Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 089: Super Bowl Champ Brendon Ayanbadejo
Episode Date: May 31, 2015Sal, Adam & Justin interview 3 time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl Champ Brendon Ayanbadejo. This is no ordinary interview. You are not only going to learn how he went from the projects in Chicago to Super... Bowl glory, but about marijuana, anabolic steroids, roller skates and bow ties.
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If you want to pump your body and expand your mind there's only one place to go
Mind up mind up with your hosts
Salda Stefano Adam Schaefer and Justin Andrews
Welcome back to Mind Pump Radio.
We're coming to you guys live with a special guest.
We're not live.
Yep, it sounds better when I say one.
Alright, fine.
It sounds better when I say I'm alive.
But listen here though, we're not here with just the regular knuckleheads.
I am here though with the great Justin Andrews.
Yeah, I get the first name of the day.
I knew you would like that.
The super sexy Sal de Stefano. Always sexy sexy and we have a special guest today very special
We have brought you guys, okay Brendan Abedagio. This guy right here is a three-time pro-buller super bowl champion with the Baltimore Ravens
You also can be heard on Fox Sports one now
This is what most people know this guy's got all kinds of accolades, but I wanted to talk about I know
I wanted to talk about some of the things
that, because I know, Brandon, I want to talk about it.
That's real.
Yes, exciting.
I wanted to talk about some of the things
that a lot of people out there don't know.
First of all, he was the seventh African American
that actually swim from San Francisco to Alcatraz three times.
The seventh?
The seventh.
That's a lot of things.
He holds the state record and skips in under 24 hours.
He did over 7249 revolutions without ever once messing up
Okay, get out of here. Yes. He almost climbed half-dollant once. He was almost on the J Lino show
And he was almost considered for a Grammy and his most his most prized possession. Yes. He has over 47 different roller skates
Roller skates. Yeah, other than metal ones the old ones
But I also have more bow ties than Pee Weermann too,
so don't forget that.
Oh, man.
Do they spin?
This is fitting well.
You do have, you know what,
one of my favorite things about this guy,
and you know what, you and I can talk about this later on,
but these two knuckleheads won't build a chime in.
This guy has a sense for fashion.
Oh.
Yeah, I know, but here's the thing too.
And the fact that he has a sense for fashion,
and he's not some 20 year old kid
So I when you're 20 years old and you have nothing else to do but go to college and look up what all the fashion shit is
That's one thing but to be able to manage the lifestyle that we all have because that's what I understand
I understand why Sal has no sense of style because he's busy as fuck dude. I can't expect him to dress
We're total dad core
Yeah, no, we're rocking the dad jeans and the dad if I started getting all fashionable
It would it would be too powerful. So I got it done. I got to make myself look worse
Dude, he's Italian. It's in his DNA though. Yeah, he's a he's supposed to be wearing Cavali canali all that stuff
He'd be broke if he went into fashion because that Italians, you know that IQ fashion IQ is ridiculous
It is but that's's, you know that.
Maybe just blocking it.
I have so much respect for that because I'll tell you
what I used to say this to my clients when I was in my early 20s
and when I thought I was very fashionable.
And I would tell them all the time,
because most of my clients who are average middle-aged people,
right, and I'd say, listen, you guys,
there's a point in everybody's life
where you get stuck in an era.
I don't give a shit who you are,
but I'm standing. it happens in two things.
It happens in music and in fashion.
And whatever era that is, and that's what you guys,
when you guys look at somebody who's 50, 60, 70 years old
and you look at him, you could probably figure out their era.
They got stuck in,
because they're still wearing the same shoes.
What do you say?
I still wore a flannel.
Who does that?
Jay, you're stuck in high school, dude.
Damn it.
You're stuck in San Diego.
That's funny, that's funny.
That's funny because I remember kicking the crap out of your football team.
Not when I play though.
I never lost to SLB.
Oh, mind you.
Well, what is the year difference?
And now just okay, so those are listeners don't know this, but Brendan and Justin are both
Santa Cruz natives, which is pretty cool.
So basically the 97 season, which is the 98 graduate, right?
Where were you at?
Dude, you're still wet behind the years.
I was in D1, right?
I knew it.
Yeah, I was D1 at UCLA.
You might have played for my boys.
Like, I'm going to give a shout out to Tony Noche.
Tony Noche, Tyler Locatelli.
Tyler Locatelli!
What's up?
Yeah.
So, take us to this a little bit, because I know these guys know a little bit because they
obviously know you just like I do, but some of the listeners may not know.
I know that when you went to high school, you had some other guys that were also, did they
go pro too, or are you the only one that went pro from your class?
Yeah, so my brother went pro.
It wasn't in my class, but he's a couple grades ahead of me.
You guys actually played together.
Yeah, we played together and played against each other.
Actually, we want to superbow for the Ravens as well.
That's so cool, man.
Which is pretty cool.
And then also Reggie Stevens, he was a cornerback,
who's actually running back in high school,
but in the league, he played for the Giants.
He actually played against my brother in the Super Bowl,
two guys from Santa Cruz playing against each other
in the Super Bowl.
So that's from a small little town
that's known for surfing and skating.
Yeah, pretty cool.
We got some facts in the league.
You know what else Santa Cruz is known for?
Oh, man.
Weed.
So this is what I think is fucking crazy and weird.
So we walk up to our recording studio
and some of our listeners know,
we share a wall with a dispenser.
It smells like stinky.
Yeah, so we're walking up and he's like,
it smells kind of familiar here.
And then he informs of some of some weird shit
So so check this out. So I'm gonna ask you here on on air Brendan
Have you ever smoked weed?
So oddly enough, I'm a huge proponent for marijuana in general if it's medicinal if it's occasional if it's chronic
Would however you want to do it? I'm a huge proponent, but I've never smoking
I've never tried it. I maybe had a bite of an edible once or twice that my wife gave me just to relax,
but I haven't gone into it.
So I'm saving it though for a special occasion.
And that's the next time I have surgery.
So my knees are a little bit banged up.
So instead of going, instead of going the narcotic way,
you know, prescribed meds, I'm gonna go to the natural.
That's wild.
And you never had alcohol though, right?
I've never drank before either.
Wow.
The closest thing to alcohol I've had is kombucha.
You sound boring.
Yeah, I'm so boring.
You sound so boring.
Why you guys even had me here?
I really, you three are so much more interested.
And, you know, not at all.
Not at all, not whatsoever.
In fact, I find that extremely fascinating.
No, yeah, it is.
Because one, you share with us, I mean,
if those that are listening
and you're across the world or across the country
Santa Cruz
California is the fucking mecca of marijuana
It is literally a place where you could go and there's neighborhoods and this was before
It's getting where it's at legal legalization now people walk down the street. Oh, you could go
I remember looking for a house to rent out there and we were looking at literally like seven neighbors out of the 10 that were on the block.
We're all like grow houses and like a marijuana community.
So that's how ridiculous it is.
So, and then to be around it as a young boy growing up and seeing that and then to choose
the not part taking it, when you probably had a family and friends that were, it was already
okay before it's even gone to where it's at.
That's why there wasn't a craze for me.
It was something I always grew up with.
My dad has two masters degrees of PhD, my stepfather.
And he wrote his whole PhD as whole thesis
while he was smoking marijuana.
My mom, she had marijuana plants in our in our damn bathroom.
So they get some white end beef.
You can be productive in a nice moist.
Yeah, she did her thing.
She still smokes to this day.
My mom's, she's healthy.
