Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 068 - “Can You Stand the Heat?” with Pete Nelson

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

Cam finally got his new sauna! Join us for a discussion with Pete Nelson, owner of SISU Saunas as they talk about the benefits of using a sauna, Pete’s love for running and more! Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com Follow SISU Saunas: https://www.instagram.com/sisu_sauna/  Thank you to our sponsors: Montana Knife Company: https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/  MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping TRX Truck Giveaway: https://cameronhanes.com/pages/current-giveaway  Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first order Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv  Timestamps: 0:00:00 Intro: Pete & Cam’s Run 0:05:13 Benefits of Using a Sauna 0:08:36 The Meaning of SISU 0:09:36 The Adversity of Pete’s Upbringing 0:14:09 SISU Sauna Sizes 0:17:38 The History of SISU 0:22:01 Pete’s Recent Ultra Run in Antarctica 0:29:57 Pete’s Dad’s Running History 0:33:44 The Goals for SISU 0:38:02 Pete’s Running Goals 0:40:40 Diet for Performance 0:46:14 Pete’s Dream Race 0:47:59 “The Secret Sauce” & Sleep 0:52:11 Outro

Every step I take I move my truth. Every time they tell me stop I use. Every comment hate that makes my feel. Gather up my energy and boom. I hear them talking, saying the way that I move it's so reckless. That is a part of my mind I've been blessed with. Giving my blood so I am relentless. All right.

This is the Keep Hammering Collective with Pete Nelson, C-Sou Sanas. My man, thank you so much for having me. This is awesome. This is cool. Yeah, I, you know, I have a, I had an ice bath get delivered, and they just hired somebody from here, which is a great guy, but came in. Set up the ice bath is all cool. And so I saw, you know, Sonny got delivered yesterday.

And then you showed up. I'm like, oh, this is just, you know, just a guy they hired from local. And then I find out it's your company. Yeah. When you and I first shook hands yesterday and you went off on your run, I realized right then and there I should have introduced myself as the owner of CSU. But it was great to be able to catch up with you. thereafter and also link up for the run today and grab some breakfast that was awesome oh yeah no

i had i had a great day also but yeah yesterday you know i saw uh so you had some hokas on saw some like 10 000 shorts and i'm just like bet this guy runs you know i mean but again i just thought that you know whatever you just had work to do and uh yeah so it's cool the owner of the company out setting up the sauna that's i mean that's some good service there yeah it's one of the most important things that we do and it's allowed us to be able to grow our culture, the brand, the whole thing. It's all been the relationships. And so for us to be able to pop out to meet the people who are partnering with, be able to spend time not just building the sauna with them, being able to show them the ropes, but also be able to

spend a lot of time outside of the sauna, you know, in this case for us to be able to go for a run, be able to do everything that we did. Like that's the stuff that moves the needle for our company, but I also hope it moves the needle even more so for the person that we're partnering with. Because at the end of the day, I want you to be happy with it. Yeah. Oh, no, definitely. I mean, we, well, yeah, let's get to it.

So you set it up, it looks great. And then today I said, you know, hey, let's go on a run. You were down. We had a great run. Do you know how far we went? Yeah, and my Strava said 7.6 miles. Okay. 7.6 with about 1,800 feet or so of elevation gain, yeah.

So that's a pretty good run. Yeah, it was great. It was, uh, I'm living in Cleveland. in Ohio, we don't have this type of vert, obviously there. Yeah. So it was nice trying to keep up with you there on the run. And you stopped in some points to like wait up for me. But once we got to the top, it was a relief.

It's a beautiful day. Perfect day to run. I know, but you're a good runner. I just, I love sharing, you know, that little run is what I do pretty much every day. And it's just a good, you know, people say, do you ever train legs? And I, you know, as I told you today, it's like, this is my leg training. because it's, what, do you said 1,400 feet? I think it was 1,800.

Oh, 1,800. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, to me, if you push that, you're going to feel it on your legs. I felt it in the last, what, quarter mile or so. Yeah. So for those who obviously weren't not there, there was this point on Spencer Butte where there were these steps. And Cam stopped and looked me right in the eyes like, all right, this is your leg day.

And it's going to get hard and here we go. Yeah. And so step by step we were, you know, you started going way ahead of me. And I was just like, just keep up with them, keep up with them. And eventually once we got to the very top, it was obviously a relief. It was awesome. But then being able to come back down and just coast, that was the best feeling. And especially like if you're an ultra runner or runner and you obviously had a bunch of vert coming back down.

Yeah. Just let your legs go on autopilot. There's nothing like it. Oh, it felt so good. And then I always liked that running through the timber there, it's, you know, big tree. trees, old timber. Trail is used so it's a really nice trail. You can kind of fly. But it's just so cool. The setting is so unique. It's so Oregon. The thing that I loved a lot about it, too, is there was a lot of people out in the trail. Yeah. So, I mean, the city lends itself to the recreation.

Right. And I haven't seen anybody out of shape here in Eugene, Oregon. Well, yeah, they're usually me, like in the off season. But, so you didn't see me in the off season. But yeah, it's a, this area is very active. You know, a lot of, you know, we're obviously the running capital of the world. So there's a lot of old runners that still stay active. And so maybe they're not running like they once did, but they're out on the trail and taking advantage of, you know, the mountain and getting out in fresh air. And yes, it's awesome. I was really thankful I was able to share with you, have a good run. Got some had some good conversation and then went to the original pancake house. So good. Yeah. It's a staple here down on campus.

and best breakfast in town. And yeah, then here we are. The pancakes were unreal. Were they? The pancakes were great. Yeah. Just, you know, the buttermilk pancake, post run, just load up the carbs and now here we are.

