Barbell Shrugged - Crushing addiction, stereotypes, and watermelons with GRRRL founder Kortney Olson — Muscle Maven Radio Episode #30

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome, everybody, to Muscle Maven Radio. I'm your host, of course, Ashley Van Houten, and thank you for being here, because this episode is actually a big deal in a number of ways. First, it's episode 30, so I've officially done 30 episodes of Muscle Maven Radio for Shrug Collective, and I'm so grateful that I've been able to do this, and I'm really proud of the work that I've done and the information I've put out there for you guys. But it's an extra big deal because it's the last episode that I'm going to be producing for Shrugged Collective. And you don't need to be sad. I promise there's no drama. It's just the fact that I am doing too many projects right now, and I can't do them all 100%. I don't want to do 100 different projects half-assed. I want to put my whole ass

Starting point is 00:00:46 into a couple projects, if that analogy works for you. So I'm taking a quick hiatus from Muscle Maven Radio, but I'm not gone. I'm not going anywhere. You can still hear my voice. Muscle Maven Radio will be back in some form or another sooner rather than later. But for now, you have a ton of other awesome shows to listen to on Shrug Collective. Maybe none as cool as mine, but that's just my biased opinion. And if you like hearing my voice, you can still listen to my other podcast that I host. It's called Paleo Magazine Radio. You can find it on Spotify or iTunes or Stitcher or wherever you listen. And I talk about a lot of cool stuff over there. It's not just paleo or nutrition stuff, I promise. I'm also talking about training and science and biohacking and longevity

Starting point is 00:01:29 and fitness, all my favorite topics. So you can check me out there. I also have recently been doing some co hosting work on Ben Pekulski's muscle intelligence podcast, where you can you can find that wherever awesome podcasts are published as well. If you're not already aware of who Ben is, he's a friend of Shrug Collective. He's one of the best and biggest bodybuilders out there. While he was competing, now he's dedicated to helping people be the happiest and healthiest and most optimized versions of themselves through a lot of the work that he's doing with seminars and workshops and sessions and programs and his podcast. But he needed some help co-hosting for a little bit. So you can hear my voice over on

Starting point is 00:02:12 his network as well. I've been really enjoying it. So make sure you check out Muscle Intelligence Podcast. And last but not least, you can follow along and connect with me and see all the exciting, crazy things I have going on via Instagram. You can find me at The Muscle Maven. And you can follow along and connect with me and see all the exciting, crazy things I have going on via Instagram. You can find me at The Muscle Maven. And you can also check out my website, Ashley Van Houten, where I post all kinds of stuff about upcoming events that I'm doing and stuff that I'm working on. And you can also sign up for my free weekly newsletter where I give out all kinds of fun deals and information. And I post stories that I like and recipes and workouts and all kinds of stuff. I won't spam you.

Starting point is 00:02:47 It's just one email a week with some stuff that I like to share. So all in all, it's certainly not goodbye. It's just see you later at other times and places. We're all doing great things here on the internet. And I just hope that you stick with me and follow along on my next adventures. And again, I gotta thank all the dudes at Shrugged for giving me a platform and letting me hang out with and interview awesome,

Starting point is 00:03:11 cool people over the last eight or so months. And hopefully we'll continue to do some stuff together. So that's that. Now onto the subject at hand. I couldn't think of a better guest for my personal sendoff than the amazing, badass, hardcore Courtney Olson. She is a former competitive bodybuilder and arm wrestler, and it's actually crazy I didn't get a chance to talk to her about her arm wrestling career because I'm such a fan of the sport, and actually my very first guest on Shrug Collective was one of the world's best arm wrestlers, my friend Devin Larratt. That was back in episode one. So if you want to search Shrug Collective, Devin Larratt, you can listen to that one. It was really kind of a full circle thing that I sort of missed out on. But anyway,

Starting point is 00:03:53 she now owns a popular and growing apparel company for women called Girl with three R's, obviously. And she hosts these incredible Girl Live Summits in Vegas to really bring people together around her focus on inclusivity and empowerment and women being strong and feeling encouraged to love themselves, pursue their passions, be badass and strong, and crush watermelons between their thighs, if they're into that. Have you seen these videos, by the way, of Kourtney? They went super viral on social media of her literally crushing full-on watermelons between her legs.

Starting point is 00:04:30 It's intense. And yeah, if you're wondering what my next fitness goal is, that's probably it. I'll just be over here, sadly, trying to squish a watermelon with my thighs. But of course, there is a ton more to her story. She has a long history. She's been through a lot. She's lived a lot of life. She has a history of eating disorders and drug abuse, which I think really makes her hard work and her mission and her passions all the more impressive. So I've been trying to track down this busy lady for some time, finally got her on Skype. And so we got to

Starting point is 00:05:02 chatting, we talked about her company, her continuing struggles with balancing her life and just feeling like she has it all together and she's doing it right, which I think is an extremely relatable challenge that all of us deal with. So I think this is a really, really great way to end off and that's it. I can't, of course, let you go to the interview without shouting out

Starting point is 00:05:26 to my awesome sponsors who kept me going. This whole time, we've got, as always, my friends at Beekeepers Naturals and their amazing honey products. They've got a nootropic that I use daily. They have honey plus hemp product that I use nightly for my little treat before I go to bed. They have a propolis spray that I currently, no joke, have two of them in my purse because I go to a really gross boxing gym that is like visibly crawling with disgusting germs. And I spray myself before and after

Starting point is 00:05:56 with this antibacterial propolis honey spray in my mouth. So it has kept me from succumbing to the grossness of my gym. That's important. That's a pretty good review. I think all of these products and more, you can go check out, learn more about it. If you head to beekeepersnaturals.com forward slash muscle maven, use the code muscle maven at checkout, you get a 15% discount. And if you have any questions about any of these products or what

Starting point is 00:06:20 I like or what I don't like, or why you should be interested, just hit me up again on Instagram The Muscle Maven. I'll tell you the lowdown. I'll give you all the deets. And of course, my second sponsor, ButcherBox. They are amazing. They give me all my protein, and I need a lot of it. They offer grass-fed, grass-finished, free-range meat delivered directly to your door every month. You can make your own box. You can select from heritage pork and free range chicken and fish. They've got salmon. They've got, of course, all the beef you can handle, or you can customize your own, or they have boxes you can choose from. And you don't have to go to the grocery store. You don't have to pay the middleman. You don't have to leave your house. You don't have to put on pants. You just get super quality, super high quality meat, um, at a lower price. So you are going to get a discount. If you