So when I went to Amsterdam,
and all my teammates, I played NFL Europe in Amsterdam,
all my teammates got there.
The first thing they did is everybody went to a coffee house
and they went to a shop and they started smoking.
And they like, no, my God, I can do it.
It's such a big deal.
But like, I didn't even partake.
I was like, man, I've been around in my whole life.
I've been around it.
It's nothing. You know what? So this completely flies in the, in the whole theory that if something
becomes legalized and regulated, all of a sudden more kids are going to do it, you've been
exposed to it so much that it lost its luster. It's not, there's not even taboo to it,
it's like whatever. It's not a big deal. Yeah, but I, I think that there's so many benefits.
There's so many, so many great things about it. Shhh. That more research needs to come out,
or I love Sanjay Gupta and all the stuff
that he's producing, that it has such a great impact
on people medically.
One big thing, they really bothered me about the NFL
is that we get tested.
And yeah, okay, it's one, so it's twice a year,
you kind of know when the test is gonna come,
but you're not allowed to use it. And for pain, you guys are on narcotics and scripts, that's okay, but they can't
use something that's natural. So that was kind of tough. And then also guy suffer from
social anxiety, right? So we have to be in front of the camera. So you see Martian Lynch,
the best thing for him would have been take a couple hits, take a couple puffs. He would
have gotten in front of that Mikey. He wouldn't have said, oh, I'm just here. So he would not say, I'm just here.
So I wouldn't get fine. Go and actually have a conversation with people because he
probably be relaxed. I just, I just actually hung out with Marshawn Lynch the other day.
Oh, how was that? Different cat. He is a different dude. Very different. He is from Neptune.
He's, he is a, he is a different cat for sure. He walked in. He walked in. He was, I was
at David Lee for the Warriors, his birthday party,
and he walked in and for sure you can tell, he had been probably medicated. It's off season right for them. So I'm sure that's the first thing he likes to do. And then, you know, first thing,
he does is grab a bottle of Hennessy and then sit down and then he's just kind of in his own
little world, dude. Like him and Dremon, Green are really good buddies, so they were kind of chopping it up most of the time.
And we interacted a few times, but I could never tell
if he was serious or like he was just having fun
or he was kind of being a dick,
like he was different than everybody else.
And of all the pros and everybody we're all hanging out with,
he's different cat for sure.
Well, you know, you marches to a different beat.
Well, you do look like a linebacker,
so he's probably trying to avoid you all night.
Oh, you know what's funny was, you know, I'mes to a different beat. Well, you do look like a linebacker So it's probably trying to avoid you all night. Oh, you know, it's funny
What you know, I'm there. I'm around all these other these athletes and so that of course all the people that are that are serving and stuff
Like they're they're snapping pictures and having me sign autographs
And I'm like they have no idea who I am
They just think because I'm as big as most these guys around just assume I'm one of the
What you say played for what? No, I didn't even say anything
No, I didn't even know I didn't even go I didn't even go along with that I didn't even go. I didn't even go along with it.
I didn't say it was. I didn't say it wasn't. They would because they didn't say who do you
play with. They just said, can we take a picture with you? Can we get your autograph? They were doing
that. So I'm like, yeah, okay, but I know you don't know who I am. I doubt you're in a min's
physique. You know that I'm going to. So I thought that was pretty fun. I definitely wouldn't
shut the faucet off. Hey, if you're, if you're showering me with all kinds of cool stuff,
you want to take pictures, whatever. I'm like I'm not gonna ruin the parade
When we hang out you're you're Mike Brable from now on, okay?
Especially wearing that damn Patriot jersey. Yeah, the listeners don't know this
But I had to mess with Brendan a little bit. I thought I'd I'd rocked my Tom Brady and
Patriot jersey and as soon as you walked that vlog out was his head just shaking
I'm really let down.
Our relationship's kind of strained right now.
You know, I had a serious affection for you, you know.
Everyone says that every guy at some point in their life
has like a homosexual experience.
In my mind, I was like,
I was like, no, that's never gonna have to do it.
Why does he have so much effect like that?
I know.
He's got that vibe.
So what you're saying is the door is open
You're saying there's a pastor so you're saying there's a job in
Jersey though until the Jersey
Yeah, I just I just killed it from I was trying to jump in there, but whatever maybe I can save myself by the end of this podcast or whatever
Well, so I'm gonna make a confession your so I'm not a huge football fan
But I'm just not I'm not a huge sports fan but I'm just not a huge sports person in general.
I watch a lot of mixed martial arts that's about it but as I was reading about about you, Brendan,
you're a pretty fascinating individual. As a matter of fact, I even think I texted you guys and I
said this guy's pretty awesome. This is why I would consider you a badass. It's not because you played
football. It's not because of those types of things. I think you're a badass because you're not afraid to speak your mind.
And there was a point there where you were speaking out kind of, you kind of like became
an advocate for gay rights.
And this was like a big deal.
And you didn't shut up about it.
You wouldn't stop talking about that kind of stuff.
I found that, I found that very commendable.
I think that's awesome.
Yeah, thanks.
I think it wasn't so much that it was gay rights, it was human rights.
And at the time, it just happened to be the LGBTQ community's time.
So when I look back at my career and when people see me on the street, a lot more people
recognize me for for my beliefs and the things that I did than they do for being a football player.
So I'll be in New York City and someone will come and say, oh, thank you for doing what you did for me and my wife and it's a lady, you know,
or thanks, thanks for what you did for me and my husband and it's a gentleman. So that,
that just it really warms my heart every time inside that I hear about it. But at the end of the day,
I was just doing the right thing, granted, I was an early entering into doing that in the sports
community, you know, obviously it's, it's the right thing to do, but just in the sports community, we've
kind of been in a kind of a draconian state where we're a little bit just behind the ball.
I think we're catching up though with Michael Sam and all the athletes, all the things
that are coming out now.
I think we're kind of catching up to the ball, but at that point in time in 2009, when
I first did it, it was really out of left field and then in 2012 as well.
It was kind
of a big deal.
I think the internet has changed so many things because in 2008, Barack Obama ran, he actually
ran on the premise.
Part of it was that he would not, he did not support gay marriage.
And I think as a politician, it was like political suicide to support gay marriage.
And then boom, fast forward five years later,
if you don't support gay marriage,
you probably won't get elected.
And that was the internet,
because movements used to take decades,
you know what I'm saying?
Women's suffrage took a long time,
civil rights took a long time,
then all of a sudden gay marriage went from
majority of people not supporting it
to now most people support it.
Right, the thing that really got me though,
it was Brock Obama, it was Barack Obama.
It was Barack Obama and it was Britney Spears.
It was really the catalyst to make me speak out.
So, so Barack Obama, he would not take a stance.
He straddled the fence, whereas his opponent,
John McCain, he said, hey, I don't believe in,
in marriage equality, I don't believe in it.
So I respected that even though, politically,
I didn't agree with him, but I respected these took a stance. And then Britney Spears, she goes to Vegas, marry some dude that, I don't believe in it. So I respected that even though you didn't politically I didn't agree with him But I respected these took a stance and then Britney Spears she goes to Vegas marry some dude that I don't know if she knew him or or what their relationship
Was married for two days. I gave friends that have been together for 15 years in those two days
She had more rights than my my my gave friends that have been together for 15 years
So that was it dude. I was like dude. I'm fed up. I need to say something about it. Bam. I dropped the blog on Huffington post
I'm just gonna ask you how did it how did it first start? That's Bam, I dropped the blog on Huffington Post. I was gonna ask you, how did it first start?
