Going Deep with Chad and JT - Ep 129 - Big Wave Surfer Laird Hamilton Joins

Episode Date: May 6, 2020

What up Stokers! Today we are joined by an all time legend, Laird Hamilton! We talk about big wave surfing, being stranded at sea, and attacking life with vigor. Sponsored by Manscaped: Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code GODEEP20 at Manscaped.com. If you wanna trim your pubes during a contagion.

How's your mom doing? She's doing well. Yeah, she's hanging in there. I get a little frustrated when they go out and stuff, but they're doing well. Are you paranoid? I'm super paranoid, yeah. Too much. I'm probably too paranoid.

Yeah, there's a good book for you called The Art of Fear. You might need to read it. Have you heard of it? I heard you and Gabby talking about it, and then I haven't read it though, but I appreciated your perspective on fear as well. I thought it was refreshing. But maybe we can get into it as we go into go into the pod yeah well yeah you lead the way you guys lead the way uh all right i'll intro what's up guys this is chad kroger coming in with the going deep with chad

and jt podcast guys before we begin i want to remind you once again that we are brought to you by manscape manscape thank you so much for keeping our trims pubed for looking after our hogs for making sure that we're fresh and clean so guys use code go deep 20 and manscape.com and we are here joined by a guest pro surfer big wave surfer laird hamilton thank you so much for uh joining us thank you for uh well for having me thank you for uh well for having me we're pumped i've been binging uh films about you and i i feel like i've been shot out of a fucking cannon uh i hit the kettlebells extra hard today uh due to inspiration so thank you for that the shots from the neck down so i can't really see. Yeah, so that's what you did to your eye. Yeah, right. Yeah, it's solid.

It could be a little better. But actually, I think during this quarantine, during this quarantine, I've got into the best shape I've been in in a long time. I'm trying to make myself as strong as possible. So if I get the corona, I can just clean and jerk it over my head. Well, you know, it's interesting. It seems like, you know,

just everywhere I look, it's interesting. It seems like, you know, the, just every, everywhere I look, people are out, uh, you know, not necessarily in quarantine, but they're out, I mean, they're out trying to, you know, either walking or riding or at least in the area where I am, it seems people have, uh, have all of a sudden decided that they want to, you know, get in shape and, and knowing that that's probably your, you know, that that's probably your best defense in, in, in a situation like what we're in right now. Yeah. Have there been any, any, uh, changes to, to your sort of workout regimen since this has all started or is it just kind of same deal? I mean, you know, obviously the, the ocean, you know, at least in California is not, uh, you know, it is not, uh, as accessible, you know, like in Hawaii,

they left all the beaches open, uh, and they're letting, you know, because they know that it's probably helpful to let people go in the water and, and, and to deal with anxiety and stress. And that's, and that's why they let, stress. And that's why they left Central Park open in New York. That's why I think it's important for people to have access to, you know, I guess it's difficult when you have as many people as you do in California. But my routine, you know, it seems like because I'm not driving kids to school in the morning, I'm not Uber dad and not dealing with some of the other things. You know, you don't obviously restaurants, you can't go out and have a meal. And it's just,

and you end up kind of, I would say having time, it feels like time actually has slowed down. You know, normally I, I feel like we're just always racing. We're always behind. We're always just like, you know, a slave to the clock. And right now it's like that things have kind of slowed down a little bit, which can, you know, can be difficult for people because it forces you to reflect a little bit. And I think, you know, that can be scary. What do they say? Idle hands are the devil's playground. So, you know, there's some of that going on. There's some of that you know left alone to your own thoughts i mean look what it's done to you guys so yeah it's been purifying in some ways it's really i think i was telling someone i'm like i feel like i've gotten back to my roots i feel like i was kind of i'd lost my mojo and i kind of think i have it back now due to the quarantine well i i don't disagree I think I think you know it's it's interesting uh the year is 2020 you

know which means clear vision uh so it you know it seems like there's some clarity to at least what's important you know it seems like what's important you kind of you know we make all these things really important and then you realize well the most important thing is your health because you know if you don't have that, there's nothing else to talk about. And then it seems like the next thing is, you know, family, loved ones, friends. I mean, that then is so is community. So it's health, community, you know, and that seems to be and but we can't have that, you know, because we have a, you know, we've been fortunate actually to we kind of went into quarantine with a couple, kind of a couple of friends.

We've just been quarantined together. So it's kind of made it kind of nice because it's from the very start, we've all been together. And so we've just been together the whole time, like having a big family, which I think has helped us deal with it. But, you know, listen, when you're all in the house all day long you start looking at each other and before you know it you find a reason to you know have an argument right yeah right yeah yeah I I think the argument sorry go ahead Chad no no go ahead

no you go baby you go oh I I'm kind of I uh so when I heard you on Joe Rogan last year I was just getting into breathing exercises and then when I heard you on Joe Rogan last year, I was just getting into breathing exercises. And then when I heard your podcast with him, I sort of amped it up and I've been trying to keep them up every day. I have been keeping them up every day. Um, what, what sort of, what, what's the breath work you're kind of most excited about now? You know, I think it's really the main, it's more about the maintenance of it and reminding yourself to go back and do certain things that you, that you wouldn't, you know, that sometimes you just forget, but all of our, all of our training is really

breath based. Right. Uh, one thing that I, that I, something that I like doing that in the breath work area has to do with kind of, I would say, you know, kind of, you know, more set, not sedentary, but more isometric type stuff. into some sort of stretch position and then you hold this that position as long as you can hold your breath and then you come back and recover and then uh with the 30 breath again and then you do that so we do we do some kind of you know i it's sometimes when i hear you know sometimes we you say hey yoga but it's yeah i mean we're doing it's not yoga but it's but but what is yoga so i think there's a lot of ways to define it. It's just this pattern and then all the stuff in the water always, you know, I'm fortunate to have a pool in my backyard. So that allows me to kind of get in there and all of that is, you know,

that's all based around, you know, breathing and mostly holding your breath. Yeah. And when did you first get it, start getting involved in breath work? I mean, I guess since you're a surfer, you know, you've always had a relationship to it, but when did you, uh, sort of start doing isolated breath exercises? Well, I did, you know, I was doing certain forms of hypoxia. I mean, when we were kids, you know, the Hawaiian watermen were always doing like in the summertime activity with stone carrying. And so, you know, do you know about stone carrying? Yeah, at the bottom, and then you run to the bottom, and then you swim. And,

and so that's the basis, kind of the foundation of, of all of the, of all of our pool training of all of our pool training work. And so then I would do stuff on land where, you know, and that started in my teens, you know, that started, you know, actually some of the drills that we do actually evolved from just when you're a little kid, if you ever remember going to a swimming pool or being in a pool or even in the ocean and just where you jump up and down. You know, you go up, you go underneath, you go up and you can, you can just sit there and do that for hours.

The, that, you know, the, the irony is that's what we, you know, that's, that's, we were still doing it, right. We're just weights and, and other stuff. So I've been doing, you know, and then I'd done some breath work and yoga, you know, I'm Wim Hoff obviously is a friend of mine. I, and then I'd done some breath work in yoga, you know, Wim Hoff, obviously, is a friend of mine. And I did some of his work, you know, based on TUMO, and all of that kind of breath work. And so then I just, you know, I've kind of had an interest in exploring different modalities within, you know, within the breathing, you know, whether it's wearing a you know those resistant masks or using uh restrictive

mouthpieces to kind of control the the amount you know in and out and so i i'm always i'm always just kind of exploring i think i like that part of it more than anything i think i'm not great with just the same thing over and over all the time but yeah just keeping it fresh trying to keep it you know keep keep interested and uh what do you think are the the the biggest benefits you've like has it been more for a sort of psychological benefits or primarily for physical to sort of uh increase your endurance and all that kind of stuff? Well, I believe that you can't separate those. I don't think that those are separate.

I think that the physical and the psychological are harmonious. And, you know, I think that part of healthy thought is having a healthy system. And part of having a healthy system is having healthy thought like i think you know you know i think there's a relationship between both of those and i think that you know you're going to reap the rewards of both of those things because but you know one physical obvious kind of result of the work is that you become more efficient and so you're able to absorb oxygen better so you can do the same you, the same run or swim or bike or hike or whatever it is. And, you know, and, and, and with less effort.

So now you're just more efficient and, and you're, you know, uh, you're, you know, so then, then you can do it more and do it longer. And, but there's some real, there's some definite obvious physical uh things and then there's and then there's and then there's also the psych you know the psychological aspects of just down regulation just calming your system when you're when you have anxiety or your or if you've done some activity and you're trying to you know get your heart rate down and you can you can definitely calm your thing and then there's and then ultimately uh you know active meditation so if you want to talk about meditating you want to talk about going going someplace else i mean you

know you got to be an expert to really do that without physically being in some sort of activity i can you know i feel like i can put myself in a meditative state pretty quickly just certain breath patterns i'll just go i'll go i'll go away and yeah and and where i don't think i have the capacity to just to do that just you know with conventional meditation given my lack of skill you know right and and so like with with doing things like like paddling the english channel and then you did the back across america and um all these kinds of things do you think part of the driving force behind that is you're trying to and even in big wave surfing too it's you're trying to enter this mind space

um it's sort of meditative mind space or is it you're just trying to push yourself a little bit further each time i think that's i think that that's yes you know i think i think it's both i think that that the that there's a you know kind of a a meditative mind space listen when you into Utah, you, anybody that does any kind of serious long endurance type work, uh, you know, they, they all have this ability to kind of transcend their themselves, right. Just to be, to be, to, to be disconnected. And, uh, you know, and I, and I and i think i i mean we call it active meditation

but i i mean you have to get yourself into into a state of mind to be able to just continue uh things indefinitely um you know and and and deal with you know know, with the discomfort and all of you and your brain's constant, you know, hey, you just stop or you don't need to do this or why are you doing this or all the stuff that you're, that, you know, all that, all the information that your brain likes to throw at you to, you know, get you to go lay down on the couch. So, you know, I think there's both. I think there's, you know, I, I, I think I like, you know, through the endurance things that I've been involved in, I really enjoy, uh, you know, that part of that, that kind of, you know, that, that kind of transcending, you know, yourself and just being out,

just kind of, and then, and then, and then also the, you know,, and then also the, like being able to push yourself, being able to push yourself further and how long can I do this? And then the feeling of, because normally my things are kind of, I would say accomplishment based, but they're, hey, I'm going to paddle across that channel. I'm going to bike across that thing. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to do something where I'm going to go from one place to another. So there's a destination and, and then there's an achievement you get from, from that.

I guess, you know, probably your most famous wave is the millennium wave at Chopu. How did you, and, and, and prior to you having ridden that wave is pretty much above 20 feet it was sort of deemed unrideable how did you look at it and sort of know that you could do it you know that's a good question how did i look at it know i could do it i i didn't i didn't know i could do it i i you I, you know, I felt, I, I, I didn't, let's just say that I wasn't, you know,

confident that I could do it as much as that. I was, that I was, you know, pretty confident about doing it. Right. That was it. It was more like, I wasn't, you know, you don't know if you can do it until after it's done. I had an idea. I could do it. I had an idea that there was a potential that I could do it. I had an, I had a way to do it. I had, I had a belief in that. I could, you know, I had a, somebody asked me a question recently and, and, and, and I, and it was the first time that I really kind of, you know,

and I, and I've done a lot of talking, you know, in my life. I think, Gabby, I said to her, do I actually serve or do I just talk about it? But the truth is, is that, you know, somebody asked me, well, where did you get the courage to do it? Or where do you get your courage, right? And I saw, you know, I think from faith, from faith, right? So I get my courage from believing. And so, and so I obviously, I believe that, you know, in the millennium, and the millennium wave is just like one of those defining moments that you can actually put a period on, you know, it's something kind of really tangible. And so I believed I could do it. Right. I could believe, I believe that, that, that I could.