Starting point is 00:07:10 head to butcherbox.com forward slash Maven, use the code Maven, you get beef for life. So they'll throw in some extra ground beef in every box and you get $20 off your order. So do that. Be smart. I hope you enjoy this episode. I hope you've enjoyed all the episodes. And of course, I sincerely thank you for listening and following along on my adventures. So without further ado, here is my chat with the amazing Courtney Olson. All right, Courtney. So fucking excited to have you on the phone. I can't even tell you, you have been as a lady podcaster, you have been on my bucket list since I started talking on the internet. So I'm very excited that I managed to track you down for a couple minutes. I appreciate you taking the time. I'm impressed. You are dogged. Yeah, I am. Because, you know, and being in different time zones when you first reached out,

Starting point is 00:08:05 like, well, that was, that was hectic. And then of course I had surgery and then was planning our live event and it was always something going on. So, and I hate not being on time or flaking. So I was like, yeah, hit me up later, hit me up later. And here we are. So well done. Better late than never. And I'm going to come to these events and I'm going to see you somewhere. Cause we do run in some of the same circles,'m going to come to one of these events and I'm going to see you somewhere because we do run in some of the same circles, like, you know, all of these sort of meathead events that we kind of end up at. So one of these days we're going to do it in person.

Starting point is 00:08:33 But until then, this is good enough. But I want to talk about all these things that you've been doing that have gotten you so busy. But what are you, is there anything you're working on like right now that you're excited about? Well, right now I'm focusing on writing my book, which is really exciting. Um, I started in 2012, funny enough, and completed a book. And then of course I picked back up in 2014, started writing another book. And then now I'm like, well, I need to blend all this together and put it into one book because you know, the story just keeps unraveling and revealing more.

Starting point is 00:09:11 And it's hilarious. So I'm very excited about that, you know? So I guess like, this is a question I was going to ask you as someone who probably is interviewed a lot and you're, you're writing this book. Like, do you, you've lived a lot of life already. You're still pretty young. Like, do you get tired of telling your story? Is that part of maybe one of the reasons why you want to get it down in a book or you, do you still kind of like having these sort of interactions where you get to kind of talk about it a bit?

Starting point is 00:09:37 They're both really, um, I guess right now I was just telling, um, someone earlier, I've just been hit a bit of a like a burnout phase which is inevitable you know um and I do have this thing I call which is the never enough disease right so nothing is ever good enough and I've found a way to kind of navigate through that and you know work on it But at the end of the day, you know, things fade away quite quickly. And last year, we had a documentary that rolled out. And when it initially started as a project between us and a videographer, who's a friend of ours, and it was more focused on like women in sports and what the world would look like if women had the same, if females had

Starting point is 00:10:25 the same access to funding from like the Pop Warner age and elementary school for team sports as boys do, and what that would transform into, you know, down the road. But the documentary actually ended up becoming more of like a body positive type of story. And it was really more of like a documentary on my life almost a bit. And, you know, to see that kind of put into a film was really interesting. And, you know, it was great. And then of course, it was like, it wasn't enough. Like too much was left out. And, you know, so it's funny. I've got it's progress, not perfection tattooed on my wrists to, you know, so it's, it's, it's funny. It's I've, I've got it's progress, not perfection tattooed on my wrists to, you know, attempt to remind myself that, you know, it's always be a work, a work in progress. But, um, yeah, I, I think having it down on paper and being able to reach

Starting point is 00:11:19 the masses and in one go, uh, will be much easier and satisfying as opposed to bits and pieces. You know what I mean? Like drips and drabs and so forth. But, um, you know, fuck, I love to hear myself talk sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm just like, well, shit, we'll, we'll see what happens. But truly the, the book itself, I think going to have a massive impact on the world and turn this motherfucker on its head, to put it bluntly. That's why I love you, because you put it bluntly. So do you have a general date that you think this is going to be out there for people? I go to a summit October 4th through 8th. And then, of course, we'll probably spend the rest

Starting point is 00:12:07 of October, you know, chunking it out. And then I imagine, um, it'll be probably the middle of next year. Um, cause I, you know, I understand this is quite a lengthy process and I don't read a lot of books. I'm not a big reader. I'm not a strong reader. I either fall asleep with the book on my face or I have to read a sentence four times, you know, so. So maybe you'll be reading your own book back a bunch of times, but yeah. So I'd love to, I'd love for you to talk a little bit about, because one of the things I think that like resonates so strongly with people who are fans of yours is just your transparency and your honesty and your willingness to talk about the dark or dirty or uncomfortable parts of your life and life in general because a

Starting point is 00:12:51 lot of people don't yet maybe have the courage to do that but they can relate to the stories that you tell and so one of the things that you just were talking about is feeling this burnout you're doing work that you love and that is meaningful but you still feel burnt out and you still kind of feel like this never enough sort of syndrome that you talked about. But you also mentioned that you maybe have some sort of tools in place to help you combat that. So what are some of the things that you do to either prevent burnout, to kind of self-talk, to make you feel like maybe things are okay, that you are enough, that the things you're doing are enough? What are some of those tools that you use? That's a great question. And the handful of keynotes I've given, it's on this topic,

Starting point is 00:13:37 and it'll be in the book. But I coined this term of goals, not controls controls and I keep coming back to that all the time throughout this whole journey uh really I mean the past four years because I only stumbled upon it in 2017 um that the term that is but you know and and what goals not controls means is that it's a matter of relying on the universe and not thinking that we have the answers on an ego-based level and showing up because so often things don't go my way. And as a result, when that happens, I think I've failed. But in reality, what's happening is, is, is that the universe is guiding me down a different path. And, you know, I've picked all this stuff up really in my own journey of recovery in a 12-step process. And in that process, um, as a recovered, you know, drug addicts and alcoholic, we incorporate a level of spirituality

Starting point is 00:14:31 and it's, I'm not talking about religion. You know, some people use religion. Um, but in essence, it's basically a power greater than ourselves and something that really helped me. Um, cause I struggled with that a lot in early days because, you know, um, 18, well, 16, 17 years old, I, I wasn't raised Christian, but I, I found God, Jesus, if you will, I was going to a private Catholic high school and was in a Christian rock band. And of course my senior year, I started smoking meth cause I wanted to lose weight and it worked a treat. But of course, when you start smoking meth, your relationship with Jesus just kind of goes out. Yeah. Some

Starting point is 00:15:09 other problems come up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So trying to come back and of course it was a nine year downward spiral. So trying to come back around to that previous relationship that I had, it was just so foreign and felt fit, you know, forged and, um, not, not real. And so I was really struggling and I'm like, you know, questioning religion and, uh, I had a hard time separating the two, but at one point I came across, um, you know, the, the book think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill. And in that book, he talks about this thing called the ether. And he basically interviewed, you know, a hundred of the most successful people at that time, this was like early 1930s, you know, as to how they achieved their success. And they all kept

