me for a few years. And he ended up giving me a black belt in jiu-jitsu. And then Eddie gave me a black belt in 10th Planet jiu-jitsu. But at that time, it was like you had to seek it out. And it was like, you know, so guys now ask, they go, hey, how can I get in the stunt business? How can I get in the fight? They go, you got to live somewhere where they do the thing you want to do. And most people are like, the conversation is over, right?

Most people, that's the conversation's over right most people that's the stop right there and it brings me the next thing about you know belief and like i said i wish i'd had more um but the facts are is that yeah everybody's going to tell you about whatever you want to do whether it's starting a business or writing a book what it's a million to one dude just stay at the factory you know i mean it's a million to one, dude. Just stay at the factory. You know what I mean? It's a million to one. And there was such a scarcity when I was a kid. It's like that was the prevailing shit. Yeah, go to college. But nobody tells you it's a million to one because people are weak and soft and they quit.

And if you just stick to the thing, if you love the thing, then stick to it because that's what you ought to be true to. And you course correct even if the thing itself didn't work out, you course correct and keep maneuvering. That's just what Greg would say, coach Jackson. And he would say, you've got to have a plan, but be, be really ready to change the plan. You know, he loves Shackleton, right? And the, the, the wrecked up in the Arctic and, and he had to mobilize his men because he's got plenty of food and all that, but he knew the men would turn on each other if they didn't mobilize for, for a mission. And so he hiked them in the ark and saved everybody. But it's like that. It's like you got to be able to move your mission.

But if you don't move decisively, your men don't believe you. So you have to have that conviction. And also now don't be wrong in a world of mystery. Can I just pause you for a second right here? You need to have a fucking podcast. Well, one day. Dude, you're so amazing with your words. And if you don't have like a book in the works, I think that is something that would be really cool.

Thanks, man. To see someday because you got some just – I mean I've known you for a long time. Long time. But you got some crazy wisdom and just a ton of experience in a lot of different things. I think you have a lot of great things to share with the world. just a ton of experience in a lot of different things. I think you have a lot of great things to share with the world. Well, I kind of, it's like,

uh, it's almost like a challenge in a way. Um, because it's like, I'd like to, you know, I, I got seven chapters of a book written.

I'd done. And, and then I got hurt. I just stopped. Everything stopped. What chapter are we on right now? I know, right?

Fuck. And then my podcast, I just, I got to relearn how to do a podcast. Like I've got, like, I just hit up this kid. I go, what do I need to do? Like, and he's like, you did, you've got fucking 300 episodes. I go, I don't know how to do it anymore.

And it's like, I got to, so I'd like that. And I'd like, I like liking that. Like that's a step ahead because there's a point where there's like, there's no way that I can. I'm not losing my mind, right? He's good with his words, right? He said a word that even Encima was like wait a second and Encima is usually the one that can teach us so for him to oh it's fastidious yeah there we go I was like Festivus

see you guys at Burning Man right oh yeah yeah have you ever uh explored like oh my camera died the uh like the opposite of like I guess I'll say jjitsu or stick fighting and like meditation and that sort of thing as far as like finding balance. I wouldn't call it the opposite at all. Okay. Because I think it all dovetails. You know, I think it's necessary. It's like reflecting on tape. You know, when you watch tape of yourself in movement and you're like – you get so much better if you watch, right?

It's maybe uncomfortable to watch yourself. But that's the critical part that makes your movement dial in better because you hate the way that – or whatever the thing is, right, that corrects. You can't even believe that that's you when you watch it back. You're like, I move like that? It's like the first time you hear your voice on a recorder. I sound that way? Nah, I mean. Yeah, or just like getting stuck in someone's side control again it's like dude i fucking hate when that guy puts so much pressure on me i'm gonna do whatever it takes to never get stuck

inside well at least his at least well and here's the other part of it too is like then the meditation and all that is like how do you get comfortable if a guy's inside control do you know what i mean it's like where can i find comfort no matter how where i am and so how do i get comfortable if a guy's inside control? Do you know what I mean? It's like, where can I find comfort no matter where I am? And so how do I really own myself and my energy? So you're not even thinking about necessarily getting out of it. Right. I mean, you're safe. Because if the first thing is I'm not safe,

then all I have to do is get safe. But if I'm already safe, well, now I can move and I can advance. But if I'm not safe yet, I'm two steps behind. And like Hickson would talk about it. He goes, you advance, you know, we both start at zero and then you go to one and I don't let you go to one.

And then I go to two. And once I go to two, I never go back to one. And once I go to three, we go to checkmate. And it's like, he just thinks about it in that way. It's like,

I'm not going to make a wasted movement. And when I do make the movement, it's going to stick, right? And if it doesn't, I have an alternate where it's a finish. And that's the beautiful part about jiu-jitsu is the mind gets real loose about that, right? And you get to see people's options. Being from New Mexico and being around that area and probably being around Bones Jones and people like that.

Like what separates out Bones Jones from a lot of other fighters? What do you think makes him? I don't know. The one conversation I had when he first came in, I remember Nate Marquardt was fighting Anderson Silva. We were right before that camp, and that was the first time I ever saw John move. I didn't know him at all before he fought Stefan Bonner.

Rest in peace. What a great fighter he was. Good man, everything. And so, I watched him whip his ass. And Stefan is competent everywhere. But wrestling, no chance. I mean, body lock him and throw

him through the, like, insane. I was like, this is insane. You don't see athletes that are equal athletes that handle each other that way very often and then he's throwing elbows that are like jabs and i was just like this is crazy so then anyway a couple months later he comes down to the gym um because he just trained in new york i guess and and then i see him at jackson's i go hey man what's up i'm tate and i go hey where'd you because everybody i knew i mean they'd come through everybody's going to thailand they're going to holland you know when they want to What's up? I'm Tate. And I go, Hey, where'd you, cause everybody I knew, I mean, that had come through, everybody's going to Thailand.

They're going to Holland, you know, when they want to kick box or they're going, maybe, maybe they go to San Francisco. There's, you know, they're going to specific.