And then after one, once I was able to, then I was like, wow, I could, you know, I did it. And so, but I didn't, you know, I, I, I don't, I mean, in those situations, cause I've had a few things that were, you know, I've had a few things in my kind of, in my life that gave me the opportunity to, were, you know, I've had a few things in my kind of, in my life that gave me the opportunity to, to, you know, and cause I don't, I think to come in arrogant about something and think, oh, I can do this. And that that's usually the ocean just slaps you down pretty quickly. So come in with any kind of caught, you know, arrogance, you're going to get a spanking.

And, and so and i've been spanked enough times every time i think i've ever puffed up uh i usually got hammered right after that so uh i don't go in coming in with that kind of an attitude i come in more uh you know more more hopeful like you know, open, maybe a little faith, belief that belief that you can maybe confidence that is possible. Never like an attitude of like, Oh, I got this, like, I think that would, you know, I think that would drop your guard. So I think you, you, you, you would lose your edge, if you came in, kind of thinking that you just had it like oh i got this to know and that's just a setup for disaster so right and i've had enough of those uh and acted like that enough times to

feel that so yeah that that's just i think it's it has to do more with you know having the having the actually seeing that i could like having seen it right before i did it seeing that I could like having seen it right before I did it, seeing that I could, that it was possible that I had a, a route to do it, a route to finish it, a route to complete it, the possibility of doing it. And then it was, then it's just a matter of,

okay, now, you know, take a shot, you know? Yeah. It's kind of, it's a great metaphor for life too.

It's kind of when you, when you, when you have that attitude of, Oh, I got this. Like, this is no problem. That's usually of when you, when you, when you have that attitude of, Oh, I got this. Like, this is no problem. That's usually like we do like stand up comedy and stuff like that. When we have that,

when I, when I personally, I have that attitude, that's when it goes horribly. Yeah. But when I had those nerves built up, you get it right in the teeth. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And then, uh, on that wave too, they talk about in riding giants about how you know usually surfers you know you grab the rail and you use your you know but you using your back hand yeah sort of shifting your weight back how and was that just total improvisation did you sort of just feel the wave and know instinctively to position yourself that way?

Yeah. Yeah. That was total. That was instinct. And that was also, you know, it was looking right where I was and not thinking about where I wanted to be, right? Right. Where I wanted to get. I was looking right where I was and not thinking about where I wanted to be right where I wanted to get I was looking right uh right where I where I was it's like you know it's like when you take a long hike

you know you can't just keep looking where you want to be you have to look where you are and so I was dealing with where I was and what the water was doing and And, and, and I did what I, you know, intuitively felt was necessary in order to make it. I was just trying to make it. And so, and, and, and so, you know, it's interesting because after that, we kind of, you know, brought that technique in and, and, and accomplished you know, the success of that wave and then, and then the, and then the multiple successes of other waves at that location and the giant waves that have been ridden there because of the technique and so on,

you still see at times on some of the most critical days that people are still not capable of actually making the wave. There's a code red day where they're where the guy's shooting with the dragon camera in slow motion and you know i think like i think very few waves were even made that day i remember that yeah yeah and so it's like but people are still getting towed in they're getting put on the wave but they're still but they're that the i think the riders are thinking more about what what they need to do to get out of the wave instead of just what they needed to do to be present, right. To be in that, in that spot. And I think it's, you know, uh, I always tell, you know, I tell Gabby this, but you know, we talk about sometimes when you take

people that, you know, haven't paddled or surf before, you know, we tell them don't react to what hasn't happened yet. You know, it's like, wait till you get hit by the wave and then try to recover. Don't start, you know, trying to recover before you actually get hit. Cause then you have to recover from the recovery. So again, about more about the immediacy of what, you know, and again, metaphors for life. You know, if you look at the ocean, I just, I always talk to people about, you know, the ocean's probably your, my greatest teacher. It's the grand professor. And in a way, I think that the things that I've learned and, and, and the metaphors that I have from the ocean are, you know, carry you through your life. And I think it's, it's, you know, and I think that's true with a lot of, you

know, a lot of living. I think you can learn more from living than you can from any books that you're ever going to read. And you just have to, if you observe nature and you observe life well and listen and implement, I think that that's, you know, I think that's where the real teaching is. And I think we're sometimes confused about where the lessons are. Right. Interesting. Well, and you struggled with school, right? Like growing up, you, I think I heard you say you dropped out in 11th grade or something like that. And you were kind of a problem child, I think they described you as. Did that ever, I guess, because you were so good at surfing that you had something that- That's a polite, you're being polite, yes.

Did you ever feel wayward during that time? You know, it's interesting. Somebody today, a young big wave rider from up at Mavericks, who's training with us is Luca Padua. Anyway, he asked me, you know, he said to me, he goes, you know, I, I still completely don't know. I still don't know what I, you know, really what I want to do in my life. And I'm like, it might always be like that.

I do a thousand things and you might still feel like that. But I, you know, I mean, the one thing that was, that the ocean always represented was a place of equality, you know, a place that was reliable. You know, I always say humans can do all kinds of strange things and be really, you know, kind of unpredictable. And the ocean is not. If you have any understanding of it at all it's very reliable and very predictable and so in a way it it kind of represents like a sanctuary like when everything's going amok you can still go there and at least rely on you know rely on it and and for it to be

what it is and uh and so that it always represented that. But yeah, absolutely. Growing up, you know, more, more than once. And, you know, probably a few times, even lately, where you just kind of, you know, you're just, sometimes you're wondering, you're like, Hey, what's, you know, is this what it's all about? Am I going to do this? And, you know, can I really, you know, do what I'm doing? Or what will I be doing, you know, tomorrow or the or in the future? I mean, those are, I think those are, I think it's a healthy way to live. I think that's a more honest way to be. One thing for sure is when you, you know, love to ride giant waves, you will know what you're going to be doing when the surf's giant. If you're healthy and, you know, you have access to the ocean, you know, you'll know there won't be any wondering. You'll know exactly where. Sometimes in life, it seems like you don't completely know

what you're going to be doing, even when you are fully entrenched in a business, in a marriage, in parenting, in know, in, in parenting, in, you know, any, in your TV projects, whatever it is. Was part of your rebellious spirit seeing inconsistencies in people? Yeah. I mean, well, I, I, you know, I think, I think, well, first of all, I think we, we, we make the mistake of putting a lot of pressure on, you know, on, on our parents, on our friends, on our people who we look up to. I think that, Oh, I always say no expectations, no disappointments, but absolutely. It does it influence you? Do you do,

do we, do we maybe, you know, want to become something maybe that we think we didn't have? Do we want to be like somebody who somebody we looked up to that disappointed us but we want to be somebody maybe that people look up to that we don't disappoint you know like i mean you know i think yeah i think all of that feeds into you know who we are i think i you know and obviously you know we you can we can say we we either are or we're completely not but, you know, and obviously, you know, we, you can, we can say we either are or we're completely not, but we, you know, we're affected by the company we keep, we're affected by the people and the influences that we have and, you know, where, where, how, where we grow up. I

mean, these are all huge factors in our, in our, in our personalities, in our drive, in our mission, in our, you know, and, and we're affected by you know past generations too because we have you know we have programming that's dna downloaded so you mean it's it's complicated yeah for sure yeah i've heard thomas wolf described it like you're like an undeveloped picture and then your environment is like the water you get developed in and that's how much the picture pops but but i but i almost meant by like the inconsistencies like that people could be like uh you know not fully honest or the system that people are living in doesn't always like reward people the correct way but like the water has none of that well because it's because

says when you look at at the human race and and you look at society and and when you come from a very objective you know like a very clear just you have that kind of thought where things are clear it's very confusing you're like how does that work and this and why did they and how come that they didn't and they did and where you know uh like i said we're all i always say we're all equal before a wave you know you get down there the wave doesn't discriminate go well you know you're the chosen one so we won't slap you down it'll slap just as like the like you know and only your skill and your and your experience and your effort and even then sometimes you know you know everybody uh you know what do we say in hawaii

they say lickings are for everybody so not those kind of lickings you know like getting your butt sure yeah um when it comes to surfing it seems like you you are always kind of a because you sort of rejected competition and and it seems like your your approach is more to to um expanding your relationship with the wave is that correct you know different ways of writing it is that correct i mean listen i think it's a combination of a couple things i mean you know yeah one of the things is i was fortunate enough to grow up at a time when competitive surfing was just starting, more or less. And what happened was you had kind of two fractions. You had freedom surfers, which are like people call soul surfers, which guys that would just surf to surf.

And then you had guys that were competitors, right? And you had guys that were surfing that were free surfers and non-competitors that surfed as good maybe possibly better than some of the guys that were competing and so there was and there was confusion right there was confusion i watched my uh stepdad always i mean i watched him you know surf for the best he'd ever surfed and then had some weird judgment and and ended up getting second because, you know, who knows why, because they wanted to crown the world champion at the time and I needed to win, you know, so there's all these kind of man-made things put onto it. And so, you know, a couple of things that I had going were, first of all, I vowed that I never wanted to stop loving surfing. So that was a huge piece, right? Like I thought I never want to stop loving surfing.

And that would be for me, one of the, one of the great losses of my life. So I was like, I'm going to try to reinvent it and make it interesting and make noise, make it be excited about it. I mean, as far as competitive, I'm probably, maybe I'm almost, I would describe almost too competitive, really. And then I thought it brought out the worst in me in the competitions of it. And then I thought there was confusion because it was judgment. So then I was like, well, how about I just bypass judges and I'll let people decide if they like the way I surf or not.

So I like, get rid of the judges, just take the audience. way I surf or not. So I like, like get rid of the judges, just take the audience, you know, kind of like what we do now, like on the, you know, like in the world out there, we, you know, people see your art and see your music, see your cooking, try your cooking. I like it. I don't like it. Like let them decide, right. We don't, when you bring the experts in, it's hard to have a, you know, I mean, it's just hard for people. It's in, people are incapable to not have some sort of bias. It just doesn't. And, and, and no matter how objective they, it's impossible to be completely objective. So, so I, so I, so there was a bunch of factors that led me that direction. And I always thought that big was, I was attracted to big. I liked the fear of big. I liked the,

to big i like the fear of big i like the i like the defining definingness of big like we used to jump off cliffs uh you know i did a lot of cliff jumping over the years and i would just always thought well the guy that jumps the highest wins it's pretty simple like if i jump higher than you and there's you know and there's no really there's no judge there's no like there's no judgment and that's like higher or not and so yeah bigger or not so i just thought big was a great way to you know it's a great way to find equality uh and and i love it i i really love it like what i what i've found uh is that i love it to the point where i just i don't need anyone to see me doing it. I don't do it because I want people to see me do it, but that is part of what I do. So I kind of need like, you know,

I'll have Gabby go, you know, we probably need to get some footage or some pictures of you do, you know, riding some big waves because I'll go years without doing it. And if I, you know, it's like, if, if, if, so, um, because I, because I love it because it's just, it's what's in me. It's what I do. It's, it's, I'll do it as long as I can. Uh, you know, and, and I'm going to do it every different way. I can't, I gotta be inspired by it. I think I really, truly enjoy doing what I haven't done, not what I have done. I think there's, I think we fall trap. We fall in a trap sometimes when we get, when we get, uh, you know, when we have to keep doing what we do, because that's what we do.

It's like somebody goes, Oh, you're a surfer. And I go, no, I surf. I'm Laird. I'm a, I surf like I parent, I husband, I boyfriend, you know, I I'm, I, but I, but those, but those aren't, you know, I'm not a surfer. I surf kind of thing. And I like, I like that, right. I like that. It's not your identity because if you're caught up in that, then, then you've got yourself

a, you know, then you, then you find yourself doing things that, that you wouldn't do. And then inevitably you're going to find yourself in a position that you really didn't want to be into. I love riding big waves. So when I go out and if I crash and I'm, you know, in a giant wave, well, it's because I love it. So I'm not like, wow, I wish I wasn't here. It's part of what I do. So it would be different if I was doing it for other reasons, you know, and then I'd be there and I'd be like, wow, why am I here?

