Barbell Shrugged - Feed Me Fuel Me  — The Alpha Hippie w/ Angelo Sisco  — 103

Episode Date: September 6, 2018

This week on Feed Me Fuel Me  we redefine masculinity with the Alpha Hippie, Angelo Sisco . Angelo is a celebrated business coach, and owner of O'Hare CrossFit in Chicago.   Angelo had it rough growing up, in home raised by his mother after his father went to prison. Angelo grew up in a neighborhood, where street fights and settling beefs with your fists were normal everyday activities. However, when you become a man in an environment where hustling was the preferred means to make ends meet, you pick up a thing or two: Like starting your own business so you never have to answer to anyone else, ever.   Angelo has been a self-starter and entrepreneur since his adolescence. However, because he was left to his own devices, with no shortage of adversity in his upbringing, his vulnerability was left behind and looked down upon. In recent years, Angelo has rediscovered his essence, who he is at his core, and has chosen to bring that essence to light via the Alpha Hippie movement in which strength is discovered in vulnerability.   Take a listen to Angelo's journey to this new level of being!! We appreciate you joining us, and allowing us to be a part of your journey!!   - Jeff and Mycal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/fmfm_sisco ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

Mike Bledsoe here, CEO of The Shrug Collective. Today, we bring to you a new show, Feed Me, Fuel Me, hosted by Jeff Thornton and Mike Landers. As we're expanding what we offer, traveling to great guests, and introducing you to the best content, we have partnered with amazing companies that we believe in. We talk and hang out with the founders and owners of these businesses. Not all products are created equal, even if it looks like it on the surface.

We've done the research and have been in the industry long enough to see what really works and what will make the biggest difference for you long term. With that being said, one of my favorite companies, Thrive Market, has a special offer for you. You get $60 of free organic groceries

plus free shipping and a 30-day trial. ThriveMarket.com slash feedme. This is how it works. Users will get $20 off their first three orders of $49 or more plus free shipping. No code is necessary because the discount will be applied at checkout. Many of you will be going to the store this week anyway, so hit up Thrive Market today. Go to ThriveMarket.com slash feedme. Enjoy the show.

This is episode number 103 of the Feed Me, Fuel Me podcast with our special guest, owner of O'Hare CrossFit and the Alpha Hippie podcast, Angelo Sisco. Welcome to the Feed Me, Fuel Me podcast. My name is Jeff Thornton, alongside my co-host, Michael Anders. Each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message related to our three pillars of success, manifestation, business, fitness, and nutrition. Our intent is to enrich, educate, and empower our audience to take action, control, and accountability for their decisions. Thank you for allowing us to join you on your journey. Now let's get started. Hey crew, welcome to another episode of the Feed Me, Feel Me podcast.

Ders and Jeff coming to you live from the CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin. And today we've got the pleasure of having Angelo Sisco, founder of O'Hare CrossFit, and the Alpha Hippie himself. Yeah. That's it. And we appreciate you taking the time, man. You've got two competitors in the fight right now. And we know you've got a busy schedule as a coach here at the games i'm sure that's a totally different experience than just being here a lot of responsibility and a

lot of bandwidth being taken from you or that you have to put out there so appreciate you taking the time today man no no my pleasure it is much different but it is my pleasure especially too we were very fortunate to have the day off this year versus other years, so it worked out perfect. Right on. We have a very special connection in that when I signed on with Barbell Business, you were assigned to me as my coach. And I joke about it a lot because it was the first time in my entrepreneurial career i had somebody really put their foot in my ass you know uh up to that point it had a lot of my uh coaching had been okay you know you're learning the ropes these are these are the these are your key performance

indicators like you need to fall in love with your numbers and blah blah blah it's okay a lot of uh hand holding and then uh when you and i got together um i don't know that it wasn't me taking it seriously but the the bar was raised for me and um uh it was it was a real awakening and I watched my business just just catapult as a byproduct of that and you're saying that my pleasure no no absolutely I mean you're very instrumental in my my professional growth on the entrepreneurial into things so I really appreciate that man yeah but for everybody who doesn't have the insight that I have, give us the cliff notes about who you are, where you're from, and kind of how the Alpha Hippie and O'Hare CrossFit came to be. How'd we get here? Yeah, sure.

So I grew up in a small suburb outside of Chicago right near O'Hare Airport. It's a western suburb called Melrose Park. And my name's Angelo Sisco, so if you can't hear just from the name, it's a predominantly or was a predominantly Italian American neighborhood. Are you Cubs or Sox? I really don't have a preference. It's kind of funny. And we'll get into that in this story. So I grew up in this little suburb when I was in kindergarten. My father actually went to prison for 11 years. And so most of my childhood was spent just being raised by my mother and then my mother's mother my grandmother moved in with us and took care of us and uh if you are pretty familiar with

the movie bronx tale and that's why i bring up the baseball stuff um at a very young age uh i was taught that you didn't give a shit about that stuff because it wasn't going to really be helpful for you in the long run yeah and so while all these other kids were worried about this stuff i mean the only thing i get a little romantic about was the bulls because I was alive when the bulls were the bulls and I lived that. But other than that, there really was not much attachment to it throughout my youth with sports. So I grew up, my father was away and a lot of big thing in my family was being overweight. My father was overweight when he went away. My mother was overweight.

Most of my family was. It was a very normal thing to be just eaters in my family. And so I grew up, typical Italian kid. If you celebrated something, you overate. If you were sad, you overate. It really just didn't matter. We were just eating. And so I got really fat.

And right around 19 or 20, I got in a really bad motorcycle. I was 20. I got in a really bad motorcycle accident. I was hit by a landscaping truck I have ten screws in a plate and all new skin all over my foot here and that put me into a bigger downward spiral I was eating some painkillers gained even more weight I mean there's not much you could do when you can't walk and that was around two months in the hospital and then five months of physical therapy to walk again

so I got up to about 300 pounds at that point, and I had some personal things going on with my family. So like I mentioned, my father went away for 11 years, and my parents stayed married. And for, I don't know why, but it was a really big deal for me that my parents stayed married through all that stuff. I thought that was like a very big part of my identity, and I took a lot of pride in it. And fast forward to about 2007, my parents decided to divorce. After all that stuff, and I laugh at my mother still about this day. I'm like, you got divorced in 2007. You played your cards right.

You could have been remarried in 1990 and had a whole new family. And we laugh about it now. But at the time, it was really devastating on me and it was really hard on my mother and everybody. And I grew up in a world where if you're the man, you weren't, I don't want to say weren't allowed, but your full range of emotions weren't allowed to be accessed. You were either happy or angry.

You didn't really say that you were sad. You said you were angry. You know what I mean? There wasn't much of that. So I just kind of didn't say anything. I just gained a little bit more weight and got up to about 300 pounds at that point. And also for me, too, it was a real pivotal moment, I think, in every man's life when their father becomes their father and they're not dad. He's not daddy anymore.

He's just a human trying to make it in this world. And he's doing the best he can. And you take him off that pedestal. And while that all was happening, I decided that it was time for me to to start losing weight and right around that time the movie 300 came out and i was like oh my god how are these people look like this they didn't look like bodybuilder people because they were really athletic and come to find out they trained at a gym called jim jones which is out of utah which is still there and then i did some research on j Jim Jones. And at one time they were a part of CrossFit. I'm like, well, what's this CrossFit

thing? I'm on CrossFit.com, this creepy Craigslist looking website. And I started, and I started doing it. And I started doing it January 5th, 2009 was my first CrossFit workout. And at this time, there was no affiliates near me. They were all the way in the city. And so I just did it by myself and kind of just made it up as I went along and try to write some workouts. And, uh, seven months later I lost 95 pounds and, uh, yeah, it was a complete new life for me. And it was just an amazing thing too. I, um, I think it would, because it was the first time I tried to lose weight in my life. That was really for me. And there, I don't think that's, uh, there's no mistake why it's still this way now that I haven't gained the weight back.