So where'd you learn to Muay Thai? And he goes, a straight face. He goes, YouTube. And then he goes, and I, and I go, you motherfuckeruck because i'm like instantly like you know how hard i have to work like youtube right and and then he goes and i believe

and that part of it man that i believe you know it's fucking strong dude and then you start seeing guys move like that that are like you see something on the internet it brings a human possibility to your mind the internet opened up possibility for people i mean the parkour and trickers that we see now when you see that kind of stuff that's because of video because for a mind to just come with that from the ground up and not see it visually but now to have it out there where it's like all these different expressions that kind of movement kids are mimicking that and they're like and they're moving like goddamn they're in tekin or something you know what i mean it's like all these different expressions, that kind of movement. Kids are mimicking that and they're like, and they're moving like goddamn, they're in Tekken or something.

You know what I mean? It's fucking bananas. So that probably dates me a lot. There was probably a Tekken 8 coming out soon. There was, I remember like there was some with Anderson Silva, you know, his coach was like, he just keeps working on this like weird back spinning elbow. He's like, I'll just let him do whatever he, you know, cause he's creative, you know?

And he's like, he's got some weird belief that he's going to like land the shot. And he landed the shot and like knocked the guy out. Just somehow some of these guys that are great, they just, I don't know what they're seeing, but they're seeing some sort of algorithm that maybe lays out a little differently than the rest of us.

I think also it's like survive, you know, it's like, I, I used to do self defense classes. Um, and, uh, and I did them primarily for women.

People would ask me, you know, how do I win an awareness and rape defense class and all that. And for me, I think jiu-jitsu is the best thing for that in any kind of way. I mean, you know, and it's like how do you present that in a way that's soft enough to get received, right? Because you're talking about brutality in a lot of ways, you know? But one of the things that brings it to mind about that spinning elbow is that I would just want people to learn. If I could get you to know one thing, at least I know that when you get there,

if you survive and you can get to somebody's back, if you have a chance to get to them, you can put them to sleep. You can close the show, right? And I figured in an hour, maybe that's what somebody can take away. And then my secondary would hope would be like a triangle choke, because I think that's the primary move for a woman. If she's about to be abused in that way, especially if she's been knocked to the ground and she's does, and you're in the most powerful position you can be in, if you can be confident in that movement, right. Um, and walk away with a dude asleep, which is the best way.

But that thing, if you just know a rear naked choke, eventually if there's two untrained guys, one of us is going to be in a position where we can close the show. And I think that's the thing is like, if I'm only thinking, I'm good everywhere else, I'm safe, but I want to throw this flying knee. Well, I'm going to make it work George Masvidal or whatever. Right. It's like,

I'm going to like, and so it's like those kinds of things when you're, you know, like John Favreau, when he sets the tone of all the grid work with that fastidious nature, right. Then he can allow for magic to happen. And it's kind of the same way.

He already told you that that's how it's going to go down. If your skillset is already so good and you're adapted being safe everywhere well fuck if you only i want to throw this one super missile in and i'm going to try it a bunch of times but i'll be safe no matter what because i'll never be you know you got to be safer and then they do it and i don't know and that's you know the thing that makes a guy that does it not do it is the guy that has the balls enough to be able to do it and not play safe and that's the thing about throwing it all in the wind you know my friend logan gelbridge that owns a dude's gym he wrote a book called going right and it talks all about that about how it's to your best advantage to do the thing that's the hardest thing that you really want to

set your your eyes into and to go another way is not to serve yourself and there's proof to that and we can see it all over the place anecdotally. And I think it's really important because it's hard to be brave to go after what you really want to do or what you think is maybe an audacious endeavor, you know, because it's all possible. People are doing it. You can do it.

Look at Muhammad Ali. I mean, he did that to George. No, thank you. I appreciate that, dude. I mean,

seriously, it's like all over the place. You know, you look at that and there's just legends because people are paying attention to what they love and doing what they love. You know, nootropics, every single biohacker and their mother talks about the benefits of lion's mane or alpha GPC, blah, blah, blah. We have this mix of supplement, but no one really tells you how to analyze what you actually should be trying to take or what problems you may have.

That's why Andy Triana has made the Nootropics ebook now on our website at powerproject.live. Now, we've had Andy on our podcast multiple times and he's educated us on so many different things along with Nootropics. But in this ebook, he goes in depth on how to analyze what your problems may be specifically and how to utilize Nootropics to help fix those issues

or to help progress in certain areas. Like if you're wanting to speak better, think faster, communicate better. There's so many things he goes in depth on in this ebook and you can get it now on our website at powerproject.live. The link's in the description along with the podcast show notes. If you take a look at like Muhammad Ali, I mean, he did that to George Foreman. He basically spelled it out how the match was going to end. You're big and strong and you punch hard and stuff. But I've been in the ring with Sonny Liston.

I know he punches way harder than you. I've been in the ring with this guy. He's a way better boxer than you. And let's face it, you're not in great shape. You're a big guy. You're going to be super tired towards the end of the fight. And I think Ali like famously in like the eighth round or ninth round, he told him, is that all you got, George?

And George Foreman was just, he was gassed and he was like, that is all I got. Next round, he's on the ground. Can you imagine getting shit talked by Muhammad Ali? That's got to be wild. Just him in your ear, just nonstop. Just talking to you the whole time, telling you what's going to happen to you. You're like, fuck. You got to imagine it probably also maybe well like when people do that and they're really confident about it like ali was

to be the opponent you might also maybe start to believe what they're telling you there's a little bit of hypnosis that's going on there and you don't even realize yeah it at least plants the seed right well ali probably got destroyed by the punch that form and just landed it probably hurt really bad right and then there's that. You're probably like, man, I hope he doesn't hit me with another one of those. But he said instead, he chose to say, is that all you got? And there's that winning that fight, right, at those costs. And then you look at what the cost is.

The cost is I, on that fight, lived on my chin. And now I learned I can live on my chin. And so I do that. And now they tell me I have Parkinson's. And I don't have Parkinson's. What I have is late stage brain injury from fucking living on my chin. And so I do that. And now they tell me I have Parkinson's and I don't have Parkinson's. What I have is late stage brain injury from fucking living on my chin. And from a guy that could have aid. Right.

And that's like, it's interesting. I mean, I don't say that for one reason or another, except to say that we just know, um, we know more now about how to stay safe. And like,

I'd really like to get into a position where it's like, how do we, cause I think combat sports are so important but i i think that we have a i think i have the position i'm in and the road i've been on and what i know uh responsibility to go how how can we train for longevity at the same time what what would be the way that we could um fortify our minds so that we're not putting ourselves at risk all the time? I mean, when I was fighting, it was only just after that, and it just became popular to not spar every day, right?

