Kyle Kingsbury Podcast - #82 Adam Wheeler

Episode Date: April 8, 2019

Adam Wheeler is an Olympic Greco-Roman bronze medalist and a Jiu Jitsu black belt no gi master world champion. We discuss his wrestling career from the time he was a freshman who couldn’t do a pushup to becoming an Olympic bronze medalist and his experience at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. We also get into his life after wrestling and his career in law enforcement, becoming  a SWAT team member to his transition to becoming a firefighter. Connect With Adam: Instagram | https://bit.ly/2SG34pg Twitter | https://twitter.com/Bigwheels96kg Check out Adam Wheelers BJJ instructional video Upper Body Takedowns For grappling: https://bjjfanatics.com/products/upper-body-takedowns-for-grappling-by-adam-wheeler Show Notes: Trophy Kids | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr95gBwdTRc Daniel Cormier | https://www.ufc.com/athlete/daniel-cormier Rulon Gardner | http://rulongardner.com/ Connect with Kyle Kingsbury on: Twitter | https://bit.ly/2DrhtKn Instagram | https://bit.ly/2DxeDrk Get 10% off at Onnit by going to https://www.onnit.com/podcast/ Connect with Onnit on: Twitter | https://twitter.com/Onnit        Instagram | https://bit.ly/2NUE7DW Subscribe to Human Optimization Hour   iTunes  | https://apple.co/2P0GEJu Stitcher  | https://bit.ly/2DzUSyp Spotify  | https://spoti.fi/2ybfVTY

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April 22nd, so mark your damn calendars. Free gifts and doorbusters are in limited supply, so hashtag get on it or you might just miss it. Be the first notified about our semi-annual sale at onnit.com slash semi-annual-sale. Hello, friends. Welcome to the Human Optimization Hour podcast. Today's guest is Adam Wheeler. He's an Olympic Greco-Roman bronze medalist, a jiu-jitsu black belt, and a Nogi Masters world champion. We discuss his wrestling career from the time he was a freshman who couldn't do

a single fucking push-up to becoming an Olympic bronze medalist and his experience at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. We also get into his life after wrestling and his career in law enforcement, becoming a SWAT team member to his transition to becoming a firefighter. All this good stuff. He's a good buddy of my friend, Kurt Shrout, who's been a guest on the show. And I learned a lot from him. It was great having him in town. Check it out. Let us know what you think.

We got all his socials linked in the show notes. Thanks for tuning in. Adam Wheeler's in the house. We had a mutual friend, Kurt Shrout, who set up this podcast. I've heard so much about you as a wrestler and also a jujitsu practitioner. And Kurt's one of my boys. So anytime he speaks highly of somebody, I want to get him on. Let's walk through kind of how you grew up out in Lancaster, California, how you

trained, all that good stuff, and lead us up to training for the Olympics. Okay. Yeah. I was kind of an anomaly the way that I grew up as far as becoming a wrestler because I grew up, I played baseball, normal kid in California. The weather is great, as you know. And I was outside all the time. At the time when I was a little kid, I thought I'm going to be a pro baseball player. You know, I think every one of my friends thought the same thing. And I just, I didn't get it.

You know, I was, I grew up just my mom. My dad was out of the picture since I was about three. We were kind of poor bouncing around house to house to house. I never really had any security per se, as far as stability, as a young, young kid. But I did have baseball, and that was kind of my outlet back then. Loved baseball, was a pretty good athlete, wasn't ever the best athlete, but wasn't the worst,

you know? And when I was 11 years old, I actually broke my femur bone as a kid. And so I was sliding into home in a baseball game. Yeah. And you wouldn't think that like as an 11 year old breaking your leg, it would have that big of an impact, but it took me out of being able to do anything active for about six months. I was actually in a full body cast on both legs for four to five months. And then I was in another cast. And when I got out of the cast, I went from being one of the faster, better athlete kids to this really chubby, slow kid. My leg had atrophied. One of my legs was super skinny. And at 11 years old,

you think, oh, you'll bounce back fast from it. But it took me kind of a while. And I never really stayed as active after that. I played baseball, but I was more of a lazy kid. I didn't run. I didn't do anything. And never wrestled when I was a kid until I saw a flyer my freshman year in high school on the wall. And I'm like, I could try wrestling. And as dumb as it sounds, the only thing I ever remembered was Saved by the Bell. AC Slater. AC Slater. Fuck yeah. In the singlet.

Bass side. I love it. I didn't think he was like some superhero cool or anything, but that's the only thing that I knew about high school wrestling was that you could wrestle in high school and that AC Slater did it. And that was it. I had no knowledge about it. And it was a rude awakening for me when I went out there as like a 200-pound, super chubby, super out of shape kid for the wrestling team my freshman year with these. Some of the kids had wrestled before and had a clue where I was like, no clue what was going on. And it was a rude awakening. But I started and I remember my first practice, the coach wanted to test our fitness levels and

just kind of see where we are. And it was the first day. And so we had to do a mile run. And then we were going to do some pushups and the basic calisthenics stuff. And it's like, okay, a mile run, four laps. All right, I got this. And I start running around the track. And before the first lap, I had to stop and I was out of breath. Like I was that type of... Couldn't even make it a quarter mile? you know, and stopped and I walked the rest of the way. And, you know, I don't remember what the coach's reactions were, but you know, if you would have asked them back then, you know, is this guy going to be an Olympian? Hell no. They weren't, you know, I was like the least likely to, for something like that to happen. Um, but, uh, I was motivated by different things, but needless to say that same practice, we had to do pushups and I couldn't do a pushup at the time, like legitimately one good pushup where you went down. You know, I remember they used to say, that same practice, we had to do push-ups. And I couldn't do a push-up at the time. Oh, wow. Legitimately one good push-up where you went down.

I remember they used to say, go on your knees and try to do them. And it was pretty sad for a freshman. Looking back, being a little bit more now into health and fitness and priding myself on being fit and strong, I can't believe that I was to that point where, you know, as a freshman in high school, when you're supposed to have all this energy and be strong and young and active and what I hope for my kids, you know, I was not that person. How did you, you said you were 200 pounds when you started. I remember talking to you yesterday about how you were really small and kind of a late bloomer. Talk about that as an influence for

you being lazy. Were you just like, I mean, obviously the broken leg sidelining you is probably one of the reasons you gained weight, but you know, talk about that, that size difference. Cause we're, you're a fucking giant of a man right now and in very good shape. And I, cause I, I mean, I was bone skinny and I would gain two inches in height each year for like three years. I just fucking shot up like a beanpole. Yeah. And so like, it's, it's interesting to see like how people grow and when they get to grow spurts and all that. Yeah. So I think probably freshman year, I was never a small kid. I was always tall for like my grade level and stuff like that. But physically I feel like I matured late,

you know, like all my friends were starting to like hit puberty basically earlier. And I kind of noticed that like, I never really got like muscle tone in my body at all until like maybe my senior year in high school, I started to develop it a little bit. But yeah, I started, I was probably five, eight", 200 pounds as a freshman. I just remember being about that tall because I remember standing next to my mom and being a little bit taller than my mom. And then I feel like I probably grew a couple inches every year. By my senior year, I was 6'3", but one of the old wrestling coaches described me as like a cub. You know, I was the guy with the big hands and the big paws, but like I was, didn't have any of the muscle tone that like I have now, you know, or like an athlete would have. So I think physically I just, I grew tall, but I physically matured probably like when

I started like in my early twenties is when I really noticed the change in my body. I didn't have to shave in boot camp. I went to boot camp. I was a guy that never had to shave. I don't think I had to shave until I was probably 23, 24 years old. Just late bloomer in that sense. How did you end up doing in high school by your senior year? Did you feel like you had a fairly good skill set in wrestling?