That's what started you dropped the blog on Huffington Post.
Well, some politician didn't some politician write
like the owner of your team a letter,
basically saying, you know, make him shut up.
I mean, just why are, why do they even give a shit?
It's crazy.
Right, not only was he a politician,
but he's also a preacher.
So, I mean, which is fine, which you understand from the religious community,
even though in DC, even though it was out of Baltimore, but in DC, you have the right to marriage.
And there's lots of churches that don't marry people, but it's up to the church. I respect it and understand that,
because those of your spiritual beliefs, and I don't ever want to take spiritual beliefs away from everybody,
even though I'm atheist myself.
But to be an elected official of the people and to try to take that away from the people
would be taken away marriage equality from people from gay individuals or gay lesbian, bisexual,
transgender and whatnot would be similar to taking away religion in a way, even though
you're born gay.
I fully agree.
It's taken away somebody's rights.
I fully, well, there's two things people did not.
There's two things here that people are missing.
Number one, you just actually, you just said,
people are born gay, but I don't think it matters.
I don't think if you're born gay, I personally believe
that people are born gay.
And I do think there's some science will show
that there might be some influence.
It doesn't matter.
You're an adult.
You want to marry another adult who gives a shit.
But here's the question.
Here's the real question that I wish people would ask
The question isn't should gays get married the question is why the fuck is anybody have to ask the government permission to get married?
Whether you're straight or gay why why do they even do that? That's so weird like hey Adam
I really like you. I think we should we should hang out and you know buy house together and maybe raise some kids
Let me run the body government. Yeah. Why don't we go buy out? You know, we should do what you ask the government real quick ridiculous
I need a piece paper. I think that's the real question before before they did it with guys. They did it
With different ethnicities, right? So you know, we saw loving yeah, we saw loving verse Virginia in in the 60s, right?
So black swites they couldn't come angle there was there was no getting married if you lived in, in the south.
And now today, you know, it's some states they're still doing it, but it's not color based.
It's, it's a sexual, if you want to call it orientation, or even if it's preference, right?
It's, we're, we're talking about both.
So it's still happening today, which is fucking crazy.
It's wild.
Yeah.
On the, on the top of a color, did you just recently find out that you're a you're more white?
Are you white or do the craziest thing happen?
So I don't know what I am.
I used to know.
So the craziest thing happened.
Um, just did a spit analysis, uh, 23 and me, right?
So my brother did it, which it's inspired me to do it some way for my results.
So my dad is blackest coffee, 100% Nigerian.
My mom's whitest cream, 100% Irish. We get our, my brother gets his DNN now, I says
back and he's 56% Caucasian. There's only one answer, dude. There's only one answer.
My dad's 12% white. The guy whose body's born, raised lived still lives in Nigeria had three wives at the same time in Nigeria
My grandfather had 10 wives at the same time
Somewhere down the line. There's a white dude in there
There's a white girl and I don't know
There's 12% in my dad, which means someone else in his family
They're either one person has 24 a couple people have a little bit of something, but I always you know
I'm not African American. I'm truly African and American, you know
I'm saying or African Irish however you want to slice it or dice it
But I've known my lineage I've known my background and then I took this DNA test
And I was like whoa actually my brother took it I'm waiting for my results and I'm like whoa dude
So I put yeah the first thing I did is I put it on Facebook
I had to laugh it myself cuz I just needed I wanted to see what other people said or just I had to get it out somewhere
I had to get on there and check out you checked down. Yeah, so it's a pretty awesome site you you basically you give them your DNA
They tell you all kinds of shit and then so my wife did it and then it pulled up someone random and said this person's your cousin
So someone else who did the task they'll link you up with other people who you're genetically related to.
I'm afraid to do it.
You know why I'm not, you know why I'm not, you know why I'm having some assholes.
No, that's not why.
I don't, okay, so my family's from Sicily, right?
So, you know, Southern Italians are...
You're a moole.
Well, you're a moole.
You're a moole.
You're getting some jujube pieces.
I don't care about that.
You know what it is.
We marry our cousins.
Like, first cousins.
I'm afraid I'm going to go on there and be like, my wife is my cousin.
She's like, fuck, man.
You don't get you a banjo.
No, other people they do it and they know.
You didn't know, so you're okay.
You got to pass.
Your uncle is your brother.
No branches on the tree.
So tell me about, so you're obviously,
so you're not playing football anymore,
but you're incredibly fit.
You obviously fitness is a big thing for you.
I saw some videos of your workouts
and it's like, what do your workouts look like?
Because we have a fitness audience here,
they're gonna wanna know.
Right, right.
And if they look you up,
I mean, you look, I mean, you're obviously very muscular,
so what do you do?
What do your training look like?
So the thing that I love right now about fitness
is that it goes all the way from aesthetics
to performance and there's a whole plethora
of different things in the middle, right?
So I'm kind of in the middle of both.
Like obviously I love to have a six pack big packs
like to have my quad dripped
and I love my ass to look nice and plump, right?
So with that being said, when I work out now
it's all about performance and the side effect is aesthetics.
So I started out obviously I was a performance athlete
playing in the NFL, but once I retired,
I'm like, well, how am I gonna get my stride?
What am I gonna do that's kind of competitive?
So I just did American Ninja Warrior.
And that's all obstacle based.
And that's what that's, dude, it was tough, dude.
Because you're not a small guy, like most of the winners
are little dudes.
Did they already actually shoot it?
Did you do that already?
Yeah, they already heard it.
Well, the first episode aired, so I was on the first episode, I won't be on any of the winners are little dudes. Did they already actually shoot it? Did you get it already? Yeah, they already heard it. Well, the first episode aired, so I was on the first episode,
I won't be on any of the other ones
so you don't need to walk, no I'm just kidding.
No, definitely watch it because you'll be amazed
at the things that these athletes do.
But most of the good ones are rock climbers
and have some type of, parkour or something like that.
Yeah, parkour or gymnastics type of background.
So obviously it's 220 pounds, six one.
Yeah, you have me going in.
I'm not doing too well.
Let me guess, your weak link was probably grip, right?
Holding on to things because.
I did get eliminated because it ultimately came down
to my grip.
But I did so much grip training though,
that my grip is actually really good.
And I started doing muscle ups
and then started doing stuff on TRX
and then single handed and then climbing, salmon ladder, just doing all kinds of stuff,
laches and all kinds of all types of grips up and just holding dumbbells. See how long I could hold
a pair of hundred pound dumbbells. I was sitting there five minutes, hundred pound dumbbells,
a shits are starting to burn. So I worked my grip, but oddly, I got I got eliminated on a
movement that was body weight and grip, but they're using some My my forest just took me off of these washing baskets. Yeah, but so but now my training is anything and everything
I'll do I'll try anything
I mean in high school I played basketball baseball football wrestling and track
So I let it in five sports in high school, but I was also a skater for like six or seven years
Digimastics and one point of time even did diving I had to quit when I had to wear a speedo, but now I probably
Now I probably
I complained that I could do this naked now, but at the point
Did you see the
Your ethnicities by nature not by nurture by
Marijuana no no no the whole time your ethnicities by nature not by nurture by
70% white by nurture I mean
No, I was gonna ask you like the naked part right did you when you were there Did you see the guy that that hijacked the guys see that and he just went through the course but naked?
Yeah, so the YouTube on that yeah
Yeah, and then he read it is the best part was when he was doing the was at the spider where he's like it going spread out
Spread you oh my god
And you saw that oh
He's on YouTube for anybody and hasn't seen it yet. Yeah, he was definitely a hundred percent white. It's like
It's cold
That's cool that's the guy break. So what are your best lifts? What are your best like squat bench press?