And then we got to jump in the sauna after. Yeah. So here we are. It's good. Yeah, it's tough to beat morning like that. But yeah, the sauna sitting in there, it's, oh, man, it's, I haven't done many saunas. You know, if I go, there's time when I go to Texas,

sometimes I stay at this, golf course place and they have this uh they have a sauna in the whatever it's kind of like the gym that and then like one other time and then today and so it was really cool i've been waiting so long to be able to marry that up with the cold plunge and then the sauna because i hear that's the way to do it right but just hearing the the science and the and the benefits to sauna from you today was it sounds sounds great but i think a lot of people have heard Huberman talk about it. Tell me about some of the benefits that that you know and then some of the doctors have

talked about. Yeah, for sure. And I'm not going to be able to say this as well as what Peter, Peter Atia or Andrew Huberman are so eloquently, you know, speaking about it. But the big things for sauna that we're, what we're realizing right now is that traditional sauna therapy is paramount in terms of all the different types of sauna modalities. So there's, there's dry sauna, there's steam sauna. and then there's infrared in the U.S.

because most people are not adverse into the education of sauna. They just kind of pile all three of those in together and they assume that they're all the same, but they're very, very different. But all of the research that is coming back, that the type of sauna that is most effective is traditional dry sauna. And that's the one that you have.

And that's the one that we have really created our brand around because, again, it's the peer-reviewed research that's coming out. There was this awesome article in research done. in 2018 out of Finland where they looked a lot into the longevity biomarkers and the longevity effects as it pertains to sauna and the biggest things that they were realizing is that cardiovascular disease number one out of any benefit cardiovascular disease is the one that has the biggest decline if you're including that with your sauna protocols and so the fun thing about that is in the US, the number one killer is cardiovascular disease, you know, far and wide. And so if you're telling me

that all I have to do is just go and sit in a sauna to be able to decrease my risk of cardiovascular disease, why wouldn't I do it? Right, exactly. It's low barrier for entry. It's the easiest thing to do. If there's one thing Americans love to do, it's sit. So why not do it while you sweat? Yeah. And yeah, not have to work hard. So you're sitting there. But also you told me something that like in Finland, And for every two people, there's one sauna. Isn't that unreal? Yeah. And also, if you look at like longevity and health of the population,

the aging population, aren't they very healthy compared to the U.S. or compared to the world, aren't they one of the most? Yeah, they're one of the healthiest populations, but they're also one of the most fulfilled populations. I see. Right. So I think the fulfillment comes from them embracing really difficult, gritty situations. Right.

You know, Finland isn't the warmest place. It's not the sunniest place. And what they do is part of their daily routine is after dinner, them and their family will go and sit in the sauna. And that's like where they break bread for the evening. I see. Every single night. Wow. Okay.

And that's just what they do. And so, well, that leaves me to tell me what Sisu means. Yeah. So Sisu, in the Finnish language, it's Sisu. Sissu means perseverance, tenacity, bravery, and grit. And so that concept in the Finnish language is one that most other people and most other nations can't really comprehend because that level of grit is only or is a byproduct of really difficult adverse situations. And sometimes those are self-inflicted. Sometimes they're not. And Finns really galvanize their culture around that, around that concept.

And so our whole thing with this brand is trying to galvanize that level of tenacity, bravery, grit here in the U.S. And we could do that really, really well through sauna. Yeah. And I can't wait for you to be able to get that first legit session where it's 200 degrees plus. Yeah. And you're at that 20 to 25 minute mark and you're like, oh, shit.

Well, I'm going to do it tonight. Yeah. Yeah, it's, well, I'm impressed that, you know, you're running this company. You're 28 years old, right? Is that what you said? Yeah. 28. And like, I just think about when I was 28, what kind of a fuck up I was.

So I'm super impressed that you got such a, you're so well versed in it, but also it means something to you clearly. And then you're so passionate about it and you're, it's so well run. I mean, what I see is high quality, you know, and as you say, customer care and relationships. And it's like, man, the fact that you're so dialed in on that, it's where does that come from? Yeah, and I wouldn't say that we're perfect. I mean, there's no business that's perfect. And part of our whole thing with Sisu is as we grow with our customers, we continue to refine and refine and refine. And it's that never content mentality that helps us be able to continue to drive the brand forward. But all that is to me really rooted in my parents, in my upbringing. My dad, he started ultra running when he was 48 and I was 17. And he got me into it at that early age. And even past that, my mom was a stud athlete growing up. and she had epilepsy and we got into a real bad car accident when I was, I think I was four or five.

And so through these adverse situations, you know, with my mom and then even two years ago with my dad having a stroke and this cancer about and having to deal with that, I've drawn a lot from those experiences. And the fact that they're still here today, they've been married for 35 years. You know, I'm one of three. and to see them be able to continue to thrive, but also keep the family super tight is unbelievable. Yeah.

And it's something that I never take for granted. Yeah. And it's, you know, all those challenges that a lot of people, I don't know, they would use those challenges as a woes me mindset, maybe medicate themselves, maybe drinking or something like that. But instead, it sounds like your parents have leaned into it. And like, no, we're going to push through this and we're going to still win. And I think it's that blue collar mentality from Cleveland, Ohio.