I think a lot of people try to gain weight or lose weight for the wrong reasons or some crazy external motivation. And for me, this was for me this time. I had another business at the time. Actually, what we did was a friend of mine's father started a pizza place that sells 30-inch slices. It's a 30-inch pizza cut into eight slices, so it's giant slices slices and one night we decided that we were going to take a catering truck and we were gonna go outside of a bar and sell pizza to drunk people at night because we were broke but we wanted to be out and fast forward like three months later it turned out to be a business we bought another truck we had

stops every day of the week and that's what I had at the time so I had a lot of time to work out and learn about health and fitness and I just started started training people for free at that time. At the end of July of 09, I was just like, come work out with me. We'll have a lot of fun. And then I just asked myself a question one day. I still remember this. I was like, man, can I do this forever? Can this be my living? And that would be so cool. You get to just do what you like. And so we just started, I started training people outside. And then for a fee, September of 2009, I rented a racquetball court space because it gets cold in Chicago then. And built up the business in October. I'm sorry, November of 2010.

November 11th. Yeah, November 11th of 2010, I opened up OCF. That was our first location. It was 2,500 square feet. And yeah, things just kind of rolled from there. In June of 2013, we moved into the space we're in now. It's 5,500 square feet. And, yeah, things just kind of rolled from there. In June of 2013, we moved into the space where now it's 5,500 square feet. So it's just a little bit more than double the size. And it's been, I mean, just an amazing ride these last, it's almost eight years now.

I can't believe it. I feel old. When I tell people my gym's eight years old, I feel like in CrossFit land, I'm an elder statesman. Oh, for sure. You're the OG, man. Yeah. And, uh, it's, it's pretty cool. It's been amazing too. I think anybody that was around CrossFit before there was shoes and all this kind of stuff, and then they see it the way it is now. It's just an amazing evolution. And yeah, so that's pretty much how I got to the gym and where

all that kind of was. And, uh, around 2014, 2014, this is where Alpha Hippie kind of comes into play. 2014, we weren't growing as much as we once were. And if anybody owned a CrossFit gym in those early years, somebody walked in, you said, butt back, knees out, you were a superstar, and they wanted to pay you anything you wanted. Like it was very easy to grow. And we had this crazy exponential growth. I remember one year, it's like 275.

It's weird. It's like the bubble. You know what I mean? It's 275%, but at the time, too, my business IQ wasn't that savvy, and I just thought this is how it's going to be forever. Just let the good times roll, and I think that happens to most people, like in their little bubbles. And around 2014, we were stagnant. And I'll be

truthful, my response to that was I went completely victim mode. I just started treating the staff poorly. I was blaming things on them. I was blaming things on people. And it was just a really tough time for me during those maybe three to six months I was like that and I just couldn't understand it. And, um, I started looking up this thing about, uh, emotional intelligence. I think that's the way normal people say mindfulness. So people don't get freaked out. They call it, uh, EQ instead of IQ. And so, uh, there's a book, I think it's emotional intelligence 2.0. You look it up, you could take a test. And, uh, I to find out I had a really bad self-awareness And I was like, oh this makes complete sense, you know and I was like wait so I can make this better and

It was just really empowering for me to find out that anything that was a roadblock for me That I was the limiter and it wasn't anybody else And to me, I think you you go one of two ways. Either you see that and it becomes very empowering or you see that and it becomes really defeating because now I can't blame you or you why I'm not winning. And for me, it was great. I thought it was this amazing thing. I was like, oh my God, I'm going to start learning. And then from there, I just started reading books and going to seminars and visiting Mike Bledsoe out in SoCal and meeting all these people that didn't have shoes on and they were all hippies and they were all just, I'm like, oh my

God, at first, you know, cause where I come from, uh, being barefoot, having dirty feet, eating stuff with your hands, it's just not how you live your life. Yeah. And so, uh, these conversations that we were having were just amazing. And it really, every time I would go there, I'd come back full of energy and have this new insight and these new ideas that I was focusing on. And fast forward around 2017, somebody was having a conversation with me about my spiritual growth and meditation or something like that. And they go, I was trying to explain to them how to meditate or how I was doing it. And they made a little face. A lot of people where I live, meditation and all this, this isn't a very, I don't want to say accepted, but it's becoming more accepted. But at the time, you know, what am I doing sitting on a pillow with my eyes closed being quiet, right?

And so I was like, man, you don't understand. You're not an alpha hippie. And they're like, what? I'm like, yeah, I'm an alpha hippie. And that's why you don't understand this shit. I don't even know why i'm explaining it to you right now and i was like man what a cool idea alpha hippie and so first thing i do is i google alpha hippie and i'm like i just want a shirt that says alpha hippie that would be so cool no shirts made that said alpha hippie and i was like oh crap i'm just gonna make one and so i i took some paper and i

drew a design and i brought it to a designer. And this design was the original Alpha Epi design. And I was like, cool. So I'm going to make this shirt for me. And I was like, well, why would I only print out one shirt? What a waste of time. So I printed out like 120 shirts, all different sizes. And I would send them to people that I knew.

And I was like, hey, if you want to post something online, are you wearing this? That would be awesome so we could create awareness of this thing. And a lot of people did. And in February this year, I went to an eco village in Costa Rica with about 100 people and lived in an eco village and then went to Envision Fest. And I brought a duffel bag, an extra duffel bag specifically just of Alpha Hippie t-shirts, and I was passing them out to all these people. And I was like, this is so much fun and people get it like when you say Alpha Hippie to somebody I think everybody has a slightly different definition but they they all have an idea of where it is or the intention of it right and I just started passing out those shirts and I was like this is so much fun and then

okay so I was like boom I made these shirts now what we can we do with Alpha Hippie and I started thinking about what would satisfy me and what would give me a lot of energy and even like this like having this conversation right here as soon as I'm done having this conversation for about the next three to four hours I am willing to bet that I'm gonna have a big surge of energy right you have these awesome conversations nobody's looking at their phones everybody's here right now and I was like this is what happens to me when I go to these masterminds or when I go to these retreats, I had these awesome conversations.

And then I come home and you could almost measure as you're coming home as the weeks go by, how that fades away because you're not having those conversations anymore and all that kind of stuff. So I was like, man, I'm just going to start a podcast. It's going to be completely about me being selfish. I'm going to have these conversations with some awesome, smart people, and I'm going to learn some stuff. And so we launched the podcast, when was it? I think June. Yeah, they first launched in June, and we're about 15 episodes in.

We launch a show every week, and it's just been fun. And I just like having these conversations. This is not for me. This is a break away from business so I have I have the gym I do business coaching I own part of a nutrition coaching company obviously with the athletes and program design there's all these

things that I do to make money and for me Alpha Hippie is just for me to feed my soul and that's why I enjoy it so much and believe it or not too that's why I'm so hesitant about trying to embark in anything that has to do financially with it yeah i'd rather use the money i make from my other businesses to float what i need to do to do this because i just want it to stay fun and stay

relaxed and be what i need it to be right could you explain the logo to me because i think it's a beautiful design sure so the heart is the symbol for the hippie, okay? Because the peace sign, it's nice, but I didn't think it would fit that well. And the A, this is the alpha for the A. So it's just about love and kindness and then the alpha symbol there. Okay. And that's what makes Alpha Hippie Alpha Hippie. That's dope. Yeah, man.