What do you what do you what are are your best lifts you put up?
So now I'm so far out of the game,
but I can tell you what I peaked at,
which is the only number I need to remember.
So oddly enough, I did 225 just the other day.
I could only do it 20 times.
I'm trying to do it for you.
Oh jeez, I can't from doing 3132.
So I'm one third of the man that I was.
So I came from 3132, 315, my best on Vansha's 15 times for 315,
but I maxed out at around 425.
If you do the numbers, I was a lot better at wrapping things out than I was at a one at a single rep.
Then my squat was like 565 on the squat.
And then the best I ever power clean, I don't know my dead, but my best power clean was 335.
So I still have some good numbers,
those were all in college though.
So that's about 22, 23.
If I continue to train for those things,
probably could have up all the numbers,
but I was training to be a performance athlete
to play football, not, you know, not bang all those stuff.
What was dead lifts?
I mean, did you guys really do that in training football wise?
No, you'd do like good mornings with.
Yeah, I was gonna say that.
Yeah, so we didn't really experience that.
We didn't really do, do dads even though, you know,
dads are great, help you with your exposure and whatnot,
but we didn't do them.
We didn't train immensely in dads.
We're doing power cleanser kind of getting them all.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I mean, I asked that question, just to give the listeners
kind of an idea of what, you know, the kind of performance
that professional athletes, you know, can do. Not just on lifting, of course, obviously on what kind of performance that professional athletes can do.
Not just on lifting, of course, obviously on the field, you do some pretty amazing things.
But looking at you, for example, you look like a very fit guy, but you don't look like
this massive monster, but yet you've got the, I mean, you're strong like you are.
So it's just those numbers are all numbers that I can't do.
That's what I'm saying.
Those are all numbers I can't.
There's pro bodybuilders on a tons of, know, anabolic, you know, enhancement, you know,
drugs that can't put up, you know, 400 something on a bench press. So that wasn't as you.
So even even I know you've been drug free everything else. You never ran any antibox when
you were in the professional either. No, never, never. I mean, that to me is probably
what's insane because we did an episode on your favorite sports hero is on anabolic steroids
Because of how prevalent it is right and in all all professional sports and and we talk about how we know to each their own type of deal
You know if you if you want to run it your body. Yeah, it's your body to do whatever so that but for you to compete
And to compete the level you did with all the accolades that you have, and to do that all natural. To me, that is so unbelievably.
That's so crazy.
Very impressive.
Yeah, yeah.
And that being said, did you ever have a time where you thought about it?
Knowing how gift did you are and how talented you were already thinking about,
like, man, what if I just, if I just up to
it up a little bit and what, where would I be, man, would I be like Superman on
this field? Have you thought about it? So you know, you know my background, you
know what I've been through to getting to the NFL, I was cut by three teams
before I ever made one, played in Canada, played in NFL Europe. So my technically
the first year I played in the NFL, I was 27 already. Wasn't at my prime yet, but
I was 27. So in that, in those years, but I was 27. So in those years where I was playing in leagues
that weren't the highest level, I was thinking,
like, what do I have to do?
But I knew that I couldn't do any of those things,
nor did I ever really care to do those things.
I was never tempted, like I was never tempted by alcohol,
never tempted to smoke weed or do anything,
never tempted to stick a needle in my ass,
even though I've stuck a ton of needles in my ass,
never for antibiotics. So I was, honestly though I've stuck a ton of needles in my ass, never for antibiotics.
So I was, honestly, I've never even thought about doing it.
Really?
The only time I've ever thought about doing it is when my body felt bad and I felt broken
down.
So the year I did retire, I took a lot of time off.
I still worked out, I still trained, but for some reason just my body, just maybe all
the pounding, all the hitting,
that constant schedule, the hard training, it finally caught up to me.
And so I'm like, what do I have to do to get my body feeling normal again?
Now, two years of retirement, I'm starting, just starting to feel normal, but I still wake
up in the morning feeling pretty broken.
So there's, I'm not saying that I won't do antibiotics.
I'll do whatever I have to do to make my body feel good.
So when there comes a point in time where I hit that fork in the road, I'm like, do it. I need something. And there's nothing that's natural on this planet
that I can take anymore. Then I'll do what I have to do to feel good. And I'm not scared to do it
either. So there will be a time where I'm probably popping something. And I've actually researched
some different steroids that I think about taking. Oh, yeah. I mean, they have hormone therapists
are very, right? Yeah. You know, you rejuvenation and all that stuff. So, um, but during my plan career, I was never, I was never tempted a single time. Don't you love, don't you rejuvenation and all that stuff so but During my playing career. I was never I was never tempted a single time
Don't you love don't you love his mentality? I know it's so so it's so it's so similar to how we how we talk
Yeah, well, it's yeah, but it's you know, it's he's very objective
You know, he's he's he's very calculated objective and so that's the way I mean if you're gonna make a decision
That's that's the way you should always do it. Yeah, you know what else is, when I did that DNA test,
they tell you if you have this superhuman gene
that only 20% of the population have,
my brother has it, my brother played in the league
for 10 years, I'm assuming that since I'm a much better
physical specimen than my older brother is obviously,
and better looking, that I must have that same gene,
and not only do I have that gene, I must have that same gene.
And not only do I have that gene,
I probably have the gene that only 10% of the population has.
But all jokes aside, there is a superhuman trait,
a superhuman gene.
I don't know how to track it.
I don't know what it is, but I do know in the 23-METES,
that they'll tell you if you have that superhuman gene,
along with lactose intolerance,
along with if you have an Achilles,
a possibility to tear your Achilles,
if you have an affinity for sweets,
if all these different random things,
just based off your DNA,
they'll tell you if you're likely to have that trait or not,
it was pretty interesting,
a lot of it was hit the nail on the head.
So what is a superhuman gene?
What is it supposed to do?
Like make you a better athlete,
or you're supposed to have better recovery,
or all of the above?
It is all of the above,
so it gives you the ability has something to do with your
your fast switch. So your fast switch muscle fibers, it has something to do with your
recovery and the ability to be stronger than a regular human as well. So I'm sure
some of it is hormonal that they test out of that. I don't know all the
science behind it, but I wasn't surprised when I saw that my brother told me
that he had it.
Is he older?
He is, we're like Ryers twins, so he's 18 months apart.
And actually, he is smarter than me.
He's not better looking and the only reason he's smarter
is because when I was born, he was 18 months,
he got back on the nipple.
So he was on the damn nipple till he was three.
I was on the nipple till I was a year and a nipple till he was three. I was on the nipple tells a year and a half.
You already know.
It's breast milk, dude.
Breast moats the key.
I'm my next kid I have.
I'm getting back into breast milk.
Yeah, go to the next, you're really starting.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Boobs in general, the nipples.
Boobs in general make men's murder.
So that's what you should always be around them.
That's what I always say.
I prefer buns, but hey, I'll do what I got to do. I'll get back on them. So, so be
I got to ask you. So when you, you've done so much cool shit, man, we haven't even
dabbled into all the businesses stuff you've done. A lot of listeners don't know
this, which I have a huge respect for this. First of all, over 66% of NFL players
after they retire, end up going broke.
And a lot of them don't further their education and continue on.
You happen to be one of those guys that continue to his education.
Very intelligent, very smart business guy, continue to do business work and stuff.
Of all the things that you've done from sports to all the TV, radio and everything like that,
what stands out the most you that you feel you're most proud of?