Yeah. My dad was one of nine in a three-bedroom, one-bath house. Wow. And my grandma, you know, when she was raising all nine of them, she would make a certain amount of PBNJ sandwiches. And if you didn't grab one for school, guess what? You didn't eat that day. Yeah.

And that was just the way it was. Right. And my mom being a great athlete, too, I just think that. they've instilled values within the three of us and it's something that I every single day my wife and I we always make sure we're instilling those same values in our kids and you know that's the thing with as you like find success the society's meant to you know as you find more success the comfort levels go up even more and more and it's like well guess what yeah that's not the way it's gonna be yeah got to stay hungry

yeah exactly so it's like how do we set up that same sort of environment for our kids to be able to thrive and, you know, experience adversity. Right. That's the delicate balance. Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, staying hungry is hard. As people rush on their laurels, they lean into the comfort part a little bit too much. And then whatever edge they had that got them to this certain place, that's gone.

And then, yeah, the journey, yeah, it can be rough after that. But, yeah, just staying hungry is, it sounds, yeah, I mean, it sounds like, oh, yeah, I'll just stay hungry. stay working hard, but I think a lot of that is the process. So, you know, to me, my process right now is like family first, right? So my wife and my kids making sure that they're set and then making sure my health is set. So like whatever my physical pursuits and endeavors are similar to you, it's like I want to do that every single day because I know how I feel. And like I love that level of exertion every day. And then it's the company is, you know, I'm genuinely passionate about people sweating more.

Yeah. Because we know that's going to make a difference, you know, not just now, but also like the longevity of humans here in the U.S. It's like it's such a declining health scape. Right. So the more people that we get to saw on, the better. Yeah. No, I, well, I'm convinced. I've heard a lot about it.

I just haven't had one. And now I'm pumped that I have one. So for people that want one, you say it's a low barrier of entry, just in general just because you're sitting in there. But so it's like not a big effort. But also, you guys have my union. unit is was it eight person yeah six to eight six to eight and you have smaller ones that are i think you said seven or yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so we we've got our uh two person uh we call it the eddie barrel and it is a uh western red cedar sauna all of our wood comes in

from idaho we ship it into ohio we've got an omish team that crushes it and they handcraft each each barrel sauna so our two person barrels are as far and wide our most popular barrel And I think the reason being is that people want that escape every single day, almost as if they have a vacation in their backyard, but they want to do it with like a minimal square footage. Right. So it's like a four foot deep by six foot wide barrel isn't going to eat up in your patio. And that's what everybody wants.

Right. Yeah. I mean, it's so well made. I mean, so you're almost crew. Shout out to them. They are incredible. And it's a production and it's a systems thing. And the systems are so dialed.

our manufacturing team lead mark polari who is turned into an unbelievable family friend he is a tried and true operations processes guy and there's like system you know there's like the systems balance is like the checks all the way through so like when the wood gets in every single board is hand checked hand selected and then it goes through this process to make sure that the quality stays there so like our two biggest tenants really are the premiumness right so not just the quality of the wood in the heater and the whole experience from the user end from the buying to the post purchase to the assembly to the use but it's also the simplicity and the sauna space has gotten extremely complex because again there's so much an education out there to where it could confuse a buyer right

so for us it was like all right well we're going to create a brand around what really is most effective traditional sauna hot sauna between 176 to 212 those are the you know that's the range that's being most widely researched And be able to do so in a way to where when somebody goes to ad to check out, they don't have a bunch of options. It's like, here's two options, whether or not you need a roof kit. So does need to go inside or outside, and that's it. You know, we were really can, we were really flustered at the start prior to us

manufacturing with buying us on ourselves because there was all these different options of styles and then a bunch of different heaters and a bunch of different kilowatt outages. Yeah. How would you know? Yeah, you have to be so well educated. Yeah. We were so, so nobody had really come into the space to disrupt it and say, this is what we need to do and keep it super limited. So we've been able to scale the brand really from two skews. Yeah, it does seem simple.

I mean, you're going through how it works and it's like, I mean, it's pretty black and white. And it's that, especially for buying, because I know when I went online and tried to buy things and there is a million different options or accessories or like what's necessary, what's not. what's best. You know, I mean, normally people say, well, if it costs more, it's best, right? But maybe that's not always the case. So just the fact that you guys are set up to where people aren't wondering. Because it is, even though it's a low barrier to entry and it's still $7,000. Right.

It's an investment. It is an investment. So you want to feel good about it and know that, hey, I made a good decision, at least on the equipment. And then, you know, obviously the benefits are there, but, man, you don't want to be second guessing whether you got the right heater or whatever. Right. And what I've been impressed with when I hear about your operation and I see the product and I listen to you talk that you're a new company. I mean, it seems like you guys have been doing this, you know, for decades and you really haven't. Yeah, we're in a month 19 of manufacturing. So prior prior to that, we were a dealer of another manufacturer and that's where we saw a lot of issues. And that's why we wanted to come in kind of disrupt the space and do it the right way.