Starting point is 00:15:51 kind of talking about the same thing of connecting to the ether, which is more or less this unseen realm around us that is connecting us all to everything. And like a God force, you know, so once I read that, and it really helped kind of shift my perspective around the word God, cause the word God is so loaded, you know, we hear it. And a lot of us have dogma attached to it or think of, you know, a man in the sky with a white robe and a fucking cane judging us or whatever the case might be. Um, and you know, when I attached that word, uh, more to the identity of spirit of the universe, um, you know, um, mother nature, you know, goddess, whatever it could really be anything, but this God force that connects us all, you know, it doesn't have a name,

Starting point is 00:16:39 doesn't have a, uh, an identity per se, but just knowing that there is something out there that connects us all together, you know, like in, in that there is something out there that connects us all together, you know, like in that since I kind of had that realization. And once you have the awareness, you become, you know, really privy to the fact that there are no such things as coincidence. You know, you ever think of somebody, Ashley, and then they you haven't talked to them in, say, five years. And then a week later, they fucking email you out. It's so weird when that happens. Right. So, you know, and you sound, I don't know how old you are, but you remember the matrix? Of course. I'm old enough for the matrix. Thank God. You're like, I'm hanging up. If you're too

Starting point is 00:17:17 young to know, you don't know what the matrix is like. Seriously. Again, same conversation earlier where I was like, Oh man, you don't know the man. Just bye. Yeah, you're way too young. Yeah, so we're just so programmed to be reliant upon our own will. And it's either this concept of spirituality is just super hard to grasp for a lot of people because we can't see it. And we don't question certain things like walking into the room and flipping on a light switch. You know, it just works. You know, I don't have to say, shit, can you explain where this fucking blue

Starting point is 00:17:55 cord travels to? And there's some spark and all of a sudden I got a light bulb on, like, how does that work? Or wifi, you know, we don't question wifi. We just rock up and go to Starbucks and say, Hey, uh, you know, I need to use the wifi with the password. And then, you know, we get on it. We don't say, wow, what's that shit do? Like shoots up to the sky, hits a satellite, comes down into my phone. What, how does that even work? Wifi is all around us, you know, and they're rolling out 5g networks, which I think is going to have a massive adverse effect on the human psyche, but that's another podcast. Um, you know, but all wifi is around us everywhere and we don't question that shit, you know? So it's this idea of showing up and knowing that there is a power greater than ourselves that will guide us, but we have to

Starting point is 00:18:41 ask for guidance. So if I just keep showing up and saying, Hey, I don't know who the fuck you are, what you look like or whatever, but can you please guide me and direct have to ask for guidance so if I just keep showing up and saying hey I don't know who the fuck you are what you look like or whatever but can you please guide me and direct me to make the connections that I need to to serve the people to do your will because my ego and my will is to have been on Ellen already you know and if one more person says oh you need to go on Ellen Ellen Ellen Ellen Ellen I'm like bitch I've been trying for like five years okay like don't mention her name if I had a dollar if I had a dollar for every time my dad was like why don't you tweet Ellen I'm like okay dad I'll fucking get right on that you know you're like I'm busy running an empire over here but I'll try to tweet Ellen later just shocking you know because what what's been happening is after you get, you know, when you're in a to hire more people, resources, systems, technology,

Starting point is 00:19:46 you know, and it's, it's, you start to get burnt out, but what, what, you know, compounds that is hearing no, and saying, look, old white man, I have all these fucking people that have had their life changed, and, you know, great numbers, great things, because things because you know your first three years of business most businesses run at a loss you know we're we're not and so you're just like what what don't you see it's like all right you want to invest in technology because you're looking for the next fucking uber um you know so you hear no enough and being a female founder there's another element of trickery to that as well. And then, you know, people be like, Oh, you're too young, you're too small. And it's just like, Oh, man, so you know, it's easy to get discouraged. And then you add on top of that, like, cool, let's do a global event,

Starting point is 00:20:38 which takes me nine months to plan. And then, you know, try not to get burnt out about it. But you know, it's just that, again, I just have to remind myself goals, not controls show up, ask for guidance, stay focused on the end result and not the little tiny controls, which are, you know, all the little details like, Oh, it's supposed to look like this. Or, um, you know, I don't know if you're familiar, but before girl clothing I was uh I had founded a program for teenage girls called camp confidence and that um you know was was was it that was my my jam you know I've got confidence tattooed on my lowered back that's the logo it's

Starting point is 00:21:19 cyan it's this font it's fucking you know this, and this. And so after two and a half years, and President Obama hadn't called me and been like, wow, great job. Let's bring this shit to the United States. I want it in every fucking school. And my other partner got pregnant. So we had to stop running the camp. I was like, fuck it. You know, I failed.

Starting point is 00:21:41 This sucks. I'm, you know, what a waste of time. What am I doing with my life? And eventually, that vision and mission rolled into girl. And so now the logo is clean font, and it's black, and it's this. And you know what I mean? It's the same thing. It just is packaged differently. So we get off the path really easily sometimes, but generally what's happening is just the universe is just guiding us a different direction. But we fight it because we're like, oh, fuck it. I failed.

Starting point is 00:22:12 This sucks. Or things don't go our way and we immediately assume that it's all over. Instead of maybe seeing it for the evolution that it actually is, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So most, I think most people probably are familiar with you as again, the founder of girl clothing and also as the watermelon crusher, right? And I do want to talk about that because that's very important topic to me. Um, but one of the questions that I wanted to ask, we'll probably skip around a little bit because I

Starting point is 00:22:39 just have so many questions and I know we don't have all day. You know, the concept and the work that you're doing to empower girls, especially, and women and give them confidence and support them in their goals and being strong and taking up space and being confident. And it's just, that's everything that I stand for and I love and I support. It makes me happy in life. So I just, again, just want to thank you so much for doing what you're doing. But one of the questions that I wanted to ask, because I tend to be, I don't want to say I'm a pessimist. I like to say I'm a realist.