I mean, I think it was a— Look at someone like Floyd Mayweather. I mean, he seemed like— They hit mitts. Yeah. Right? They hit mitts. It seems like he's doing all right.

And that's what those guys that are super smart do. They go, I seems like they hit mitts. Yeah. Right. It seems like he's doing all right. And that, and that's, and that's what those guys that are super smart do. They go, I'm going to stay mitts. I don't need to, why do I, I forget who it was that said it. He was Iowa fighter. Uh, he's famous. If I'm a little bit, it is his one of his guys bald headed Robbie Lawler. And Robbie says, I already know I'm tough. Why do I need to spar twice a week? Right. I just need timing.

I just need to get with a good mitt guy. And that's, but nobody thought that. People thought we need to be in the fire every day, you know? But we didn't know that that wore on you, you know? We had no idea. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, we got different responsibilities in 2023.

Plus for football too. I mean, I watched a fucking guy go down on a Sunday and then he played Monday again. And I mean, there's dudes that, I mean, it's like, there's something we got to talk about for sure, but not to belabor it. But at the same time, I think there's, there's a lot of benefits that we could put in. And I think there's a lot of onus and responsibility on groups like the UFC and the NFL, NHL. I think there's a real opportunity for those groups to come together and go, here's what we can do for young athletes to have longevity so they don't kill themselves later.

Because, you know, if we're going to look at numbers, we've got a lot of combat athletes or people that are in concussive sports that kill themselves. And that's not a coincidence. Have you noticed like a connection for yourself with like concussions? And you have mentioned that you wanted to kill yourself before, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, it's 100% connected. I mean, what happens is there's a mystery that happens inside deep concussion when you – and it wasn't one. It was like I've – it's a bunch for me and then one signifying event that I was really hurt in that made me look at it all. But I think that the warping of your mind, like I said earlier when we were talking, it kind of – your character changes and it's slow and it's subtle.

And like I said, my mom noticed. She's like, you're just darker. It's like you're more rigid. And things are changing. And the way my outlook was changing. And what happens is you know that inside. There's little brief moments where you know. And you become a stranger to yourself. And you got to go.

And it's just an untamable weight to carry. Like this unbecoming of yourself. It's a madness. And yeah, it, like this unbecoming of yourself. It's a madness. And, yeah, it seemed like suicide was the only way out. And I was fortunate enough to talk about that with a couple people with, like, going, I don't see what I can do. And they go, well, are you willing to try to do this other thing? And I did. And that started to get another change in me to where I could get some, you know, it feels just slipping and it felt like I could get a foothold a little bit and like maybe I could.

And that's what you need is hope in this motherfucker. You need hope whether it's to put up 500 pounds on a bench press or to get through the day or whatever. It's like you need hope. You need to go, yeah, maybe I could. Maybe I – OK, I got a little balance here. And it's little by little. And that's the thing with brain injuries too. If anybody is afflicted or whatever, it takes time and it looks baffling and your family will leave you.

And it won't be because they're bad – it becomes a crazy thing where I push the closest people away from me because I'm afraid I can't help myself. And now I become pitiful and vulnerable in a way that I'm unaccustomed to and I don't know how to do this. And I can't have you be witness to it, you know. And so there's an isolating aspect to it, you know. And that's not a lot of good information because I'm just in my head all the time about it then, you know. And so, yeah, I owe a lot of people just for the comfort that I had that I could draw the next breath and then go, Hey, maybe if you put your feet over here and I go, okay, I got nothing else to do. Let me put my feet over there. You know? And people like Dan Angle really helped me, a psychologist, psychiatrist.

He was super helpful just in the acknowledgement and just in like, he understood the language that I was, he understood what I was under. Some of this didn't have anything to do with like your career, your finances. No. It just, it was just like your career, your finances. No. It was just like your own. Thank God. Right? I mean, thank God that other stuff wasn't there. You were secure. I felt super guilty about it too. Because I'd only just, you know,

I knew what it was like to have nothing. You know, to go to a hyperbaric chamber, it's a hundred bucks a session. Yeah. I know what it's like to not be able to do that. It wasn't long ago, right? Where it's like that not be able to do that it wasn't long ago right where it's like that but i'm gonna go four times a week okay it's impossible right and then you go i'm this fucked and i know there's guys that don't have any resources and like there's like a survivor guilt about it's like and it's like i need i need to be helpful where i can be helpful man

because it's a suffering that unless i think you're afflicted, it's hard to understand what that is. And so I don't know what that path is for me, you know, but I'd be open to whatever, man. I'm, I'm into the discussion and, uh, and I'm into helping people and I want, you know, it's like that it matters. It's of high consequence, you know? And, uh, and it's a pleasure to be able to meet with people like that and, and have them go, you get it.

You know, because for me, when like Dan came to me like that, it was just like this awful sense of alone. You're just not alone. Was there any particular thing in the beginning that hooked you that allowed you to get that footing? And, you know, a lot of it was just Lacey was looking for me with her eyes and kept me, I think, from hurting myself for a long time. And then, you know, I moved back to Santa Fe and just kind of was in the woods. And I go, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm just going to be up here and see how it goes. And then I went to this place, Braintreatmentcenter.com and where they do m-e-r-t is the name of the therapy and they do eegs of your brain and they see what the wavelengths are and

how they're differing and if they're in conflict with one another and they try to straighten those out they do that for autistic kids and and guys with severe head injuries so there's a bunch of war fighters and me and and little kids with in these offices. It's the funniest office visit you ever went to. But you go in and they shoot magnets at a certain frequency at certain points of your head, wherever you're afflicted. And I don't know. It sounds like miracle magic shit. It sounds crazy what I'm going to say.

But, like, I'd had depression since I was a kid. Like, it wasn't, like, all head injuries. It's like I'd known that. You know, I'd known that feeling, that cloak for a long time. And, uh, about the third day I'm in this place,

it's in Newport beach. And I get up at like six in the morning and go in the shower or walk in the bathroom. And I just got a grin on my face and I go, what in the fuck is what was dude is early. Let's get in the shower. What are you, what are we doing? And I was like in the shower and I was like, God, it's weird. It's like that thing's not here anymore.