Right. And so August of 22 hit. That's when we went to manufacturing. And like we were talking about before, relationships are key for us. So the first thing that we did is we sought out three to four key ambassadors or partnerships. And we wanted to build trust. Right. So we're not just giving people saunas to say like, hey, come represent our brand. We want to crush sales. It was like, no, how can we most best. affect the U.S. in a way to where who are the most trusted people like Nick Bear was one of our first four another good buddy of mine Eric Heyman was uh was our first and through these guys and their their followings what we really try to double down with was like all right how could we instill trust and education and do so in a way to where it's very organic and authentic um because that's the only way to do it in my opinion you should never come off fake ever because it's because it's the real deal. Right. And so yeah, like the growth that we've had, again, has been a result of the relationships, not just externally, but also internally, our ability to hire the culture that

we've developed. If there's an issue, we solve it right away. We create the plan and we execute on it, and then we keep moving. Where did that blueprint come from? So I've got one business partner with CIS, who his name's Nick Dadis. And Nick is an incredible entrepreneur. He's got three kids. He's got four businesses. The main one is an apparel printing business. Him and his wife also just opened up a school. They bought out a local library, converted to a school, learned driven environment called Acton Academy, which is the same thing that Tim Kennedy opened up down in with Apagee. Right. Okay. Yeah. And he's a big EOS guy. EOS is entrepreneurial operating system. If you haven't heard of it, I'd highly recommend you look it up because it is a tried and true

operate a manual for a small business owner to be able to scale their brand and keep things very black and white. So for us, we wanted to be able to make sure that everybody understood, not just our mission, vision values, but more so the system's processes of operations, here's a playbook, marketing, here's a playbook, finance, here's a playbook. And so we created these SOPs for us to be able to dial in the process, be able to look at it from a 10,000 foot angle, and then nitpick the process a little bit to make it better and better and better. And so that's a non-stop, always ongoing process. Yeah, always evolving.

Because there's always in efficiencies. Yeah, 100%. So that's how from the internal side we've been able to get a locked in. Yeah. I mean, it's impressive. Just the way that you can go through that is, I know I couldn't do that for my own business. So I'm like, wait, what did you say? Maybe I need to research that.

But you've got the same processes that you have when you're out there, when you're hunting too. Yeah. You've got all of your systems, the whole thing. You figure out what works over time. You get, it sounds like for me, I probably took a lot longer to figure it out, but I got there. You guys, you know, 19 months and you're so dialed in.

So it's like that learning curve was shorter for you. But I'm super impressed with what you build and how you operate. And, you know, I love the relationship part. I didn't know, I guess I didn't know Nick had one. But yeah, he's a great voice out there. He's got three. Yeah. So it was really cool. Him and I have got to know each other a little bit, but randomly he just bought one.

Didn't even ask for a code or anything. Yeah. BPNHQ. Nice. And so he had one in his Texas home, then there's Nashville home, and then another one at BPN. And just like guys like that are super high quality that aren't just super business focus, but family focus, fitness focus, the whole thing. Right. Super impressive.

Yeah. No, it's pretty cool. I do want to talk about, well, tell me about that. You just won an ultra. I wanted to hear about that. That sounds like an awesome adventure. I love, like I call it optimal living. Like what are these little hacks I can do that's going to make me better at my passion,

passionate bow hunting, running, doing different things like that, just being at my best. So I do love the Sautaparte, but I love hearing stories of adventure too. Yeah. So tell me about Antarctica. So my dad and I four years ago put in for Antarctica to run an ultra marathon down there. And this so happened to be the Antarctica Marathon's first ultra marathon. And this obviously was at the very start of COVID that we put in for it. And COVID pushed it back farther and farther than my dad's cancer diagnosis and then stroke.

Then he had to relearn how to walk. So that pushed it back another year. Wow. And so yeah. So we embarked for Antarctica, flew down to Buenos Aires. We were down there in Argentina for three days, then flew to the southernmost city in the world, Ushwaya, that we got on our boat.

And the boat ride through the Drake Passage was two full days. And it started off with like 15 footers, and then it got to like 20s, 25s. And if you don't have your sea legs and if you're not used to that, you're going to probably hunker down in your room. It's going to be intense. Yeah. I mean, there was a lot of people who were,

self-medicating with you know like patches drama mean right and a lot of them were throwing up so the first full day down in Antarctica was was the race really yeah so you're trying to come off all the all the drugs and medication and try to try to rehydrate after puking that's I mean dehydrates you scopolamine I think that's the way you say it is I don't want to call it a date rape drug but it's essentially the same mechanism and you put it behind you your ear. And what it does, it actually drains all of the water out of you. So you're peeing a bunch during the night. Yeah. I think my dad and I went, you know, to the bathroom four or five times the night prior to the race. Yeah, it's not ideal. No. Yeah. And so the Antarctica Ultra,

it was on King George Island. And King George Island has a bunch of research bases. And I believe this is, this was the case. But it was the Russian base is where the starting spot was. And And then we ran to the Chinese research base and back and then to the Uruguayan research base and back. And for the ultra, it was like 3,300 feet of elevation gain for the marathoners who was 2,700. And it was super muddy. It wasn't technical, but it was just really just messy. That's just the best way to describe it. Did people have poles with them?

No poles in this one. Okay. And obviously there's no trees or anything. Yeah. It's Antarctica. By the Chinese research base, there were penguins. So, like, when you're running by, you see, like, penguins kind of, like, walking by here. Just unlike anything.

Yeah, really. And so going to it, yeah, going into the race, I had zero expectations to necessarily win it. I knew I was going to get out there and, you know, send it. But after the first lap, so each way was about, or when you, when you factor in each route, it was about eight miles. So I was going to have to do four laps. After the first lap, I kind of realized that this was possible to be able to win. it. And so in my mind, and I'm sure you do the same thing, you're thinking about that guy behind you, and you're like, he's inching closer. But in reality, he was getting farther. Oh, nice.