Starting point is 00:23:16 I don't think people would call me a pessimist, but I tend to maybe have a little bit of a glass half empty approach to some of these things. Just being a woman in the world, it's easy to feel that way sometimes. But my question to you is, and knowing that your struggle started when you were a young woman trying to lose weight and taking drugs to do that, do you think that, how is it different trying to convince women of their worth and try to encourage them to have confidence and empower and feel empowered when you're already an adult versus a kid? Like, we know that kids learn differently and kids model things and they take things in differently when they're young. They're like sponges and they, you know, they can take it in. What do you do for women who have been beaten down and told that they're worthless or, and feel like they're worthless and they're already in their late twenties, thirties,

Starting point is 00:24:12 forties? How do we help people like that? Yeah, girl, that's a, that's a really good question. Um, you know, uh, repetition is the mother of all skill and, um, you know, fuck, I'm running to write that down, remind myself, but I'm like, Oh, I forgot about that. That's another tattoo. Yeah. Um, you know, and so I think about my own journey and how long it took me to get to that point. Because even, you know, two years ago, I would still catch myself like if I caught myself in the mirror, and had been training really hard and working towards a goal or whatever. And shit just didn't look where I wanted it to be. You know, I could catch myself and then sit there and dwell on about it and go through all the,

Starting point is 00:25:03 you know, mental jack off verbatim in my head. And, and that was even two years ago, you know, and, and, but the difference is, is what that played out to be versus what that was five years ago is night and day difference or even 10 years ago. So it's a much shorter cycle. Um, you know, it was, you know, um, didn't last as long, wasn't as severe. As to today, it might still happen. I might look at my kneecaps because I've been working on building, for whatever reason, my VMO, the teardrop muscle, just doesn't want to come out and play. It's just non-existent. I'm like, fucking baggy kneecaps, runs in the family. It's just there. Accept it. Love it. Move on. Go from there. Uh, you know,

Starting point is 00:25:46 but, uh, and again, I'm not seeing any change and I might catch myself and be like, oh, fuck it. And then I'm like, eh, whatever. And it's just kind of rolled off. And I'm like, and I've been analyzing it lately. And I'm like, at what point did this start happening? Uh, you know, cause this whole thing of like fake it till you make it. And that used to drive me nuts. But the reality is, is there's, there's something to that because, you know, cause this whole thing of like fake it till you make it. And that used to drive me nuts. But the reality is, is there's, there's something to that because, you know, once we, even if we say something and we don't truly believe it, um, it, it's reprogramming our brain, you know, it's, it's reprogramming shit. And even if I, what I put on social media might not be, I mean, I'm authentic as fuck.

Starting point is 00:26:21 Don't get me wrong. But you know, if I post a picture of myself flexing and my pants are down, and I might look back at it and be like, yeah, shitty kneecaps, you know, doesn't mean that I don't feel like I'm, I'm changing the conversations, I'm changing the paradigm around how women, you know, view themselves and how we should, you know, act towards our bodies and everything. So, um, it's, it's a process. And, you know, as I say, it's sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, you know, it's a different journey for everybody, but there is hope. And sometimes, you know, it's, we have to, we just change the conversations. And even if we're not fully congruent with the words that we're saying, believe that eventually the two will catch up to each other. Cause the belief is just a repeated thought. You know, we, we come up with this thought or we're told something and then we think it and we think it again and again and again and again. And then all of a sudden it's a part of our belief system. So, uh, you know, whether we, we say new beliefs and we don't truly believe

Starting point is 00:27:18 them, they are, you know, statements, then they eventually will come to pass. So there's, you know, and the other thing is age, right? Like, and as much as I hate social media, there, there is the upside to it that at least there are positive accounts for women to see that they're not the only ones because when I was, you know, 25 to 28, you know, it was a real dark period before I got clean for this last time. I remember sitting in my closet and just fucking sobbing into my hands because I didn't have something that fit properly to where to Costco. Um, you know, and to the point of like, I literally was suicidal because I just could not cope with my body. And you know what, looking back in retrospect, it's like, all right, that was just a, um, uh, a form of control. Cause prior to that, you know,

Starting point is 00:28:11 I mean, I was still, you know, using drugs, but again, it's just another thing to, to try and control the way that we look and you do that through food and exercise, you know? So it's just, it's just a sick obsession. Uh, and you know, uh and you know it it took time but at that time social media wasn't really um like the smartphone the iphone i think i a fuck had been out but it wasn't a thing you know what i mean yeah uh so it was just like 2009 when i think i got you know my my first iphone and then from there of course you know you know, um, moving forward, it's again, it, like I said, as much as I hate it, but at least now women can see other women, you know, especially, um, those of us that are 40 and above, like we, we can now see other women talking about this kind of stuff

Starting point is 00:28:58 quickly right in front of our face. And we have the choice versus getting sucked into a magazine, you know, as a form of communication. And you have a bit more control with this stuff. Like I think it's, you know, the poisons in the dose a little bit with social media because you can control it. Like it is very, it's built to suck you in and waste your time and make you feel like shit a lot of these things. But you can, if you're mindful and you actually kind of really do the extra work, you can use it, like you said, for good. And I was at an event the other day and I was asking like, raise your hand,

Starting point is 00:29:32 how many of you hate follow someone on Instagram? You know, like follow somebody that makes you either feel like garbage or like just you're following them because you kind of are, I don't know, jealous or whatever. Like some kind of negative. And like, I don't know, 75% of the room raised their hand. And it's like, look, I'm not judging you because we've all had those moments.

Starting point is 00:29:51 But like, really? That's how you want to use your time on social media is to like feel like shit or judge other people or whatever it is you're doing. Like let's, there's so many good things that you could do with it if you put maybe a little bit more effort into it. But I think one of the things that you're talking about, again, that I think is so refreshing and why people respond to you is because I think what you're saying is you can love yourself. It's a tough road for a lot of us. that you're not perfect and know that there are things that you want to improve and get better at and know that you're going to slip and, and either think shitty things about yourself or say shitty things or behave in a shitty way. And you're still worthy of love and you're still good and you're

Starting point is 00:30:34 still getting better. Like I think people, people want to see things so black and white, right? Like you're either, you're either unhealthy and lazy and shitty and a bad person and unlovable or you're perfect. And of course that's ridiculous. And no one really is either of those things. But I think that, you know, the ability to just kind of say I am who I am with all of my flaws and I'm still good and I'm still worthy and I'm still going to make mistakes and I'm working on it. That's really where everybody is. We're all just maybe a little further down the path than others, but we're all doing the exact same thing. Absolutely. Tell me about, um, tell me about the explant, uh, um, story because I've been following it obviously, but if you could kind

Starting point is 00:31:15 of like, I don't know, just try to try to tell us a little bit about how that whole process even began. Like when, first of all, when you got them and then when you decided you didn't want them anymore and then that kind of process. Yeah. I always was like super anti, cause being in the bodybuilding community, you know, when women competed, they just would be like bolt-ons and, um, I was always like, ah, those are horrible. And I'm all natural KO, you know, no steroids, no fake tits. This is this horrible horrible blah, blah, blah. And then at some point, you know, I used to say like, Oh, I felt like a teenage boy. And part of that was true. I mean, I had the sides of my head shaved and was super ripped up because I was still quite sick in the head with the whole body dysmorphia. I was doing, um, CrossFit, Brazilian jujitsu and hot yoga in one day,