And it was like that depression was separate from me and it had never been before. And, uh, I didn't tell anybody for three days. Cause like I said, I'd done a lot of different things that would get me down the road a little bit and then I'd slip back. And, and that makes you feel a certain way about like this is fatal anyway and so I didn't want to say anything and jinx something but like on that Sunday later I called uh the guy that helped me out and get in there um and they were you know Spencer and Fred were both just like this is fantastic man these are great results and and uh let's keep this up and whatever we can do. And, and, you know, and results vary for people. For

me, it was super instrumental and it gave me enough footing that I could go, maybe I could say yes to my next job. You know, uh, maybe I could seamlessly go into maybe every time I pull in the parking lot of Whole Foods, I could go inside and not be nervous right because that's like for me from it's hard to even relate to myself you know but like from a guy that led a certain kind of life you're like that's a certain kind of guy and to be that vulnerable was like it was mind-bending for me you know i was scary just to go get in your car and go somewhere and be in public and all that yeah and so even like right now, standing here with you, I mean,

this is all for me, part of like, I appreciate it because it's like, it's a place where it's, uh, calm enough, safe enough where you're like, you're supported in a way and like how we can express and,

and, and, um, that vulnerability is not an issue, you know? And I love that spot because it's not an issue. It shouldn't be an issue. You know, I don't need to be, you know, and I love that spot because it's not an issue. It shouldn't be an issue. You know, I don't need to be, you know, it's like that thing when I said earlier about,

you know, you see a lot of people and they're like kids that are like backs against the wall and like, what do I, you know, and, and there's, there's places in the world and they're everywhere with people like you guys, where there's a kindness that there's no you don't need defenses for and and that's a place you know that's a space to create for folks and i and and that's you know something i think that we all ought to look to hold because everybody needs it at different times yeah with the um you said it was called m-e-r-t yeah m-e-r-t so is that like is that for people who have just had brain injuries or do people go in that just have like massive amounts of depression yeah my friend shane just

went in that was just like he's like you know i'm i'm uh 48 or whatever and i uh get tired in the afternoon and i surf all the time and so i've got like these mild uh damages that have happened all the time but i mean mild damage to fucky's hers jaws and shit you know it's like it's like huge drop yeah um so yeah there's there's that you know people and you know the the center they have another um offshoot of it where they have a take-home device that you can have and um guys use that every day and and i'd like to get one of those too but uh yeah you can i mean just for brain fog, as easy as – like when Shane hit me up, he was with Fred, and he says,

this helps me a lot, and I have nothing like what you got. And then I talked to Fred. I told him what was going on for me, and he goes, dude, I can help you. And so from mild range to severe range, like they're finding guys get leveled out there. And then I saw kids, man, in this thing. I saw autistic kids.

There's this one kid and he was, um, he was walking up. I walk in, it was a long hallway COVID days. You wait in the hallway, skinny, long hallway and all these offices.

And so you got to knock on the door and then they come in, they take your time. So ladies outside with her little boy and her little boy goes, and he's down the hallway, echoes. It sounds like a bowling ball getting thrown down the hall. Like he's, I don't know, three feet tall. He's probably eight years old and he's like 60 pounds and he's just, and then he comes back to mom and he's left, right on mom's legs. And he's just, and he's And he's just energetic, you know? And I'm looking at him, and I'm me, and I'm, like, hurt.

And I'm like, he's going to notice me. And then he's going to turn us. And right then the door opens. And I go, yes. And they say, yeah, come on in. And I'm like, just Heisman, the little kid. But a half hour later, I leave. And then I got to come back upstairs because I forgot my glasses.

And as I'm coming upstairs, mom and the little kid are walking down. And he's quiet as can be. He's got her hand. And she's going, one, uno, two, dos, as they go down each step. And he's as calm and as together as any kid. And I just watched miracles. And I'm like, did I just see a miracle happen? you know and i just watched miracles and i'm like did i see a miracle happen you know and it's like what we don't know about the brain health industry is like so um it's just this big mystery that i'm

like i can't wait to get into it more because i think there's so much help there that you know with a brain injury you don't know you're hurt it's it's the it's the lens through which you see life and so if that lens is skewed you're not of awareness that it's skewed. You don't get that until you get feedback from those around you, right? And that feedback is coming usually at a time when people are upset because they're not just giving feedback, right? And so you're down the road a bit by that time. And then you're in a blind spot because you don't even understand it. you don't even understand it.

So anyway, even, you know, to do little bits to get towards that kind of health, I started finding out how long I'd been hurt after I started getting well. I had no idea how long I'd been hurt until I started unwrapping some of these stuff. And like I said, it's been, you know, four years now. Yeah, you were saying earlier about trauma. You were saying it kind of reminds you of doing the dishes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That if you take care of the dishes right away,

you can just rinse that off and wipe them off and it's clean and you can. But if you let it stick, man, it's hard and it soaks and it leaves residual. And physical trauma, like whenever I'd hurt myself, if I wanted to, oh, it'll be okay. Dude, that shit stays. I've got it today still. The stuff that I would go and I'd see a body worker right away, even it out. And the same thing with, I think emotional trauma is like, you know, you walk through a lot of stuff as a kid and you go, well, I just got through that.

Thank God I'm strong. And that's beyond it. And now I've got new things to work and you never look at it again. And, and then maybe reflect back and you go wow that thing shaped and altered the way all my relationships went in my whole life if you change the way i viewed people change my relationship with people in power that i you know what i mean and until i you know get in the rear view mirror on some stuff i don't know that you know and uh so with the injury and with all that i don't know i couldn't be happier i mean really with where i i mean is it better to know or not know it's like i was hurt already and then i got hurt enough to

go and look into it and to me that's god or or whatever energy that is you know and i love that too i love that there's things working i tell people all the time you know they're like i didn't even know you knew about you know i'd see one of my friend's kids or something i go i want you to know man you got people that are on your side that you haven't even met yet you know you got people that are rooting for you that you don't fucking know so act like it you act like it you know and and my friend says to me because i was like god these fractures and fucking all this you know and i'm i'm being self-pitying about it and she goes you know tate things tend to heal things tend towards healing your body tends towards healing without even knowing about it you know and i think that that's the kind of thing that is uh that i can take solace in when i'm in

that place when i can't move when i can't direct anything like what are you doing to walk towards health like maybe nothing but maybe it's just breathing because maybe curating that calm space like curating a calm space when somebody's on top of you and side control maybe that's not different you know and and that power that breath is something that i was reduced enough to get attuned to to understand that in a different way you know yeah what what have you found that because i mean even on your page and you talked about it before but you mentioned that like ice is something that you it's a non-negotiable it's something you do every day why well the number one thing is because i don't wanna um and and so yeah and so i wanna what i try to do every morning is shorten the spot between – I put my hand on the doorknob to go out to the ice bath and my ass is in the bath.