Yeah, I felt like I was good my senior year. So what happened was my freshman year, I was the worst kid on the team. I went out there and I lost every single match, except for towards the end of the season, I won one match. And like I said, I was kind of motivated differently than other people. I didn't develop this mindset my freshman year, but as my high school progression went on, some things happened to me where I started developing a different mindset and really becoming a wrestler. Wrestling is a tough sport and you have to have this certain mindset to be good at it. And my freshman year after the wrestling season, I remember our assistant coach was telling some of the guys, you should go to this camp,

you should go to this wrestling camp. And I walked up to my coach and I was like, what camp should I go to? And he just looked at me and he's like, Adam, I don't think you're ready for a wrestling camp yet. And I was a little kid, it kind of hurt my feelings. I didn't show it probably at the time. But it also gave me some internal drive to like, okay, I'll show you. Next year, I'm going to come back. I'm going to be the strongest kid on the team. And I really like that negative attitude from my coach.

And it was my assistant coach. Because I'll tell you my regular coach. I'll tell you a story in a little bit about him. But it wasn't negative. I think he was probably right. You don't want to send a kid to some camp. Those camps are tough. But I didn't see it like that at the time.

And after wrestling season that year, and I know we kind of talked about it earlier, I went to the store. I bought some Flex magazines, some, some muscular development magazines, men's health, all these magazines. And I started getting into the gym, working out. And, um, I was determined to, to become a better, uh, wrestler for the next year. Um, I was getting, I started doing like the workouts and everything, but there's a couple of things that started slipping with me as far as I was getting stronger and doing what I was supposed to do for wrestling, but I stopped

doing my homework, stopped going to school, started hanging out with my friends, going out and partying and smoking and drinking and just becoming kind of a knucklehead as a high school kid. And I actually came back my sophomore year and I was eligible to wrestle and I ended up having a better season. I was 15 and 15. And I think it was, I was working my butt off in the gym doing what I thought was the best thing to do was the chest day, back day, the bodybuilding style workouts and doing some cardio. But after the semester ended in school, I got kicked off the wrestling team my sophomore year. And that was one of those things I was like working so hard at one aspect for wrestling,

but grades and everything slipped and fell. And then I ended up actually dropping out of school, my sophomore year in high school. And I remember I went to like the awards banquet for wrestling, for the wrestling team. And I got the most valuable, not most valuable, most improved wrestler award. And I was like, man, what I'm doing is actually working, but I'm not going to be at this school next year because I dropped out. And a short time later, I talked to my head coach and it was lucky for me that I did because I talked to my head coach. I walked up to him. I said, hey, coach, I really appreciate you coaching me, but I'm not going to be back next year. He's like, you know, why?

Why aren't you going to be back? I said, well, my grades slipped. I didn't get any credits for this year. And I quit. I quit school. I'm going to try to go to this school called Desert Winds, which is a continuation school. And I thought it was going to be easier, you know, but it was like a continuation school, just boring.

You're in there with like all the gangbangers and all the fuck ups. Yeah. You know, like a little chubby white kid like me in there was like, this isn't probably this best spot for me to be, you know? But my coach luckily saw that I was struggling and really stepped into my life at that time. And he's like, well, let me see what I can do. And he went and talked to the school, set up meetings with a psychologist for me, did all kinds of stuff to get me back into school so that I could go back to that school my junior year.

And at the time I was just like, why is he doing this? I wasn't like the best wrestler on the team or anything, but he was just a guy that actually cared, which is I was lucky because he kind of stepped in as like a father figure. I had my dad. He wasn't really in the picture of like raising me,

but I saw him a couple of times a year and stuff, but he really stepped in and kind of took that father figure role with me. And, um, yeah, so my junior year, then I was like, I owed it to him, but I, you know, I wanted to do better and, um, had a good wrestling season, kept working hard in wrestling. But in addition to my workouts that I was doing on my own, he, I think he knew what I was up to, going out Friday, Saturday, partying with my friends. My mom would try to wake me up for school in the morning my sophomore year and be like, no, mom. She couldn't do anything to force me. So I think he kind of

knew that. So every Saturday, he's like, all right, I'll be here at 5 a.m. tomorrow. For what? Oh, yeah, we're going to go hike the Pacific Crest Trail. I don't know if you're familiar with that growing up in California, but it's a trail that runs from Canada to Mexico. And we hiked a different portion of it pretty much every weekend. From that point on, he would force me to do like these workouts. If we weren't hiking, we were going and running stairs and bleachers or going to the gym. And he really stepped in and like, well, now I can't be out partying all night because I have to wake up at 5am to go do this hike. And yeah, long story short. So I'm trying to, I'm kind of exaggerating

my high school career, but there was like a big turning point in there. Cause I think he, you know, a lot of kids might need the same type of thing where he stepped in with my life and taught me discipline, mental toughness, a lot of the things that come along with being a wrestling coach. And I worked my butt off in high school, and I thought that I was going to be a state champion my senior year. I was 37-0 initially before I lost my first match. And then I lost to a kid from Reno. I know we were kind of talking about some of the Nevada wrestlers. And I remember losing to a kid from Reno at a tournament. And I was winning the match.

And I thought, I just remember doing a dumb move. And long story short, I lost that match and then, um, ended up losing two more, but I was going into in California. Are you familiar with the master's meet in wrestling? I think so. It's a Southern California thing where the top, whatever from the master's meet, go to state. Okay. So it's our last qualification. And, uh, well, everybody say hi to ian i'll be just walked in on a podcast fuck up all right keep going so you're at this yeah and i was and i was one of the highest seated um guys and what they call the cif out there i was the number one seed going into that tournament okay but anyway i go out to my first match my master's meet think i'm gonna i'm gonna do what i have been doing the whole season and i ended up losing my first match, my master's meet, think I'm going to do what I have been doing

the whole season. And I ended up losing my first match at the master's meet. It's double elimination, correct? It wasn't at the time because I was in the pigtails or something. So if my guy that beat me won, I was back in the tournament. But if he lost, I was done okay so i was just like i can't believe this is happening i'm watching this guy wrestle now and he goes out and he loses his next match and so my high school wrestling career was over i didn't even qualify for the state wrestling tournament and um which like i said being an olympian to from a kid that didn't ever qualify for the state tournament i think I'm kind of an anomaly.

Might be the only one that I know that's kind of had that path. It wasn't good all the way through. In the start, yeah. And started late. Started late. And sucked ass when you started. Yep. Physically, mentally.