I really don't want to be here. And so it's not that I want to be there in front of a giant wave when it's going to land on my head, but that's inevitably what happens at times, you know, when you, when you ride big waves. You've done, you've done so much too. Cause like, and that's so interesting how the way you kind of reject labels, because you've done like, you've acted like a North Shore, you've modeled, you've done wind surfing, you've done big wave surfing you're you have a supplement company now you do training and then i was trying to describe you to someone and i didn't i just said adventurer and then chad said waterman um i like those i like those like you know innovator innovator

yeah like just broad that kind of leaves it open to the universe yeah yeah and it's cool it's very cool yeah yeah it's really cool did you you know it's because labels i think we get it's labels are dangerous because we can be defined and then it minimizes people sometimes minimize minimize let's avoid minimal minimization next yeah yeah you want to go big in all directions all the way to the end and then big then too yeah what do you think then what do you think at the end oh i don't know it's it's it's the unknown that's always exciting i think i think it's i think uh you know i i think that that that it would be in opinion, it would be very difficult that something wasn't happening given, you know, cause I have a word for nature and life and, and, uh,

too elaborate, too elaborate, just too elaborate. It's too something this elaborate just doesn't, I don't know if it just, you know, ends with maggots. Do you have like a spiritual practice yeah well so there's a uh there's a gentleman who uh that i follow some of his work and they asked him uh you know if uh if if he believed in god and uh he just says i conduct myself like he exists so i like that that's i'm going with that you know I one of the best things I've ever heard and I just would say I'm I and I'll read I'll rephrase it for myself personally I'm

trying to conduct myself like he exists it exists that exists whatever it's yeah and so I'm going with that cool I like that was it hard for you with as like a relentless as you are and as a motivated as you are? Because I was, I was really, and I just found it so lovely. You and Gabby's relationship and the way she talked about you and Iconic class with the show you did with Eddie Vedder.

She has such a clear understanding of the way you live your life and of your philosophy towards life. And it was, it was kind of beautiful to hear her articulate who you were. Cause it seems so in touch. And so was it hard for you to date other people like along the way there? I mean, I think that's why I didn't really date that. I mean, I just, I mean, I, I didn't have, I don't have, I didn't have like a dating career, you know what I mean? It's like, I was speaking to some, I was speaking to Luca this morning about girls and

dating and it's just, you know, and some men are, you know, that's what they do. Like, they're just like girls are their thing. And I had, I've had other focuses and, and I had an incredible mother. So I had a, I had a extremely high bar. Let's just put it that way. Right. Yeah. In the beginning. You know, I mean, listen, when you're, you know, young and full of testosterone, I mean, it's woman and you're a man and you're like, you know, you have I would say that, that, you know, that I, uh, I would say that's why I didn't, you know, that's why I, I didn't, you know, kind of, maybe that's part of the reason why I've done some of the things that I've done is because I was actually more focused on doing that stuff than I was on, you know, on, on, on chasing girls. It just wasn't that, you know, that wasn't,

I mean, listen, when I met Gabby, um, you know, I obviously I was, I had a, you know, I had a wife before Gabby and, and, and, uh, and I think, you know, part of that commitment was that just a part of that kind of my relationship with it, that I was more committed that way. And then I was, you know, that, that was, uh, that's a little bit, my personality that I was more committed that way and that I was you know that that was uh that's a little bit my personality that I just I think that I'm not you know I mean I just even when I look back when I was in the you know in the most the highlight single part of my life you know I just I wasn't something that that was was, you know, that, that dominated. And first of all, it wasn't the reason why that I did things. Maybe I, you know, some guys are like, Hey,

I'm going to be great at this because then I can have girls. And then I was like, I want to be great at this. Maybe because I want the girl, you know, I don't know. Like I said, I don't, I don't know. You know, and I think for everybody it's different, but I, you know it's much more romantic whatever i mean i don't know like i said i don't i don't know uh you know and i think for everybody it's different but i you know i felt like a lot of it is a distraction and you know that's that's time and energy away from your focus whatever and so you just have to decide what's your priority like what and what are your morals what are your values like how you how you how you how what are you how you how are you morally like what are

you are you good with you know running around you know chasing everything and and and is it is it that or are or do you have other kind of i don't know standards or or or you know maybe it's maybe it's program guilt who knows i don't know what it is i mean it's you know but yeah i can only speak for my my position now i grapple with it too that's that sounds like a good breakdown of it yeah program guilt that's interesting yeah i mean listen it's individual and if you know and and but but i look it's also observation and you you, you see single males that have been pursuing women for their life as they get older. And I, and I, you don't see many people more unhappy. I mean, you guys empty because there's an emptiness when you don't have love, right? Cause, cause there's

other thing is not love. This is something else. Right. And so this, this whole, you know, that whole thing is, is different than what love is. And, and, and so it's, you know, and then you see the emptiness and then you see, you know, you see when you, when there's an opportunity to see a nice, a nice relationship, which is not so prevalent. Uh, it's, you, you see something that like, it can be inspiring like i know when i was totally yeah when i was a kid and i looked around and i go well who do i respect like what what men do i respect well most of the men that i respect were in relationships that they had a

woman that that they respected that they were in love like they had and they had mutual respect and some of these people have been married a long time and so maybe the love wasn't so obvious like you know honeymoon romance where they're kissing every five minutes but it was definitely there was something there that that what I was attracted to that I go you know what I would like to enjoy what that looks like one day and and because the other thing about, you know, turnover, that just, for me, I thought that was really more loneliness, emptiness, and in a way a lack of courage. Like I go, look at that.

I go, oh, that's not courageous. That's not courage. You know, what do they say? Easy to please many women once, but try pleasing one woman many times. I mean, that's not courage. You know, you know, what do they say? Easy, easy to please many women once, but try pleasing one woman many times. I mean, that's real courage. So I just think there's something to be said about that, that there's something to be said about, about the courage it takes to actually be committed. And, and, and, you know, and it's not, believe me, it's not, it's no, it's no easy run. If it was, everybody would do it. You know, it's like anything. It's like, look around and, you know, choose something difficult and, and, and believe

me, you'll get fulfilled if you accomplish it. But, you know, it's easy to, to, to do the simple stuff, but then there's nothing in it. Yeah. Did you always have this sort of growth mindset and this sort of drive to go towards what's difficult or did you sort of cultivate that within yourself no i think i've always gravitated towards hard you know i've always gravitated towards hard uh like i have a natural you know my stepdad uh said you know that big wave riders are born and not made that you're born that way and that natural, you know, my stepdad said, you know, that big wave riders are born and not made, that you're born that way. And that's, you know, that's why you get guys that ride big waves from the middle, you know, from the middle of the country. I mean, you'll get people that come.

I mean, it's helpful to if you're going to ride giant surf to grow up at the beach and, you know, learn how to swim when you're a little kid because you're going to need those skills. But the truth is, is that there's something to be said about, you know, about the thing that you're, you know, that you're driven by, that you have these internal drives that are hard to learn. It's hard to, you know, what do we say? It's hard to make a, you know, an eagle out of a chicken, but you can make a super chicken. But, you know, I mean, it's, it's, and i'm not saying i'm an eagle i'm just saying that it's hard to make something that people that that uh that you're not in certain areas it's hard to teach drive like drive is up you can train drive and you can expose drive to things and and cultivate drive but it's hard to like teach people how be motivated. You know what I mean? That's a difficult – that's a more – it's not – and by the way, that's possible because everything's possible.

But usually those situations take something – can take something traumatic, right? There's something heavy has to happen sometimes to create that type of drive. happen sometimes to create uh that type of drive and so a lot of people that have drive have had some sort of trauma to you know whatever it is to to get them motivated you know yeah i uh well when i was watching a iconoclast my favorite part was that you you rode your bike all the way to the uh santa barbara bowl and it is it's such a like do you like I have to earn it and uh yeah I love that kind of um it with things like that with you know with a long bike ride and stuff it just I don't know there's something about there's something so satisfying about accomplishing something like that and then you got to really enjoy the concert it seemed like well yeah you give me i mean because it's almost a setup for success right because yeah you because

pretty much no matter what you'll just enjoy sitting down after that so yeah some great music then it's like a you know then you're killing it it's it's a little bit like fasting you know you fast a little bit and yeah you eat a salad you like, this is the best lettuce I've ever had. So, and if it's great lettuce, you'll really be savoring it. So I think there's something to be said about that. I think we have an intuitive mechanism when it comes to that type of stuff that we don't cultivate enough that kind of, that, that, you know, that you really, that you really appreciate things. And that's why when you get something for nothing, you know, that you really, that you really, uh, appreciate things. And that's why when you get something for nothing, you never appreciate it. Right. So when you work hard and

you achieve thing, it's like, you know, when you guys have a certain, you know, when you finally have a certain level of success that you've decided will be what is, you know, what you're attached to this effort, then you'll be like, that'll, that'll, that'll, you know, that was good. And that feels good. That, that feels good. And when you get the reward from that, you'll be like, that'll feel good and you'll feel good. And you know, it's never good to get something for nothing, even though we all want that, even though we all pray, like we just say, Oh yeah, just,

just give me that and I'll be, it'll be be good yeah actually it won't it'll actually be worse yeah if you beat a video game with the cheat codes it doesn't feel as good at the end of it for example for example yeah like the rules might be arbitrary but i think they're fundamental to, to feeling, to getting the genuine feeling out of it. Absolutely. No, no, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's innate in us. It's the mechanism we have in us that we, that we, that we, you know, that we're trying to cut the, you know, we're always trying to shortcut, like, Hmm, let me see, just give me this pill and I'll be in shape. I'll tell you, if I gave you a pill and you're instantly in shape, you wouldn't feel nearly as good as if you were to get in shape and then you were in shape. I go, that, you know, that, that's, that, that would, you know, again, it's, it's, and I think that's an issue that, that, that everyone, you know, has to deal with and that we all need to be aware of is that we,

you know, and that's why guys that work all day digging ditches and, and, and, and, you know, and breaking their back, you know, get home and, and eat their meal and enjoy their meal and have a feeling of accomplishment. And they, and they're good. They're all good. It's like, they're not going, man, I really, you know, I really, uh, didn't like that day's work. I mean, it's like, it's like no they they they enjoy it they there's something that'd be said about now okay you have to do it every day all day for the whole your whole life and it's you know and it's difficult for yeah okay that's that that's something else to but there is a an aspect to a day's work that you feel good and that's why people can do it for

50 years you know because they are getting a certain level because otherwise they if they weren't getting that they would just be like oh yeah that was good i did that for a year or two year three year you know they they would they would stop yeah yeah um go ahead you go baby no no no no no i it wasn't good you go okay uh so what there's a story that you you saved your house from the Woolsey fire using a uh a pump and water from your pool yes is that so uh it's true it's true how much um how difficult was that to do? I guess. It was, it was, it was hard. I mean, I mean, I mean, listen, the fact is is I probably deserve deserved it because I've been saying now I needed some sort of excitement and,

and what I meant was I wanted to go have some, I wanted some big waves or something. So I have to be cautious now when I just say I want excitement. Cause I, I might get it in a way that I don't necessarily want it. Like a giant fire that burned 1700 homes and, and, and, you know, and, or however many burned and, you know, and, and almost burned my house down. But I was, you know, I,