Congratulations on launching the podcast too, man. Oh, my God. I was so nervous about it. Like when you hear your own voice, you're like, oh, my God. Do I really sound like this? Is this good? It's totally different, right? we just talked about that last night it was so funny we talked about how he jurors has jurors has the baby making voice when the podcast comes on he totally drops the octaves how do you sound the the very white voice is what they explain it as

for sure and that's it that's his podcast and voice and when he hears he's like am i really that quiet yeah well the intro is a very awkward, and nobody tells you that the intro is a very awkward thing. Sure, sure. Because, like, right before you're on, you're having a really free-flowing conversation. You're in a great mood. And then all of a sudden, everybody gets really quiet. And then it's just you going, hey, here I am. And it's like awkward as shit.

He's mastered it, man. He's gotten really good at it. It's like the introduction piece is, as you mentioned, it's hard to come up with because you're riffing on the spot and you're trying to build in your guest up. And Darius has done a beautiful job as we've progressed through all these episodes where you truly find your voice, man. For sure.

Dude, that's awesome you started it, man. Yeah. It's been a lot of fun. How you mentioned is having the conversations with people who are on the same frequency or even above your frequency sometimes it just keeps on elevating you to levels that you never thought and we we've knocked out some some shows this week and you just leave the episode and that that talk or that conversation and you really have to sit there and digest the information like okay what

did i just embark on like that conversation you have to sift through it in your own way, whether it's the meditation or journaling or whatever. It's just crazy how that happens. And I didn't, for us, and I don't know if it's the same for you or for me, I didn't expect that to happen from podcasting. I was like, okay, we can talk to cool people initially at the start and blow up. Let's get it big. And then as you start growing, you mentioned it becomes a bigger purpose to the conversation. It's like, wow, this is fun to have without worrying about

all the monetary aspects of it. It's just cool to talk to amazing people. And you're one of them, man. So I appreciate you having on the show, dude. It's my pleasure for me too. I was really surprised at the level of connection. Yes. Yes. Like when you're done doing a show and you, and, and even if it's virtual, like when you, when you meet that person or you talk to that person, you were just so in depth with them that it's a different kind of connection with somebody. After we finished with Dr. Miller yesterday, when we were offline, I didn't ask the question on the show because it would have ruined the flow of what we had going. But I asked her, I was like, is it in psychology? Is it really a thing because i i feel this as as we have as we get deeper into conversations with our guests but

like your your face changes like the edges soften and like there's this physical visual manifestation thing that occurs and she's like oh that's totally real like that's that's the visual manifestation of connection and i was like okay so i'm not crazy that's awesome um but you know on a on a conscious and subconscious level i feel like after hearing all of your backstory that the the alpha hippie is kind of the the opposite of your upbringing um the the you're embracing the uh the feminine masculine if you know what i'm saying for sure yeah and you know allowing the the alpha to be open to connection and empathy and stuff like that. It's one of the things I talk with Mike Bledsoe a lot about

because as he does his introspection, one of the things that he spent virtually the last decade working on for himself is building up that empath that he had dispossessed for quite a while. When you go through your introspective process, has just had that he had dispossessed for quite a while. Um, what in, when you go through your introspective process, like what is the,

the thing that you tried that is small about you that you feel should be bigger, that you want the world to actually see that you've hidden for a while. Wow. This is a good question. Um, cause my wife talks to me about this stuff. Um, Oh, congratulations on the marriage. Oh yeah, brother. good question. Um, cause my wife talks to me about this stuff. Um,

Oh, congratulations on the marriage, man. Yeah, brother. Thank you. Uh, yeah, I, I got married in December, December 3rd. Yeah. Um, so for me, uh, I think my exterior does me, uh, an, an, it does me a justice if you want me to coach you in exercise, but it does you an injustice to make an impression of me. And so the one thing for me, as weird as this sounds, is I enjoy being gentle and loving people. But it's also your first look at me, I don't think that that's what you're going to think when you get me. And for so many years, I was taught that that should be something that should be coveted, that it's very finite. And so if I give it to you, I can't give it to Durs. Or I couldn't give him as much. And it's like that kind of idea.

And so I grew up with this idea to be super, super tribal where it's either my people or nobody else. And if you try to give this love or gentle gentleness to that, to anybody else, they're going to take advantage of you for it. And they're going to be weak, which is when you, when you think about too, like where my father was, that's a very big street mentality. Sure. And so I, I totally get the, how it got ingrained. But for me, I just would love to be just known as somebody that's just kind and loving and gentle and just playful and having a good time.

And it doesn't always need to be so serious. But that's also, too, there is times for it to be serious. And that's where I think disregarding the alpha part is not a great move. Because sometimes you need to kick ass. You need to take care of business. You need to be these things. Like you just can't always just be frolicking through the meadow, and that's great, but then sometimes you've got to dial it in.

So I like both sides of it. When did you start developing it? Because when I met you last year here at the Games, you had an aura about you, like an energy that was just calm, zen. To me, it's sort of you had that Cali vibe, if that makes any sense, like just relaxed. Because I never would have guessed you're from Chi-Town. Because people I've met from Chi-Town, real rough, like rugged, they'll tell you to your face.

It's not rude, but they're up front, and they'll just tell you how they feel. I got that vibe where you're just like that chill. When did you start developing that, or has that always been a part of you? Let them coach you for five minutes, you'll understand. It's so funny you say this because I have a friend, his name is Chris Hinshaw, who in the CrossFit world is really well known. And he said the same thing. And I really thought about this after he said it and I never articulated this to him. So I'll say this now here, and this

sounds crazy, but it brings me peace. So it's what it is. Knowing from where I grew up and how I grew up so I was exposed to a lot of violence when I was young and I was it was encouraged it was taught it was something that as a man it was your tool and come to find out as I grew up older is a lot of people don't realize this tool is even there. And for most people, they either don't want to know it's there or they're completely appalled by it. And they don't, they don't, they think it's uncouth.

They think you're, you're primal if you do that. And for me, knowing that I have that tool and if it is needed, I could use it gives me the most amount of confidence I could ever explain to somebody. And, uh, you know what I mean? Like, and then that to me is, is why I could just relax because, um, of all those years of, uh, not so great road, you know, that you have something that i'm willing to bet that not

everybody has or um how fast you could get to that gear i think really matters yes and for me knowing that i could go there in a relatively short period of time just brings me just total puts me at ease yeah because to me like if you're prepared to go to the farthest degree of anything, you should be fine. You did that to me, knowing that you could go to 100 very fast. And if you need to, not just because you want to show off or because you're trying to out of ego, but if you just had to. To me, as a man brings you so much confidence and especially to for me, I have a wife and I want to make children. I think me having that confidence is what makes you a real man. Sure.

And so that's kind of, I try not to sound like a criminal, but as street mentality as I am, it really, to me, it makes a lot of sense that if you know who you are and where you're ready to go, you really have very little to worry about. Sure. Were you, uh, um, so if I'm hearing you correctly, uh, you got in a lot of fights when you were a kid? For sure. Um, were they, and you said that, that environment, it was, it was encouraged, but were you, uh,

were you raised, you know, if they started, you finish it or were you a bully? Great. So I was encouraged. But were you raised, you know, if they started, you finish it? Or were you a bully? Great. So I was overweight. I was fat. Okay. And, you know, fat kid, you got little tits and, like, little stuff like that. And so you can only imagine.