Starting point is 00:32:06 like five days a week. I mean, I was, I was walking around the house feeling my abs, you know, every 20 minutes to make sure they were still there. You know, like I went down an OCD track real quickly during that time. Um, and I kind of told myself like, well, that'll, that'll make me feel, you know, maybe more feminine if you will. And, and the other thing was, is I had decided like, Oh, I want to start competing again. And I wanted to get into physique and you know, I'll set a goal. I'm going to chase after Dana Lynn Bailey. I'm going to show her what a set of legs are. Uh, and of course, as soon as I decided, made that decision, I think she retired funny enough. That's universe the goal's not controls um but yeah I you know I'd been told previously um in bodybuilding that I needed to balance out my lower half with my

Starting point is 00:32:53 upper half and you know a good way to do that would be having some boobs um and I thought about it for about a year about from 2012 2012 and 2013, toyed around. And then finally made the decision and got them at the end of 2014. And what happened after, I think I had them for two, three months, three months. And one of the, I can't remember which breast it was. It was my left one. Had a big sack of fluid underneath it. And I just woke up one day and

Starting point is 00:33:25 I was like, what the fuck is this? And then from that turned into a series of, I had to get it drained several times. And then in 2017, in March, I started displaying symptoms of hyperthyroidism. And of course, didn't know at the time um i just thought that i had hit a wall with the stimulants you know like i'd taken too many drugs i've jacked up my system um i'm gonna quit taking pre-workout and just do yoga and chill and of course that didn't do anything it just progressively got worse um, couldn't even pick up five pound dumbbells cause my shoulders were on fire. Um, lost a bunch of weight, um, super anxious and agitated. Couldn't walk up more than five stairs without feeling like I was going to pass out insomnia, all of these things. And then, um, and of course this was, um, right before our first live event. And, um, so I believe the stress of planning that, you know, the financial stress, um, cause again, not having working capital and cashflow, um, you know, I, I still owe the bank 20 grand from that

Starting point is 00:34:41 event three years ago. So, uh, well, two years ago, rather, um, no three or whatever. And, uh, I, you know, um, got diagnosed the day before I left Singapore to come to the U S to, to kick off the event. Thank God. Cause I would have been in a world of hurt, but they're like, yep, you hyperthyroidism off the charts. And that of course wound up being Graves disease. And whether or not the implants had a direct correlation, you know, I'll never know. But again, once I got the thought in my head that it was a possibility, I was like, yep, no, they got to come out. And when you think about it, you know, an autoimmune disorder, it's like your body is fighting against itself and you put this foreign substance in. And of course, every doctor or surgeon is going to say, you know, it's completely safe, it's fine. But the fucking FDA, you know, yellow tops or jackets, sort of that, just cross tops, you know, um, so in cocaine, you know, like things, things fucking change.

Starting point is 00:35:53 And lo and behold, uh, you know, we, we never, it's, it's fact until it's not fact. And so, you know, the more research I started to do and everything of course my hands were going numb I was waking up in the middle of the night and my arms were numb um petrifying really and it just progressively was getting worse I thought right those just need to come out and then to add on top of that the the final final was just wasn't incongruent with what I was talking about anymore you know and they felt cool. I guess the first six months or so I had them, I felt a bit more pretty or feminine. But the reality is, as you know, when you're looking for external validation, it always goes away. It's like snorting a line of

Starting point is 00:36:38 Coke. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's like a compliment from a stranger never fucking lasts. And you just want more and more to try. Yeah. Yeah. And it just wears, it wears off. And, um, I could, you know, I lost the sensation in my nipples. I could feel the bottom of the implant underneath. And of course the number of times I needed to get it drained was just, it was so expensive.

Starting point is 00:37:00 Um, and you know, I just thought this just isn't in alignment anymore with who i am but at the end of the day there's plenty of women who have fakies and they love them you know and it's changed their life and their self-esteem and and that's not for me to judge their experience but i'm just glad that more women know you know if they start to experience different symptoms that there could in fact be a correlation with your implants. You know, it's not always the case, but shit, the more that we see coming out, it's just like, whoa, that's, that's mind blowing. Like your shit's got fungus in it, homegirl. Wow. And I mean, just to, just to make an educated decisions too, right? Because I think we are,

Starting point is 00:37:40 hopefully most of us pass the point of just superficially judging people because they decide they want fake tits but it is good just like any decision you make like if you decide to become a vegan or a carnivore like whatever dietary choice you make or if you want to be a bodybuilder or jujitsu or whatever there's there are pros and cons to every decision you make and I think instead of just telling people get tits because you're gonna be prettier and everyone's gonna like you there are other things you need to know about it and I think that that's more people yeah should know about that not as a scary like if you do this it's gonna be terrible because not everyone is gonna like you said have the the severity of the symptoms that you experienced but I also it always kind of got

Starting point is 00:38:18 got my like I don't know um I don't know kind of got to me a little bit being in the bodybuilding world myself. I've, I competed in figure and I was always like very kind of smugly, um, proud of being natural, even in, in competitions that are quote unquote natural, where, you know, they're not natural because you know, everyone's doing everything and whatever, but it always seemed odd to me, this weird double standard that, and again, some of my best friends have fake tits. Okay. I love you all and your boobs. It's great. But it always kind of struck me that it was such a accepted and actually strongly encouraged thing to do that, to balance out this feminine shape and look. And it's like, they want you to get lean and have zero female fat on your body anywhere, but then have these like just approximations of what feminine, feminine

Starting point is 00:39:05 chest should look like. But then if you look at like every once in a while, you'll see like a dude in like a bodybuilding competition that, you know, got like implants somewhere in their body, you know, like muscle implants and people rip those guys apart, like rip them apart for doing that. And it's like, well, how, how is it different? Why is everybody like, of course you have to get tits, like girls have to get tits so they look a certain way. But if people do essentially the same thing, like they're trying to pass off butt implants or calf implants or whatever, people like rip them a new one. I'm like, really? How is it different, honestly?

Starting point is 00:39:36 Yeah. No, that's valid. That's double standard all day. And I remember being told by somebody, and this was a friend of mine who I know didn't have a malicious intent when they said it. But at one point, and again, I've only competed sort of in like more amateur, like I got to a national level in Canada. I'm like, I was pretty good at it. Like I liked it. I just didn't, I don't think I had the sort of obsessive mentality to kind of take it any further than I did.