I do, I, you know, I, I'm, I do well, uh, when, when in the chaos, I seem to, and I, and I, you know, it's part of, I'm not good in the, you know, when everything's too normal and calm and still that, that just is the hard, that's harder for me. I think when it's, you know, when, when we go into chaos and we go into uncertainty, um, you know, and I dealt with a flood on Kauai. I dealt right now we're dealing with this pandemic that we're dealing with. I mean, these are the times I think that, you know, in this, in the Woolsey fire, um, I, I, I lock in, I lock in. It's something that, you know, that I've, that I think that I've had in, you know, that I kind of have in me,

but it's also something I've cultivated through big wave surfing and a lot of the other kind of adventures that I've done. Um, it just puts me, I get, I get really, uh, focused and, and, and real still and, and deliberate and I, and methodical. And it's just something that, and deliberate and methodical. And it's just something that, you know, it's something that I, it gives me a sense of purpose. And then I'm, you know, and then I get my fire suit out that I had in my bin in the garage for 10 years,

because that was when the last fire threatened my house when we weren't here. And after that fire, I bought a pump and I bought, I traded some surfboard equipment for some fire suits. And I got some other equipment and I have a whole plan and I have a good idea where the fire is coming from. And I have a giant pool with a lot of water and I have a big old pump with a fire hose. And I had all day to prepare. I saturated my entire house. My house has some decks, like outside decks, and I covered the drains and filled the decks with a little bit of water so all the decks had little lakes on them. my buddy Elijah, who had lost his family home almost kind of 11, 10 or 11 years ago

to that time and wanted to stay with me. And I sent my family away and then kind of skirted some roadblocks and got back to my house after I kind of made sure they were all good. And, and then, and then rock and roll like with the fire hit it right in the evening um some of the fire some of the there was fire trucks in the area they they all uh left and then I was at my house uh you know and knew where the fire was coming from I probably there's a good chance I probably my name, both my neighbor's houses on both sides. And we fought for like three or four hours. Uh,

and, and, you know, kept it, kept it, kept it at bay. And, and when it was done,

we, we put a bunch of spot fires out all around. And then, and then we left, uh, to go stay with where my family was just to make the girls feel good. I went back so they they knew they knew i was okay and that was you know that's kind of a short short long version of

it yeah but yeah it was it was a you know it was it was a it was another one of those you know notch on on my lipstick case you know i got i i see i i feel like i you know i have a i've had a lot of you know i've been in i was in a couple big i was in a giant hurricane one of the strongest hurricanes ever to land i've been you know i've been i just have had an adventurous uh go at it i'm down here on this this run yeah. You know, we've honored your incarnation for sure. You've honored your incarnation for sure. Yeah. We're still working on that.

I'm not, I'm not, I'm not leaving. I'm not thinking, I'm not sitting back and, you know, there's still some meat on the bone. You think I gotta,

I gotta keep it up. I gotta survive this parenting thing. You know, fires and hurricanes and floods and caves and avalanches. That stuff's child's play, man. Parenting, that's the one. Yeah. What do you find kind of, I guess, more dynamic about it or confusing about it than these other things?

Well, one of the things is that you don't have uh you don't have the you know you don't get to participate you have to observe right and that's i'm usually you know the the fix it guy yeah it fix it you know like remedy whatever and i i gotta observe i gotta I got to, I got to observe and I got to take it and I got to, and I got to be vulnerable through somebody else. So, you know, when they drive away in the car, I got to worry about them or it's not me driving away. You know, I drive away and I'm like, something happens. I that's, that's me. And I can, and I'll try to deal with what happens and if I don't, I don't.

But when it's somebody else that, you know, that, that, that you love and care about so deeply and, and, and different than your, you know, than your wife or your brother or your mom or your dad, it's like these are your kids. And so there's like a weird, and then they're part you and it's just, yeah, it's just a, you know, I mean, I honestly, I, if,'s just yeah it's just uh you know i mean i honestly i if if somebody would have warned me you know how severe this was going to be i might have you know

i mean i don't know i don't think i had a choice about i got three daughters so you know i might have i might have chosen for just maybe one dog at the beginning of the podcast we we touched on my fear about the pandemic and how it might be overstimulated. And I loved hearing Gabby talk to you about your relationship to fear because you were very candid about it and you didn't act like it wasn't a part of your system. You basically said it was beneficial, but can you elaborate on that? You basically said it was beneficial, but can you elaborate on that? Well, I mean, listen, I know that it's a mandatory emotion for evolution and survival, right?

So we know it, and we know obviously it's up there, like it's up there towards the top of importance. So why is it important? Well, because first of all, it makes, it heightens awareness. It makes us highly aware, highly observant, you know, everything's moving, you know, at over, at, at over time, everything's at high speed. And so you, you know, I listen, I tell somebody, I go, listen, you know, an antelope is probably scared when a cheetah chases it and they get away a lot. And the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world. So that tells you about fear. It's like fear, fear is stimulating an antelope in a way that he's getting away from the fastest animal in the world. He's getting away from the fastest animal in the world. And whether it's fear of failure, fear of acceptance, fear of a pandemic, fear of a giant wave. I mean, your body's not differentiating the two.

It's not going, well, this is giant wave fear. It's different from the burning house fear and different from the high-speed dragster fear and the F-18. Fear is fear, right? So your body's experiencing fear and you need to look, figure it out, like figure out how, how to allow it to go through you to like feel it, react to it. And, you know, in a, in a, in a, in a, you know, constructive way, or just let it flow through you, but you, you have to, we can't just cram it down in a hole, and then think it's not going to rear its head through, you know, I mean, the list goes on and on, I think that a lot of, of illnesses could be connected to our suppression of fear, right? Right.

And how long have we been suppressing that fear? And what is it? And how does it come out? You know, all of those things. So I think that that's all, you know, that's a big piece of it. I think, listen, I remember at one point there was a company that came out and they're like, it was no fear. And I'm like well

that would be like you might as well say no intelligence to me and if you said to me because if you're sitting here and a giant fire is coming and it's coming very fast and it's giant and you're not scared i'm like something is severely wrong with your observation like your ability to understand what's happening if you think that a giant wave isn't dangerous, then you, we, we, we might need to like reeducate you. Like, so again, usually it's connected to when you're talking about those things, those are really obvious things. Uh, and, and, and I know that I've benefited from it. You know, I've benefited from being scared. I know that, that, that, that fear has, has empowered me. You know, and so I, I think that, that we need to, to, you know, look at it and understand it and, and, and embrace it and, and, and, you know, use it

for the, for the mechanism that it is and not just be like, yeah i mean there's a great story uh in the that that gabby had in her podcast with uh christine allmark owner and and she and you know they're talking about oh the kids go to the water park and then the kid goes i'm really scared and then the guy the dad goes there's nothing to be scared of and it's like well no actually there is they're designed the slides on purpose to be scary like this this thing is meant to be scary. So more like, Hey, yeah, it's scary. How do you feel? Are you scared? Okay. Now, you know, how do you feel today? Do you want to be scared today? Are you ready to be scared today? Like, is that okay? And then you're like, okay, I'm ready to be scared today. Okay. Let's go. Let's do it. Or you know what? I'm not ready to be scared today. Okay,

great. We don't need to go down there, but that's the kind of attitude I think you need to have. Like, hey, are you ready to be scared? I'm ready to be scared. Okay, let's be scared. Okay, let's go in scared. Because scared just, I mean, like I said, scared makes you, you know, it makes you smart. It makes you fast. It makes you strong.

I mean, you know, you see, you know, mothers lifting up cars and stuff and the fear of their, you know, their child could be hurt. Or, you know, I'm just saying like we have extraterrestrial powers when it comes to using, harnessing fear as a, and better sight and better hearing. And, you know, and then it's all connected to instinct and intuition. I mean, it's all part of the system. So I think it's important to start to connect to it and feel it. And don't reject it. Don't try to suppress it. I think it's just part of, I know it's part of something that has allowed us to survive. Some evolutionary function.

Absolutely. And then for you, it almost seems like a North Star where there's the great part in your documentary on Hulu where your buddy saves you from a wave and his leg gets absolutely decimated. And you rescue him. You save his life. You put him in an ambulance. And then you go back into the surf to catch, I think it was 80 feet that day or something like that. Some spectacular number. So for you, it almost seems like you felt the fear and you were like, okay, I'm afraid.

I got to get back out there and wrestle through this fear. Or if that's where the fear is, that's where I have to go. Well, you know, because the known is less scary than the unknown. And so, you know, I always see people say, well, what's the most difficult part of, you know, big wave riding? I go, watching it. I go, that's the hardest part like to be on the to be on land and watch it because there's nothing that you can do about it and that part is the part i don't like so i want to be if i'm in it then i could do something about it whether whatever

whether it's run away from it or get on it and ride it or whatever that is and so i think uh that that that's the you know that's the that's the, you know, that's the, that's the, you know, I'll give you a great example. So, you know, obviously, you know, you grew up in the ocean and then you watched the movie Jaws when you're, you know, a kid and man, sharks are, you know, big animals with teeth. One of the, you know, five or so primary fears in life falling being burned you know drowning giant animals with teeth like sharks right so you're like sharks yeah i'm not really loving these sharks and then you go shark diving you once and then you go shark you see another shark

and then you go you know then you go and you take your daughter and i dove in cages with the great whites and they're banging against and then we're you know we cages with the great whites and they're banging against. And then we're, you know, we're with the great whites and all of a sudden you're like, they're just not as scary as they were. It doesn't mean that, you know, if you're swimming a mile offshore and you have a giant cut in your leg, you're not thinking, yeah, you know, I'd probably rather not be here right now, but there is something to be said about, you know, if you have the fear of heights you know just spend some time

look over the edge feel it like yeah hey yeah okay cool all right you know but go but all of a sudden you know all of a sudden it just won't have the power over you uh that it does if you just keep blocking it out keep avoiding avoiding avoiding that avoidance is only leading to, you know, first of all, the imagination loves that because it can just grow a nice giant tree for you, you know, that fear. And so I think embracing it and being in it, you know, and that's why I went back out that day. That's why, you know, whenever I've been hurt, I try to ride waves again right after just so i'm not ending with this kind of negative thing that could lead to me being scared i'm trying to get over it quickly you know the old thing about get back on the horse that's the whole thing about get back on the horse

like well why get back on the horse well so you're not scared because if you don't get back on the horse then the scare the fear or the scare will grow and then pretty soon the thing's so big you don't even you don't even, you can't even approach it. You're like, Oh, I can't even go near that horse. Like, and so I think that that's, you know, and that, you know, and listen, I, I, I mean, I had some good teaching, uh, from my, from my dad when I was young, you know, he was like, you know, he's like, uh, you know, when you're wrong, you come up and you put your head down and you take your punishment like a man. And when you're right, you lift your chin up and you, you know, and you stand tall and hold yourself and, you know, go to the go to the end.

So, you know, there's something to be said about that. Right. Facing it like, hey, when you're wrong, you go, hey, I'm wrong. Take your punishment. OK, I'm right.'m right hey i'm you know you stand fast so again i think there's there's a connection with that you know with with the fear of failure the fear of doing something wrong like oh yeah okay i was wrong but let's not let's not take the punishment for that well because why because you're scared okay well so again they're all interwound within each other and that's why say, I say the ocean is the great teacher, but you know, when you start learning how to face stuff and, and, you know, and again, but then it gets back to some other, you know,

higher things like truth and honesty and stuff like that, which, you know, I think for a lot of us, that's something that we're scared of. Yeah. And there was a time, uh, I think when you're filming water world you got lost out at sea right yeah how did you how did you approach the fear handle it in that situation i haven't heard this um you know that that listen i i i went through a lot of emotions that day. I went through a whole spectrum of emotions, obviously. I vowed that if I was brought back to land, that I would turn from my sinful ways. I cried, I laughed, I screamed mad.