I was just like a weak person. And I don't think it was any fault of my own. I know we kind of talked about, did I fight growing up and stuff? And yeah, we fought growing up. I lived in a rough neighborhood. I had a brother that was one year younger than me who ended up being a pro MMA fighter. He's a jujitsu black belt now. And we fought a lot, but I think that was just kind of the culture of growing up out

that, you know, at that time. But when it came that time to physically and mentally pushing myself, I didn't have it in me. Like I said, I quit before I ran a quarter mile. And that's probably just as much mental weakness as it was actually being tired. So that's something that I had to develop a lot over my high school years. Yeah, it amazes me how hard wrestling is like even when i was fighting professionally wrestling practice we would we would practice wrestling on tuesdays like exclusively and then do some other practices where we'd incorporate it but

tuesdays were the fucking hardest day by far you know yeah dc's in there coaching us and we'll get into you know you guys meeting up in the in the olympics but it's um there's nothing like it you know even like time wise if you were to do five five minute rounds and fighting yeah that's pretty fucking grueling yeah but three two minute rounds in high school of wrestling yeah that's that's a fucking whole different ballgame. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And you guys, I think I had this assumption, but, you know, we had a coach in high school, Matt Erdman, who said, we're going to, you know, we might not be the best team, but we're going to be the most conditioned team in the state. And I think every high school coach says that. Yeah. I think that's like the motto across the board yeah i think it's an american way of and you watch our american wrestlers at the highest level and they're always like the best condition and just the hard nose you know the europeans are a little more tricky and slick and calm or the americans are just hard nose just grinders and we're good because of it, you know? Yeah. So you end up going to boot camp. You joined the Navy.

Is that right? So, yeah, I actually joined the Coast Guard. Okay. So I got really lucky with my military career. Being a good wrestler, like I said, I had a 44. My season ended up being 44 and 3 in high school, which got me zero people contacting me and zero people wanting to recruit me for colleges and stuff like that. I mean, I think they're not going to take someone who's not even a state qualifier, right? They're not going to be looking at them.

But I was originally going to join the Marine Corps. My neighbor that actually was like my workout partner and one of my best friends growing up, we were going to join the Marine Corps. My neighbor that actually was like my workout partner and one of my best friends growing up, we were going to join the Marine Corps together. Went and talked to the recruiter at the Marine recruiting station and all that stuff. And I took my ASVAB test, another buddy of mine from the wrestling team said, just come with me to the Coast Guard recruiting office. I'm like, Coast Guard? All right. I went in there and they show me the video.

The guys are with their hats backwards, jumping out of helicopters, rescue swimmers. And I was like, it sold me. And I was like, I'm joining the Coast Guard. I'm not going in the Marines. I'm going to be in the Coast Guard was like, I'm joining the Coast Guard. I'm not going in the Marines. I'm going to be in the Coast Guard. And so I actually joined the Coast Guard. The recruiter had told me that I could be a rescue swimmer and that I could possibly wrestle for the Navy wrestling team through the Coast Guard. Which, you know, it was, I'm glad that it ended up working out.

But I, so I joined the Coast Guard with that intention of kind of potentially being able to wrestle. Went through boot camp and I got to my first duty station and I told my boss, yeah, the recruiter told me I could wrestle for the Navy team. And my boss was like dumbfounded that I even asked that question, you know, being brand new and at first. And he's, I don't think that's true. I said, well, the recruiter said that you could try out for the Navy team. And he's like, I don't think that's true. I said, well, the recruiter said that you could try out for the Navy team. And he's like, I don't think that's true. The recruiters say a lot of things that to get you in the door. And, uh, you know, it was a little bit like upset, but at the time I was like, okay, my wrestling career is over. I'm going to focus

on being a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. And, thought that was it. But luckily, that same boss that I found out later, great guy, wasn't just one of those guys that was just going to blow you off or whatever. And he actually looked into it and found out that I could. So I tried out and got onto the Navy wrestling team through him, through the chain of command basically, but I was able to go to the Navy wrestling team and I did that for the next five years. And so wrestling for the Navy wrestling team, it's, I mean, how does that work? There's a central location where everyone practices together or is it like each base has its own wrestling team and you're a part of that yeah so there was two teams when i wrestled there's the all navy

wrestling team which is like the real team that goes and competes with armed forces championships they bring guys to the u.s nationals um olympic level team like actually in 2000 was my first year i graduated high school in 99. I think I went there January of 2000. One of my teammates was a guy named Stephen Mays who actually made the Olympic team that year. Just the level of competition for the military wrestling teams is really, really high, but it's Olympic style. It's not the collegiate program. It's not NCAA. It's the Olympic style. So a lot of the guys after they wrestle for the Naval Academy or whatever, we'll go wrestle for that Navy wrestling team. Um, and then there's a, like a, there was a secondary team called, uh, SOPAC, which was in

San Diego, which was kind of like a feeder program for the all Navy team, but not all the guys on the SOPAC team got invited to wrestle for the all Navy tryouts and stuff like that. If that makes sense. Yeah. It was good enough. Yeah. And it was kind of a feeder program where luckily for me. So my first year on the Navy wrestling team, I went to the all Navy camp right away and it was, it was like starting over from scratch going into now I'm wrestling grown, man. I think I told you a couple of the,

the guys I had to wrestle my first year, like Mike Van Arsdale and Josh Hall and Dan Hicks. And these, these guys that are just top level wrestlers where I'm just like straight out of high school kid. But luckily for me, because I went to this camp over here, my coach, Rob Herman, who was the Olympic head coach, I fell into like the perfect situation.

My first coach out of high school was the Olympic coach. So it was like my level just, you know, continued to improve at like a lot higher speed than I think if you're just going with some normal coaches. But he set it up where I got stationed full-time into the SOPAC team, but I would wrestle for him part of the year, if that makes sense. Yeah, okay. So essentially, I did my Coast Guard job for two years, and then the next three years, I was a full-time wrestler. That's badass.

Kind of a roundabout way of saying it, but your only job then is to wrestle. My only job was I had some other duties, like my first year or my first two years, uh, I actually became a rescue swimmer, but not for a helicopter as a boat rescue swimmer, which is just like a, an extra thing that you can volunteer to try and take the test and do all the requirements and get, which I thought was really cool. Like when people ask me what I did, I'm like, oh, I was a rescue swimmer for my boat,

you know, and which is basically a glorified lifeguard. But it was cool. I enjoyed it. I was in Hawaii, you know. But so I did that. We did search and rescue and law enforcement my first two years. I wrestled only four months out of each of those years. And then my next three years, my job was to wrestle. I was

assigned to a aids to navigation team in San Diego, but I probably did that 5% of the time and I wrestled the other 95%. Damn. So all that experience gets you to a whole different level. And then from there, when do you first take a crack at getting on the Olympic team? So it kind of started in 2000. Um, I went to the Navy wrestling team to the camp. And, um, like I told you, I had an Olympian on my team with me and he didn't make the Olympic team yet, but like, I could just see, like, I thought I was working hard in high school and I, and I feel like I did work hard for a high school kid. I was doing two a days, you know, one of them was on my own. One of them was practice

and going to the gym and lifting. But when I got to this camp and I saw the way that the guys on the team were working and the intensity of how Rob Herman's practices were compared to what I did in high school, it, uh, it really opened my eyes to like, man, this is what it takes to get to that next level. And so, um, I was kind of determined that year. So I met Steve Mays and I tried to keep up with him in workouts and he was a little guy and I was like a 211 or 213 pounder back then. And I would try to do like the sprint workouts with him and all this stuff. And I was just, it was, it was tough, you know, but being involved in that, it's like at that time is when I was like, I want to be an Olympian, you know, even though I was way far behind and I wasn't even in the conversation as far as like being a top guy in the country, not even close. I wasn't even a top high school wrestler, let alone be like an