And, but in my mind, I'm just saying that construct, like, he's, he's inching. He's inching a little bit closer to me. So I keep working. I got to keep going. And so that's set up for a really great finish for the, for the altar and ended up winning it. That's awesome. Wow. That's, I mean, like I said, what an adventure, but also to come away with the wind. That feels good. The best part it was doing with my dad, though. Yeah. How did, did he enjoy it? Yeah, he, he finished the marathon, loved it.

At night, he had a couple Budwisers with everybody else and just had a really good time. But it's just one of those things where it's like every year we always try to put something on the calendar that's like the big scary thing. Yeah. Antarctica is a long way away. Oh, yeah. The Drake Passage is no joke. Right. You know, so like that's the fear.

It wasn't necessarily the 50K. Yeah, yeah. So that was like punching the ticket, you know, that was like the big. big thing. And your dues to get there. Yeah. Yeah. And so to be able to share that with my dad was the most incredible thing, two and a half weeks. I don't know if I'll ever get that time again with my dad to be able to do two and a half weeks with just him and I before, you know, inevitable happens. And so it puts it into perspective. There's a stat out there that says it's 98% of the time that you spend with your parents before you turn 18. Right. So I want to, I want to reverse that. Yeah. That's a good goal.

And it's super important to me. And I hope that I had that same relationship with my kids. Yeah. I mean, I think any parent can, if their kids don't hate them once they've grown up, that's a little bit of a win. But if they want to spend time with you, then, okay, that's even better. Yeah. I see it right here with your family too, man.

Strolling up yesterday, you had all, you know, your kids are here. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of love, man. Yeah. No, no complaints. I mean, Truss in Salt Lake, but everybody else is here. Yeah, so I was thinking, oh, yeah, I was wondering, your time in the 50K was pretty good.

What was the under five hours, which is great? What was the winning time of the marathon? So, oh, man, that's a really good question. I think the winning time for the marathon ended up being like four hours and seven minutes or so. Okay. What was interesting about this race, there were 140 runners. It wasn't a big field. The ticket for entry was obviously high.

It was about 10K for you to be able to be a part of the trip. But there were multiple. Boston Marathon qualifiers on this race. And as you know, running on flat road is a lot different than, but at the same time, like those runners continued to, you know, show grit and enjoy, enjoy the opportunity. But all that to say, though, the talent out there was legit still. Yeah, sounds like it. Yeah, that's impressive.

It just sounds awesome. Yeah, so your dad, he's done a bunch of. of ultras. Yeah, he, so my dad, he started, so he quit smoking cold turkey when he was 48, and he is 60 now. And in 12 years, and this includes his cancer about and the stroke and we learned how to walk, he's ran 144 marathons or greater distance. Jeez. That includes like 10, hundreds, a bunch of 100Ks, a bunch of 50-mileers, 50Ks, and then. What got him started in that? I mean, he's crazy. But back in high school, he ran the first time you ever stepped onto a track was a senior year

and he ran a 438 mile. So he's always been an athletic freak. Don't get me wrong. Been a runner, yeah. But, I mean, he's the product of consistency similar to you in terms of you just plug in every day you enjoy running, but you just do it. That's just part of your DNA. But he got into it.

And what's so cool, there was a point prior to his diagnosis that he had ran in marathon or greater distance once every three weeks for about 11 or so years. Whoa. And, you know, for me as a son, I'm like, oh, shit. That's a big shoes to fill. Yeah. Like, I got to start logging some miles. Either kids, what happens usually is kids either rise up to the challenge or they go

the complete other way. Yeah. Just complete, like, I can't, I can't live up to those expectations. You know what I mean? Yeah. So they, whatever, throw in the towel and become the best. party or something. Yeah. So yeah, you had some big shoes to fill. Yeah, but they're, they're amazing shoes that fill. Yeah. You know, and I think that being able to run with him

for multiple of these 50Ks and 50 milers, being able to crew him for his first hundreds and get to see see my dad struggle. That's something that I want my kids, I want my kids to see me struggle to. To struggle and then still succeed. And still persevere and step across. the finish line. Yeah, that's ultra right there. It's great. It tests everybody pretty much. I'm not saying that everybody needs to do ultra, but I think the world would be a much more fulfilling and happy place if more people and they're a little bit more. Well, they wouldn't be so upset with the little shit. You know what I mean? Because you know, when you go through, I don't know, trials like that, where it's like you don't, it doesn't feel like you can take another step, then somehow you make it 50 more

miles you know the little things in life somebody cuts you off in a parking spot or leaves their shopping cart out you're like does it really matter yeah that be a deal right so yeah just gives perspective because you've been been through today but really what gives perspective is all the things your parents have went through just health wise just to be able to your dad to do these amazing things I mean having the stroke and learning having to relearn how to walk and then doing ultra marathons after that incredible and then your mom you know with the car wreck and the epilepsy and then you say now she's just like she's she's doing great yeah it's so cool and she the best part is getting to see them be like grandparents you know because they're young and lively and the whole thing and so they

they get to you know step into that role amidst all my dad's running and my mom being able to support him and now they're my dad's retired my mom's gonna my mom's gonna retire probably in a few years but they get to enjoy traveling and just enjoy the fruits of their labor for a while. But yeah, it's the values that they've instilled. Their level of grit and their desire to, you know, see more growth in their lives as a result of the issues that they experienced. Yeah.