But I mean, I went through a spectrum of emotions because it was an extended period of fear. I mean, those are, again, different dynamics, you know, being held down by a giant wave where you're not sure if you're going to make it to the surface or being held under by a giant waterfall where you're not sure if you're going to, you know, get unstuck off a rock, you know, when you, I mean, the longer that the time expands and you have to think the more the different types of emotions you go through. So, you know, when you're out, it's when you're out at sea, you know, 60 miles from anything. Uh, and you just wonder, you know, if you're ever going to make it back and how you meet your demise and all those things that, you know, you can think about in a, you know, whatever, in a 20, you know, whatever, 15 hour, 18 hour, whatever, how long period of time,

you know, your brain and, you know, and I imagine if it extended to days and days and days, you just go through more of those and they would extend over longer periods of time. What were you stuck on? I was on a jet ski. I was on a jet ski. I was trying to ride between islands, and the volcano was erupting. There was a lot of fog, and so it ended up – and the current was unusually strong, and it pulled me off course.

and so it ended up and the current was unusually strong and it pulled me off course and i got like so i i got i thought i was further south and it was just one of those it was one of those rare you know one of those rare moments when you know you find yourself 60 miles from land with you know a jet ski with about a half gallon of gas in it and an e-perb which is a emergency locating device that i had brought with me. So I wasn't completely – had I not brought that, I probably wouldn't have made it. Did you get rescued? I did get – eventually the Coast Guard found me. First they found me with a C-130 right before dark,

and then they dropped the flare and another thing, and then an emergency helicopter, Coast Guard guard picked me up uh in a basket and pulled you know they dropped the radio in a in a like a ziploc bag and then they said whatever you do don't touch the basket before it touches the water because the helicopter builds static electricity when it flies and you you you could be shocked to death so i don't know how they found that out but um then i got a basket and got pulled up and they flew me away and i left my ski and then my ski floated around the big island uh and over a few days and then somebody called me like a week later and said hey do you want your jet ski and i'm like well i did but i left it you

know i left it like 60 miles offshore on the north side of uh the big island they go well we found it and the guy happened to be like a yamaha jet factory jet ski mechanic coincidentally and flushed it and had it all running and i i gave him a you know i gave him a little ransom i gave him a bounty and and uh you know i gave him a little ransom i gave him a bounty and and uh you know drove my ski back from uh lanai i think it was so you got back on the horse and you drove the ski back around the island yeah what did you what did you say when you saw this c-130 like i mean because it must have been as dark as it gets right well the first thing i said was i wonder how they're going to pick me up in that because they're not because they're just flying because they use the c-130 to fly the grid pattern you know because you're it's like finding a needle in a haystack so

unfortunately my signal was sending and in the beginning of the day i i had a i had a vhs radio that i could hear the the people talking to me because my mother was in the helicopter business. And my other friend, a helicopter pilot for my Don Shear, was looking for me. But they were looking for me way south from where I was. And then so the C-130 flies a grid pattern. And they eventually found me, like I said, needle in the haystack, first they flew over me above the clouds, and, you know, I had these kind of makeshift paddles, and I was flying them, like, standing up, but they were above the clouds, and when they went over, I thought, well, that was my chance, and they,

that was it, and then they came back around, like, another, in 45 minutes, or something like that, an hour later, down low, down below the clouds headed right at me. And when they flew over the tail, uh, the, the gate was down in the back of the plane. There was a guy sitting on the, on the,

like on the tailgate of the plane. And he just threw the package out, like gave me a thumbs up and they dropped the flare out like a big canister that I was like, what's that for? But I guess it was so that it was a bigger signaling device uh and then the chopper came and you know the guy picked me up and he and i he pulled me up with a net into the chopper and the guy goes hey laird what are you doing out

here i go oh you don't want to know a teacher in a Tiger's milk bar. Yeah. Got to have one of those in your kit, you know. One of those rescue at seas. I mean, yeah, when I go down the list, it's ongoing. Yeah. That's awesome. That's amazing. All right, maybe I can ask you some quick fire questions later, and then can we answer some questions from some listeners?

We typically give them advice on life issues and stuff. Do it. And I'll try not to swallow. All right. Squats or Turkish get-ups? Turkish get-up. Sauna or ice bath? Yes.

Yes. Chopu or pipeline chopu atvs or wave runners wave runners that one's not even close huh tvs but wave runners are like that's like saying tools or toys. I'd be like, right. Tarantino or Scorsese. Oh, battle for the Scorsese. I agree.

And then rock music or avocados. Oh, come on. No, of course. Oh, okay. Cool.

Jimi Hendrix, the last real surf music you're ever going to hear. that's your guy well jimmy's you know there's only one and and uh like i said he says it himself the last real surf music you're ever gonna hear all along the watchtower listen we serve giant jaws that was our theme jimmy's our theme guy that's awesome yeah all right cool we'll get some questions going and acdc of course oh yeah the greatest and by the way the greatest rock band in history according to my experts yeah they are what's what's your song from them that gets you fired up when it's big wave day? I mean, just, you know, a whole lot of Rosie.

I mean, I don't know. You know, I mean, there's just too many. How many, which one do you want? There's probably 10 of them that rev it up, you know? Right. I'll tell you a story about a woman I know when it comes to loving, steals a show, you know? Come on. you a story about a woman i know when it comes to loving still as a show you know come on these guys not right all right uh first question help stewards of stoke um my friend and i have known each other for going five years we have been through the best time prom and the worst car crash and everywhere in between she and i are great friends and get along great

her and i say i love you every time after we She and I are great friends and get along great. Her and I say I love you every time after we talk and see each other. She has made a joke about if we don't get married by 30, then we'll just marry each other. The reason I don't shoot my shot is that I'm worried it would ruin our friendship. Also next year, I'm moving to Maryland. Both of us currently live in Virginia for college. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much, Chad and JT. What's the question? Seems like he has the answer already like oh like what yeah um well i mean sounds like it sounds like the basis for a good relationship you might already be married don't yes yeah don't blow it don't blow it and go out with some other girl. Right. Yeah, I think I agree with you. I think it's a question. You know what I mean?

Is it what should I do? Yeah, I guess that's what he's asking. Yes, that's what he's asking. Well, the best relationship you're ever going to have with a woman is one that you don't have sex with. So I wouldn't do that because that might ruin it if you really like her. But if you don't, you probably need to figure out if you really want to be with her or not. Right. I mean, yeah, I think, I think you just got to tell her how you feel. And then I don't even know if you have to do it in like a phone call or, you know, a formal way. I think you guys just go out one night, you have a couple drinks and then you just look at her and you go, look, I might've buried the lead a little bit, but I I'm in love with you for real.

Not just, I love you at the end of a conversation and then see if she kisses you. Well, you know, we just talked about it. Face the fear. Face. Yeah. So again, he's probably worried about rejection, right? Cause that's one of the things that's the most scariest thing, being rejected. Especially have a woman turn you down. Oh, my gosh. That would just – that hits you right where it hurts, right?

Yeah, in the soul, yeah. That's a big piece of it is that fear, right? So got to face it. Got to face it. I mean, at the worst, she says, no, I just, you know, want to be your friend. And that's – you already have that so it seems like you know no matter what you got nothing to lose and everything to gain yeah yeah i agree i think you should go for it um hooded warrior feeling insecure this is a long one i'm sorry while i'm

not a member of the small dong clan we went on tv and said we have a small dong we're trying to destigmatize shame around that stuff i got it all i already have over the weekend i was crushing some hard seltzers with the squad six feet apart of course and ended up getting cock blocked by my friends through the form of self-doubt and insecurity i've been vibing with one of our lady, lovely lady friends, and we discussed going back to her place after the chill sesh to go to Bone Town after a period of quarantine-induced sexual frustration. I was really excited to mash faces. The boys went in, so I'm going to skip a little bit. The boys went in the group, went on a tangent discussing their disgust towards uncircumcised penises, or what I like to call

hooded warriors. While I don't have a high body count, I've gotten freaky with a good number of bids and never had a problem with my natural-born skin and have really good feedback on my stroke game and tender yet firm lovemaking. Do you boys have any advice for me in this situation? I guess he didn't consummate the attraction that night with this girl he likes because of them making fun of him and he says i want to drop dong and show the to the group the beauty i hold below my belly button and below my balls like i said face the fear face face the fear i mean i you know i know men that

have and don't have and i mean, if somebody's got judgment about it, then you've got to question if they're your friend or not. Dude, I'm circumcised, but I'm pro uncircumcision. You have more nerve endings, so you have more sensitivity, which I think probably to me would lend itself. You were made like that originally for a reason. Yeah. And I think it would lend you to be a better lovemaker.

And then not to be crude but i think the top male porn star in the game right now is uncircumcised so i mean if you're looking at paragons of you know exhibitionist sex yeah it's it's happening in the world baby you're in good company exactly face your fear back to your fear. And I think he's got to flip it out in front of his boys and just, yeah, ride that wave. Well, that's, again, you know, acceptance. Yeah, I think if he unwails it in front of them, then, you know, they've got no choice but to accept it. Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, I won't go into it i'll just hold on all right let me find it these are pretty long i think people during the uh

the quarantine they have time yeah they're getting verbose uh trouble with making friends i'm a 22 year old stoker from the mountains and i have never had a real friend aside from my parents and dog i'm not anti-social by any means and I generally do rad things like skiing, skating, fishing, playing music, and hitting bars. I'm a bit on the quiet side but can also always hold an engaging conversation with just about anyone. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I think I'm a pretty rad dude. So how am I unable to make friends? For my whole life, I've put in work to make friends, but I always get glanced over or forgotten about. Literally any advice you guys could give me would be tremendous as I'm honestly at the end of my

rope here. Thanks, boys. Poor guy. I mean, listen, first of all, who do you want to be your friend? Again, so I mean, maybe you've been saved by not... I i mean listen it's important to have friends but what you find is that the real your real friends are there's very few there's very few people and so at the end of the day you got to decide who you know do you just want to be accepted by keep you know somebody like have a couple friends to accept you like as some sort of thing about being accepted or do you want you know a friend that like scott your back and you know that you have to earn that stuff you have to you have to earn earn the friendship and and it takes two to tangle it takes two to you know to participate so friendship is an interesting thing and and you

know you can i mean you could have a hundred friends and not one real one or you could just have one real one you know again you got to decide you know people think that if you're popular uh that somehow that means you have a lot of real friends but you could actually be popular and have no real friends and then not popular and have some a genuine friend so you know you usually find out who your friends are when the going gets tough. Yeah. That's my mind. No, I agree with that.

Yeah, I think it's a lot of times with relationships and stuff like that, if you're actively searching and kind of trying a little too hard, it seems to slip away more and more, whereas you sort of allow the real friends to come into your life and just maybe sort of work on your relationship with yourself. And I feel like that's, that's, those are the times when the best people come to your life when you're sort of at a point of self-acceptance. Yeah. Well, at least, at least, you know, I mean, listen, if you're, if you're looking to find a girl, you'll never find one, but if you're not looking, she'll find you. So for a friend, like you, like you've just said, you know, work on you, work on you, not looking, she'll find you. So for a friend, like you've just said, work on you. Work on you.

Work on you being okay with you. Because at the end, no matter what, friends or no friends, it's going to end there anyway. So it's like each of us, and believe me, if you figure out how to make yourself happy, and you're happy, and you're, how would you guys say, stoked? how to make yourself happy and you're happy and you're and you're how would you guys say stoked i mean then chances are you're gonna people are gonna want to be around you they're one gonna want to be your friend if you're stoked but if you're not stoked it's gonna be hard to find a friend especially not one that you know that you really want yeah i think you guys are right like just kind of reverse the the gravity of it have them come to you not necessarily pursue them but then i was also thinking maybe it is like dating where it's

like you got to take a lot of swings like maybe ask a lot of guys out for dates to be on friend dates and then kind of like i love you man and then at one point you'll find your jason siegel who's just a legit dude and it seems seems awkward. There's not really a playbook on how to make friends. It's kind of unfortunate, but I think it's the same as anything. It could just be putting yourself out there and trying new things. And then if you see somebody like, you know, telling me like, I'm going to be like, hey, dude, I think you're a cool dude. I'd like to be friends with you. That's kind of what happened with us and the Agua Donkeys guys a week ago. Like at the end of it, we were literally like, we'd like to be friends with you that's kind of what happened with us and the agua donkeys guys a week ago like at the end of it we were literally like we'd like to be friends now

it was and you know laird i would i would love for you to be my mentor for the rest of my life so yeah well you know how to get a hold of me you got a direct line to you know the grand empress so yeah yeah did i obey you know i love i love that you guys work together like that it's so cool yeah well we just find it's it's better to just with for everything you know just to deal directly direct with you know and listen when people when you have people working like representing you you have to make sure that they represent you and And so any way that they are and what they're doing is a reflection of you. And so we just find that we're, you know, we have a better chance of being a reflection of ourselves and then,

you know, anyone else. Right. All right. And then last question. Dogs. I'm an East coast listener deep in this quarantine. I'm probably one of your older listeners, but I appreciate that you dudes don't age discriminate. I have a nurse wife battling the COVID daily, and I'm a public defender trying to spring health vulnerable clients out of jail before they get corona. I have a lot of work to do via internet, and my work affects people's lives. I have two kids under five, and I refuse to send them to a COVID camp,

aka first responder day camp. So I am the only daycare. It's tough. How do I balance? Why do I neglect? Who do I neglect? My kids or my clients? And how do I maintain my sanity? I wish I was alone to watch Netflix or play call of duty,

but it's Disney on Disney. I'm going crazy. Training kicking in. Please don't use my name on record. And if you put my name on record, don't, I'll never neglect my kids or my clients. This is merely a hypothetical cue.