Yeah. Because I can spend 20 minutes between here and there. Oh, there's not a towel out here. It should take four seconds, right? And I can negotiate. Yeah. And so how do I shut that conversation down to get into the task at hand? That's the first thing for me.

And so then I'm happier right when I'm in. You know what I mean? Right when I go in, I've had a win. And then to be able to hold my space, like there's nothing else you can think about except getting your breath together when you're there at first. And so then it's like how do I control the rhythms in my body? How does everything – what is this deep meditation?

Well, it's when I can only think a singular thing and my breath in and my breath out. And I'm there in that hyperconscious state of presence. And that's what the ice brings me. And then there's the physiological aspects of pain reduction. You know, all my joints are – like, you know, you got it's all the stuff. And even if you don't, the recuperative aspect of it, of that pressuring, I think it's hyperbarics in a way where there's this pressuring and squeezing and release. And so you have this pump that happens in all your systems where you're getting all the blood and oxygen in and out and you're flushing your system in a way that creates health, you know? And, and, uh, and I don't know all the, all the physiological stuff as far as, you know, helps your heart rate and helps your

blood pressure and help, you know, it's, it's endless. But that stuff for me, the stuff I come up against in here, that's what I got to fight against because no matter what it is, I come up in my life, you know, like you haven't been my opponent. You haven't been what I can't achieve for. It's me. I got to get out of my own way. Yeah. And so it's a way to help me get out of my own way, which is also the hardest thing that

I do in the day. It's the, or it's the most, it's the thing that I'm most resistant to do in the whole day, you know? And so in those ways it helps me a lot. And then the other thing is, is it's like, it gives me a touchstone of like this is what you did. And so it starts my day in the arc of a certain kind, you know, and I think that's important, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

How'd you end up going from stick fighting to movies? How'd that part happen? We didn't get there yet. Oh, well, I was working in a place called the Paramount in santa fe new mexico which was this nightclub where we did the stick fights underneath the disco ball and uh and we had every night there under this i mean we'd have spoken word poetry we have uh uh like a like old school hip-hop night we had a big pop night we had trash disco which was uh and we had a drag queen night Saturdays. I mean it was different – cowboy night on Sunday. So Santa Fe is a small town, so it's like you better have a night for everybody in town if you want to survive in the business.

That's what my boss was – Which night had the most fights? Most nights, hip-hop every night. Oh, damn it. Every time, every time. Well, unless you're talking about the scariest fights. Yeah, whichever. Or the drag queens.

Okay. Like I don't know if whichever. Or the drag queens. Okay. Like, I don't know if you've ever seen drag queens get down, but there's nobody tougher. I mean, you go ahead and go, I express as a woman, and I liked it, and you're a teenager in Española, New Mexico. You're a bad motherfucker. And you ain't afraid to cut me. Okay? It's all that. It's all that.

And it's bad. I mean, I've pulled those people with where we like it's like it's insane broken nail i mean it's crazy it's crazy it's crazy so those are the worst fights yeah but inside of that place i get a call and one of my guys goes hey can you front door sure hey uh so we work with No Limit Films, and we're just looking for some big white boys for this film out here. Oh, shit. And you got any guys who want to come?

Here's the address. Come on here. All right, cool. And so it's Master P and his guys. And so they go out to the old prison, which has been shut down because of riots in 1980, and there's a great book called The Devil's Butcher Shop is written about that kind of debacle.

But that's where we filmed this. And so – and that was great. It was a month. It's called Lockdown was the name of the movie. And so I got a SAG card there. A SAG card is a Screen Actors Guild card, which is like the card that you need to be able to work inside that industry at that level. You can be background and stuff without it, but if you want to progress, you have to have that, like a director's guild card if you're a director, et cetera.

Yeah, and you make more money because you're part of the union and all that. Yeah. And so that's when all that happened. And then I meet a guy, and his name is Keith Ward, and he is an ex-Navy SEAL, and he's a bad motherfucker and this little stout fucking angry and he says, hey dude, you know, you should come out. I got a spare guest house

and we've been buddies like not since then but later he comes back in the story. He says, come out but on that, a month of work. He's so kind. He goes, come out and stay at my, I got a guest house. Come stay. And I go, bro, I got this one job in Santa Fe. I get to train there at night even sometimes.

And I'm just, I'm competing around. That seems unrealistic. I'm going to go be in movies in LA. Thanks a lot though. And we'll see you on the flip, you know? And so I went on doing, you know, I was just doing amateur stuff at that time and going to the Pan Ams and the worlds and shit. And I mean, i was trying to

build all that and um and then 10 years later a guy walks into my gym and i'm teaching jiu-jitsu he's the x games guy and his name's uh um darren prescott and he's running a show called paul which is about a little alien that's going across the desert in a motorhome with simon pegg and so i he goes hey you want to be in that? I go, I go, Oh, you got a sidecar. Do you want, you want to be, I go, how did you know that? All the guys were talking to Eddie. Oh yeah. I did this thing with this guy. He goes, Oh, that guy's in my group, which is also brand X, right? It was a brand and there's 30 guys in the group or something like that.

It's like a very small group. And, and this is like 2009 or 10. And anyway, and anyway I get and then I start hustling film at that time I had my last fight and I get on the show Equalizer and I don't really know how that happened you get thrown in and you get known

and so I get thrown in with the Denzel movie that's a great scene I fought him for like two minutes we had a really great scene i was looking i gotta rewatch it yeah and so uh and so i i go there and the stunt coordinator is is keith is the same dude from the first movie i ever did and it's 10 years later and and i go you know that you're i got a sag card on that and he didn't remember any of that, right?