Starting point is 00:39:58 But I did quite well, right? No tits to speak of. And I did quite well. And I remember one of my friends being like, well, you never, you've never thought about getting breast implants. And the longer that I thought about that comment, the more mad it made me just because I'm like, why would, why should it be like the standard? Like if somebody wants to make that choice, fine. But why would it be like, why haven't you made this choice for yourself? Like, are you, you're telling me that I'm not okay the way I am? Like, I'm fine with're telling me that I'm not okay the way I am?

Starting point is 00:40:25 Like, I'm fine with my tits, whatever size they are. When I have more fat, they're bigger. And when I'm lean, I have none and I'm fine both ways. And I was, I did okay in competition too. Like, why would you assume that that's something that should happen to take me to the next level? It all re like, it really kind of got my ass a little bit. And I don't know, I think more people need to hear every side of the story. Yeah, no, that's, um, that's very valid. Yeah. So are you like fully, fully kind of, um, recovered? Like they're out, you're good. You're feeling okay. Like has this had the symptoms kind of, um, resolve themselves? Yeah. You know, my thyroid is stable. I haven't found another thyroid doctor here in the

Starting point is 00:41:06 U S primarily because I don't have insurance here. Um, you know, after living in a country where healthcare is free for eight years, I'm like, wow, this is a hard shock to the system. Um, and where were you, were you in Australia? Yeah, I was in Australia and then I was in Thailand for a hot minute and then Singapore for two years, um, where I, you know, I was in Australia. And then I was in Thailand for a hot minute and then Singapore for two years, um, where I, you know, I did have insurance there, but, uh, for the most part, yeah, my hands are rarely go numb on occasion. They'll, they'll fall asleep, but there is night and day difference, you know, cause it used to wake me up in the middle of the night cause they were numb, numb. Um, so that's that stopped um my immune

Starting point is 00:41:45 system has gotten a lot better you know I'd get sick like every month and a half or so I'd have some kind of like horrible cold uh you know I still have sinus problems like my nose just like snot will just fall out of my face you know um uh um, uh, often, you know, I blow my nose constantly. Um, so there's still some lingering things, you know, but in, um, overall, yeah. And then as far as like the healing, like I'm, I'm good. I've been training, uh, the scars are there and super obvious, but I really doesn't bother me whatsoever. And of course I've got the asymmetrical titty thing happening as they were when, before I had the implants. Well, yeah, everybody's asymmetrical anyway. Everybody's got like a favorite and then like the, the, you know, slightly less favorite on the other side.

Starting point is 00:42:36 Exactly. You know, one's bigger than the other one and so forth. So yeah, but it's, I feel, I feel much better about the whole thing. So I'm just glad. And I've had so many women contact me and say, Hey, you know, thank you so much. I was going to get implants and I've changed my mind. And so that's been super, super awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Scars are hot anyway. Like I'm kind of, yeah, that's right. Yeah. So, so how are you training these days, especially being as insanely busy as you are? Like, is that something that you kind of go like cyclically, like maybe heavier weights or less training or more training or like, what are you up to these days? Just CrossFit. That's it. You know, I've, um, I've been meaning to get back on the mats and there's a 10th planet, like a block away from me. And I'm like,

Starting point is 00:43:21 I'm going to go back to jujitsu and dah, and da da da and I just haven't because a time but b because I don't have health insurance and I'm like you know at least in CrossFit I can control my own fuck-ups you know but I can't control necessarily if a white belt is gonna try and snap my arm in half who's three times my size so I've avoided it um but you'll get there at some point. But yeah, I just go in and I train CrossFit in the mornings. That's really it. I don't have any particular goals, so to speak, right now. But yeah, that's where I'm at with that.

Starting point is 00:44:02 How are you doing living in Vegas? Do you like it in the desert? Yeah. It's growing on me. Yeah. It's growing on me. Yeah. So, um, again, I, I'm just having a hard time settling because my, my partner doesn't have a visa yet and we've been married for eight and a half years and we applied for his visa like 15 months ago. And it's just, it's, it's mind blowing really, you know, I'm like, what, what do you need? Like we've, we've been, it's just, I can't wrap my head around it. So, um, until that happens, I don't think I'll be able to really settle, you know? And then of course we're in this process of fundraising and, you never really know what you're working towards because you don't know if you have now a million-dollar budget or you're looking for 50 bucks behind the couch to complete a $50,000 order. So it's just this, I have to remind myself goals, not controls, just keep showing up, you know, and just do the next right thing. Cause you know, if you're, you're trying to scale to this amount, because at the end of that scaling, that looks like, you know, live events and rebranding camp confidence and train the trainer and teaching women how to implement that program and, um, working with NIDA, um, the National Lenient Disorder Association and, you know, teaching women how to implement that program and working with NIDA, the National

Starting point is 00:45:26 Lenient Disorder Association, and, you know, teaching women the body project, which we've dubbed the girl project. So they can go and disseminate this four-week dissonance-based intervention program in high schools, you know, so the girls can change their concept of, uh, body image. And it's just, but none of that can happen because I'm still sitting here trying to, you know, yeah, like piece together, you know, I finally got so fed up because none of our shit matches, like we can't, you know, roll out a collection per se. And, you know, I was like, all right, I'm going to really work on focusing on the line.

Starting point is 00:46:13 But then you start focusing on that and, you know, you got to deal with suppliers. And so the whole supply chain distribution, you know, and then multiple countries, it's just, yeah, it's hectic. It's a lot. I mean, I work with and talk to a lot of successful people like you who have a lot of different things going on. And I think, of course, it's a blessing to be in a position where you can influence people, where you can make change, where you can do positive things for other people. But it can also be overwhelming when you don't want to say no to opportunities, when you want to try to juggle a million things and you want to kind of get them all done at the same time. And like, I can only imagine, and I do, and I think a lot of people do this. It's not always on the same scale or as visible as like you, for example, but we're all trying to juggle a bunch of things that we want

Starting point is 00:46:57 to do that are important. And like, I know we talked about this a little bit sort of at the beginning of the call, but how do you, like in the run of a week, you're trying to maybe expand and grow. Girl, you're writing a book, you've got an event to plan, you've got like personal stuff to do, you're trying to be healthy at the same time. Like how do you sort of organize your day in your head to try and even like attempt to get all these things done? Yeah, that's another great question. My partner kind of showed me this system where you basically, oh, it's proven that, you know, you're most effective when you work in chunks and blocks of time, you know, so you got two hours and then a break and then two hours and then lunch and, and then dedicate, you know, so you've got a template

Starting point is 00:47:39 where it's like, all right, every Monday, I've got product and development here. And then after that break, I've got, um, content. So blog, social media, uh, comments, DMS, whatever. And then, you know, um, in the evening, free time, whatever. And never, ever, I I've been working on doing that since February. I haven't, you know, cause what happens is, and it takes discipline really and practice, I suppose. But the, the challenge is, is it's like, Oh shit, I forgot about this thing. Let me go and open up this app to reply to this person. And then all of a sudden you've got eight different things in front of you. And out of those eight things that, you know, two of those lead to something else. And then that is just this chain.