Your pod is my happy place. Oh, thank you for that, dude. It's very kind of you. And thank you for all that you and your wife are doing. Absolutely. Well, my, my, my, you know, my point of, you know, my point of view would be being someone who is highly disciplined, obviously, as he is and doing what he does, you know, take it as a challenge. Like this is your new workout. This is a temporary

time and it'll continue to be a temporary time until it's not but the fact is is that if you can you know look at it as like a challenge like hey this is a challenge like my new my new program is you know is uh and and listen you know kids kids always get priority right and so especially especially uh in these in at this you know just just life, you know, kids need to be prioritized. And so, but absolutely take it as a challenge. Like, you know, that's what I've been trying to do myself is just like, okay, you know, and listen, and I'm blessed to have a, you know, have an environment where I can, you know, find a moment. And listen, we a, you know, have a, an environment where I can, you know, find a moment and listen, we can, you know, we can hide in the closet or go in an office or go down the hall, then the gym, or, you know, we have a couple of spots we can go where you can just, and that's,

you know, but just, you know, just get a, get a, you know, just look for these moments, these opportunities to find just a moment, just a of you know being by yourself uh you know just just for a little bit of sanity i mean i think some well something was going on yesterday i just went out my car and shut the door for you know 10 minutes and just sat there and just was still with silence and i came back in and i was like a different person and so i think if you can just look for these you know and it just because it doesn person. And so I think if you can just look for these, you know, and it just, cause it doesn't take long to just get a moment to just recalibrate.

This is where breath work stuff is incredible. You know, you just focus on your breathing for, you know, a minute or two, it can do profound things, but you know, I would take it as a challenge. I'd be like my new workout, you know, my, my new challenge and my new fitness is, you know, dealing with whatever I got to do. And I don't care if you don't get to work out and do one workout and do things that you normally do. Just do what you got to do to, you know, to,

to survive being in this, in this, you know, in this situation that we're in. Sure. Sure. Yeah, I thought that was great. Nothing to add. Yeah, I think also maybe like don't grade yourself harshly. You and your wife are doing so much for the benefit of others. And I'm sure your kids really appreciate the effort that you're putting in and that you

took it upon yourself to you know uh help them through the day without getting additional help so i don't know do you sound like a fucking beast man and i actually if they're watching disney i wouldn't feel bad if you just pull out a tablet and put on extraction on netflix while they watch disney like it didn't bother me when my dad watched something other than than what i was watching as long as i had my shit so uh, uh, yeah, dude, maybe, maybe just get multiple screens going. And if you don't have multiple screens, maybe DM us and we'll see if we can go fund you a tablet. So you can, uh, so you can crush some, uh, too hot to handle solo and just watch those hotties going up. Larry, do you watch much television? Truth is no, no, I don't.

But, but you know what, but you know, at times I like to, you know, I, I, I, if I'm in the right head space, I just want some mindless entertainment or something, but not, not usually I'm not, not a, not a huge, uh, TV consumer, know are you are you watching the jordan doc i have i have actually i've been because gabby's been watching that so i've been i've had a couple moments to do that we have a few good training days where i was in the perfect headspace to sit still you know usually usually at the end of the day when i'm tired i you can get me to be patient enough for you know an hour maybe get an hour out of me you might squeeze an hour yeah yeah yeah we've been what we've you know we've watched i haven't watched the whole thing she's been but i watched a couple segments

of it and uh and and have kind of enjoyed that that uh well just the documentation and the storytelling especially when you you know when i mean i I mean, I, I was, you know, I grew up during all of that. So that was something to, you know, observe. Look back on, yeah. Last, last question for me. I jacked up my neck and my back. I've been icing it after I work out, which has helped, but any tips on how to keep the back and the neck good? Back and neck. Yeah. What was the jack up? How'd you do it? So it was over Christmas. I was stressed out being around so much family. So I was just overlifting and I was doing a lot of cleaning jerks and snatches, which I hadn't done in a while, like multiple days in a row. And I just started having lower headaches, like, and like below the occipital bone or whatever. And then just a lot of strain in the neck.

And then it, sometimes it, it moves down a little bit into the center of the spine. It feels like a deep muscle kind of pull. Yeah, like very inside the back. First, some inversion probably wouldn't be bad. I think that if you can get the right inversion, either inversion table, gravity boots, or one of those yoga hammocks um and do do a little bit of inversion you know heat probably is better for it than i mean ice will give you some comfort but sometimes the heat really allows those uh you know and then and

then the pool that's where the pool really comes in handy you know any kind of any kind of uh you know kind of take gravity kind of you know, kind of take gravity away and get all loose and stuff. The water will do that. But I, I've been doing a, you have a sauna and you do sauna. I don't have one at my mom's where I'm chilling right now, but there's one in my regular gym in LA. Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, even hot bath, like go take a hot bath and do, you know, Epsom salt hot bath. I would just try to get that stuff to relax. It's, it's, you know, but inversion is good. If you can, if you can get it, get yourself inversion, you know, decompression. A lot of times it's, it's, I mean, I'm, I'm trying to think about rollers and, you know, a lot of stuff is connected to the glutes and to the, but is it upper, it's upper back and neck?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's like what you would see. Get one of those hard balls and roll, you know, put it in there and roll on that stuff. Just try to get that stuff to release. Copy. I mean, there's. For sure. copy i mean there's for sure i would you know my approach when i deal with any kind of injuries in

general or those kind of things is just mark multi-prong just like which i mean get some you have a stem can you get a stem uh yeah that's like the little pads that you put on there and then you put some shock into it yeah i could probably get my hands on that from like a buddy jack that turn that on and crank that thing up and let that thing you know you know what rev the rev that all that tissue around the neck and the you know and the and the traps and the you know that upper back but like I said just just start adding you know it's like it might not be any one thing but it might be a you know a combination of a couple of but I of, but I would, I would do it all.

I would do it all. Love it. All anything you can, especially right now when you're a captive audience, I would definitely try to, you know, focus on it. Yeah. Yeah. I just have one last question. What was the last big wave you've ridden or this past season? Nazarene. Oh, you do nazaree oh no cool nazaree uh where was i in nazaree well i don't even remember the dates are we have a little film out on the internet that from it and we foiled nazaree on one of the i don't know the biggest

it's been in a few years they said so we we we, yeah, we were foiling at Nazare. A couple, like right before this, the whole, you know, it might have been in February or something like that. But right, you know, before this whole pandemic, you know, before the whole thing went into lockdown. So we were in Portugal for that. Can anyone paddle out in a nazareth in a nazareth or piahi like is it i could just go out there with the board and just if i wanted to i could go out there oh yeah i mean you know on a big day you might have a hard time getting off the beach yeah like like you know jaws you'd have a

hard time getting off the sand i mean it, it's not sand, it's rock. I would never. I'm just curious if they, like, regulated it all, I guess. It's kind of self-regulating. So that's one thing that, you know, that you – and what happens is when you have, you know, if we're – like, for example, if I was out and I saw you paddling out, I could probably just tell by the way you were paddling whether you should be out or not. For sure.

Whether you were capable of being in that environment. And if you weren't, I would politely discourage you. politely discourage you and if i didn't then maybe a you know another really giant guy might but yeah you would be politely discouraged to not you know because you would become a liability for us and so because at the end of the day whoever's in the lineup is we're kind of we we try to look out for each other um unless it's a highly competitive environment where, you know, like during the contest or something, but then they have water safety and water patrol. Most of these giant waves, whenever it's huge, have some designated water safety in the water. Um, you know, guys are wearing flotation devices, uh, and they have air bag, you know, that you pull and you, and you

ascend with air flotation so i mean they're going about it in a way that's pretty safe and and there's a lot of safety precautions so if we see somebody that just is coming out looking like they don't know what they're doing or they shouldn't be there we're gonna we're gonna you know we're gonna ever so politely say you know maybe you shouldn't be out here, you know? And so, and that's part of the, that's part of the, you know, that's part of the kind of, you know, how, how these lineups are run when they're run correctly, when it's, when it's, when everything's, when you have the right people in the water behaving in the right way,

we're, we're, we look out for each other. We kind of self-govern, self-monitor, you know, if people are doing things that they shouldn't be doing, we kind of go, Hey, you know, cause because at the end, then it all falls back on us, right? Us, the big wave riders, it falls back on our responsibility to, well, that we're, first of all, if something happens, we're going to be the guys that are there. They're gonna have to deal with it. So, you know, it's like, Hey, I'll just be like, Hey, I don't want to have to blow air in you. So just, you know, don't go, don't go do that. And, um, and if somebody is adamant about going over and getting themselves, you know, in, in, in harm's way, you might let them for a second just to, to,

you know, maybe so they wake up, but usually people are pretty, you know, they're, they're, they're, if they don't know what they're doing, they, they, they, they understand pretty quickly when they get close to it, you know, if they can even get out, you know, and the fact is that if you could actually get out there by yourself on your board in most places, you know, that effort alone would show that you had enough skill, maybe not to be completely you know excelling in

the lineup but it's a little bit like that and it's so rare in the days it's just you know it doesn't we don't have the you know it's not like the freeway where you know you get a fast car you can go out there and go fast any on any day at any time this we don't have that we it's this is the opportunities are more rare and and but yeah but yeah, but it's, you know, there's a regular, you know, we regulate, we, we, we, there's a, there's a, you know, there's a, there's a, there's a, we try to help people, you know, part of, part of being able to, you know, enjoy it ourselves too, because I think it's, it's, it was, and if something happens to someone, it's not, it's not good for anybody. You know, even if it's not you, it's still, it's not good. It's not good. If, you know, if, if somebody drowns in the lineup, that, that would, that's not a good thing.

And that brings a dark cloud over the whole place for a long time. So we don't want that. Sweet. Well, okay. No, no. I was just saying sometimes you can't help humans from being humans. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. I know. We're finding that out right now too. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. we're finding that out right now too. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. You get to see a lot of behavior from a lot of people right now, uh, just in general. And you can see, uh, well, first of all,

you can see people's relationship with fear. That seems to be the most common people that are really doing some stuff. That's really fear-based when you look closely and you watch and you're like, these people are, are, are scared, scared you know or if they're not they're not sensitive uh to the the you know the the seriousness of what's going on no matter what's going on that the level of you know you it's one of those things where you kind of no no matter how serious it is or isn't, you have to conduct yourself like how serious people are taking me. Right. Yeah.