So, like I said, my father grew up. So I'll give you the whole story. My father grew up in a little Italian-American neighborhood in Chicago called Taylor Street, which is like called Little Italy. And when he grew up, his father worked a lot and barely talked to him. And he had a mother that was ultra aggressive to him. And like he had a very hard childhood. But he would go to school and get picked on and come home and get picked on. And lo and behold, he grew up, hit puberty.

He grows. He's like 6'1". My dad's got hands that are like first basements mitts, and he grows up to be this strong, big person, let alone his name is Guy Tano, but in short, they call you Guy. So most people just call him Guy anyway. So he's this big guy, just called Guy, okay? So you can only imagine.

And so he realized through trial and error that his aggression, using his aggression to combat, being picked on or feeling sad, fed him and made him feel good. And so he gave me that. That's what I was taught in programs. So if somebody, I was the kid where, though I was taught to go all the way right away.

So let's say we were in school and you made a fat joke to me across class. I would just put my stuff down and I would go punch you, like in the middle of class. And my poor this poor woman so i was allowed to do this because my daddy told me so so i couldn't get grounded doesn't matter how many suspensions i got so and meanwhile my father's halfway across the country in a federal prison he doesn't he doesn't have to deal with any of this shit my poor mother would have to pick me up at school and i'd look at

her and i'd laugh because i knew that she couldn't punish me. And so it wasn't about me being a bully, but it was about just me being very reactive to those things all the way. So they wouldn't do it again. And if you really think about it, it was a fear-based tactic. But I think the way I use it now is a way that it could serve me much better than it was taught. Absolutely. Wow. That's dope. How do you think with you being

married now, how has the experience of being a husband, how has that changed you? You know, right now, that's, I guess that's the question. How has that changed you being a husband? Marriage is the best self-development tool you could get. Rip up every book you got. It really doesn't matter. Forget every seminar you have. Go get married, and you'll learn a lot about yourself, a lot about your shortcomings. It's really interesting, too, because my wife and I, we've only been married a year, and we already have a relationship coach. And I wanted to hire one right away, and I told her, I said, hey, listen, I know your parents. I know my parents. If this is the school we're going to, I don't want to be a part of this school.

And we laugh about it, but I mean, we love our parents. They're very loving, but there's a lot of things that they don't know how to do. And I think a lot of people get married and get in these relationships that are supposed to last forever, but you really don't know how to do it. Right. Sure. Like, right. I want to go do CrossFit. I go to a CrossFit coach. I learn how to do it, but I get married. I'm supposed to be happy be happy ever after, but nobody's ever shown me how to do it. Sure, sure. Are her parents divorced?

Yes. Okay. So her parents are divorced. They split up when she was younger, and mine are obviously older. So for me, we've been able to learn so much. And it's so crazy about this. So there's basically like three levels of genius as a human, right? So you have your first is like in the physical world.

You do things that people could see. I go build a business. I go lift weights, whatever. You could see what are my accomplishments. The second one is thoughts. Have you guys ever met some people that were just these amazing deep thinkers? Like their brains go to these crazy things, but they never really do much either, though. But they have amazing thoughts.

That's their genius. And then the third one is emotions and in the Western world we really don't give this one credit and I did it for many years because I was talking about but you'd worried about your feelings for it put them in put them in it back and put them in a little bag and don't worry about them right and so what's really interesting for me is I am a physical genius I can make things happen I'm great with business stuff no problem with thoughts and things like that I'm pretty good with. I can make things happen. I'm great with business stuff. No problem. With thoughts and things like that, I'm pretty good with it.

I could get in deep thinking. But emotional stuff, I'm in special ed. I take the yellow bus to emotion class. Yeah. You know what I mean? I don't know how to feel my full feelings. God forbid I have to articulate all my feelings. Right.

All that kind of stuff. Sure. Right? So this is me. Physical thoughts and emotions. I marry a woman. articulate all my feelings, all that kind of stuff. Right. So this is me, physical thoughts and emotions. I marry a woman. Of course, that is the complete opposite. My wife is an emotional genius. When I'm having a bad day or anything like that, she can understand that probably better than me. She's great with her thoughts, but tell her to be on time and you're fucking late. There's no chance. So being married with the crazy thing is, is most of us have picked a partner that is a genius in the thing that we're deficient in.

Sure. Yep. And so my wife, the thing that I love her for is that she could handle these emotions, that she could balance them, that when I do something wrong, she doesn't beat me over the head with it the way I do. And that's why I love her. Right. But then there's also times when I go, yeah, pick this up or stop here or we got to go here and we got to do this. And she's late. And so it's really taught me just so much about other people and who I'm attracted to,

not physically, but who I'm attracted and want to be around and why I want to be around them and for the real reasons and then also too to have compassion for those things because i i never realized uh maybe i realized it but i never truly diagnosed myself with it being an emotional special ed we laugh about that i call her an emotional savant and And I say that I'm, I'm an emotional special ed. And so being married, just, it just puts you to the fire really quick because you're around somebody so much, you've got to deal with these things so much. I mean, of course, some people you could run away from it. You could cheat, you could medicate, whatever you want to do. But for me and her, we really wanted to try to figure this out. So being married taught me all those things. And

I've, we, like we said, we have a coach. And I don't know. My mother can't articulate that. I'm sure we kind of know those things. But how can she articulate that to teach me? How can my father articulate that to teach me? You know what I mean? If they're not as far along as they can. So for me, you know, in the next year, we want to have children.

And I mean, it is a real big deal to me to be a real good father. And for her to be a really good mother. And if we don't have the tools right now, we've got to figure out how to get these tools before we have children. I can totally relate to you, man. When you get to fatherhood, it now you have to be able to communicate. And you want to use all the logic in your adult brain with a completely illogical creature. For sure. It is the most interesting dynamic ever.

So when you get your first, we'll hop back on the podcast and we'll talk about that as well. you know, see so many of my, my demons that, that were holding me back in, in business. And, um, is, let me ask you this from, from student to teacher, um, is so much of what you taught me based on, cause we connected via the, the connector of connectors and Mike Bledsoe. Um, but it's so much of what you taught me based on your trial and error or based on the institution of business? I think it's a combination of both. So, I mean, the truth is, is I didn't know how to be a businessman. I knew how to be, here we go. I grew up in a world where the only type of business people I knew were most likely criminals. Okay. So I had an idea of how to be sharp and survive and savvy, but I'll tell you

guys the truth. I opened up the gym and I didn't have a business license. I was like, what do I need one of those for? And I just opened up and my, a week or two later, my sister came to the gym. She's like, Hey, where's your certificate? I'm like certificate for what? I paid the landlord my rent. I don't need to pay anybody else. And like all these other like regular business things I never really knew. And tell you the truth, when I first opened the gym too, they're like, oh, your numbers? I'm like, yeah, I'm going to beat them. I don't care what the numbers are supposed to be. I'll beat them every month.

And like little things like that, short-sighted things I didn't understand. So it's a combination of me having those skills and then actually learning business acumen, just how to learn and function in business. And if anybody ever wants to find out who they are, they should get married and open a business. You'll learn everything you need to know about yourself. You'll learn really quick. It's just such a magnifying.