Right. And overcame. Yeah. Yeah. And then it's not a coincidence. No. So what's your goals for the company? Yeah.

So there's, this is a great question. So at this very, very start, we set lofty goals. And we set like 10 year targets, three year goals and everything and it grew a lot faster than than we ever anticipated and we ended up hitting our 10 year goal after about eight months and That's when we had to like go back to the drawing board and finish you know eight months to get to 10 year goal Yeah in terms of units that we thought we were gonna sell and so what we're what we want to do is continue to keep things premium and keep things simple Mm-hmm and if you're a business owner it's really easy to get distracted and start having having that shiny object syndrome and step away from your niche. But for us, it's really, you know, right now we started off with the barrel sauna. The barrel sauna is aesthetic. It's easy,

it's easy to assemble. And it gets hot, right? But there's also like the cube style sauna. And there's benefits to that one as well. And then there's also great, you know, there's a lot of amazing things about coal punching too. So for us, what we see ourselves being is really an outdoor wellness lifestyle brand right now we've got two main saunas cues the smaller barrel and the larger barrel that eddie and the edwin and then we're also going to come out with two box style saunas with two tiers still ripping hot with Wi-Fi and then our idea long-term is for us to be able to come out with two different types of coal plunges and so those coal plunges would be cedar wrapped with stainless steel interior and it would still

continue to feel in body sisu and so So between those six skews, I think that there's a lot of potential. The other thing that we're continuing to want to continue to incorporate is businesses. And so there's a lot of gyms, wellness centers, yoga studios that would really benefit from having a sauna. But sometimes they can't necessarily afford it. So we're working on some recurring revenue streams for CSU to where we're able to create affordable sauna solutions for businesses. I think that that could be really impactful for businesses for. for them to be able to drive reoccurring revenue for themselves.

Right. So I'm able to cash flow after like four or five members of a gym who have a membership for the sauna. And now I'm generating like an extra grand a month. That's a lot for a business owner. Yeah. And yeah, so that's the biggest thing right now is those.

And then we'll see what else God's going to have his hand on our company with. But I just think that right now it's keeping things super simple and premium and continue to learn with the product and our customers. And you guys have a no interest financing plan? Is that what you said? Yeah. So we partnered with a firm and we've got zero percent interest up at 12 months, which I would say like 15 or so percent of our customers utilize. And it's great because it allows somebody to be able to step in to buy Asana and be able to afford it by month month and it's a soft credit check.

So it's not a hard credit check. Yeah. And then we also partner with TrueMed. TrueMed is a company that allows people to use. utilize their HSAF funds on on sauna. Nice. So you're able to actually reimburse yourself with your HSA funds post purchase. That makes sense because it is, I mean, it's helping your health, you know.

I mean, it's. That's why we're doing it. Yeah. You know, it seems like a lot of these plans are their, you know, their band-aids. Well, after the fact, after their sickness care instead of health care. Yeah, unfortunately. And I know you work with blokes and their whole. thing is like F sick you know sick care and which I love yeah you know preventative health care right

is the best way and yeah we do it it's the way that you live right right cold plunge sauna run eat good good good side yeah yeah sleep wild game me yeah yeah be around good people yeah I mean that's simple yeah but it's the rest can take care of itself you're exactly right so like keeping things simple but just doubling down every single day the consistency of just doing the right That's how you create health. Yeah, well, that's, I mean, I love it. I love, I love the mindset and the company, just approach. So that was your, your business plans.

So what's your personal plans? What's your ultra running plans? Oh, man. I mean, you're a good runner. I appreciate that. So every year, like I was saying, I try to put something scary on the books. And so obviously after Antarctica, I was like, how am I going to be able to top an experience like that?

So the one for next year that my wife and I are planning on going on is actually running in Kenya. So we're going to go run in this wild game sanctuary. And it's 90% Kenyans that run it. And last year, apparently one of the aid stations was ransacked by a bunch of elephants because they ate all the bananas. So I thought that was hilarious. I'm like, I want to be a part of that. Yeah. That's pretty wild.

So that's the one next year that I want to be a part of. How far is it? It'll be a 50k, I believe. Okay, yeah. And then later this year will be the first marathon I ever run. So I'm far, far from my dad. Again, he's done 144. I've done 27 ultras.

This will be my very first marathon, I believe, in October, which will be the Erie PA marathon. And this will be the first time I've ever really trained for speed. Okay. Selfishly, I'd love to go sub three. We'll see what happens. I've got 17 weeks or so. Yeah.

So like at the very, very beginning of my prep, I've been using a complete human performance, which is an amazing strength conditioning brand for templates for runners and strength, hybrid athletes. And I've been loving utilizing their product. How does that work? I mean, do they meet with you first or is it just an online type thing? You just select one. Yeah, they have that option, but they also have like these amazing, you know, $50 templates

where I could go in and plug in all my numbers, you know, my strength numbers. my half marathon, my 5K, whatever, and then they compute a template. So that's actually how I prep for Antarctica and then also my first 100 that I did. And it served me after success. Obviously, it could be even more calculated if I invested into an actual coach where I'm meeting with every single week. But I just enjoyed the simplicity of it. Yeah, yeah.

Well, it's, well, to go sub three, yeah, I think you're going to have to. I'm going to lose some weight too. A little thick, a little too much muscle. But, I mean, you can do it. You know, Nick Bear, he's jacked and he runs fast. Yeah. So, I mean, it's not out of the question. But generally, yeah, the lighter you are, the better you are.