I mean, well, you already know because we work together on this and you're with me from pretty much day one is Orange Theory Fitness. I'm not only my franchisee, but I'm an area developer
for Orange Theory Fitness. We're just high intensity interval training, throw on heart rate monitors
onto our members. Take you through some way shape or form when it's all said and done 30 minutes.
A cardio, 30 minutes of resistance training, get you in that epox zone for 12 to 20 minutes.
Right. So three days after the Super Bowl, my wife drug me into orange theory. I'm like,
dude, I'm going to sit in bed for two weeks. We're going to make love. We might have a baby
in nine months, but I'm laying in this bed. Right. She's like, no, that's not going to happen.
And you know, you're talking to a guy that works out 16 times a week when I was in the league
for years in the off season. So this was my 16 times a week when I was in the league for years
in the off season.
So this was my two weeks.
I knew I was retiring, just finished my MBA,
hit the ground running.
I'm not doing anything for two weeks.
So I'm gonna eat, make love to my wife.
She's gonna change the diapers.
We're gonna watch TV.
All that good stuff, right?
Man, I have another thing coming.
She's like, everything's cut off.
The thing you love the most food, I'm not cooking it.
In this bed, we're not gonna do anything.
What?
Get your ass to the gym.
So we went to Orange Theory.
And I remember it.
Super Bowl February 3rd, Orange Theory was February 6th.
Change my life.
Yeah, I like you.
Yeah, so I'm super excited.
You've gone down this road with me, Adam.
Right now, we have five studios,
five studios under our belts between my two territories
in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles,
but by the end of the year, we'll have 15 studios
by the end of 2016 under our belt,
and the plan is to have 30 studios open
when it's all set and done so.
I'm super proud of that.
And yeah, it's been a fun ride,
and we just started, so it's super exciting.
I had a feeling you were gonna go somewhere that direction just because I feel like, like you just said, I mean, you've been a fun ride and we just we just started so it's super exciting. I had a feeling you were going to go somewhere in that direction just because I feel like
like you just said, I mean you've been an athlete your whole life, you kicked ass at everything
you've done to do something like this is totally even though it's fitness related.
It's still awesome.
It's totally new.
It's outside your box and to come out swinging like that and to crack it kind of out the
park out the gate.
But you know, he was saying something that when he was saying it, when he was talking
about how he played for the Canadian League, how he did this, that, the other, it took him like,
27 years old, you made it to the NFL.
That's the mind and heart of an entrepreneur because you didn't quit, right?
You keep going.
You keep going to the university, you just barreled right through it.
Right.
And then off air, you said how in the very beginning, when you started this, you almost
didn't make it, right?
Right.
And all of it, any entrepreneur listening can, I mean, they can all connect with that, right?
So I mean, to get through that, that challenge, that's the mind of an entrepreneur.
Yeah.
I mean, in the simplest form, it's like, if you want shit done, right?
Sometimes you just need to do it yourself.
Obviously, you need to line yourself with the right people and you need to do it often
times as NFL coaches, do you need to have smarter people around you than even you are?
But maybe for whatever reasons,
you're just that person that just never quits.
You have that Rocky Balboa and you,
there's a lot of that in me.
I grew up in the projects.
I know what it's like to sit in line
and wait for government cheese, free cheese,
free milk, grew up on welfare.
Cockroaches in the house,
know what it's like to have my best friend killed next to me.
Gags, drugs, all that shit.
I grew up with that stuff.
That was in Chicago, lived there to us 10 and moved to Santa Cruz
and became a surfer and a skater and all the things,
all the amazing things that happened in Santa Cruz.
So I know the humility of being broken, being poor,
and that's what made me a fighter in life.
And then I noticed I could go to the bank
and deposit a $3 million check at the same time.
So I know both worlds, and I'll never take it for granted a food stamp on the ground
I'll know that you know you can buy something with that you can get food with that
That's gonna help somebody never drop never leave a penny on the ground never leave a quarter on the ground and just don't
Every opportunity you have to to either make money
Just don't ever leave money on the table. So
With Orange Theory I had a partner where I was more
of the passive investor and some people
also called a silent partner.
And I was kind of the face, but I wasn't really doing
anything, I wasn't handling any of the money,
I put money in, but I wasn't handling any of the managerial
things or any promoting of raising money
or the way the money was spent.
And unfortunately, my partner had a mental breakdown.
And so then I had to take over the company. And I did that, I took over the company, got the partners,
it's much money that were in the company,
I got them bought out, took it over, did it myself,
had a couple lawsuits I had to deal with,
I even hired lawyers to deal with those lawsuits.
Ultimately, I got the lawsuits done.
So I think in life, you know, you're always gonna get knocked down.
Even I can understand, like I usually could have, you're always going to get knocked down. Even I can understand
like I usually could have went broke off of what happened with Orange there. I usually could
have spent a few million dollars in that would never would have seen the money ever again
and who knows where I be had it gone the wrong way. But thank God. Thank God. We're doing
over 50% margins on our monthly revenue. We're doing 50% margins that the company
super strong and robust, but man, it was tough.
But what do you think the difference is between people
like you, you grew up, you said you had a tough time,
you grew up in the projects, what's the difference
between people like you and other people who grew up
in a situation like that and turned to crime, violence,
drugs, jail, what is the difference? Because I find that so, I crime, violence, drugs, jail.
What is the difference?
I find that so, I mean, I grew up, I had a great childhood.
So whatever success I got, I can always attribute it to that.
And you just went back and attributed some of your success to your hardships.
What's the difference?
What would you think the difference?
The answer comes down to one thing and it's one thing only and it's my parents.
For my parents, it's two reasons. One, the way they raised me and two, DNA is passed on.
So their intelligence, I inherited their intelligence.
So I'm as smart if not smarter than my parents were.
So one, I had mentioned to you before,
you know, my dad's got master's degrees PhDs,
my mom, the same thing.
But then also the way they raised me,
they clearly taught me the difference
between what's right and what's wrong.
As a kid I saw marijuana all the time in the house.
That wasn't wrong.
Now whether you're going out there and doing all kinds of crazy stuff with it or whatever.
I mean they smoked it in the privacy of their own houses and they're responsible, that
was perfect.
Grip in a community where they taught me there's no difference between somebody's, the man
loves a man, if a man loves a woman and whatnot.
They taught me that those were the right things.
Legally, though, both of those things were considered wrong,
but they just had the vision and the foresight to know,
I guess, in the air.
That's it.
That's my parents' attachment to that.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
And you're right.
I think if people attach their morality to the law,
if that's how they judge the morality,
then they got problems.
Because you made a couple of points there.
He said, like, the law said it was wrong,
but I was taught that it was okay.
And I think more and more people should do that.
I think, you know, there's certain laws
that you're gonna see that say, don't do this
and don't do that, and, you know, and they're wrong.
And I think you should tie your morality
to something deeper.
So that's pretty awesome.
Yeah, I really feel like there's two types of people.
There's either those out there that will,
are victims and everything.
Because that's a lot of shit to go through.
I like Brendan, I also had a really rough childhood.
And it could be really easy to blame all that
for the reasons why I'm not successful
and I did drugs and I do all this best of.
Or you can take those things and you can flip that
and motivate you to why you don't want you can take those things and you can flip that and motivate
you to why you don't want to go down those paths and be like that.
And there's those two types of people.
You're either one or the other.
You really are.
You either take something like that and it motivates you to be a better person or you take
something with that and use it as an excuse to why you're going to be a shitty person
the rest of your life.