Olympian, um, right out of high school. And, uh, but in my, in the back of my mind, I was like, I have this program. I have the Olympic coach. Um, I later watched my teammate make the Olympic team. You know, I watched it. I remember checking online, like the updates online. There used to be a website because I got sent back to my command after the Armed Forces Championships. But going back that next year and telling Steve, like, I'm going to beat, there's a guy named Garrett Lowney. I said, Steve, I'm going to beat him when I wrestle him. And I kind of giggled.

And Steve's like, looked at me and he's like, when you could tell me that without laughing, then I'll believe you. But in the back of my mind, that's what I wanted. I had already wanted that. I just wasn't confident that I could get there yet. It took a while to kind of build that confidence back up after paying my dues for you know, for another few years. So yeah. So that seeds planted in 2000. When did you start training? I mean, obviously you're training the whole time for the Olympics with that in mind, but when did you actually get on with the Olympic squad and start training at the Olympic training center? So it's kind of funny the way that wrestling works you have to qualify and 2000 I only wrestled the

armed forces tournament my coach was like you're not going to nationals you're not ready same kind of thing you know high school with me it's about the camp but kind of similar thing but I went back to my command did two a days like I from 2000 the Olympics, I was doing two or three practices a day, always, unless I was deployed. But, which was hardly ever because I was in the Coast Guard. So it wasn't long deployments. But anyway, I wasn't actually good enough to get on like a US national team until 2005. I wrestled the armed forces tournaments from 2000 through 2004. Um, never won an armed forces championship. I got last last

for a couple of years. And then, um, I think I got second three times. Um, I would always lose like beat someone good and then lose to another one. There was just, it was tough competition, but I just was kind of still progressing, you know, like I would beat a like beat someone good and then lose to another one there was just it was tough competition but I just was kind of still progressing you know like I would beat a really good guy but lose to somebody who may not be quite as good but like my level of consistency wasn't there yet but in 2003 I went to college with a guy named ivanoff and we were kind of talking about his company the suplex yeah um phenomenal coach he's a bulgarian guy and he's old school as it gets and just kind of that coach that like demanded respect um i got with him because i wasn't wrestling with rob full-time i was wrestling on that kind of the secondary Navy team, which there was a great group of guys there.

We had some division one wrestlers there and stuff, but it wasn't the same level of like wrestling with Rob full-time or wrestling with Yvonne. And so in 2003, I went from being the number 10 ranked guy in the country, which was barely high enough to get me into this program that Yvonne was in, which was the Olympic Education Center. I went from being the number 10 guy in the country to being the number two guy in one year with training with Yvonne full-time. And there was some variables there. It wasn't just me skyrocketing up. But in 2003, I didn't qualify for the world team trials.

2004, the Olympic trials was my first year I actually qualified. And I was with Yvonne at that time. And I ended up getting fourth at the Olympic trials in 2004. And what happened was the guy who beat me, both the guys that beat me actually that year retired after 2004. And then, so now I was kind of bumping up to take the spot of the number two guy and which was good because the following year I ended up placing second at the world team trials. So then I, then I made my first national team and started getting a little bit more attention and some funding to actually do the tournaments that I needed to do and all that kind of stuff.

That's good. So talk a bit about Ivan Ivanov, which is a fucking great name. If anybody's ever seen a Bulgarian bag, he's the guy that invented that. His company, Suplace, is awesome. We just had our buddy Mike Salemi out. So if you follow me on the gram there's a video of me and my wife busting out bulgarian spins and doing different things with it and uh he's just a phenomenal dude but everything he you know we were talking about his level of creativity he's

inventing these devices that are working core and grip and a lot of the same muscles you would use in sport and specifically in wrestling yeah so he's like, from what I know of him, just from that piece, he's pretty fucking intelligent about how he goes about his practicing. Yeah. No, he was very intense and very like purposeful in everything that he did with our practices. I remember going in before practice and he didn't just say, all right, guys, today we'll just do a warmup and we'll wrestle four matches. I've been to some practices where that's kind of it. We're going to just take it light today, go in, warm up,

we'll do four matches, and then we'll do some extra. No, he had a plan and he had a notebook where he would write down pages and pages and pages. And he followed this plan that he created every day with like, I mean, to the T, like, I don't think he would ever skip out on anything. And he was, you know, if we went to a tournament and he saw like, there was one particular guy who would beat me a lot and he would beat me with the same move every time. So we'd get back to practice and he would, you know, and it wasn't just me, there was 30 other guys on the team, but every single guy, he was like, okay, I want you to work on this today. Cause this is what happened. And he

knows exactly how you lost and how you need to improve. And very, very specific in like what we did in practice to get better. Um, and then along with like every day we did certain fundamental drills that like I had never done before, you know, that just really, uh, I think it's just kind of like his culture of the way he grew up wrestling in Bulgaria. He brought that to us and, you know, it just elevated our whole team. And he was a guy who put several guys on the Olympic team in a very short period of time, just because of how he coaches and who he is. Damn. So it's, it's, it's pretty cool to see how you, you know, like more or less, like you just fucking had the great luck of the draw

meeting up with these really amazing coaches and then having the drive and learning that too you know like people think some people are born with it you know like some i was playing pop corner football some kids just wanted to hit more than others i'm maybe in one of them but you know like wrestling there's a lot of people that want to quit they don't want to stay there or they they tap out it's too too hard you know they'll go and puke in the corner and then that's it for them for the day. And then there's other people that can make that switch where they realize like, oh, this, this is something I can learn. And they are able to push through whatever boundaries or limitations they think they have. And from there on they're better for it. Right. Yeah. No, I, I, the quitting part of wrestling i think is huge and um look being a dad now to a

kid who wrestles but i think a lot of it is also like the pressure that the parents are putting on them you know to to uh parents are crazy i'm just gonna say like yeah like i watched some of these kids wrestle and then their parents instead of like like, Hey, good job. You tried hard, you know, or being like, I mean, you can't always like baby and when they lose, but, um, I've seen dads tell their seven-year-old kids like, what the hell were you doing? You weren't even trying, you know, better. And you see the seven-year-old kid just crying and looking at his dad and you're like, dude, you're going to,

that kid's not going to be wrestling in two years from now. Cause he's going to hate it. You know? Yeah. He's going to hate you. Yeah. Did you see the documentary trophy kids? Like Chris Bell did? Yeah.