And we've been really good buddies since then and all that. His kids are grown men now. But it's like that's kind of how that all started was like working as this. Nothing was supposed to happen. You know what I mean? I just said yes if opportunities came. And then I end up doing this thing. And then that thing, with my good mind, I go, that doesn't seem reasonable to me.

I'm not going to do that. And then, you know, 10 years later, I get to revisit it. And then in that way, I ran after stunts for a long time. And I was like, it was my way into the game. And dope. And I preferred it in a lot of ways. I like the action. I like the truth of it.

I like these are people that don't complain and whine. It's not like they're actor types. These are fucking athletes that fucking life matters to, and they understand what it is, you know? And that's an easier person for me to be around. But then you age out of everything, right? And so, and then, and where I'm at, like looking at, looking at me all the time too, it's like, I'm not 170 pounds and 5'10 where I can be interplaced everywhere.

And so I'm a character. I fight Denzel. I fight Keanu or whatever. And, and so inside of that, you know, learn how to act better. And so then that kind of became where I started studying that and then doing

it like on the job, kind of in a way I'd take classes all the time and I would do auditions all the time. And then I would do fake auditions. You know what I mean? I would get seen and, and I would just try to, again,

I hate looking at, watch the film. Yeah. Watch, oh, there's where your mind went, where you're not being authentic. We can totally, because the camera can see if you're full of shit or not in a way that people, I mean, it's like, it's just here and I can see you're not in love or whatever the thing is, right? It's like, it's palpable. Yeah.

and I can see you're not in love or whatever the thing is right it's like it's it's palpable yeah and so inside of that is like how do you have in these contrived authentic moments in these contrived situations kind of thing is like kind of what acting is right power project family your normal shoes are making you weak this is why I partner with vivo barefoot shoes because they have a wide toe box they're flat and're flexible. So with every single step you're taking, if you're taking a 10-minute walk outside or when you're working out in the gym, your feet are able to do what they're supposed to do in this shoe. They have tons of options for hiking, running, training in the gym, chilling and relaxing, casual shoes if you're out on a date. You need to check them out. And Andrew, how can they get it? Yes, that's over at

vivobarefoot.com slash powerproject, And you guys will receive 15% off your order automatically. Again, vivo barefoot.com slash power project links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. And so that's where I've been trying to develop myself in that way. And then, you know, Keith, my partner in caveman. And so Lacey and Keith and myself started caveman. And then, uh, we kind of just did that while we all worked in film. Lacey's always a trainer and, and, um,

Keith X fighter and then stunt man and then actor. And, um, and then he wrote this thing called El Paso, which was a short film that we did and, uh, took it to small film festivals all over. He won all kinds of awards for best director,

best acting, dah, dah, dah. And by the time he took it out to go, he's already got a feature written. So it's like, you know, best acting, da-da-da. And by the time he took it out to go, he's already got a feature written. So it's like, you know, I love being around people like that

because there's that thing about like, oh, hey, do you have a feature written behind that? That's the next question, right? And then the guy can either go, nope, I'll get it together. Oh God, I'm so excited. He's got it. No, he already has it, right?

And two other things that are projects that you know what i mean and it's like he's just throwing himself into writing in that way and it's fucking really fun writing and so looking at looking towards that about like where do you have agency in your life more where do you have you know the the power of creation and the power of choice and and that's when you are, you know, creating it. When you're making it, it's your ideas and this is where I want it to go. And it's all possible, you know. And it's stuff that doesn't maybe seem obvious that it's possible. But you put yourself in the right room and the right conversations and anybody, there's

no exclusionary aspect to that. I mean, right now, I think Quentin said on a cell phone, this is like 10 or 15 years ago, he was like, when the iPhone came out, he goes, we could have filmed all of Reservoir Dogs on that. I mean, right now, I think Quentin said on a cell phone, this is like 10 or 15 years ago, he was like, when the iPhone came out, he goes, we could have filmed all of Reservoir Dogs on that. He says, as it was, we filmed it, I think it did 100 grand or less than 100 grand or something. And it's like, there's ways that you can practice

these things and you can get good at these things. And I think that that's the, that's where you put your passion, where your passion is. You know, you can't create a fire where there's no spark. What do you got going on over there, Andrew? My daughter, I think acting might be her thing. It's the only thing she's ever really was like super pumped up about.

She started her first year of like going back to actual school, and she's in high school now. She got parts in both of the only two plays of the year, and, I mean, she was dedicated i just mentioned on the previous podcast she was in school from like 7 a.m to like 10 p.m at night because of rehearsals awesome she's dude she's doing really really good and you know grades are still where they need to be so like that's been awesome even though i told her like i don't give a fuck about your grades right but that's what i thought when you just said that too i'm gonna

fuck school i know so but i don't mean that though really everybody i do um what i was getting at is like she's not missing a beat you know she's so that's what's telling me like okay the passion is definitely there but do you have any advice for a young actress um you know maybe that might want to pursue this i mean when you say that to me and like you talk about how she feels about it like she's already won you know what i mean it's like i i think that you know and i think if she wants that that's available and how well trained she'll be even more so than a lot of her peers and all that i think we look at um we look a lot of european actors and they're all very classically trained you know everybody we see and they're very good and in a way that it's different in America.

And that has to do with training and all that. But you have a young person that that's their passion. They're looking at it through that lens. God damn, it's limitless, man. I mean, how do you lose, you know? And so it's like just to create that and then to be in the space. You know, she already has her arsenal of her skill sets wherever she takes that. If she wants to go and be on stage in New York, she can do that.

You know, that stuff is there, you know, and how great that it's already there. And she's not even an adult. Right. Yeah. You know what I mean? By the time she's 19, she actually can go to New York and do, or whatever the thing is. And I think that's, it is just like, don't quit.

You know, it's the only thing it's like, if, if, if, if Mark, every time somebody said, Oh, that's the only thing. It's like if Mark, every time somebody said, oh, that's a dumb idea or this won't work or like if that was the thing that stopped, then, you know, what is he doing? It's a different story. You know, I mean, this idea about relentlessness. That's what I used to have in my phone. I had an old flip phone and it just say relentless across the top. And I just want to have that attitude and whatever I went into. And I think that's the way. And I just wanted to have that attitude in whatever I went into. And I think that's the way. Yeah. Okay. So then this is my last question for you, Mr. Fletcher. How can somebody who maybe doesn't have much belief in themselves build that belief in themselves? You can take right action.