So there's another thing you did.
I think you advocated for a program to
Help with kids in fitness and school, right? What was the name of that? It was a fit or something?
Yeah, it was NFL play 60 okay NFL play 60, but before that happened. I was a program. I know guys
I'll run that yeah
It on the on the NFL level or um
Ryan Betra actually played with him in college, but yeah also
What's the name of the main guy that runs that?
But yeah, I got introduced to them too, in Chicago,
because when I lived out there, I lived in Chicago.
Yeah, and even Michelle Obama picked it up.
So it turned to something big.
It's more if it's how to couple different names,
but in California, when we started seeing budget cuts
and whatnot, maybe if they legalized marijuana,
they wouldn't have to do any budget cuts.
But we had seen the first two things that were cut
and the two things that are really developmental
in developing young minds is art and sports.
So those are the first two things that are cut,
you know, when they start budgeting for schools
and making all these cuts, they cut out PE,
cut out arts and crafts and all that stuff.
Music, those are the first things.
Exactly, music, all that.
So in theater, so when I was at UCLA, my senior year,
I volunteered at Warner Elementary School, coincidentally,
my daughter went there last year.
And we got in the schools and we did sports and we did arts.
Then when I got to the NFL, my way to continue doing that
was through NFL Play 60.
It was just to advocate for 60 minutes a day
for kids to play sports, clear their minds, and then they'll be able to take in more after they exert themselves physically.
Mentally, your mind is just opened up. So I advocated for that in the NFL, and I went and I did it and hung out with schools.
You know, what's great or go play in a game on a Sunday? When that game, you know, beat up on the Patriots and on a Tuesday, you're volunteering in a school, hanging out with a bunch of kids that think you're so awesome.
Right, so, and really, you get so much more volunteering
than the kids get all cool.
The kids got to spend the day with me,
but I got to spend the day with like 60 kids,
just jumping all over me and having a good time.
Right, it's not about technique or anything.
It's just the fact that you're there
and you're so impressionable and like,
you know, they really, you know, respond to you,
like having good values and, you know, really just talking about
life and stuff.
Like it's just a great experience.
I did it while they came here at Santa Clara, so I had a great time.
Yeah.
It's, it's, um, and great.
The cool thing now is that science is now coming out showing that exercise actually
improves cognitive function.
Right.
So it's like they cut sports out thinking like, ah, that's not gonna make it, they go to school
to get smarter, not to get, and then they realize,
holy shit, if you don't move, your brain doesn't work as well.
It's all time together, man.
And you're like, you drop.
If you don't move, you're not gonna learn.
You touched a little bit on your wife
and how after the Super Bowl, you were gonna shut down
and she like, this is what you're gonna do, you know?
And I wanna ask a little about that,
just because we're actually the three of us
are gonna bring our girls on the show
because everybody wants to hear like,
what's it like being behind these guys?
Cause, and I know you're like us,
so I'm very curious to hear your side of this
because when you are a monster and you do everything
that you do, and you're as successful as you are,
it takes time, you know, it takes time
and it takes a crazy amount of dedication.
What kind of woman does that take
to be behind a man like that?
Man, she's so amazing.
And I know there's a little bit of me
and there's a little bit of you guys.
And like we share so many things, so many things in common.
So I'm one of those people that I'm hardest
on the people that I love.
And unfortunately, that's just one of my flaws.
I have many flaws that's just one of them.
So I'm really hard on her,
but she still continues to blow my mind, step up to the plate
and just, you know, just, you know,
I'm having a bad day all of a sudden, you know,
she cooks either a good meal or she just knows
how to just, you know, touch me the right way
at the right time.
But then on the flip side, nobody makes me more livid
than she does.
So, I'm this huge advocate for marriage equality and all that stuff.
I have two kids we've been together for since I met her in 2003.
We've been together full of time since 2004, but I'm not married.
So legally, I'm not married.
I don't believe in marriage.
I don't think that, oh, we have a piece of paper,
Mr. Smith.
Yeah, a piece of paper, like, I tell my,
obviously my wife believes in marriage.
She's Latina, right?
She's so she's Venezuelan and Irish and both sides
are huge families on both sides.
So of course, she believes in marriage
and her parents are still together.
They've been together.
Whereas me, my dad had three wives,
my grandfather had 10 wives at the same time.
So I kind of, two completely different worlds that we grew up in.
But I tell her this though all the time is that we've had, how many friends
have you had that have gotten married into force since we've been together
and we're together every single day and we have a strong relationship.
So she's an amazing girl. She still puts up with me.
She puts up with that and she won't leave.
You know what I'm saying?
So I'm just, I'm such a knucklehead,
like it's open-minded as I am and is,
is malleable as I am in so many facets.
This is just one of those things where I'm just,
I don't know, maybe I'm just a knocky,
maybe I'm just a knocky.
Oh no, you're just like,
all of us bro, we have our things
that we're all stubborn about.
What's up with?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, coming from another, from another,
I'm married also, I've got kids.
You know, you should just tell your wife, like she's the mother of your children.
You know, and for any man, you know, who's a good man, if when a woman has your kids,
she's on a pedestal.
Whether you're with her or not, she's always going to be on that pedestal because she's
the mother of your children.
So that's a stronger bond, I think, than a piece of paper that says you're married.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, man, tell her, so I'm her number is a, you had to hit her up on Facebook, or yeah,
but I mean, at the end of the day,
I mean, cultures are so strong.
And culture tells us that, you know,
you're supposed to get married,
you're supposed to do this, or you're supposed to do that,
right?
So when you're trying to just unlearn some,
so many things, even just with,
with, phobias of anything.
Right.
You just have a phobia.
Why?
Just because you were top that, but you shouldn't have a phobia of that.
So mainly I'm talking about homophobia.
But yeah, so it's just one of those things where just cultures are so strong that we're all
top that, you know, you're supposed to get married, have kids, and that's what you're supposed
to do.
Whereas the only person in my family that's married
is my sister.
She's not married anymore, but she didn't have kids.
And my brother and I, we both have,
I have two, my brother has three kids.
We never got married.
Our kids are still in our families.
They're still the most important things in our lives,
but it's just a little bit backwards.
I mean, it's backwards, society,
society, it's considered backwards.
But yeah, so I mean, her and I,
you know, we go back and forth on that.
I think she understands she knows where I'm coming from.
I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.
She's not going anywhere anytime soon.
But it's one of those things that it breaks us down,
but it brings us together as well,
because she sees all the things
that are going on around her.
Over 50% divorce rate, you know what I'm saying?
Well, if anybody tells you that being with someone for a long time, whether it's marriage
or you're just with them, if anybody tells you it's easy, it's great.
We've been together 20 years, all 20 years have been awesome.
They are full of shit.
It is not easy.
It is not easy.
They call it work because it is work.
There's going to be times when you love the person, there's going to be times and you're
like, I don't want to see this person. And it's just, that's why they call it a partnership. You know,
men and women are, you know, yin and yang. We're kind of opposites and it makes it very difficult.
I mean, I don't care actually two men and two women. It's difficult just to be with someone
that long, bottom line. Yep. So at the end of the day, you know, it's the right person if there's
no place where you'd rather be. So we get into a fight and I might go on a car ride or something,
but an hour and two hours in, I'm like,
I wanna go home.
Well, in a situation like that, you brought up,
and that's why I brought her up because it just reminded me
of how many times that Katrina's told me to do something
that I don't wanna do,
because I've had my mindset on something like,
no, I'm fucking shutting down.