That's a hard one to watch. Yeah. It's so fucking tough to watch that. It's hard to not be like, I noticed myself coaching my son wrestling and I, for the first couple of years, cause he's nine. Right. And for the first couple of years, I took's nine, right. And for the first couple of years, I took a huge step back and I let the coaches that are out there coach him. And I'm, I'm dad.

And, um, you know, I think for, for my kid personally, like this year, things have clicked for him. And all of a sudden now he's like, dad, will you come in Mike? Will you come help me? And like, he'll get a partner and be like, dad, come help us. You know? And he wants me there now. Um, and my goal is just to make sure that he's having fun. Cause I don't want him to, like you said, you know, I don't want him to quit, but there's a different type of kid, the kid that's willing to go and work hard and learn how to work hard and stuff. And I just kind of want to guide that path a little bit for my own kids. That's kind of my goal nowadays. And, um, not have them be like that burnt out because they never had fun or,

you know, and I've caught myself yelling even at my, even at him, like he struck out one time in baseball and he didn't swing the bat. And I was like, swing the bat. And then I, as soon as I came out of my mouth,

he looked at me, he's like, stop it. You know, he's eight years old. And I'm like, okay, I need to step back a little bit. Like, come on. Like I get intense for my kid, came out of my mouth he looked at me he's like stop it you know he's eight years old and i'm like okay i need to step back a little bit like come on like i get intense for my kid but um i i'm really cognizant of like that's my my new goal in life right now is to be like that

find that balance you know yeah yeah you want to push them but you don't want to push them too exactly yeah and you want to give them a lot of the same skills that we have you know like that drive the no quit yeah the pushing past what we think our limitations are and certain things that we were talking about this last night where we're watching uh the fights at my house is there are there are there's a lot of fucking you know there's a big push and you could say politically where it comes from or social justice warriors or any of this shit. But I mean, there is a, a pussifying of the American male and of our children. And a lot of these sports teams don't keep track of scores anymore. They have equal playing time for all the kids, even though some kids suck ass and shouldn't be on the team. Yeah.

And, and they just, you know, it's, it's really, it's pay to play. You pay, I paid equal to the other kids. So I get to get in here, you know, and everyone's on the coach's ass and the coach has no fucking back bone. Yep. You know, and then on the flip side of that coin, you have practices like martial arts, like jujitsu and like, like wrestling, which is a martial art that really there's no, somebody wins and somebody loses, you know? And that's the beauty of single sports is that like team, team sports are great. They teach you how to play well with others. They teach you how to coach. They teach you how to lead and how to follow, you know, like playing football from a young age. It was, it helped me here at Onnit. Like it helped

me to learn how to be the rookie and it helped me to learn how to be the team captain, you know, and I have relationships right now. I've been here for a year and a half where I'm the captain with some people and I'm the rookie learning and listening with others, you know, and that, having that's really good, but also you need to fucking have the thing where, you know, the spotlight's on. It's only you out there. Your coach can yell at you. Your teammates can be on the sidelines yelling for you, but it's just you. Right. And I think that, that, I think that's one of the key missing ingredients that we need to give to our children now is this, you know, and, and with balance, you know,

like not trophy kid in it where you're out there and like, come on, I told you to take him down. You know, you're just stalling, you know, having that balance and then giving them the opportunity to learn on their own. Yeah. And I think like they have to fail, you know, I think learning to fail not having scores or, you scores or your kid gets to play because you're paying the same amount of money. I think that your kid has to fail sometimes and understand failing is part of the game. You can't expect your kids or think that they're going to win all the time or baby them.

They get their butt kicked, but they don't keep score. Like, oh, you guys, you guys tied, you know, or whatever they do. I think failing is part of growing, you know, the character of the kid. Yeah. Jordan Peterson talks about that. We want to place our kids in bubbles, even in college now where it's like this safety net where nothing bad can happen to them. And that doesn't prepare anybody for the real world. The real world, you can lose, you can get fired from your job. You can, I can get your ass handed to you. You know, like shit happens in real life. So like you better give like the full gamut of what's possible in our experience here to properly prepare young people for what's ahead of them, you know?

Yeah. No, I, I totally agree with that. with that. And that's what I like about wrestling is my son is a two-sport athlete. I mean, he's nine years old, right? He's wrestling and playing baseball at the time. But baseball, I see he's a better player than a lot of the kids. There's some kids that are better than him. He kind of earns a spot there, but at the same time, there's also kids that are in certain spots because of like their parents or friends with the coach or, you know, I'm in a pretty lucky team where I'm at right now, but I see it where like the parents will come up and why is my son in the outfield? And the coach feels obligated to put the son in the infield the next inning. And it's like, you know, you're kind of figuring out that, like,

that like political game with baseball or in wrestling. It's like, your son's not in the finals because he lost, you know, there's no like, Oh, well, he's not starting because he lost wrestle off. Right. Right. Exactly. He's on fucking junior varsity until he can win the wrestle off. And there's no policy. You can't put policy there. Okay. Let me take that back. You can put politics into wrestling, but it's like, I like that sport overall. It's a lot less likely that politics are going to come into play and

whoever's better that day is going to be, you know, the one that's representing the school or whatever in that match. And, uh, that's part of, I tell a lot of the parents, cause I helped coach the team. I'm like an assistant dad coach. I'm not like anything official. But the age group that they're at right now, it's just character building. Win or lose, character building. But it's so much less political in a sport like wrestling than what I see with baseball. Yeah, no doubt.

Well, talk about the Olympics. Okay. you know yeah yeah no doubt well talk about the olympics okay um so the my road to the olympics was very long so like i said i i never won the armed forces championships um there was a guy and i lost to a couple other people but there was one guy from oh four uh when i when those two guys retired there was one guy ahead of me his name was Justin Ruiz and in 05 he was a world bronze medalist so he's one of the best wrestlers in the world he was a guy

that was in the weight class in my weight class that I had to beat and he was the guy that in most of the big tournaments it ended up being me and him in the finals of the US tournaments at least for the next three or four years. And, um, he beat me every single time.

I beat him a couple of times in like tournaments that were like, didn't really matter. You know, we're going to put you on a team. We're going to put you on a national team or anything. Um, but I went into the Olympic trials, probably two wins and 15 losses against this guy. Damn. So we were... Was he older than you?