It'll just magnify every one of your weaknesses because it'll come out and you'll not understand it until it's just a part of you. And so for me, it's just a combination, all that stuff. My first business I owned, I was 17. I owned part of a pizza place. So I've been, I was taught, um, that if you, if you work for somebody, it is the absolute worst thing in the world. You, uh, my father was very big on you making your own choices. So if I had a hot dog cart at the end of that street, or I worked for worked for, if I was a vice president of a corporation, my father would be more proud of the hot dog stand because I decide. Right.

And so that part of me was always a big part of my life. And then what I've learned and developed in business was just a lot through trial and error and then learning and growing more and then trying to share that with other people. And I tell this to everybody is if you really want to learn something, go try to teach it. And I was very fortunate where I had an opportunity where the CrossFit market wanted a coach and I was able to provide the service and it completely changed. It propelled me so much more in all of this side of business. And then back to your original question, what's going on with me with business. I'll tell you guys, this is a big deal. I

barely told a handful of people, this is a really exclusive podcast. I hope people are listening and understand this. Um, the things that I'm saying for about two years, I had this thing in my brain and I have no idea where it really came from. Um, that if all I ever wound up being was a gym owner that that I failed in my life. It was really weird. And I mean, if you look up numbers and all these things, because I'm fortunate enough to know, in the gym world business, gym owner business, I do well. I'm not bad at this thing.

You know what I mean? But I have no idea truly why I had this thought in my head like it wasn't enough. And then when I got married, I developed this crazy thing in my brain that one day my wife was going to wake up one morning and look at me and be like, this is all I married. And you know what I mean? And for the last year and a half or year or so, I struggled with this. I need to go do something else. I need another project, like this idea of needing more.

And it really beat me up. It puts some strain on our relationship and it puts some strain on me personally, like just as far as like sleeping and dealing with stress. And I had a lot of conversations with my wife and come to find out the best part is she doesn't give a shit about any of that, which in my brain, that's all I think she thinks about, right? And like, you know, is this there? Is this trip good enough? Or where are we going next? Or all that stuff. And this beautiful woman, this is the last thing that's important to her because we just found out she is a physical special ed and I'm a physical genius.

So that's the things I think matter. And she's like, I don't care about any of those things. And I sat back and I was like, why do you have to have more projects? Why do you need something else? why do you have to have more projects? Why do you need something else? Why do you need to do more? And about three months ago, I just made complete peace with all this stuff. And I was working on some other stuff and I just threw it all away. And right now, I just want to work on things that give me energy.

And I want to be open to the next thing when it's supposed to come, not when I need to have a stranglehold on it for it to come. And so right now I have O'Hare CrossFit, which is beautiful, man. I mean, I live a wonderful life. Like I told you guys before we got on, my summer, I was in Ibiza, Spain for a bachelor party. I was in Sorrento, Italy for a wedding. And then I was just at Tomorrowland three days before my biggest coaching opportunity or athlete coaching opportunity at the Games. And I'm living this beautiful life.

But at the same time, I wasn't enjoying it. I wasn't savoring it. And so I gave up all that worrying about this stuff. I have the gym. I'm part owner of a nutrition coaching company called Lifestyle Nutrition, which is a regional-based nutrition coaching company that we provide solutions for affiliates. So if you have an affiliate and you don't have a nutrition coaching company or you don't have a nutrition program or you don't have seminars or challenges around nutrition, we come in there, we do it all for you. And then even the social media stuff, we provide all the content for you and then we just give you a percentage of everything.

And so we have that. And then I still work with some gyms around the country for business coaching. Some people that are very selective that give me a lot of energy. So that breaks up most of my week. And now I just spend a lot of time with OCF and I've learned some other things. Over the last year, I've, I started taking jujitsu. I play piano. I take piano lessons. And I just started like focusing on all these other areas of life instead of just what do I need to do for business? So when you see me next, I have something really cool going on. And then you're going to think I'm really cool. And then you're going to think I'm really, you know what I mean?

I'll be honest. I get caught up in that stuff. And I don't think, I think everybody, I don't know if everybody, but I think a lot of people do. And it winds up being your own torture chamber. How'd you get to, that's such an interesting perspective. I think it's powerful what you said. And it winds up being your own torture chamber. That's such an interesting perspective. I think it's powerful what you said. How did you get to that point to where you finally decided to let that go?

What measures did you put in place for that to happen? Because that's just a hard-ass story to let go sometimes when you're so used to keeping things in your clutch. And you just finally say, I'm done with this story. Time to move on yeah wow this is so good you know what this this stuff makes me really emotional even like when you're saying it to me um it's it's a beautiful life helping people get healthy and and changing their lives and if it doesn't if i don't change the entire world, a lot of things that I've done has an amazing ripple effect. And instead of worrying about what hasn't happened yet, sometimes I need to take a step back and look at what has happened. Like around me, I am one of the oldest CrossFit affiliates. I have met tons of people who have been to my gym, who have left my gym or whatever, that have moved on,

that have done their own personal training, their own area of fitness. They found that they like yoga better than CrossFit, so they're going to do it. But like, I've been a catalyst for so many people to become their best self. And why would I need to drive myself crazier to do anything else? Like you're already doing the thing and now it's just, I need time. If I want to impact more, it doesn't need to be, I need to just grab gasoline to do it right now. I just, I'm 34. I might not need another 20 years to affect a million people, but that just happens with time with me doing the same thing that I'm already doing. It doesn't need to be a different thing or more things. It just, I think you need to be really good at what you're doing, which I mean, look at

the scoreboard. You could say that I am. And instead of me, I think I was more fixated on it all happening now or it's not good enough. And I threw that away and now it's just having some fun. And it's got, I will give most of the credit of this to my wife. She's way better at that part of my life than I am. She helps me save her things. Yeah. That's powerful, man.

When you're talking about the impact that you've had and all the things that happen around you because of you, when you reflect on that, what's your crowning achievement up to this point? Oh, by far my wife. Because here's the deal, guys. And obviously I'm a straight male, so I don't know how this works with the other community or anything like that. But at the end of the day, if you have a wife, there is thousands upon thousands of men trying to be with your wife before she's your wife. Right?

She chooses you. Out of all the chumps in the world, she picks you. You think that she doesn't have a line of people that she could pick. And for me, that this woman basically chose me forever, it's an amazing feeling. So I'll tell you guys the truth is I eloped in South Africa. I wasn't even supposed to get married until this year. And I am still having a wedding this year. So I was in South Africa doing seminars with a group of people.

My real good friend Jay Lydon out of CrossFit Milford, Hinshaw was with us. And we all flew to South Africa to Cape Town to do seminars. And we were having dinner on Saturday night. And I town to do seminars. And, uh, we were having dinner on Saturday night and I looked at her and I go, listen, why don't we just get married tomorrow here? This would be so fun. Wouldn't it? We'll find a vineyard and we'll get married. And she said, yes. And, um, I already had my vows written because I'm a weirdo like that. And I get a little romantic sometimes and write that stuff down. And when you get up there at your altar and some woman is, is just dedicating her life to you. To me, I think that is one of the most amazing achievements

that this woman says, it doesn't matter about all these other things that may people may like you for. I'm in love with you because of your soul. And I want it forever. To me, that's like a very deep, crazy thing. Like, I mean, all this other stuff is amazing, but if you took it all away, this woman just gave me her life or, you know what I mean? And so I think for them, you, that that's so beautiful, man. I had the, it's, it's funny going back to, to what you said earlier about the things that you feel are the most important that your wife doesn't give a shit about. I think it says a lot about your growth as a, a human being, let alone a, a masculine male in being able to circumnavigate