He's mastered the nutrition game, too, though. He has. He could go from like $210 to $195 across, you know, a number of weeks. I haven't dialed that in yet, but I think that that will more than likely be the route that I'll have to take to be able to accomplish it. That is almost harder than the training, the diet. It's so hard. Diet is so hard.

It's ridiculous. It's like you know what you're supposed to eat, and it's really hard to not eat what you're not supposed to eat. You know what I mean? It's like, I don't know, especially at night. You want to reward yourself. You've got it in a bunch of miles during the day. You're like, you know, I really shouldn't have carbs right now,

but man, I'd like some popcorn on watching this movie. Yeah, like how good is that sound? Yeah. Especially with our kids, like we've got the three-year-old and the one-year-old crew and Charlie. Yeah. You know, it's so easy to pick from there. I know. And just like graze.

I know. So the discipline has to be dialed. The diet is so tough. But yeah, I mean, I just notice when I cut back on carbs, I get lean fast. But it's tough. Wow. I was going to say, I think like, especially for endurance athletes, like, you could be pretty fat adapted and do really, really well. Yeah.

Especially if you're getting the right amount of electrolytes in you. But there's something about carbs, man. where you just always get pulled back to them, you know, especially around like race day. I'm sure, I'm sure for you, like, if you're crushing 50 to 100 miles, you're crushing some carbs. Well, you know, and we're most people before a big race, they're carb loading, you know. So it's just like you can't eat too many carbs. So, yeah, it's tough to break out of that habit too when she did it before a race. Especially after a race too.

You're just like. Celebrate. Yeah, you try to like take your foot off the gas. I know. You're like, what am I doing? I get to where like, well, I did 100 mile or six months ago. So am I still resting on those laurels with my diet? That's exactly right.

Yeah, it's tough. But I don't know. There's something fun about it too. I like that I like changing my body based on the challenge that I'm coming up to. You know, I mean, because there's times when I want to have more muscle. There's times when I want to be leaner to be faster. There's you know, but it's cool when you can manipulate your body to be at the best for whatever you're asking it to do. And it's just, you know, our bodies are incredible and they will, they will respond.

They adapt. They adapt. And it's, you know, I did try the fat adapted. I was doing the crazy amount 100. And one of my friends is Mike McCormick and, or Mike McKnight, sorry. And he's like, he ran 100 miles with no calories, just burning fat. He ran 100 miles and 18 hours one time. But he's been doing the fat-adapted, you know, low-carb, pretty much all protein and fat, and just crushing winning 200s, just killing it.

And so I'm like, well, that makes sense because, you know, in a 100-mile race, you can't be having nonstop carbs. You can't pack that many carbs, right? So if you can be burning fat instead of those carbs, yeah, I could see where it'd be, you'd be more efficient. But it is hard getting your body to it. It takes a little bit to get your body to there. And I just, I had like eight weeks.

And I don't know if I didn't quite do it well enough, but I struggled on that first, first race. I was going to say it's a struggle. Did you try the ketone IQ on your, on your last 50K? Yeah, I did. Yeah. It makes a difference. I tried it for one in November. And it helped me like no other.

Yeah, I took it like, I think it was 20 miles in, so I had about 11 miles left. So I took, hit this ketone IQ shot and then some mangoes or something like that. I felt great. Nice. So, yeah, I mean, I think this stuff works. I mean, I don't know. I always do it. I did one before this podcast already, but I think it works for, you know, making your mind fire a little quicker.

But also, man, for performance. It's huge. It seemed like it helped in that marathon anyway. The thing that helped me out, like, no other, just from, like, daily life, lifestyle. And then obviously running was electrolyte supplementation. Like, that was massive for me. So, like, every morning instead of going right for my coffee, it was electrolytes. Yeah.

And, man, talking about, like, a huge, massive. Like, what do you take? Element. Element's been tried and true, my favorite for, like, the last three years or so. And my first 50Ks ever ran, I didn't do any electrolyte supplementation because I didn't know anything. Right. You know, at that time, it was just water. and maybe like maybe some candy and that was it and then you would balk at my L-16 and be like

what the hell is wrong with me and um so like yeah the element has been my my it's always my back pocket hmm and then do you take salt during your ultras um I mean really element was just it was it like I think for my for the 100 was I think I did like 23 packets of it was like So it's got sodium in it. It's got sodium in it. It's got sodium, though. Yeah, it has 1,000 milligrams of it. Does F calories? No.

Okay. Then what do you do for calories? So for me, it was, you know, I want to try to hit around 400 calories an hour. That's where I do really, really well. And that was, like, where the research was showing. So, ironically, like, my favorite thing to do is eat uncrustables. Yeah, those are good. Those go down easy.

And they're 300 calories. Yeah. You get a bunch of calories right there. I know. That's the hardest thing is people, you don't want to eat because you're, you don't want to eat because you're running, but you have to eat. No, you're exactly right. Your body has to have those calories.

But the way that you learn that you have to eat is by unfortunately bonking in the wall. Yeah. Yeah, it's rough. Yeah, so what's your like, so you told me your immediate goals. Like, what do you have like, what's your dream race to do? Oh, man. Do you have any?