I think he's a year older than me, but age... I mean, I was 27 at the time of the Olympics. So age wasn't really a factor anymore. It was him. Like, do you think just the experience level? Like he probably started when he was young. He started when he was young. So he started a little younger than he started when he was young. So he was, um, started a little younger

than I did. Just grew up. I think Yvonne was actually one of his coaches as a kid. Oh shit. Um, and I know that there was some relationship between them. I don't know exactly to like what extent, um, wrestled for Nebraska a little bit, but he was a Mormon. So he left for a mission at some point. So I don't know if he finished college career or not, but he was also the high school. So I wasn't even a high school state qualifier. He was the high school national champion. So he was the best wrestler in high school in the whole country. And it's funny because he beat a guy named Mike Big Rig, if I remember correctly. And I actually wrestled Mike Big Rig in freestyle one time and beat him. So I was like, that was like my first stepping stone of like,

I just beat Mike Big Rig, who was second in high school nationals, lost to Justin. Justin, like I said, he was one of the best in the world. I mean, he was a bronze medalist in the world championships in 05. The guy who beat him in 2004 was a bronze medalist in the Olympics, Garrett Lowney in 2000. So like my weight class had some, some depth to it. And then there's a few other guys that were there that were just as good as I was. I would maybe edge them out kind of like Justin would edge me out. But Justin was a huge, huge favorite to make the Olympic team. And if you watch, uh, there's a video on YouTube, it's at

NBC or MSNBC video or something where they interview him and they talk to him. And, um, you know, like I was there, but like nobody expected me to win, to make the Olympic team. But, but I did, like, I, I was confident in the way that I was training and I had been working my butt off, you know, for forever. And I could see, cause we trained at the same place, you know, like I was, I was very confident going into that tournament that this could be my turn, you know, this could be my time and, um, believed in myself really. And so I had some coaches that told me the same thing that they think that I could win and, you know, made me confident, but I ended up upsetting him in the Olympic trial finals or in the Olympic trials. And, um, the way that the Olympic to qualify for the Olympics,

it's really tough. Um, you have to be top 20 in the world, a, to qualify your weight class for the Olympics, like the world championships, every country gets to send one guy in the world, A, to qualify your weight class for the Olympics. Like the world championships, every country gets to send one guy. The Olympics, you have to qualify. It's a huge qualification process. And we barely qualified in 2008. And at the last tournament, like Justin actually had to wrestle this Cuban guy.

And I think one with seconds left, if I remember you know correctly and um but once you make it to the finals of the olympic trials so justin won the national championship so he got to sit out of the mini tournaments what they call it to get to the finals and i had to wrestle through the mini tournament and got to the finals. And then you have to wrestle two out of three matches. And we came down to, I won the first match. He won the second match. Third match, you have to win two out of three periods in wrestling at the time.

I don't remember who wins the first period, who wins the second, but we go to the third period of the third match at the Olympic trials. We're one of the last ones wrestling. And I ended up lifting him and pushing him out of bounds, which gave me a point. And then I just had to defend on the bottom and ended up defending him and making the team. And it was like a huge upset for me to make the team. But not to me. Like I said, I was confident, but

that was like kind of the huge stepping stool. And that was getting to the Olympics. That was the biggest obstacle was getting past one of the best guys in the world. And so, you know, long story short, once I beat him, then my confidence level went like, if I could beat Justin, I could, I could, you're on if I could beat Justin I could I could you're on the world stage at that point yeah I could do with anybody I could do well yeah given his uh bronze in the world yeah so when was the first olympics that you participated in um 2008 okay so I only participated in one oh okay so yeah in 2004 like I said i was fourth at the olympic trials um i lost the eventual the guy one of the guys i lost to was the eventual olympian that year and then they only do it every

four years and so 2008 was my last was when i competed in the olympics but i knew that after 2008 whether i made the olympic team or not that I was done wrestling after that. Like, so that, that mind, like my mind was made up and I think it allowed me to, you know, to make sure I put everything into it. You know, I put all my eggs in that one basket, like, this is it. This is my chance. I'm going to work my butt off. And I, I was like very meticulous about like everything. Like I wrote down every single thing that I ate. I'm going to work my butt off. And I was very meticulous about everything. I wrote down every single thing that I ate. I weighed my food. I counted. I was counting calories and macros back then before it was a big thing because I had to weigh. And being a bigger guy, cutting down to 205, I had to cut down to 211. And my natural body weight would be up in the 240. So I had to cut down to 211 and my natural body weight would be up in the 240.

So I had to really, really kind of be specific about what I ate and how many calories I ate and how much protein I was eating and what I was eating for energy. And I was meticulous about that. I didn't go out and party. I didn't touch a sip of alcohol. I didn't, it was just because mentally I wanted to know that like win or lose, I did everything in my power to make that team. And it worked out. It was like at that time in my life, everything was working out in my favor because I wanted to be a cop at the time. I applied for the police department in Colorado Springs. I got hired on June 12th.

Like they called me in, sat me down. Hey, we want to hire you. Here's your contract. You know, you had to sign a three-year contract that you won't leave. And, uh, June 12th and then June 15th, I wrestled in the Olympic trials and made the team three days later. And then my academy date was going to start August 27th of 2008. And I wrestled in the Olympics August 14th.

So I wrestled, flew home from China, and then prepared and started the police academy the next week. And you did bronze in the Olympics? Yeah, bronze, yeah. Fuck yeah. Explain what it was like being there. Was that in Atlanta? No, it was in Beijing. Okay with with uh was that in atlanta no that it was in beijing okay beijing that's right that's right um explain what the olympic part like living there like

how how it is what what the the feel of that is you know like are the nerves running high are people down to earth because you know like i know cormier uh was a guy that you had wrestled with and anytime i was in a fight camp with DC, one of the cool things about him is that he was just constantly cracking jokes and being lighthearted. And it was like, it just, it settled the nerves being around somebody like that,

that wasn't taking everything so serious. But what was your experience like and the people around you? My experience was very similar. And I, you know, like I said, DC and I were on the same club. So I saw him a lot and he was always cracking jokes and stuff. I didn't hang out with him a ton. But my experience of the Olympics was, was just that, you know, like everybody is like

for a sport like wrestling, for example, that's it. That's like the pinnacle of wrestling. After the Olympics, you don't go anywhere else. If you win the Olympics, that's it. That's like the pinnacle of wrestling. Um, you, after the Olympics, you don't go anywhere else. If you win the Olympics, that's it. That's your highest, you know, you're done, right? Like there's nothing better. Um, but for me, I went there with like a specific goal in mind. I had gotten some advice from, I don't know if you know who Rulon Gardner is. Never met him, but definitely familiar with it. Yeah. So, you know, he was kind of like, you know, kind of stepped in as like a big brother for me when I made the team. He called me on the phone and I had trained with Rulon a little bit off and on. He was like in his prime really good when I was just starting. So I was never like a good workout partner for him.

But he, you know, when I started getting better, like in 2003, 2004, I would train with him a little bit. And he ended up getting a bronze in 04. Also, a lot of people don't realize he won the Olympics and then got a bronze also. But he called me up right after I made the Olympic team. And he said, hey, I just want you to know, when you get there, it's going to be crazy. There's going to be people everywhere. They're going to want, you know, all the teammates are going to want you to go watch the girls volleyball and do all, you know, like go out there and have fun. He's like, go there to win your medal. Once you win your medal, then you can go back and mess around.

You can go visit China another time. You can, you know, go there with a specific mindset that you want to, uh, that you want to compete and win. And, um, so I took that to heart, you know, a guy who had done two Olympics and has two medals and one of our most decorated wrestlers. Um, I took his advice to heart and between him and I was also lucky enough to be roommates with a guy named Brad Veering, who this was his second Olympic team. And he was kind of like our team captain and, uh, me and him stayed very, very... I wasn't stressed out the whole time I was there. I actually... Getting to the competition, I'll get to that in a second, I guess. But I wasn't stressed out. I was relaxed, having a good time,

but I stuck to my routine. We got there two weeks before we competed. So I just acclimated. We went to practices. I was very regimented with my routine. I wasn't going out partying. I wasn't going out drinking beers. I didn't care about the other sports or the athletes like, oh, the women's volleyball won a gold medal again. I didn't know any of that stuff. I wasn't paying attention to any of it. I was just kind of in my own world, in my own zone, focusing on my training and recovery. Because the first 10 days or so I was there, we still trained hard, but with a purpose. And then a few days before the tournament, you know how it is, cutting weight, cutting weight, just trying to recover, staying in that routine.