that dialogue. Um, cause I remember having that, that conversation with you when we, when we first started in that, uh, you know, you, you asked me about balance and, uh, it's like, I feel I have to do all these things cause eventually, uh, um, you know, but I also feel like I can't, uh, uh, because, you know, I got a family at home and that, you know, I have, I'm playing this, I'm playing for two teams, essentially, you know, I got a family at home and that, you know, I have, I'm playing this, I'm playing for two teams, essentially, you know, team PHX and team Anders. And, uh, you know, you challenged me and said, you know, is, is that true? Or is that what you're telling yourself? And I went home and gave it a lot of, I thought about for like two weeks. And then I finally had the conversation, like the walls were coming down and I finally had the conversation with my

wife and I was like, I just, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. Right. And, uh, I want to make you happy. I want to make the gym happy,

you know, and I don't, I don't feel like I'm doing a good job at either. And she was like, I don't give a fuck about the gym that way. Go do it. And she, and it was like the most,

the weight had just been taken off my shoulders and it was just like, damn. And you just think it just brings perspective to me from the standpoint that we create all these hurricanes in our head and they're not true at all, you know, but going back to that, that inability to communicate because of the, the veil of masculinity and the,

the, um, the perception that you want to give your family, your gym members, your coaches, whoever, uh, the, that you have your shit together. For sure.

It is indeed the worst trap you could ever put yourself in. And you just have this internal chaos. But then you have the discussion. You find out that none of that is actually true. You created all that shit yourself. For the sake of my relationship, on top of my business, I appreciate you, brother.

No, it's my pleasure. I think that that's so crazy that we just drive ourselves nuts. As much as we're trying to make ourselves happy, as much as we're trying to drive ourselves crazy. And yeah, I decided this year it wasn't about more achievement or more more money and all that stuff i got caught up with how much money i made and i don't know how anybody can sometimes it's a very materialistic driven world and for me i just was like who gives a shit or like if i used to uh if i used to meet other people like in the business world i'd be like man i wonder how much this guy makes i wonder

how much this guy really makes. Is he just saying he makes this? How much does he really, you know? And almost like this internal dick contest I had with every single person that I would see and it would just, it would drive me crazy. It really would and make me not enjoy a lot of things

and or what it would make me do is it would drive me to go make more money so I could do bigger things because it would hide the fact that I wasn't happy to begin with. Right, or, um, what would it would make me do is it would drive me to go make more money so I could do bigger things because it would hide the fact that I wasn't happy to begin with. Right. Right. So it sounds like, you know, and Jeff and I have had this dialogue a lot, you know, when it comes to what's really important, like what is the definition of success? Is it making the money to have the stuff? Or is it being fulfilled in the achievement of those things? Right? And for me, I made a decision that if I pursued fulfillment and I did the things that filled my cup, the rest will take care of itself somehow, some way. And I wholeheartedly believe that to be true. And it sounds like you were, you had that flipped for a while and you've now pulled the 180 and now you're, you've put fulfillment over material achievement.

Yeah. I'd be lying if I said that for many years and for most of my adult life, I didn't look at material things as the measuring stick for a lot of people. And it's kind of crazy too because everybody has, not everybody, but most people choose

what part of the material world matters to them the most so some people like watches some people like cars and something like all this kind of stuff and um and and i had mine like for me i love very big experiences like i don't i didn't see any other crossfit coaches that are at the games doing ecstasy and dancing at Tomorrowland last weekend. I did not catch anybody. Maybe I missed somebody. They might have had a mask on. But I'm pretty sure nobody else

was there, right? And so I'm an experienced junkie. I love freedom. I love feeling freedom. I love being crazy like that. And that's with me. I don't care about watches. I don't care about cars. But experiences is my thing. I kept chasing these, um, these experiences that just meant like more money or more expensive. And they were just

were unnecessary. Like here's, here's a, here's a crazy thing is so, um, there was a point in time when I was business coaching that I honestly got over my head with what I was doing. I think at one time I was working with probably a little over a hundred gyms by myself and running the gym and doing, being human, all that other stuff and doing that. And, um, and I got in this, in this place where I couldn't say no. I just kept saying yes, taking another client, taking another client, taking another client because I wanted people to think I was the best business coach or I coached the most people and all this stuff. And then at the end of it all, I was exhausted and frustrated.

I gained, actually gained weight cause I was just eating like crap, but I had, I had money. So then what do you do is you take that money and you go buy something really big so you could justify the fact that you just feel like shit. And so like just that vicious cycle that I was in last, I was last year, I was happening to me. Um, and just being able just to say, no, I'm done, and walk away and give up things. And like you were saying, there's like fill your cup

and make sure it's your cup. It's like the best thing that you could do. And it's hard. And if anybody's listening to this, it takes the biggest amount of balls that I could ever imagine. It really does. And that's why podcasts like this or things that I'm trying to do, there needs to be more support about this stuff,

especially for men, in my opinion, because I think for most men, even if you're in a military background, I had my background, it doesn't really matter what it is. You're taught, I would say that you are taught or highly encouraged to be this way. We didn't just make this up on our own one day playing with a He-Man sword. Yeah. Right.

Right. You know what I mean? That you're, this is what your life is supposed to be like. And you're not, you know, like your, your level of fulfillment is based upon what you provide for your family.

And that's it. Yeah. And if you don't go out there and do what you got to do to provide more for them, you're a loser. And it's, it's a crazy dichotomy that we get really stuck in and a lot of these men out here just get caught in this loop

this loop of fear it's really it's it's fear or not i'm not good enough fear and i'm not good enough either one or the other you're playing two songs one or two songs in your head yeah that's scarcity mentality yeah and and there's just not enough out there that like dude we could be human you don't need an extra watch. You don't need half the bullshit you probably pay for anyway. And we could all just really be happy on a genuine level. Yeah. And that's just what I'm trying to chase right now.

Just be after. And it's, it's, you know, I take that back. It's not something you chase. It's something you could have at this very moment. Yeah. And that you're just working on keeping it that way. Right. Sure.

Maintaining it. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. A hundred percent. When did manifestation manifestation you know attracting the positive things that you want in your life really come in where you started noticing it more becoming more conscious of the things you were attracting in your life that you wanted when um i started a lot when i first started the gym i realized that my friends weren't going to be my friends anymore.

And I think that's when I started realizing, like, the people that you're around, you're calling certain things to be around you. And a lot of the people that I hung around with, as soon as we started the gym, I didn't leave my house for two and a half years, I think. I didn't go out. Like, I mean, it was only to the gym and back home. There wasn't vacations or any of that stuff. And so I think at that point I really started taking a look at that. You are what you you're putting out there and there's no accidents. Why we're in this room while anything is anywhere it is.