You know, I think that you can see what clear, strong action is with intention in front of you. And you can take that step regardless of how you feel about it. See, that's the thing about life is it don't matter how much you feel about it or what you think about it even. It's what you do. And so if I can get into good action, then I can change the way I think about things, and that will change the way I feel about things. And I always try to do it backwards.

Well, I want to feel good first. Well, that's not how that happens, right? It's as delusional as thinking if I got everything that I wanted, I'd be happy. Well, that would be madness is what it would be, right? It's delusion. And the only happiness I've ever gotten is when I did the hard thing, when I connected with somebody on a deep level. Like those are the richest parts of my life.

And so I think it's like that a little bit, you know? Yeah, when you think about working bit, you know? Yeah. When you think about working out, you know, you're thinking like, I need to go to the gym. I got to get myself feeling better. Like the gym does help you feel better. But when you first get there, it's kind of like, man, you know, you can't, a lot of times you want to kind of leave, but you're like, well, if I just move, it might take six, eight,

10 minutes. Usually after that time elapses, you're excited now. I don't even ask myself. I go, okay, pussy. Just lay on the ground. And then, okay. Now we're just going to do shoulder touches. And okay, well, until you stop talking, we'll keep doing this.

So we'll do a hundred of these or something. And then I'm in a different spot. But I have to – it's like that thing. I got to gotta you know the hard part about doing it is going to walking through the door yeah you know that's the hardest thing is just to get in the goddamn i remember when i started undisputed which was a crossfit gym in santa fe it still is still runs and jiu-jitsu's there everything's there but there's a woman that came in we used to do this thing called whole life challenge it was like you know

let's look at your whole life you're going to meditate for 10 minutes a day you're going to stretch for 10 minutes a day you're going to to stretch for 10 minutes a day. You're going to eat this way. You're not going to eat any sugar, blah, blah, blah, this whole thing. And this girl won because she had the biggest change. Her name was Tiffany. And Tiffany was north of 300 pounds when I met her probably. And she was probably five, two. And she'd come from the Northwest and she'd moved to Santa Fe and she'd been with us like three months at the gym. And, um, and she won this award as the most improved athlete. Right. And so she's up on one of our boxes and she has like a metal weight on a, you know, we

have our, our trophy for her and, um, and she speaks and, uh, she says, you know, I came here and I had a bad breakup up in Seattle and I came and I park in this parking lot. We were in a strip mall. So there's a grocery store next to us. And she said, I would park and I would get out of my car every day. And I would walk up and I would walk in front of the window and I'd kind of look in and then I would walk over to the grocery store. And she said, I did that 25 times before I walked up to the door and I put my hand on the handle of your door. And I meant to put my hand on the handle of your door every time. she says and I knew when I grabbed it I pulled it open I just I I couldn't ever not open the door again and it's like that thing about it never struck me so much

but it's just getting the fucking door man you know it's getting in the door and being where you're at you know I think that's the other thing too is like i expect myself to be somewhere i'm not like it's maniacal you know i mean and i love who told me the etymology of uh the word coach but it was like a new word you know i'm thinking of like greek and latin roots and stuff he says stage coach you know and he goes and what's that do? It picks you up. And where does it pick you up? Where you're at. And you got to know where you want to go, you know, and, and it doesn't pick you up where you think you're at. You know what I mean? It's where you're at.

And so I think that's, you know, the beautiful thing is like where you're at. It's okay, but we got to start, you know, and that's just walking in the room. I think the coolest thing about walking into rooms like that too, is like everybody else walking in the room. I think the coolest thing about walking into rooms like that too is like everybody else walked in the room and it's probably hard for everybody even if it doesn't look like them. I mean it's just like it doesn't matter if you're fucking, oh, I'm fit and I know how to move and I'm fucking. You're in a new place with new people.

It's like it's all the first day at school all the time and we're in a one-room classroom here. You know what I mean? And so that togetherness is more important than abilities almost. Caveman Coffee, probably the first nitro cold brew. I think it is the first nitro cold brew to the market. You guys have done an excellent job with it. It's been around for a while.

I'm sure there must have been some hurdles being the first guy through the door, right? Yeah, Stumptown came out too quick. But they did a thing where they had a widget in the bottom, which was a different process than what we used to can. It was hard to do that for sure. Yeah, there's something inside the can on some of those, right? Yeah, they have a little widget. Like it's in a Guinness that pops and has nitrogen that is exposed

where we compress it with nitrogen. And so, yeah, it was a lot to figure all of that stuff out. It had been a lot. And then over COVID was a lot, you know. Over COVID, you can't get cardboard. And then all the cans are gone because Coca-Cola bought every can. And it's like all – and then your lender goes out of business. And then, you know, it's like there's just – so it's just been all the, you know, it's like whatever. It's lender goes out of business and then you know it's like there's

just so it's just been all the you know it's like whatever it's like here's another puzzle to solve like let's go yeah yeah what uh what attracted you to that what made you want to start you just always loved coffee yeah and you know i just no forethought i just think i love coffee let's you know like lacy and i a while back there was no 10 years yeah there was no coffee like i mean now you kind of see them you you walk into a store and there's five or six brands you choose from so lacy and keith and i had all been you know buddies and fans of coffee and all that and so uh i was messing with bulletproof a lot i guess Then I was looking into a lot of different, like I was just on the tip of a keto and all that kind of stuff.

And so I was, I pushed that a lot. I brought Dave Asprey on Rogan a couple of times. Um, and, uh, and, and then Keith called me and he says, man, I went to this chocolate and coffee festival. I met these Colombian guys and they had come from this plantation down in Columbia and, and they're refugees from America because when, um, Pablo Escobar was right.

It's like motherfuckers are getting kidnapped. Right. So on their third kidnapping attempt, they bounced to Miami and then they end up in, in Albuquerque and, and there are these roasters. And so we go over and we meet them and, and we talk and they,

they became our, we became partners with them and they turned us onto like white gold, which is a really light roast coffee, which was really unique. And we just started geeking out about it and go, fuck, maybe we'll put up a webpage or something like that. And so we did that.