I'm shutting down, I've been fucking going nonstop,
but you told, and then she'll remind me of what I've said to her
You know like you need to get off your ass you need to go do this because you're gonna be met
You're gonna be mad if you don't do it and you're gonna regret it
Then I'm like and I'm kicking and stomping why go do it? You know, that's what I thought it when you were talking about going out of
Orc here and then sure shit what happens? All right, it changes your life. Yeah, so well
I take a very strong woman like that. I got a question
So so you Adam's been working for you now for a little while
We've been working together. We've been working together
So okay, you can say one in evaluation
Like you want to Adam about
I had time to do it
Please please do this to me when I wore the top Brady's
I do deal with the Adam ego and how's that work? Okay, how much of a celebrity is it?
He is a total rock star in that studio.
He's a total celebrity.
So I get feedback from all the members.
It's called Listen 360.
People fill it out.
I have over 500 reviews on our studio.
And of those 500, over 200 are probably Adam.
Okay.
Amazing feedback.
Everybody loves Adam.
Yeah, it turns into the Adam show.
It's Adam on stage sometimes. But that's what the members love though. They love to oh Adam told me to do this
He told me to do that grab my water do this with my diet like they want a lot of these people are seeking direction
And motivation so not only do they do they hear that in his energy and his voice
But they look at him and they see motivation and some people are visual some people are auditory
I you get both you get stimulated in every way with Adam.
I mean, the guys love them, the girls love them,
the employees love them, everybody loves Adam,
the dogs love them.
But yeah, Adam has special qualities
that you can't find in most people.
He's a great leader.
Not only if he says something, he's gonna do it,
but he's gonna go, he's under promise
and over-delivered type of guy.
So it's pretty good for us. it, but he's gonna go, he's under promise and over deliver type of guy. So it's making me think.
Yeah, but I was yet making meetings.
So I was gonna fucking roll me like,
obviously you guys know that.
I'm talking too good about you.
Obviously you guys know that there's times
where Adam's not gonna be around
or Adam has to check out or whatever it is.
Hey, it's a well oiled machine, dude.
You guys will have a good,
you guys will have a really good show
maybe once in a while without Adam.
Of course, when you do a show with him, it's always going to be great.
And Orange Theory, I mean, it's a well-in-machine. If he's not there, it's going to keep going. When it's there, it goes better.
He brings a lot of people to the table, but I mean, Adam will, anything that Adam wants to do, Adam will do it.
If Adam has the time to do it, there's only 24 hours in a day.
Adam will have all the time to do all the things that he wants to do.
Well, I want to plug Orange Theory because I've been in the fitness industry for a very,
very long time.
And when I, when Adam started talking about Orange Theory, he told me it was, he said,
it's kind of like group exercise or like a group workout.
And I'm like, I know.
That doesn't sound fun.
No, well, not only does it not sound fun, but as a personal trainer, I'm like, how can
you individualize that?
How can you?
So he took us to the Orange Theory studio, which is right down the street from our recording
studio now.
And he showed us and just for the listeners and Orange Theory is not available.
I don't think in every state, but it probably will be because it's the, it's the first
and only group exercise type class that is individualized for each person because they're wearing
heart rate monitors. So when you're trying-
So when you're trying to geek out a little bit.
Yeah, so when they're telling you to train
within a certain zone, if you're a beginner,
you're training at a certain intensity.
If you're advanced, you're training at a certain intensity.
So you get a good workout each time.
That is brilliant.
From coming from me-
It's from motivating, you know, from a different aspect.
Well, they see it like everybody's,
let's watch each other on the board and the coaches can kind of, you know, queue and they aspect. Well, they see it like everybody's, let's watch each other on the board,
and the coaches can kind of, you know,
queue and they need to queue and all that.
Well, from a result standpoint, as a trainer,
you know, I'm thinking this is gonna work
for anybody who goes in there.
And that's, that was a big problem
with all group exercise was they couldn't do that.
And so the fact that you guys is absolutely brilliant,
and you guys are growing,
and I think that's part of it, you guys are exploding, right? You're all, you're, you're putting more,
I think you're putting one in Las Gatos if I'm not mistaken. Right. Las Gatos, Campbell, Sunnyvale,
South San Jose, we're blowing up all over the place. But I think like you said, I mean, we're in the
tech mecca of the world right here. So what do people want more than here? You want, you want healthy
food, you want to be able to work out and and then you want to be able to aggregate data,
you want to be able to, you want to,
you want to be able to, you want to be able to,
to be able to, you want to feed back, right?
So what do we do?
We tell you how many calories you're going to burn it
in a workout, or at least you're going to get
your summary, right?
We have epoch, excess of post-exercise oxygen consumption,
that is where you're burning calories, fat calories,
24 to 36 hours after the workout,
but you have to spend 12 to 20 minutes in an hour at 84% of your max
heart rate or higher.
We have that built into the workout.
Now we have your aerobic zone, you know, that's kind of gets,
there's a crossing point between aerobic and anaerobic in those zones, right?
Then we have your aerobic zone where you start burning fat,
we have that built into the workout as well.
So we know when you start working, we know when you're working really hard and efficient,
then we know when you're over working because it's five zone, five zone, hard, or interval
training.
Don't want you to over work.
Want you to work in between that anaerobic, I'm sorry, working between that threshold
where it becomes aerobic and anaerobic, 25 to 35 minutes of aerobic, anaerobic, about
12 to 20 minutes.
And I think that's another like real distinctive point is that you pay attention to that,
right? When people are overworking,
because a lot of these group classes,
like how to even manage that properly.
And it gets to a point now where if it's any bit competitive,
it's competitive in the intensity,
which we definitely feel like a lot of,
there was flaw.
There was two big things that when Brendan brought me on
that I instantly fell in love with.
So not only have I been doing fitness for 12 plus years, but a good majority that I've taught
group classes. So this is in my wheelhouse already. And one of the biggest things I always struggled
with as a trainer is two big things. One, trying to get that kind of individualized a periodization working out for people.
And then the ability to take somebody like, so let's say, for example, I've got a class of,
you know, 20 people in my boot camps that I can use to run.
And I get this new lady who comes on and she's, you know, mid to late 40s,
severely overweight and deconditioned and you know just trying to get into her fitness
for her first time in her life.
And here I have my class who's been with me for a year and they're taking asks for the
workouts and they all know each other and they have no problem doing the exercises I'm
teaching and she's like kind of lost.
And of course being the dynamic trainer I am, I'm trying to give her the most amount
of tension, why I still teach the class and still make her feel.
But at the end of the day, it's so hard to save that person because she becomes so discouraged
by the others that are just kind of smoking around the track or performing these exercises
and she feels like that's so far ahead in her future that it doesn't look tangible to
her.
And I used to lose those people all the time.
And because I love fitness, I used to break my heart and I think, fuck how do I and I'd always try and overcome it
I had all these great ideas and the ways I try and fix it but I just could never do it what I love
About OTF is that
You can be this woman on this treadmill and you could have a woman half your age
Who's a runner and an athlete fresh out of college who's, you know, super fit and
condition. And when you look up at the TV monitor, both people could be working at the same
pace, but yet the lady who is decondition is power walking. And the lady on the right
is at a full blown sprint because she can handle a full blown sprint. But yet when it comes
to a calorie expenditure, their heart rate and who's pushing themselves, they're equally
pushing themselves hard. Talk about encouraging and motivating for somebody who is...
That's what I mean.
It's like it's individualized.