One track mind, for sure. One track mind, yeah.. One track mind, yeah. And like I said, I put all my eggs into one basket, and so I wanted to do well. And so I was very, very focused. Now, there is a ton of partying going on at the Olympic Village. The number one question I get asked every single time is, do they really hand out condoms, and is it like a big orgy?

People aren't like, so And is it like a big orgy? That's the number. People aren't like, so how was it like wrestling under that big stage? It was like, that's the number one question I get, is that question. And the answer is? And the answer is, you have to be there to know. I really don't know.

I think there's definitely a lot of that partying going on. After probably people's matches, it's a four-year cycle, right? So these guys, these sports that are specific Olympic sports have put four years into this one tournament. So when it's done, I'm sure that everybody just lets loose and relaxes and has fun. I was married at the time. And so I just- No giant fuck party for you. No, no, no. But that's all right. But yeah, I'm pretty sure that there's, you know, you put the most fit athletes in the world and, you know, thousands of them in one small little area and

they're all like young 20s maybe on average. I'm surprised they wear condoms because think of the babies they can make together. Some athletes. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know if they wear them. They just maybe get them for free and who knows. Take them home as souvenirs.

Yeah. But no, but it was a good time. But I was kind of focused. But when it came time to my matches, I had a tough draw. In the weigh-ins, you step on the scale, you walk over, you pick up a card, essentially, that's upside down on a table, has a number on it. You pick it up, you hold it up for all the coaches to see. And then that's where they put you in the bracket.

And I drew, my first match was against a world silver medalist. So I saw that and I was like, all right, I guess there's no, like, there's no warmup match, like some of the tournaments you get, you get seeded number one or two and you're, you have some non-seed match kind of guy. And there's none of that at the Olympics. I had my first match was a silver medalist and I had a lot of pressure on me, but for whatever reason, I don't know why, maybe it was just because I knew like, Hey, I was here. This was, this was it. This was my final competition. Like I really, and it sounds bad, but like I enjoyed competitions, but this time was like the first time where I really like enjoyed it. Like I was, I was like, I had like this happy feeling, like I wasn't nervous for my matches. I just went out there. Like I knew in my heart, like I can't get tired. I was in such good shape. Um, I was confident I was doing really well in practices and there was no nerves when I stepped on the mat to wrestle, it was like, let's do it, you know? And it was just, I don't, it's kind of hard to explain that. Cause you think like the biggest tournament of your life, you're going to be the most nervous, but it was kind of

the opposite for me where I had accomplished, I guess, my goal and, uh. And put on all the work. Yeah. You know, with some of the best coaches on earth. Yeah. And I'm competing at the biggest show there is. Obviously I wanted to win. So when I lost in the semifinals, I was like disappointed, but

I still had like this, like, it was a, it was a good experience instead of like being nervous the whole time right before your matches. And you're only happy if you win, you know, like I, I enjoyed the whole experience. That's awesome. So you leave the Olympics, you realize, all right, that was the last shot and you're already hired with the police department. Yeah. Talk about that. Talk about what made you want to go SWAT team. So it's kind of funny because I initially didn't want to be on the SWAT team. So I, uh, I joined the, you know, I got hired as a cop after I won my medal. Some people were trying to talk me out of it. Like wrestle for four more years. You're just starting to get good. You know,

I'm 27 and like the average age of our team was probably 30, you know? So I was on that younger, but middle age for our, our sport for our team. And, um, I was just like,

no way. Like, I'm not like, there's no money in wrestling, you know? So you, I made money during the olympic year but besides that it's like you're constantly looking for like sponsorships and you know i felt like i was begging

for money almost just to survive to wrestle and um so that idea was already like no way i have this job you know career path lined up now i got hired This is where I'm going next. And started the police academy. And in my head, like even I think in my recruiting video, they asked like, what's your career goal? And I put homicide detective. I wanted to be a homicide detective. And of course, everyone else was like, oh, you're going to be SWAT, you big athlete, you know? And I'm just like, nah, I mean, it doesn't really interest me. And it's kind of funny because when I was in the academy, there's another guy, I won't call him out or anything on here, but he came up to me and he was also an athlete. And he's like, oh, those SWAT guys, they just think that they're so hot shit and that that's the coolest thing they've ever done.

And I'm just like, all right. So it kind of actually like deterred me a little bit from like wanting to be SWAT. Cause I didn't want like that image of like, you know. Yeah. If this is the way he views that squad, then you don't want to be a part of it. Yeah. And I'm brand new and, you know, I have a college degree and I'm like, ah, I'm going to be a detective and I'm going to be like this super smart homicide detective guy. That was kind of my long-term career path goal at the time. And so I go through the academy. I'm thinking the academy is going to be like bootcamp all over again. It wasn't.

It was super laid back, mostly focused on education, mostly classroom. There was a small fitness aspect of it. And then a lot of like arrest control techniques and stuff like that, which, um, I think are, I think they could do better with that, you know, and I'm sure like we all see it with the police. Like they, they, in my opinion, they could do better with like how they, uh, train their hands on stuff. But there's also a lot of cops that have to want to do it that don't, you know, because there's jujitsu everywhere.

If people wanted to go learn some type of hands on stuff. And I'm a big advocate of jujitsu for cops and stuff. But yeah, so I, I become a, you know, I get through the Academy talking about SWAT a little bit. After about a year on patrol, one of the commanders says, hey, we could really use you compliment. I'm this new cop and I'm just ill for a year. And she's asking me to do this specialized detail downtown.

And so I'm like, yeah, heck yeah, I'll do it. And I go downtown. And what I found out later was that my last name was W. So I think I was last on the list to get asked to do it because everyone else was like, nope, nope, nope, not working downtown. And after working down there for a year, I understand why. It was a long year working downtown in And after working down there for a year, I understand why, you know, like I, it was a long year working downtown, the bar car basically. But one thing that I got to do when I was there was they said I could go to a specialized unit for a couple of weeks and go TDY. And so when I was there, I went TDY with the SWAT team.

What is TDY? Temporary duty. So I basically get to go work with them for two weeks and kind of see how it is. And, you know, anytime like in our job, they were pretty good about letting you, like, if you wanted to be a detective, they'd let you go work with the detective unit. And for two weeks to see if that's something that you really want to do. And if you'd be a good fit. And they sent me TDY to the SWAT team for two weeks. And once I got there, it opened my eyes to like, man, this is an awesome job. This is what I want to eventually accomplish. If I'm going to stay a cop, I want to be on the SWAT team.