And then my friend JP that owns Brick, CrossFit gym down in Hollywood, he was going to open up one in New York. And we did like a pop-up at his place when he was having an event there. And there's like us and perfect parts. Like it's weird, all these little startup, right. And, um, and then he says, Hey, can you put a coffee shop in my gym in New York? And so then we built out a couple of shops in New York.

And then, I mean, things just kind of progressed from there and we built, and then we go, okay, well, let's have mostly an online brand. And because all of us would move around a lot, you knowacy training and keith and i work in different spots and um yeah we just kept it rolling awesome man congratulations on that really cool and congratulations on being in star wars thanks man thanks dude that's wild yeah thank you so much for your time today i appreciate it dude i love i'm glad we got it's been a long time since we catch up i really appreciate it and thanks for the space you we got – it's been a long time since we've been able to catch up. I really appreciate it. And thanks for the space you got here.

I mean, it means a lot. And I think to a lot of guys in ways that maybe you don't know because you're right inside it. But it's a lighthouse. You know what I mean? And it lets others go, maybe me too. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Andrew, take us on out of here, buddy. Absolutely. Thank you, everybody, for checking out today's episode. Drop those comments down below. There's all kinds of fun stuff to talk about today. So if you want to hear your comments, hit us on out of here, buddy. Absolutely. Thank you, everybody, for checking out today's episode. Drop those comments down below. There's all kinds of fun stuff to talk about today. So we want to hear your comments. Hit that like button. Subscribe.

All that good stuff. Follow the podcast at MBPowerProject all over the place. My Instagram is at IamAndrewZ. And Seema, where are you at? Discord's down below, guys, for the Q&A and all that good stuff. At Seema Henning on Instagram and YouTube. And Seema Yenny on TikTok and Twitter. Comment down below what you thought of the episode.

Tate, where can people find you? Just at Tate Fletcher on Instagram, YouTube, and it's Emigini on TikTok and Twitter. Comment down below what you thought of the episode. Tate, where can people find you? Just at Tate Fletcher on Instagram. If you want to hit me up on Facebook, anywhere, it's just my name, Tate Fletcher, T-A-I-T-F-L-E-T-C-H-E-R. What do you think of that steak shake mixed with the caveman coffee? And you know what I love about it? It's got no funny aftertaste at all, where most stuff, either the sweetener or something,

it bites you a little bit or you can say, I got a fun. This is not like that, you know? And also I'll say this, I'll send you off with some, I've asked you before. Right.

And I think the last time I got a bottle of protein from you and I go, Hey, is this, is this a carton of farts? And it's not, you know what I mean? And that's the thing is like a lot of that stuff is up. It's like,

Oh yeah. But this is great, dude. It feels nourishing. I love it. Thank you. Yo, before we go, let me know, man. Might Paz Vizsla come back? He might.

You know what Dave Filoni told me? He says, who dies in Star Wars? That's what I'm thinking, man. Because that death, like it didn't look so deadly. Hey, I want to say, too, it's so nice to meet you, man, in person. Because I think it's been a couple couple years now. I don't know, you know, but I've just been on Instagram more in the last couple years than I had been before

just watching. Like, I don't participate, I just watch. But I see you and I see you lifting first, right? Yeah. And then I go, I go, oh, fuck, he's into jujitsu. I go, that guy's a problem. Thank you. I'm like, some of that's a problem right there. And a thinker, oof.

Yeah. Thank you. Let's at least show this clip of him beating up Denzel Washington. I can't find him. Oh, shit. Oh, man. Yeah, because there's a couple of different fight scenes on YouTube. Because some stuff you get killed way too early is my complaint.

Yeah, if you just search my name and denzel in and the warehouse for equalizer warehouse okay that's i just needed something yeah it's like a home depot or where type thing because i i light up that must have been a fun experience dude i walk in on on that show and um it's me sala baker another buddy of mine i work with a lot uh big samoan from new zealand and uh and then uh what's his name um see i just needed that extra clip who's the dude that is like all the girls the billionaire dan blaserian so i meet dan blaserian which was super weird right and um i was like wow what a trip and and anyway and some heroes that i you know were like coordinators and stuff but

i walk in and foucois is there there and you'll see in this one. Yeah, it's coming up. Probably he's killing everybody right now. And I come in, I got my mustache all done up and then I got a platinum grill in and he goes, Oh, I want all that in the movie list.

So in this one shot where I come up, you can just see that glint off that grill, but what a great scene and what a fuck great guy to work with. What an honor to work with Denzel for one. And then the physicality that the guy brings is dope. The Equalizer 3 trailer just came out. Is it? There I am.

And then I blow all these windows out. Yeah, that mustache. Yeah, it was erect. An erect mustache. It was erect, erect mustache yeah that's sick did anybody like uh after this tell you like you have to keep the um the mustache like that like yeah usually guys my age that are like sad that i shaved it was weird it was that there was so much stuff i shaved last year and people were tripping like and i was like it's weird that you are that invested in my hygiene, bro, but appreciate it. You get to.

Boom, into the mirror. How long did it take to film this scene? I don't know. Probably six hours or. You're going to go to Turkey and get some hair? Man, if only. I think my scalp is so dead. It's been salted.

I mean, I don't know how much hope there is. I'd have to talk to a healer. Yeah, Cowboy got his hair. I've seen a lot of fighters do it. Dude, Cowboy had full on, like, back to here, right? I saw him last week, and it's like his hairline is so loose. I mean, he's only got an inch and a half before his eyebrows start. It's like,

it's insane. He got rid of his forehead. And it looks good. It looks like real. Wow. Oh God. Oh, do you almost have them?

Dude, you could have got them. You could have got, that's the thing when you're doing that. Like I'm inside control on him. Do you know, do you know, do you know what he's saying to me?

What are you saying? Dude, you're touching me. Like, I don't want weight on me oh okay and so you're you're like that's a different thing too like when you're working with uh different people it's like everybody's got different sensitivities at the time and yeah and so inside that's normal like this is a light normal pressure yeah i know i like then to me coming from like i don't have the same idea of what pressure is at all i'm sorry i'm pretty pretty light i got you dog i got you he's like can you let up a little bit yeah people often ask like what's the difference with like a real fight and then then like and it's like so much and so much like that of like how do i withhold and look look aggressive and violent at the same time all

that kind of stuff you know I'm at Mark Smelly Bell strength is never weakness weakness never strength catch you guys later bye