You know, it's, it's the guy, somebody was talking to me about somebody going into a store without a mask and people were waiting in line to go to the store and they were social distancing and the guy didn't have a mask and he was like, I'm going in. The guy, the security is like, no, no, you got to wait in line he's like i'm not waiting in line and then

he's like you know you got to go you have to have a mask he's like i don't need a mask and it's like well no you need a mask and again it's kind of like why we say people need flotation devices you need it for everyone else not for you you might not need it you may you had it and don't have it you may not care about getting it whatever it is you have going on You just have to have it for the other people because that's just your responsibility as being otherwise Just go where no one is and then you don't need to worry about it But if you're gonna read are you're gonna be where people are and you're gonna participate in you know Where people are and where people are going then you have to conduct yourself in a way that is, you know, sensitive to that and what that is. Otherwise, like I said,

going out in the wilderness somewhere and you don't need a mask, but don't go to a store where, you know, 20 people are waiting in a line six feet apart with masks on and then think, well, I should just walk right in and, you know, and, and, and be able to do what I want to do. And I just, that's, that will probably lead to your arrest. Yeah. It's part of like the new social contract that we've kind of agreed to, but not everyone has agreed to it, but it's like, we all kind of have to agree to it because if one person doesn't do it,

then it just, it sets a message that, yeah, it's very complicated. Yeah. For your loved ones too. You're doing it for, you're not doing it for you. You're doing it for people that you care about, people that you love. So within that, you do it for your grandma and you do it for mom and you do it for kids. And so you're doing it for, and if you just are a person that doesn't care about anybody, right. And, and, and well, maybe you better rethink that like maybe there's you know maybe you should care about somebody other than just yourself um if you're that selfish um then that's probably

why you are alone if you are alone making you that you know it's like what came first the chicken or the egg you know it's like yeah are you alone because you're selfish are you selfish because you're alone yeah and also if you i found that if you violate the contract and it gets worse then you just have no reason to complain you know and and and it's uh yeah yeah i mean a chance you just can't take we just don't have the luxury to take a chance. And like I said, yeah, you want, but just go where no one, where people aren't, you know, where people, there's no one go where there, no one's, you know, no one is, and then you can do whatever you want, but you can't go to a store or, you know, and, and in a place when you're going to be in, you know,

in closer proximity to people and you know that that and you can't be that disrespectful uh to it because it's just not you know that's just not what what's happening right now that's just you know and that's the there within lies the the struggle right and so and this isn't like a disobedience thing this is a this is a you know people are dying thing so yeah yeah there's that there's just that so it's not this isn't like that you're having to participate in something that's not you know that you're that you're doing something that doesn't make sense to you this this is people are dying so if that doesn't make sense to you well then maybe you you know maybe you need a brain scan or something yeah uh dude this was so great laird yeah you're

just the best man yeah thank you so much thank you i appreciate you guys and your work. And, and I hope that you, I wish you guys continued success and, and, you know, and you're obviously you have an audience and are speaking to an audience that, that, that, that needs you. And so that brings a certain responsibility as you know. And so I appreciate, I appreciate, I appreciate that. And, and, you know, it sounds like you guys are, you're headed, you know, you're headed in the good, in the right direction. And like I said, I'm, I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing where you go. So Gabby was, Gabby's already had your number before you guys even moved.

She was like, Oh yeah, these guys are either absolutely off their walkers, which they probably are. They're highly intelligent. And I go, what if it's both, babe? And she goes, that's great. So congratulations. Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's been such an honor on both of those on both of those too yeah thank you thank you thank you and uh i'd love to hop in your ice

bath one time yeah well all this when all when we're through all this thing you guys can come up and uh you know we we usually have some some kind of you know distorted kind of form of torture you know some comment you didn't know it could be so bad so oh dude i would i would love that that's like the best offer i've ever received yeah yeah you guys can you know misery loves company so we'll get both you at the same time so you can just take turns watching each other suffer. You know how that goes. That sounds amazing. I'm probably used to that.

Trip over your own foot. Okay, no, no, your turn. I'd love to take the salt bike in the sauna. We have a few things. We have a few. We're always conspiring so we're always yeah we we we subject ourselves to all this stuff and then we and then you know and then we subject other people to it to just see if they're you know if it's as bad as we thought it was and it usually is uh That's amazing.

Laird, thank you. You're an inspiration. I don't think we've ever covered so much information in a podcast. It was truly inspiring. Thank you. I appreciate it. And like I said, I look forward to observing your future success and ongoing. And aloha.

Aloha. Aloha. Thank you guys take care wow yeah dude i think that was my favorite one ever oh yeah i mean so many life lessons come crammed in there yeah afterwards i was like while he was talking i was like i need to start climbing mountains i need to build stuff yeah i was like i was like i literally had this thought I was like, I need to start climbing mountains. I need to build stuff. Yeah. It was like, I was like, I literally had this thought. I was like, do I ever really have to stop working out in a day? I was like, I think I can just work out throughout the whole day.

Like why have I convinced myself that a one hour workout is optimal? Maybe I should just stay in the gym, keep Netflix on, especially during this quarantine and just keep lifting things for the whole day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's stopping you? What's stopping me?

Just my own limiting beliefs on what a workout's supposed to be. Yeah. And your mom calling you for dinner. Yeah. And then, you know, me having to get dinned in with the mom. But besides that, it's all green lights. Yeah. That's awesome.

Yeah. Aaron, do you want to pop in? Sure. Yo. What's up guys i'm interrupting this podcast let you know once again that we are brought to you by manscape guys you guys know how much we love shredding so thank you manscaped for allowing us to shred everything in life except our sacks also if you're getting stoked about our new indie film uncut pubes then be sure to use Manscaped to keep your super dank dong clean during quarantine. Uncut Pubes. It's a turbulent ride.

Yeah. Anyways, Manscaped is the only men's brand dedicated to below-the-waist grooming and hygiene. And JT, when was the last time you manscaped? So I did a Zoom date last night. Oh, yeah. My mom made me a fancy dinner and got me a candle, and I dressed up. And, yeah, I trimmed the pubes beforehand.

I mean, not even just to do the whole process. And, yeah, it was lovely. Yeah, when you first said that, I was like, oh, did you stand up during dinner and just drop off no it was just for my just for my knowledge yeah that's good yeah yeah that yeah that's good q-team uh a good q-team mindset you know just for your own it you know it helps to shower it helps to trim your pubes you know so you just you feel good when you're just lounging around you know and you got uncut pubes it's gonna do something to your mind space so think about that it's getting

warmer in socal yeah oh dude yeah you don't need that extra fur you know to keep your dong warm you know it's it's gonna be warm dude so shave up And also get the anti-chafing boxers and travel bag and the Lawn Mower 3.0 and the cordless body trimmer. And romp your swamp with the crop preserver. And you guys know, get 20% off free shipping. Code GODIP20 at manscaped.com. That's 20% off free shipping. Code GODIP20 at at manscape.com.

Your balls will be stoked. All right. Back to it. Back to it. Chad, thank you for that wonderful address. Chad, thank you.

Who is your beef of the week? My beef of the week is, uh, there's been a thief in our building and there's a lot of packages in the lobby. And I just got an email right before that a thief came in and stole a bunch of packages. And I'm pretty sure he jacked my Nespresso. What?

Yeah. Like a new espresso machine? I had new Nespresso coming in hot. No, not a machine. It was some just straight up coffee. But I was looking forward to that and like i you know i'm not going to starbucks so that's pretty whack dude i mean you know not only are you stealing but you're stealing coffee i mean i'm sure he probably

drank coffee and now now my day's ruined because this you know just you know this goes back to the social contract and you know you should have been mindful about the packages. I mean, if you'd felt it and saw the Nespresso label, you'd been like, oh, okay, this dude wants to get after it. I shouldn't, you know, get in the way of that. But he was selfish, so he's my beef. Yeah. And also the other packages he stole.

I hope he didn't steal anything too valuable. That's weak, dude. Yeah. In the neighborhood, they call those guys porch pirates. Oh, yeah. Nice. Good a little race. Aaron, who's your beef of the week?

My beef of the week is with spider webs. Dude. Dude. It's becoming, because of the heat, it's becoming because of the heat it's becoming spider season and we walk our dog at night and you just you don't even see him coming next thing you know you're just got a fucking just spider web

all across your face it's awful because you don't know if that spider is on you somewhere I have found them and luckily gotten them off me pretty quick but you're just you're just itchy the rest of the night what's with all these seasons it's rat

season spider season beat like i didn't even it's spring so everything's born yeah damn dude spring kind of a secret punk with all these you know nuisances that manifest yeah that's what i do i might make spring my beef of the week but i already got uh i got my beef of the week is uh me and mikhail mirenovich mikhail mirenovich is todd mirenovich's brother the uh famous quarterback who who played at usc and for the raidersiders. Mikhail and I were on the same high school team at J. Sarah. We were a really bad team. We had only won one game the year before, and then I didn't play on that team. The next year I came out, we were a school of like 200.

We played a super soft schedule, and we were actually doing pretty well. We were like 6-2. I was terrible. I never played. I run goofy. I had my first tackle of the season like in game six, and when I tackled a guy, I said, stay down, even though it wasn't that hard of a tackle. And my teammates kind of busted my

chops for it, but I'm sorry. I get fired up. But then one week, I got to start. We were playing University of California School of the Deaf out of Riverside. And they were beasts. They were undefeated. They'd won two titles in a row. And they mauled people in our division. They were really tough. And I got to start that game. We had this new position Spiller where I played outside linebacker. And basically I just blew up the lead blocker as they ran their plays to the outside. We get there and I've never been more fired up in my life. My buddy Brandon just messaged me about it. And he said, I should talk about it and talked about how he was really impressed that I played without a cup and played commando that game.

I had no boxers on. And then he was like, why did you do that? And I was like, I legit just think I forgot all that stuff. So I just had my dong out in my football pants. And then game starts. My parents are there. We're playing on like a shoddy, worn-out field. And, you know, they have a big drum that they use

to indicate when they feel the vibrations through the ground and that's how they do their warmup drills. It was pretty cool. And then they just go on movement when they snap the ball. Everyone just looks at the center and once the ball goes, they go. But they've been doing it for a long time. So they're super fast.

But the game starts, they run a play to my side. I tackle the guy for a loss. I'm fired up. I'm like, let's go. This is our fucking game. They end up reeling off 30 straight points. We didn't have our quarterback. We tried to run a new offense. We were getting smashed. They were hitting us a lot. They're a physical team. You might even say too physical. Like it was, it was, it was on the border and they were fucking us up and it gets to half and we're down 30 to zero and we're demoralized.

Mikhail Morenovich plays wide receiver and defensive line on our team. He's probably the second best player on the team. And he was in a bad mood. He was being a real sourpuss during halftime. So I was trying to get the team fired up. I was like, because this was the only game I started. I was like, we're not out of this, guys. We can win this fucking game.

We just got to focus up and we got to play our hearts out. And then our running back, Mark, he goes, yeah, yeah, Parr's right. And you got to focus up and we got to play our hearts out. And then our running back, Mark, he goes, yeah, yeah, par's right. And you got to do this and you got to do that. And Mikhail, you got to do this. And he called out Mikhail and Mikhail goes, shut up, Marky. Why don't you go down from another arm tackle, disrespecting our running back? And then I go, you shut up, Mikhail. We're on the same team. And then Mikhail stood up and he goes, what'd you fucking say to me? And I go, oh, fuck dude. Mikhail was like six, five, two 30, been working out since he was like four years old.