Yes, and then they take it and they actually, it's the only group training I've ever seen
that actually periodizes the workouts.
So each week or every day is a different workout, but they actually incorporate strength,
power, and hypertrophy within the workout programs.
And so they're rotating through. So it's not like, you know, all week long
We're running all just high reps high reps high reps high reps like a robics class one day. It's like, okay, we're doing five to six reps
We're moving heavy ass weight today and we're supposed to be working in the power phase and then boom
Then we transition to next so we're constantly changing that right if people are actually following the program
They're gonna see huge results. It's the only group exercise class.
I've actually recommended my clients.
I've actually sent a couple clients
to the studio over here, OTF,
and I think one of them came and met you right now.
Yeah.
How big on average are these facilities?
Because they're not massive.
They're not like the big gyms, right?
They're kind of small.
How square footage rise, how would you say? I'd say the average is about 3,000 square feet, but I
think there's a trend going on right now. And that's why we talked about fitness and
wife fitness is so damn awesome right now is that fitness could be in your garage doing flips or
hitting a punching bag or freaking climbing the beams in your garage, or it could be surfing,
or it could be at a box gym or there's so many different
things that fitness is right now. There's so many concepts that are actually can make money
because they work, right? Obviously, some work better than others. The thing that I love
is that in my studio, I don't have a problem with telling people to slow down. I don't mind
saying, hey, slow down, take it easy. Okay, I want to get you through the entire workout. I don't want to burn you out right now. But when you think of, oh,
I'm going hard, dude. Let's go. It's it's great time. What did I say in the morning?
Shut up. Granted. Granted.
Sean. Like, nah, dude, we're going to go. We're going to get this workout. We're going to
get this workout done. We're going to work hard, but we're going to work smart.
That's because you know what you're talking about. But the reason why I ask you the size
is because you also sing a trend in fitness where it's not the big box gym
that are growing and exploding.
It's the small more personable type facilities.
And you guys are definitely on that trend.
However, I think you guys are leading that trend.
So for those of you who are business owners or aspiring
to be entrepreneurs and fitness,
if you're going to buy a gym, first of all, if you're going to buy a big box gym, you
want to open up a big 20,000 square foot facility.
You better overhead.
You better have millions of dollars.
And if you don't know what you're doing, you're going to lose your ass.
You can make money, but you're going to be competing against companies like 24Finnes,
Golds, LA Fitness, but if you want to invest your money in a smaller facility with a good track record and something that's exploding,
OTF is something that I would consider even myself.
And they're kind of, like I said, they're writing that trend, but you guys are also leading that trend.
Yeah, so we have 220 studios across the country, across the nation right now, I think, three in Europe, Bogota, Mexico City.
How long have you guys been around? So the franchise has been, the very first studio opened up five years ago.
They've been franchising for four years.
Wow.
And already a 200?
Yeah, but most studios are younger than two years old.
So the first to California is just over two years old.
This is incredible.
Our studio in Willow, Blanc and Seattle.
That's why another thing I was so fascinated when I tell you guys all the time is, I mean,
you haven't seen growth like this in a chain or a franchise like this since like curves time
Yeah, but curves was like I mean you can tell curves was gonna tank because yeah these non fitness people are opening up and then what is the concept and then this is
Curves and joint parts, curves and 24 are fitness are probably two of the most
Repitable companies that actually grew it such an astronomical rate. Right. Orange series right there with a much better business model.
And you can see where it's going.
It's very fascinating.
It's very exciting.
It's very cool to know Brendan and have seen and been a part of watching him start this.
Like, I mean, a lot of times I kick myself and wish that, you know, we are doing it alongside
with them.
But, you know, we have our hands full with everything else.
Your hands were so full when we first started talking.
And just, I remember some of our first conversations
right here in Willow Glen when that was just a hole
in the wall right there.
And this was before you had got your pro card and all that stuff.
And you're huge into your amateur career.
It was just a little over a year ago,
but it's such a different world
for us back then, you know.
I'm fresh out of the NFL.
And yeah, and you had so many things,
so you're a techie too, so you have all these different apps
and all these different things you're doing.
I might do this, this is a busy guy.
I just wanna get him in the door just to work for me
10 hours a week, that's all I need from him, you know.
And come in.
Oh, I remember I said, you're doing now.
I have 12 a week.
You have 12 a week right now, so I mean,
you could probably do more if you wanted,
but I mean, you know, we got Campbell coming online,
lost guys, we got a bunch of studios,
so but I mean, I know you're so busy.
You don't need to work for me anymore.
I just keep my hands on you for a little while.
I, I, I, I want, you know what though?
You'll have to.
I actually, here's another thing too.
If, if, if somebody who is looking to be employed by OTF,
how does OTF get somebody like me?
Is they fucking pay very well.
They pay very well for trainers. That's why you got good trainers. Yeah, I mean, you would not, I just
straight up as much as I like to work out stuff, if you paid me like the average
trainer gets paid in the Silicon Valley right now, I wouldn't be there.
Obviously, I charge a much higher rate for my private hour of it, but to be a
group trainer and teach classes, Orange Theory pays higher than anywhere else.
So, you know, it's worth my time.
When I get my paycheck every two weeks for the little bit of time I spend there,
I go, it's worth my time to go there.
And I love doing it.
Yeah.
The one thing I find out immediately from you and about you is that you weren't really
there for the paycheck.
You were there because you loved touching all the lives and changing people's lives.
So we have, we have members that came in 50 pounds ago.
They came in.
And now they're running their fastest miles. They're, they're in the best shape of their lives. And they're out of their prime. They're in 50 pounds ago. They came in and now they're running their fastest miles.
They're in the best shape of their lives.
And they're out of their prime.
They're in their 40s, like 30s.
And they're in better shape than they were in high school,
even in their early 20s.
So a lot of that has to do with Adam.
And I can understand why it's meant a lot of time
at that studio.
Excellent.
I love it, man.
I struggled a lot with not being able to give more time.
I mean, I wanted to be headed up and run it form
and grow with them and do everything.
So it was tough for me to not, you know?
And I remember when we first started,
I was like, I wanna do this, and I just,
I'm so excited with the path that you guys are headed down,
though, you guys are doing so many amazing things.
And that's why the main reason I came on the show
is because we're so alike and share so many similarities.
And not that there's not enough people like us,
but I think there's not enough stories like ours.
People don't come from the same mental perspective
that we come from and it lets people know that it opens,
shed some light on a lot of people that thought,
like, oh, maybe I was alone or I didn't think this where,
I should be ashamed for thinking about some of the things
that I think or some of the things that I do,
whether you talk about antibiotics
or if you talk about marijuana.
I mean, if you do things the right way, there's always a right way and a wrong way to do things.
And you guys are giving people education and the confidence to do things the right way.
Most powerful thing in the world is an idea.
And you spread those ideas, man.
And that's all we're trying to do.
And we don't, we say this a lot, but we don't care.
So, I mean, we piss off a lot of people.
We just don't care.
We really try and stick to being true to ourselves
I think that's why our listeners like us. So how are we doing on time Douglas?
Almost an hour. Oh, yeah, you know, we're gonna have to bring this guy back on again for sure
Dude, it's been a pleasure my friend. Yeah, I've been an absolute pleasure having you on
I appreciate you coming on mind pump. We've had a good time with you make sure you guys check out orange theory fitness
Come say hi. What's up? When you're anniversary tonight. Yep. Keep doing what you're doing guys. I'm so excited for you guys Have a good time with you.
view.mind pump radio.com.
Until next time, this is Mind Pump.