And I think a lot of people look at it where a lot of stuff is fate or luck. It's really not. It's really what you're putting around you. How going back, going to that point, you know, you opened the gym and you realized that your friends weren't going to be your friends anymore. Was that a huge leap for you or were you, did you have the blinders on to an extent that if, you know, whoever's going to fall off is going to fall off and whoever's going to stay on the train is going to stay on the train? Was that a very deliberate process for you or did it, you know, the gym is the gym and

everything else will do its thing? Yeah, I was, when I opened the gym, I was really ready to let everything go but the gym. Like I really felt called to do this. I think, you know, when people talk about being your genius and finding your genius, people are like, I don't know what I'm really good at. Like, you know what I mean? Like when people talk like that, it sounds kind of hooky at first. And to me, it's like, think about the thing that you would

give up everything to do. That's your genius. Even if you're not really good at it today. Right. You will be eventually. It took me seven and a half years or nine years of coaching to get somebody to go to the CrossFit Games. You will get there eventually in your genius. But I think it's about that feeling where you'll just go,

fuck it all. This is all I want to do. If anything gives you a hint like that, push all your chips into that. It will work out eventually. And that's my opinion, but I really feel strongly about it. I love that. How would you define your current, your purpose currently where you're sitting right now? Your life purpose? Wow. All right. Without sounding, you know, too much of a, like a psychedelic user or anything like that in February, we were in Costa Rica, uh, and envision fest and I brought set the stage real quick. What is envision fest? Okay. So envision fest is like the burning man of South of Costa Rica, South America. So we're at this fest and I brought my best friend with me. His name is Dominic. I love him more than anything. more than anything it was a very he was the friend that actually made it through all that stuff because we both

became entrepreneurs at the same time okay so we we decided to go play the game together and so we all only thing we had in the beginning was each other but it made sense and we both grew and he's extremely successful he's in the restaurant industry and um he was going through a period where he had a cycle of not being very healthy for himself. And it was something that I tried to help him see, but he was having a hard time with. And so we go. I'm like, listen, we're going to go to this thing in Costa Rica. I told him it was a mastermind or something for business just so he would go.

And we went. And we show up there. And we go to this eco village. And then after we were done with that for a week, we wind up at this festival called envision fest and um my friend dom is is as straight as you could be he's none of that stuff and then you got a friend like me who's who wants to turn over every stone and so he opens his mouth i go here eat this candy bar he eats all the candy bar i go perfect you just ate three grams of mushrooms buddy we're gonna have a great. And so we both eat these bars and we can go out there. And, um, and for me, like, and I was sitting there and anybody that

has ever done any of that stuff, it really just, to me, it makes you feel really connected to everybody that's around you. And I realized for me, like what I, what I really tried to do is create a safe space for as many people as possible. And whatever happens in that space is not really up to me. But just creating the container for people to feel that way. And that's why I feel so passionate about going back with men, being able to do all that stuff. Rocio was the first woman that I've cried in front of in such a long time. And when I first cried, it was like a couple little tears. You know what I mean?

And we're human. Sometimes you just want to cry. Yesterday, when Michelle hurt her hand, I had to be there for her. And then I wanted to go home and just fucking cry. Because I saw what this woman put herself through. I saw all the work we did and what she was capable of. And a lot of us don't get to experience that. And so for me, what I, and through things like that, and I'm not saying that it all

has to be about psychedelics or any of those things. I think those things accelerate it. And also too, they put you in a place where you're not thinking about all your other bullshit. That's all it really is, is you aren't picking up your phone or doing any of that stuff. You're in it, and it keeps you in it, and it allows you enough space to do that stuff. That's the same stuff like meditation does and all that different stuff. And for me, it's just about that. I want to create a safe space for anybody that wants to be in my world that they could just be who they want to be. You know what I mean?

And let me be who I want to be, and we're all cool. Right, right. That's dope, man. Yeah, man. Dude, it's you know what i mean and let me be who i want to be and we're all cool right right that's dope man yeah man dude it's funny like the more you get in this space i didn't really hear about like ayahuasca and those type of events or ceremonies until i started getting into like these collective minds and these conversations growing up i wasn't into like drugs or anything like that but as i've started to surround myself with people like yourself or people in this community i've had a lot of conversations with Ders and we had conversations the entire weekend. It's like I'm open and ready for those experiences because there's this shit that you don't know that you don't know and you don't understand.

And, like, that's just – that's, like, a place where I want to go and experience, like, what the fuck is – like, what the hell is holding me back that I don't even know that's holding me back? You know, these little patterns that you may have that you don't have it uncovered yet what has it uncovered for you going through from like an experience your first experience of doing maybe have you done ayahuasca no i've i mean we don't have to go through the whole list but i mean i haven't done ayahuasca yeah like other different psychedelics and stuff like that your first experience ever giving it a shot to where it's transformed to what you're seeing now where you are personally or professionally what's changed or is there any change from their first time to you know going to enlighten fest yeah um me trying to control everything ah put a chokehold on it or

um manipulate it i mean i'll be truthful like i just i um was so uh caught up in that stuff that like i wanted to control the outcomes or where it would go to and manipulate whatever I needed to to get to that desired outcome. Where now I just surrender and just hold on and see where it goes. See where it takes you. Yeah, and it's kind of crazy as I'm saying this, and I want people to know this. I smoked pot one time when I was in high school at 18 and i didn't do another drug until i was 31 and um i think these things uh had such a bad connotation to them that people don't realize that they can be useful tools sure at the right time but like

if i would have just ate mushrooms when i was 18 i would have been like all the other kids i just would have wanted to keep eating mushrooms or doing ecstasy and going to raves or whatever the case is. Whereas like when we do these things now, there's such a different appreciation for them. Yeah. And so for me, I think you need to grow up, get through these things, and then you go do these things to uncover this stuff. Yeah. Because then you're not like I don't do this for abuse or to escape. Yeah. I do it to just kind of uncover and like learn things and see things and see who I am and see what I really, what really happens to me when I can't put my guard up so well.

And that's what that stuff really does. It just takes your hands and throws you and handcuffs them and then you're stuck seeing what it is. And seeing what it really is yeah it's crazy because we put up such a barrier in front of ourselves and tell us this isn't good for us for whatever story that we heard coming up or this and that and we don't do enough i was being fun you don't do enough deep work on yourself and sound cover like what the fuck am i here for like what am i trying to figure out and i just think just hearing people who've gone through that experience like yourself or others that's like just hearing the impact and like what you what the benefits that come from it that's something I think is just it has to be talked about more openly and

freely without judgment you know because as long as you're trying to figure out what your purpose is or how you can help people in a bigger way if You said it's just a tool, you know, tool to discover. Because I think one of the experience we have with Wim Hof breathing, we did a, what was it, three-hour seminar? Yeah, the DMT breathing. The DMT breathing. And that experience, you would think like, oh, breath. It's like, what the fuck is this? Like, we're breathing deep and going through these rapid breath sessions.

But it literally forced people in the room to start crying for no apparent reason having outer body experiences and then for myself once you get done with it you go through this freezing cold period and by the time you come out of that that trance or that experience you're like you learn so much about yourself that you don't even know how to answer the questions that you have you just know that the experience you felt was completely different than everything you've ever gone through in your life. But it opens you up and, like, leaves you exposed in a way. You know what I mean? To me, it's just like training for your soul.