That's good. You mentioned Leadville. Yeah, Leadville would be great. That would be like the, that's the one that I would have to really hunker down with my schedule to make sure I could train for it. Level would be great. I'm drawn to bad water just because I enjoy sauna so much. I feel like I could probably do pretty well. 1305 miles of sauna. Yeah, that sounds great. I haven't done that one either. I also selflessly would love to do the rim to rim to rim to rim in the Grand Canyon. Well, you can do that whenever you want. Right. Yeah. And that would be a great day

out there on the trail. But to me, it's like the strength training concurrently with the running that I love more than anything. So being able to lift heavy and be able to run far and run fast, like that's what I care about. I love how I look and I love how I feel. Yeah. I don't think I'd ever be able to step away from it. Yeah. No, I understand. Yeah, it's, yeah, that's what, Truitt. My other son, he, he struggles with that. He doesn't want to be a skinny runner. He's had to work really hard to put on muscle because muscle doesn't just add itself, you know? You got to work, sweat equity there. So yeah, it's tough to give it all up just to be able to run well but yeah so i understand like seeing nick be able to do

both so well has inspired a lot of people i think um have you worked with him on diet at all i i have not yeah i mean i know you mentioned that i didn't know if you'd ever talk to him about coming up with a plan that's uh you know that i probably will have to reach out to him here now that yeah you're you're telling me i just think that that's it's such a massive part of the equation it is and um i've got what I think is like pretty dialed in for like maintaining weight right now. But there's the secret sauce out there to be able to find the right amounts of carbs, you know, proteins and vats and everything to be able to decrease weight but do so in a way to where I'm not decreasing performance.

Yeah. Because that's the easiest thing is like, all right, I can go into a chloric deficit. But it's at risk to my training, especially if I'm lifting and running every day. Right. So you have to find whatever that medium is. Yeah, I mean, as detailed as you are on business and on sauna and on, all the detail. It's like the same type of, same level of care or interest in your diet is going to have the same type of results, right? And I mean, we get so used because you can survive

on eating Cheetos and, you know, Dr. Pepper all day if you're just looking to survive. But if you're looking to operate at this highest level that we want to do, yeah, it's going to take like commitment and, you know, everything that goes in your mouth has to have a reason. Yeah. You know, and that's what that's not how most people live so it's tough and i think a lot of that also what i'm learning especially with a three-year-old and one-year-old is sleep is such a massive component to recovery yeah um and my ability to be able to show up for my kids my wife and my business every day too um but like my buddy todd Anderson who i'm really really tight with um he's got a see-suit he's hosting all the time in nashville uh he's also really close with ken ride out by the way oh okay

so i should link you guys what does he do so he uh Todd is the founder of of dream recovery. Dream recovery. He basically created a brand all around being able to increase people's sleep quality. So he's got the black, so he created these amazing sleep masks, the mouth tape, the whole thing. They're actually about to start coming out with nose strips for performance, which is really cool. All that to say, though, he was the one who really turned me on to understanding my sleep more. And so I was always the guy where I'm going to wake up at 4.45 five every single morning. I'm asleep at like 10.30 and get like my six hours and think like that's okay.

And I'm like the three percentile of the world that could operate on six hours and sleep. Get away with it. But I'm not like, dude, so far away from it. So he was the one who he was like, dude, you got to go to bed a lot earlier. So our kids go down at 7.30. My wife and I jump in the sauna at eight. We're in bed by 8.30. We're out by nine.

I wake up at 5. I get my eight hours. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely makes a difference. You know, I didn't have the luxury. When I was had a full-time job and I was still trying to do everything I did, I didn't have the luxury of getting all that sleep. So it was like if I wanted to train and do everything I was going to do,

spend time with the family, go to work. The only thing to cut out was sleep, right? Seems more impressive then, like what you did. Yeah, well, it's, but I just know now that I have, I do get more sleep. My performance is, you know. I was doing the best I could, right? It's just I didn't have any other choices.

But yeah, all things being equal, more sleep, man, the performance. And also, I was always injured. I always had little things like that. And my body didn't have time to recover or repair, essentially. And I still had to get my miles in. So it was, yeah, my performance now and how I can run now, like I used to never be able to run pain free. Like today, I felt great every step. And it was, I didn't feel.

like I did today for years, for decades. So yeah, sleep is a big deal. I think what will be cool, too, is to see how that sauna regularly helps with your sleep too. Yeah, I'm pumped. Because if you position sauna about an hour, hour and a half prior to sleep, it's like a sleep hack.

Because your body has to compensate in the opposite direction. Like your body's essentially inducing a fever. And then your body's going to naturally cool itself off after and it's going to go below baseline. It's the same thing. Like when you're trying to fall asleep, I'm laying in bed. My body's going to work.

hard to be able to decrease my internal body temp so I could be able to get into that sleep state. Well, this just expedites it for you. So I'm hoping, you know, knock on wood, you're going to have some of the best sleep you've had, especially as you continue to train for all these amazing endeavors you got coming up. Well, if I don't break three hours at Eugene, I'm blaming you then. That's exactly right. Just kidding. Yeah. Well, I mean, Pete, man, it's been great. I've had an awesome day with you. I'm so thankful that I have a sauna and you know it's it feels good to be able to partner with with a company and you personally that I don't know I just feel really good about so thank you. Thank you for taking time out to do the podcast and yeah it's been been great spending time with you.

Yeah man this has been a blessing. Thank you so much for your hospitality. Your whole family invited me in being able to build the sauna you know be able to show you the ropes get that run in. It's been great. So thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right guys. Well, check out Sisu. Got some links on my page, I think, but you guys can look them up. I don't know, top quality. Amazing, man. Thank you so much.

Keep hammering.