His dad's one of the most famous personal trainers in history. He starts walking towards me. So I just throw my helmet on so that if he beats my ass, it won't hurt as bad. So I just strap up. I'm like, all right, here he comes. And then right before he gets to me, the coaches come in, they break it up. Uh, the coaches yell at me like, I'm a scrub and I shouldn't be upsetting our star. They're like, will you just leave Mikhail alone and shut up? And I was like, yeah, coach, of course. I'm sorry. And then we go back out there second half. But I think I did inspire some of the dudes because some of the guys messaged me about

it. And we go back out there and they just kept kicking the shit out of us. And then at one point, Mikhail wore eyeshadow that day because being emo was popular at the time. And he started having seizures on the field. And I guess it was because the eyeshadow, when he was sweating, seeped into his pores. And he had an antiseptic shock from it or something like that. And so his body just freaked out. And I remember once I found out he was okay, I joked around with guys and I acted like I had the force powers from Star Wars. And I looked at Mikhail and I was like, don't fuck with me, McHale. But dude, I kept up my effort. We

never got to watch the tape from the game when we lost 54 to seven. But if you did watch the tape, every time one of their guys broke into the house, I would chase their guy for the whole field. I would not give up and just let him have a free run to the end zone. I was like, you better keep running because I'm going to catch you. And even though we lost 54 to seven, Brendan Moyers told me I should have been the player of the game for my effort and my staying with it but the coaches decided afterwards that no one deserved player of the game since we lost by 50 and i remember our head coach coach a hair being like who would even want to be player of the game after a game like that and in my head i was like i would motherfucker but but and then this is kind of sad and I don't take any, you know,

extra zeal in this maybe a little bit cause they beat the shit out of us, but they ended up being disqualified the deaf team cause they had three guys on the team who were over 19. So they were, they had adults beating us up and then yeah. So, but my beef of the week's not with them you know i'm happy that they were so successful in that and dude they were a great football team they beat the hell out of us but uh i'm you know mikhail you know i was just trying to look out for the squad dude you didn't have to come after me like that but i guess i get why you did um so yeah mikhail's my beef of the

week chad best player on the team can be the schmole. Yeah. He was a cool guy too. I loved McHale. But he wasn't bringing the right spirit that day. And we made up on the bus. Had some of those PB&Js that come pre-packed. You know, that already have that nice crust around the edge. The Uncrustables. The Uncrustables, dude.

So good. First time I had one of those. Chad, who's your babe of the week? My babe of the week is my weighted vest. I got a weighted vest. I don't have any weight, so I've been crushing body exercises with the weighted vest. It's about 25 pounds. You just strap it on.

Also, on top of that you know i live alone and it makes me feel like i'm working out with a buddy you know man i got jt on my back as i do squats and i throw a strider on there and then joe and then aaron and it's all because my weighted vest and it's just visualization you know um but i've been doing you know cranking up push-ups and body squats and lunges and all that stuff with my weighted vest so thank you for making me feel like i'm in good company that's awesome dude it's like it's hugging you while Yeah. That's legit. Aaron, who's your Babe of the Week? Can I plug another podcast on here?

Yeah, of course. My Babe of the Week is a new podcast. It's hosted by Zach Braff and Donald Faison. It's called Fake Doctors, Real Friends. It's a Scrubs rewatch podcast uh i love the show scrubs i loved it since the moment it came on um and i love their friendship which turned out to be a

real thing on the show uh behind the scenes so like the fact that they're still best friends to this day um 20 years later, is amazing. They're very basically just going back and watching every episode and telling all these fun behind-the-scenes stories and having other actors on as guests, and it's really cool. It fires me up. That's awesome, dude. Yeah. Yeah, if you're a fan of the show, it's great.

Yeah, I love Scrubs. My dad loves Scrubs. He's a doctor, and he loves it. Yeah, yeah. And Zach Braff's dating Florence Pugh, dude. It's a big move. It's odd. Who's Florence Pugh again?

She's in Little Women, Midsommar, which I haven't seen. And she's going to be in a new Black Widow movie. But she is a good actress and she is a fine star catching eye gazer. Oh, yeah. Dude, my babe of the week is my kettlebells. Oh, wow. Very similar to yours chad you know uh very similar to what layered endorses i picked these babies up last week from a

a guy i used to lift kettlebells with jason dolby i remember i used to do kettlebell competitions and uh i remember after one of them dolby said if you lift steel over your head you are my brother and i remember being like are we really brothers though But then he hooked me up with kettlebells last week. And I was like, we are brothers. I was like, yes. But I picked these bad boys up from Dolby in Manhattan beach a week ago. We were super social distancy about it. Both of us wore masks. And he hooked me up with some 16 kgs and some 20 kgs. And I've just been flipping those things around, doing clean and jerks, doing snatch, doing front squats. And dude, I just feel so strong.

And I feel so good. And I don't think I've been this strong in a while. And it's making me feel so much better about everything. I'm more optimistic about everything because I feel strong. And because I feel like I can kick some people's asses. And I don't want to do that. But that feeling is good for me. And it's nice, you know?

And it made me, like, me and my dad used to fist fight. And now my dad's sick, and I can't beat the shit out of my dad anymore, and I miss that. I really miss being able to just fuck up my dad. You know, we used to wrestle, and once I was finally able to take him, it was just a great feeling.

I don't know what I'm talking about, really, but I just miss you know just roughhousing too that's kind of I guess we just can't roughhouse right now you know I miss wrestling people and and I'm just glad I'm once I come out of this thing I'm gonna be ready to to grapple and I just feel really good throwing these bells around it's it's uh they just I don't know it speaks to me when I when I flip those things up and hold them in my chest before I press them, it's like, they're close to my heart and it feels like my, my soul grows with them.

And it's, uh, yeah, I love my bells. So thanks Dolby. Thanks for the bells. The beast. I post on Facebook.

I was like, does anyone have competition kettlebells? I'm an eager buyer. And like four other comedians shared my post to make fun of me. I was like messaging Bertries and cooney i was like this is serious bros they were like no we're really trying to help you but we think it's hilarious i was like that's fair um chad who's your legend of the week i did going on the same theme my legend of the week is my assault bike nice i got a schwinn ad6 assault bike put on the balcony so the sun comes in and i'm bronzing and i'm just working it and i i love uh i love the assault bikes because it just gets harder the harder you know the harder you work the harder it gets and it's just

uh it's torture so uh i love it and i've been doing you know i've been doing sets of uh i did 20 20 40 by 40 sprints so 40 on 40 off and uh you know just in the sun drenching up sweat and like even with all this stuff it's sort of like a uh you know if you're worried about the future and like what you know what's what's coming um just that time on the assault bike is a nice escape and uh and then you get bronzed in the process i mean there's really i can't really think of a more enjoyable time. Dude, I love a multitask like that. Yeah. I've been doing my bells outside.

I'm like, I'm getting tan and I'm working out. I mean, that's literally all I need. The ability to be out in the sun, working out. And that makes me happy. I'll ice my neck while I watch netflix i'm like it's easier for me to watch netflix while i'm icing my neck i'm like i'm doing two things yeah yeah doing two things is fucking the best pretty soon i because i'm pretty soon i'm gonna read some uh i read some steinbeck while i do the the salt bike you know really just work both work the mind and the body and just break the sweat is

going to be fantastic that's my dream is to find a way to read while i'm doing other shit you know yeah reading it's tough you can tan when you read but you can't like you can't like hang out with other people while you read you can't dance while you read you can't really it's a little limiting you could do like if you're like uh you could do like inverted crunches maybe if you're like hanging from a pole or hanging from a bar and just doing crunches you know reading yeah because laird recommended the inversion too so that yeah that could be helping with my neck as well yeah well i read war and peace i downloaded war and peace on audible it's 70 hours so what's it what's it that your brother read is it war and peace no he read crime and punishment okay yeah the dos kajewski one yeah and he. His brain was beast in that week. I was like, what is going on over there? He's like, bro, I'm consuming large amounts of intense Russian lit.

I was like, fuck, dude, I can feel it. How long is that book? I think War and Peace is like 800 or 900 pages, but Crime and Punishment is less. It's like 400. But it's not an easy read by any stretch. Yeah. It's a grind. All right, Aaron, who's your Legend of the Week?

My Legend of the Week. I got to pee real quick. I'm sorry. No, get a dog drink. Should I keep going? Yeah, hit it, hit it. Okay. My Legend of the Week are my my boys from mesa arizona

i'm wearing their shirt today jimmy world great band they're my favorite band of all time um i kind of caught on to them i was i was working i used to work concert security uh back when i was in college And so like they were opening for I think the first time I saw them they opened for Weezer and Tenacious D. Oh, that's a great show. Yeah, it was a great show. And they played a lot of like their early slower stuff

and that was awesome and that was right when the metal and sweetness came out in like 2001, 2002. And I've just hung with them ever since. And I got to meet Jim like 2014. That was awesome. And that they're just super cool dudes.

Every album is great. I don't think they have a bad song, maybe authority song. if you know it which one's that with authority no that's green day i'm saying no it's just like it's kind of like um i don't know i don't know how to describe it it's just not maybe not as clever or something as some of their other songs but i don't't know. That's just me. That's personal. I mean, everyone loves the middle, and I don't really love it that much.

Yeah. I like it. You know, I mean, it's very sentimental, but it has personal sentiment for me. It's like, here you me. But I can never find the version of it that I liked the most when I was growing up. There's like a version where he screams more towards the end and all the ones i the versions i can get a hold of now are kind of more muted huh maybe let's

let's get a live version of something yeah i mean that is a personal like that's that's it's about these two fans who were huge in the scene and weezer wrote a song about them and um and so did jimmy world they both i think they died in a car crash or something like that on the way to show like so sad yeah um but yeah they're just super cool the you know the music is super emotional it's a lot of it feels like a lot of like breakup stuff um but the i mean they're just great musicians one of the best drummers in rock and roll the zach lind um they're just great great dudes nice my uh my legend of the week is a kevin uh aka schmoldaddy aka lawyer comedian beast um dude he he cooked really good eggs over his bachelor party trip

and uh i've been cooking a little bit more which means i've been cooking period and i've been making eggs every day and i was like kevin what's the secret and he sent me this gordon ramsay clip where it's all about you put it on the heat, and then you take it off the heat, and you never stop stirring it. You go on the heat, off the heat, and he keeps stirring it. They come out with just the nicest texture, and I've just really been enjoying it. Kevin, thank you for just being an egg aficionado, dude. Kevin's been a beast during the the q team i mean always always trying to you

know wrangle the squad for some for some gameplay and uh he yeah you know he's uh he's not the schmole during q team no no not at all chad what is your quote of the week Chad, what is your quote of the week? It's a Laird quote. Yes. Don't let your memories be bigger than your dreams. Awesome. Aaron, what's your quote of the week?

My quote of the week is a lyric from a Jimmy World song called Big Casino. It's literally about winning at life. Life is the big casino. And so the chorus is about like when, if you actually do strike it and it's, it goes, I'll accept with poise, with grace.

When they draw my name from the lottery and they'll say all the salt in the world could melt that ice. And what that lyric means is the salt can't melt that ice because he's so cool i always think that when i hear it i'm like because he's so cool dude my my quote of the week is from the band awol nation that sings the song sail you know the song where it's like i blame it on my add baby but this is from their song it's not your fault verse one she was built with a brain and some swagger a little scream little cry little on my ADD, baby. But this is from their song, It's Not Your Fault. Verse one, she was built with a brain and some swagger, a little scream, little cry, little laughter.

She's a 10, I'm a joke in my own mind, but she still loves to dance with my punchlines. Followed by, I'm a fight with myself till I'm bleeding. Just a taste of your skin starts to healing. Anyone from my past gets your ammo. Find my son in the dark side of my shadow. Yes. Chad, what's your phrase of the week for getting after it?

Let's paddle out. Nice, dude. Aaron, what's your phrase of the week for getting after it? Let's make like Laird Hamilton on water roll and get lost. Nice, dude. Very cool. Very creative. Mine is some paintball jargon. It's a pray and spray. It's our spray and pray. It's when you can't see who you're shooting at, but you don't want to stick your body on and risk getting hit.

So you just stick your gun out and you just shoot a lot and just you, you spray and you pray that you hit somebody. And yeah, I think it's just a cool turn of phrase, you know, and it's, it's a lot of, you know, we're all kind of shooting blind right now, but you still got to go for stuff. So I just say, you know, spray and pray, baby go. Go. There must be some kind of way out of here. Say the joker to the thief. There's too much confusion. I can't get no relief. Business man there, drink my wine.

Plowman, dig my earth. None will level on the line. ¶¶ ¶¶ No reason to get excited The thing they kindly spoke There are many here among us Who feel that life is but a joke Thank you. I was scared and lazy Oh, yeah Thank you. All along the watchtower Princess kept a view While all the women came in with Bedford servants too

I'm stuck in the cold distance While Captain Brown Two riders were approaching And the wind begins to howl Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Outro Music