Like, we train our bodies for this. We train our brains when we go to school. You're just not training for your soul. Like, I do windmill breathing every day. I love it. It's a part of my, I wake up, I lay down, and i do the whole thing and um i've done a sweat lodge so like so so for people that aren't maybe they're they're looking at the the other tools as um bad or taboo because some they're illegal okay but like i've done a sweat lodge which is basically um it's an indian ceremony in a in a sauna and it is the most

one of the most uncomfortable situations that I've ever been in because I don't know anybody that's ever volunteered for like a three hour sauna that keeps getting hotter. It's, it's terrible, but it's just a way for you to see where you're at. And it's not about good or bad. Like I'm here, this I'm at point A today, and this is, I just need to know where i'm at yeah and then you could make a choice that if you want to move to point b or if you're like fucking point a is great and this is where i'm staying and it's just about knowing where you're at with things and i think a lot of times like i said we we have testing for our bodies we have testing for our brains but we

don't test all these other things off too uh too often. It's really funny that you say that when, uh, I did, uh, a shaman guided, uh, mushroom ceremony a couple of years ago. And, uh, we spent the first, I think setting the stage is the most critical in that experience, uh, is the most important part of the entire journey. And, uh, we spent probably five or six hours just establishing intent, right? One shaman, two facilitators. And as we get into the day, I thought I showed up to uncover one stone. As it would turn out, I had several that needed to be uncovered. And I'll never forget, we're going through the whole prep period, and. And he looks at me and he's like, so what are you here

for? And I tell him, and he's like, is that what you're really here for? And I was like, yeah, man, I just spent four hours talking about it. Like, that's what I'm here for. You know, he's like, okay, I'm not going to ruin the surprise, but you're going to have a hard time. And I was like, you're not really setting me up for success here, brother, but, uh, okay. So we get into the ride, you know, uh, we drink the tea and dude, uh, pretty much went from, you know, all the, all the things that happened nonverbal, you know, when, you know, like south of two years old, all the way up to present day. And I got to touch each piece of that baggage, you know, and there was some of it was like, felt like three seconds.

Some of it felt like three weeks, you know, but you got to, I got the opportunity to deal with all of it. And it was fucking wild. And that's a place that I've got a 12-year yoga practice that I can't get to on my own. But like you said, you grow up and you can handle those experiences with the level of maturity that you actually get what you need to get out of it. It's not an escape from reality. It's, it's, it's an opportunity to really look into yourself and deal with your own shit and come out able to make your own critical decisions on the other side. Yeah. I don't, I think there's just, we don't know how to look at things from another angle all the time because we're just looking at it from one angle

because that's what we think, or it's been so long that we looked at it and these things just give you a little little twist a little boost yeah yeah so well let me before we let you get out of here man because you know we know you're on a tight schedule with coaching and everything uh i want to ask you two questions you can answer them on any level mental physical spiritual wherever you're at and i'll ask them in succession and then go for it it the first of which what do you do each and every day to feed yourself and create Momentum for your day and then the follow-on to that is what do you do to fuel yourself and create that sustainable energy? Over the long term. Wow. These are good questions. All right, so For two and a half months ago a friend of mine named Mark England challenged me.

We just had him on the show. Okay. Fucking rock star. Mark, actually, fun story. We'll get back to the question. So I love Mark. And my friend Dom knows I love Mark. And Mark was in London.

And so my buddy Dom convinced him to take a train to Belgium to spend one night with us in Tomorrowland because it was his birthday. I saw him post about all that. Yeah, he came there with us and then he left the next morning. I mean, I love Mark. And so about two and a half months ago, he challenged me to do 30 minutes a day of Wim Hof breathing every day. And then Mark and I did some vocabulary, a pro vocabulary stuff where I'm working on some stuff for me, like where I'm at. And so every day I wake up and I do 30 minutes of Wim Hof breathing, 30 minutes straight, just lying on the floor. And then I read some sort of affirmations or things like that that I'm working on. And then that's by far the biggest thing that I do for me each day.

Sure, I'm a reader and all that kind of stuff. And I think that those things really help. But I think just the grounding of that every day just sets the whole day up for success for me. March, I began time-restricted eating. And so it's very similar to intermittent fasting, except you just can't have coffee. I guess that's the best way to say it. Like there's just a certain window of doing that. So for most of my day, I'll do, it's usually 16 hours, but sometimes I fast a little bit longer than 16 hours.

If I'm feeling good or I got something going on, I really don't, don't run into it. So I'll drink tea throughout the day, tea and water, and then there'll be a window where, where I eat. And that has been by far one of the best things for me to help with my sleep. I feel like I don't worry. I don't get, I used to take, I have to take naps. I used to like, I felt like I had to take naps, like would crash and stuff like that. But also, too, at night, I would feel, because I didn't have a window, that I would eat very different times, or I'd eat right before bed, or I'd wake up in the middle of the night and eat and stuff like that. And so by far, it's just helped my sleep and helped me feel better with that.

And I feel like when you do things like that, like fasting or that, you give your body a chance to catch up. And I think a lot of times we're just putting things in our bodies. We're eating. We're doing this. And our body just needs like a break to not do anything. Like how about it doesn't have to process something for 16 hours? How about we throw it a bone for a minute?

Like could you imagine like keeping the factory on all day? And that's basically what we kind of do with our body. So by far the Wim Hof breathing has been amazing. And I recommend the Wim Hof breathing to anybody that wants to understand what meditation is, because for most people, the stillness of regular Siddha meditation drives them nuts. And so I go, sit here and do this for five minutes, just do five minutes. And it's so active or interactive because you're breathing like that. And you're having all these feelings and things get a little tingly and all this kind of stuff that like it, it almost keeps you occupied. And so I think it's a, it's a great tool for people that, and then the

affirmations and things like that. I think like you said to like you, what you manifest, you need to write that out and you need to say it, what it is. And it doesn't need to always be looking in a mirror or anything like that, but just really putting some things in front of you, some things that are, that you're grateful for and some things that you want to create. I love that, man. It's my little things that I do. Dope. And where can the community go follow you and support you on everything you have going

both personally and professionally? Sure. So for anything for the Alpha Hippie, the Alpha Hippie podcast is the website. We're on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, all that stuff. The Instagram is at thealphahippie, and you can message me on there. I'll answer any DMs or any kind of questions like that. So the gym is oheracrosset.com, and then any of those channels, it's the same name. Lifestyle Nutrition is on Instagram and Facebook,

and Nutrition is the lifestyle is the website. And then for me, anything personal is just the Angelo Cisco and you could always reach me through that stuff. I'm pretty active on that stuff. Dope. But thank you guys. This has been,

this has been awesome. This is such a good break from worrying about if somebody ate the nutrition on time. Oh my God. What's our starting weight going to be? It's so nice to break away and just have a good conversation. So thank you guys. Thank you. Thanks for taking a break from, from just have a good conversation. So thank you guys. Much appreciated, man.

Thanks for taking a break from all of that stuff. Oh, my pleasure. To be with us and have this conversation, it sounds like what we do on Feed Me, Fuel Me is very much in line with what you got going on with Alpha Hippie. For sure. Really got to dive into that with you. So thanks for sharing with us. And for everybody out there in Feed Me, Fuel Me land, go out there and support everything that Angelo, CrossFit O'Hare, and Alpha Hippie have going on. And can't wait to see what you do next or what you don't do next, brother.

Yeah. Either one will be good. Yeah. That's right. Pursue that fulfillment, my man. Thank you, guys. Until next time, Feed Me, Fuel Me. And that'll do it for this episode with our special guest, Angelo Sisco. If you want

to follow everything that Angelo has going, please go check out the full show notes on shrugcollective.com. Also, be sure to connect with us on social media, including Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter at Feed Me, Fuel Me. We would love to hear from each and every one of you. If you found this episode inspiring in any way, please leave a rating and a comment in iTunes so we can continue on this journey together. Also, be sure to share it with your friends and family on social media, including Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, or any other social platforms that you use. We really appreciate you spending your time with us today and allowing us to join you on your journey. We would love to hear your feedback on this episode, as well as

guests and topics for future episodes. To end this episode, we would love to leave you with a quote from Epictetus. When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn't have to look outside themselves for approval. Thank you again for joining us and we'll catch you on the next episode. Way to make it to the end of the show. As always, go to Shrug Collect over at iTunes, give us a five-star review, positive comment, and hit thrivemarket.com slash feedme to get that great deal on awesome groceries. See you next time.