Starting point is 00:48:25 And then all of a sudden you're like, I've got absolutely fucking nowhere. And I, you know, I thrive off of checking shit off of a list, you know, and feeling accomplished, like feeling accomplished is, is my thing. And if I feel like I'm not getting, and then what happens is, is I just bring all this other shit in, I lack focus and then I don't get anything done and I don't move anything forward. And, or I get on social media or, you know, even just that mind fuck where I'm like, okay, I need to dwindle down the number of people I'm following. Cause there's a fuck load of people on here. I don't know who they are. They might have bought a shirt a year ago or what have you. Um, you know, but then I know for myself, like I've

Starting point is 00:49:10 had to have some serious talks where I'm like, why did they unfollow me? That hurts my feelings. And, you know, and be like, well, I don't want to, you know, upset other people and putting yourself first and be like, this is so stupid. It really is so insignificant and dumb. But at the same time, like, you know, what if I really push someone over the edge or upset somebody and then I'll sit there and then I'll fucking go through their, their thing and try and figure it out and have they messaged me. And the next thing you know, an hour has gone by and I've unfollowed like three people. And I'm like, what am I doing? This is not the most productive use of my afternoon. No, absolutely not. And so, um, you know, and then of course there's, uh, for whatever

Starting point is 00:49:52 reason, uh, throughout this journey, you know, I've found that the, the challenge with what we've created is it's very intimate, you know, you know, you meet women at events and meetups and women, we were sharing our stories and we've got this closed group and, um, you know, you know, you meet women at events and meetups and women, we were sharing our stories and we've got this closed group and, um, you know, people have made friends and so forth. And so when somebody has a bad experience say, or, you know, um, whatever the case might be, they fall out of love with the brand. And it's really over the course of four years been, I can count on both hands, but because I'm, I'm attached to it, it, I take it personal. And then I start questioning my own worth and then thinking like,

Starting point is 00:50:31 oh, well maybe that's why women don't make good business owners is because we take things too personal and we're too emotional and you know, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, really? Like, how did you arrive to that conclusion? And you you know needing to actually coach myself through a whole thing and being like you got to let that go and revert back to the masses you know so yes you've done great things and you're confused as to why these people have fallen out but at the end of the day it's none of my fucking business you know and I personally know I haven't done anything and it's all about perception. But really at the end of the day, unfortunately, like there's a reason why other brands haven't done stuff like that.

Starting point is 00:51:11 Because from a commercial perspective, it can be, you know, debilitating. Not debilitating. That's an exaggeration. But it can have a negative impact. And so you think, well, you know, because I look at you. You asked about the implants. There's a group called Breast Implant Illness, you know, cause I look at you, you'd ask about the implants. There's a group called breast implant illness, you know, healing with Nicole or what have you. And she was first on the scene like in 2013. And I've noticed there's a lot of other offshoots of that group now.

Starting point is 00:51:35 And I just caught a post where she was just basically like, look, I'm going to, um, interrupt the rumor mill and here's what's going on. So basically there are these other groups and they go and they just talk shit about her group. And even so much so they've tried to like get her, she's got a not for profit now. And, you know, pushing through legislation and doing all sorts of cool shit. But other women have tried to take that down by filing complaints because it's in your country, it's up in Canada and, you know, trying to, to just poison her brand or that group and reasons being, and they're very, you know, somebody might've had a post blocked in that group or, um, one of their surgeons wasn't on the recommended list of people to go to. Um, you know, there's a number of different things. And at the end of the

Starting point is 00:52:23 day, those people want the attention on themselves. So they go off and create these other offshoots and they're just bashing this other group. And I'm like, well, it's really interesting. Cause again, we've had in our closed community, there's been a number of times where, you know, someone got in a heated debate over something and it's like, well, fine, I'm picking up my toys and I'm fucking leaving. And you know, they go off and, and then it turns into, uh, uh, it's attached to the brand. And I'm picking up my toys and I'm fucking leaving. And, you know, they go off and, and then it turns into, uh, it's attached to the brand. And I'm like, hold on, wait a minute. No, that's not, no, that, that doesn't work like that, you know? And instead of being able to be like, okay, well, this is the exact reason why we exist is, you know, to dismantle this because this is why we're

Starting point is 00:53:02 held back as a gender. Guys don't typically do that shit. You know what I mean? Like they don't. And so it's disheartening and it's upsetting, you know, and then you just think like, well, what the fuck? What's the point of all this when I've sacrificed every penny? I'm in personal debt, my marriage, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, I'm still married, but you know, like it's completely taken over my life. Yeah. And people don't take that into consideration. And you just think like, why, why? But on the other hand, again, it's so easy to out of, you know, the five things for amazing one bad, we just focus on that one thing. Yeah. You know, nevermind the other thousands upon thousands of women who are living their best life now or just wear shorts for the first time in 20

Starting point is 00:53:48 years or, you know, their daughter stopped cutting because what the fuck ever the case might be. So it's, you know, just got to, again, goals, not controls. Keep showing up. That's right. That's exactly right. And it's funny too, how I know we got to wrap up soon, but one of the, one of the like angles about this whole sort of like women feeling confident in themselves and empowered and just feeling like they are competent and can, can do what they want in the world. It can, it can, the world can wear you down from so many different angles because there's like the sort of discussion we've been having about low self-esteem and how that can manifest in like addictions and treating yourself poorly. And then there's even the other side. And

Starting point is 00:54:30 this is sort of like maybe one of those more like privileged, like check your white girl privilege kind of scenarios that I'm going to explain right now. But it's still a legit experience that's happening in the world. And this is coming from my perspective where I had a very strong female role model. My mother was a really strong figure in my life growing up and she did a fantastic job of instilling a confidence in me that was a, it was a weirdly realistic confidence from a young age. So she was like, she was able to tell me in sort of like one sentence that I'm not, the world doesn't revolve around me. I'm not the prettiest princess at the top of a castle, but I'm amazing and I'm awesome and I'm worthy of love and I'm good and I can go out and do things and I'm smart. So like she, it was like this weird, like grounded sense

Starting point is 00:55:16 that it wasn't just about being cute. It wasn't just about being somebody's favorite, but that I was, I was capable. I was able to do things. Right. So, and I'm not to say that I've never had confidence issues because I think everybody has, but I think I just feel very, very fortunate that from a young age, I felt like I was capable. And that is really, I think an important quality to have, and especially as a woman. But one of those things that has kind of, it's come back to bite me a little bit is people reacting poorly to me because it's very apparent that I'm confident in myself and people don't like it sometimes, you know, like just the way it can, it can be off-putting to people who are, who are very inward or very timid or very

Starting point is 00:55:56 unsure of themselves. That can be off-putting to people, I guess sometimes, but women who like a very apparent that they love themselves, like that really turns people off too sometimes. And you're like, well, I'm fucked either way. What do I do? Like if I'm confident in myself, you don't like it. And if I act like if I'm not assertive and I'm like, you know, whatever, you don't like that either. Like what do we do? How do we win?

Starting point is 00:56:18 It is. It's a paradox. And I talk about that often where I'm like, you know, how many of you feel like if you say, uh, thank you and receiving a compliment that you're being conceited, you know, ridiculous. What world are we living in? We can't accept a compliment like, or that you can't, you can't like, it's like the, it's like the, the, um, interview scenario, right? Like when you're talking to people, you're making new friends or you're trying to get a new job or you're whatever, you can talk about your accomplishments and what you're proud of and the things that you're capable, again, capable of doing. And you shouldn't, it shouldn't make people think that you're a conceited asshole.

Starting point is 00:56:54 If I've accomplished something, if you've started a company, if you've written a book, if you've helped, you know, thousands of women find confidence in themselves, you've done that. You're not making up some shit to like inflate your ego. in themselves, you've done that. You're not making up some shit to inflate your ego. That's what you've done. So why can't we just own that as well as owning sort of the other parts of us that are maybe scary or scared or afraid? Why can't we own that good shit too? Yeah, no, absolutely. And you know what? We posted a video the other day of Janae Croc and she was saying, at the end of the day, you could be the sweetest person on the planet. And there will still be somebody who doesn't like treats or is just like, you know, she's evil or whatever. So, again, it's the same thing where you just keep doing you and that know we're slowly but surely changing those perceptions and those conversations and

Starting point is 00:57:46 um but it's like you know when you're on a program or you're working towards something unless even god forbid weight loss and you know you don't see it yourself but people around you do because it's been a a progressive thing you know it's very slow process um but it's the same thing with what's happening around in the world you you know, where it's like, we, we get caught up in, um, shit happening, but overall, like where we were 10 years ago versus today, you know, I just saw some ads were banned in, um, I think the UK or something because of gender stereotypes. And you're just like, wow, what, how did that happen? You know? so it's, it's, it's happening slowly, but surely. Um, so it's kind of like the whole, the damned if I do damned if I don't, but I'm going to do it any fucking way and fuck

Starting point is 00:58:34 y'all, you know? Yeah. And like you said, like you said earlier too, like other people's perception really is not a, your business and like the people you're helping people at the same time, maybe you're only seeing the people that have something nasty to say, but you got to keep doing what, what's meaningful to you because otherwise, what are you on the planet for really? Yeah, that's right. Okay. Okay. I'm going to let you go. I know you have to go expand your empire. I want to talk to you for a million more years, but real quick, before I let you go, watermelon crushing, do you have, cause I think, I feel like I saw somewhere that you like were creating or had created a program to help other people crush watermelons between

Starting point is 00:59:09 their legs. Yeah, I've written it. I just need to film it. And I say just lightly cause you know, I was just, this is something I keep battling with where it's like I, being an entrepreneur, it's the most challenging thing is being over creative, you know, and I'm not a systems person. And I don't have somebody managing me. So it's like, cool. You know, I want to write my book. Like, that's a big ass undertaking. Yeah. So I'm like, all right, let's be more realistic and, and say, Okay, well, what, you know, what was the actual timeline of that? Because I was like, yeah, get ready. And I'm like, well, fuck, what am I going to get time to film that? So it's, it's there, it's written down. Um, and of course now we're kind of coming out of the end of the summer season. Um, but we'll,

Starting point is 00:59:59 we'll see what happens. I might get some, some time to knock that out. Hopefully. Okay. I'm really excited about that because I don't have like you, like I've actually have a similar background in like bodybuilding, CrossFit, Jiu Jitsu. I'm playing around with all of these things. And I haven't had like a very specific goal in a little while and it's kind of making me antsy. And then I saw your post and I was like, Ooh, Oh, that could be a fun goal to work towards. I could get into that because it's just, I mean, it's, and it's such a cool thing that you came up with. I don't know what the, the, um, inspiration was for that, but it was such a cool thing, a way to make use of social media and clickbait and people like

Starting point is 01:00:33 liking these kind of like this interesting, like everyone wants to watch this video. Right. And you, it gave you kind of a greater platform to like talk about real stuff as you're doing this bad-ass fucking thing that now everybody else wants to do too. Like it was, it's just genius. So anyway, I'm very excited for that program. I think it's going to be popular.

Starting point is 01:00:51 Thank you. And you'll read all about how the shit came to pass. Um, when I get my book out there, I can't wait, Courtney, thank you so, so much for taking the time and for,

Starting point is 01:01:00 uh, yeah, responding to my dogged emails and making this happen. Well, I really appreciate it. And you're just fantastic and can't wait to hear. Let me know when we're out there and I'll put it out to the masses. Absolutely.

Starting point is 01:01:12 Thank you so much. Thanks, Ash. And that is officially a wrap, folks. That's all. When I say it, I really mean it this time. Well, that's all for now. Anyway, thank you again to my sponsors. I truly mean this when I say that ButcherBox and Beekeepers Naturals are companies that I loved

Starting point is 01:01:31 before they decided to sponsor me. I used their products before they decided to sponsor me, and I will use them after. So make sure that you head to butcherbox.com forward slash maven, use the code maven, you'll get $20 off your first box of delicious, high quality meat. And they'll also throw in some free beef for you. And we all love free beef and head to beekeepers naturals.com forward slash muscle maven and use the code muscle maven at checkout for a 15% discount on all of their tasty, awesome, healthy treats. And that's it. Again, I just, I deeply appreciate you sharing your time with me and with the rest of the crew at Shrug Collective. I appreciate being given the platform and the opportunity to learn and teach and grow

Starting point is 01:02:15 with all of you. Don't hesitate to reach out to me on Instagram. I'm generally pretty friendly. You can talk to me at The Muscle Maven. Tell me what's up, what you're thinking. We can connect and share from there. And don't forget, you can still listen to me over at the paleo magazine radio podcast and on the muscle intelligence podcast. So I'm still doing the professional talker thing and I look forward to what the future holds. I hope you do too. Thank you again for listening and have a fantastic day.

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Barbell Shrugged - Crushing addiction, stereotypes, and watermelons with GRRRL founder Kortney Olson — Muscle Maven Radio Episode #30

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