They get to do all the fun stuff and a little bit less paperwork, a lot more fun, take-home vehicle. I mean, there's a lot of perks to it too, but I didn't realize that there's also some downsides to it too that I realized later. One in particular is being on call 24-7, meaning you can't leave your city. You can't go out and do some of the stuff that you want to do. Are there at least like two weeks off?

Yeah, so in the beginning of the year with us, I think they've added more people to the team since I've left just recently. But when I was on the team, there was 13 of us on the team and you pick your vacations in October for the following year. And so you would get two, two week vacations throughout the year. So if you're on vacation, you could be off call. And then we were allowed to have three people off call at a time. And so if, say, you two are on vacation and someone's sick, but I want that time off for my cousin's wedding or something, it wasn't happening unless someone was willing to go on call for me who was on vacation. It was just, you had to kind of juggle the books

a little bit. And you did get some time off, but it was very rare. I missed a lot of... My kids were a little bit younger. They're still young, but they were a little bit younger. They just started doing stuff that I missed a few things because we got called out. it was just like, I enjoyed the job, but, um, even the job itself for me was getting to the point where I started becoming negative and like, you know, like I would, it's a lot to see. Yeah. You know, it's like, people have this idea of what, what that's like. And it's been, been, you're a firefighter now, like that people have an idea of what that's like. And I've got plenty of firefighter friends, paramedics, captains, Phoenix, San Jose, San Diego. And there's a lot of PTSD there. There's a lot of horrific shit that you see, you know, and then that stuff you got to take home with you. So I

can only imagine like working something like SWAT, how much that would weigh on you. Yeah. I mean, it, it definitely is, uh, you know, there's no turning it off basically. Like I would be here sitting with you, but I'd have my work phone and my regular phone sitting here, you know, just in case it goes off. And so there's no, like, you don't like get to go turn off that light switch and just relax for, I don't know, 95% of off that light switch and just relax for, I don't know, 95% of your time. Cause you're on, even if you're not on an active call,

you're on call. So you have to be ready. You have to always know, Oh, your phone always has to be with you. Cause it could go off at any time. And, um,

I think it weighs on you more than you would expect. There's guys that are on the SWAT team for 15 years, you know, and like, that's awesome that they, they SWAT team for 15 years, you know, and like, that's awesome that they could do that. But like, for me, it was just like, being a SWAT cop wasn't cool enough to me to take away time from my family. You know, like it was a great job. I had, you know, I did it for four years. I had great experiences. I met some of the, my best friends, I would say guys who I would, you know, I know we kind of talked to you, you mentioned that like, if something ever

bad was going to happen, you wanted Tim Kennedy on your side, right. You know, cause he's a badass, like, and I think the whole world knows he's a badass, right? Well, like I want the guys that were on my team with me, you know, like these guys that I've trained with my, you know, for four years straight, we've trained everything with, like that's who I would want, you know? And some of these guys to this day are still, you know, I hold them like, you know, the highest respect that I can just because of, you know, some of the stuff that we went through and, you know, like I know that I know where they are training wise and, you know, some of the stuff that we went through and, uh, you know, like I know that I know where they are training wise and, you know, it's just that type of group of people,

I guess. It's a special bond that you can't get anywhere else. Yeah. You know, you get it in probably fighting, but to a different level, you know, there are lives aren't necessarily on the lines and fighting. I think they are, but it's, and it's certainly, uh, one of the greatest tests in sports, but it's not the same as actually putting your life on the line. Exactly. Yeah. And like, I mean, I grew up, you know, on teams my whole life, wrestling teams and baseball teams and everything. And like, I liked that type of group setting, I guess. And, you know, SWAT was that type of group setting. But when you do things where you're getting shot at and it makes you that much tighter, it's kind of hard to explain. Yeah. So wanting that camaraderie, is that why you chose to go into firefighting after

you left the SWAT team? So I started... The process to become a firefighter is like a long process. It's a lot more competitive. More people I think want to be firefighters looking at other alternatives. I wanted to maybe become a detective at the time. I went to work for a robbery unit for a couple of weeks doing another TDY. I realized this is definitely not what I want to do because I thought it was going to be a lot more high pace. And it's mostly going and collecting evidence and going and doing follow-up interviews and trying to find video of what happened two weeks before. It just wasn't like something that I wanted, you know, like I, it didn't seem like a, uh, something that I wanted to do anymore. Um, I knew I wanted to be done being a cop, um, or, uh, on SWAT just based on like the schedule. And, you know, I put my time in,

they had like a three-year minimum and I, you know, I did a fourth year and before I got hired with the fire department. But I started applying probably like a year before I left to the fire department. And I also started looking at other jobs too outside of the police department. And I come from a family of firefighters.

My grandfather is a retired firefighter, his son, my uncle, and then I have two older cousins who are firefighters and one younger cousin who's a firefighter. And I have a really good friend who I do jujitsu with in Colorado who's a firefighter. And I just start talking to all these guys and they're like, man, this is the best know, I would ask every one of them individually, what,

what don't you like about your job? Nothing. You're going to see some bad stuff, but you see that same stuff as a cop. And, um, you know, so it really like planted that seed that like, maybe that's what I want to do. And, uh, I applied and got pretty lucky and got hired cause it's a pretty competitive process to get hired. And I got hired with probably, you know, the most desired department in Colorado, my opinion. And, and, uh, um, it was the best move I made for me, for me and for my family. Um, I'm really enjoying it. So, yeah. That's awesome, brother. Yeah. And now you're, we're coming to an end here, but now you're, you're writing a book about all these experiences. Yeah.

You have a title. Uh, I don't have a title yet. So we're kind of in the early, um, by the time this airs, I'll probably have a title. Nice. Um, but, uh, yeah, so I, I decided to write a book probably about two months ago and just kind of share because I had some cool experiences as a SWAT cop, some stuff that could potentially benefit other people or help other people. Also, just kind of my story of growing up, how I was never the number one guy. I never won anything. I never won anything, but I believed in myself and kept going. So I kind of want to put that out there to somebody because if it could change, and I think we talked about this earlier, but Elliot

Marshall said that to me, like, I'm not trying to write the book to make money, but if that book could change one person's life, it's worth it. Like Elliot told me that, then it really made me think about the same thing. So, you know, that kind of like was part of it where I'm like, you know what, I'm going to do the same thing. Cause I have a good story that, you know, potentially can impact the life of some, you know, a kid just like I was when I was a kid. And so I decided to make the commitment. You know, I'm not getting it like in advance or some publisher came after me looking for my story or anything like that. I'm doing it on my own with, uh, uh, like a ghostwriter per se. And, um, you know, so I'm, it was a big commitment for me and my wife to say, Hey, yeah, we'll spend this much money to do the book. Cause we're paying for it all.

And, uh, you know, hopefully it's worth it in the end and it could impact some people's lives and be good. So that's kind of my reasoning for doing it. That's awesome, brother. Well, I'm definitely looking forward to it. Kurt got you to change your Instagram from private to public. So people can find you.

Where can people find you online? The Adam Wheeler on Instagram and then Big Wheels 9696kg on Twitter. Yeah, the books, we're looking for May, June. Okay. So if people are listening to this and they just follow me on Instagram, then there'll be a lot of updates on there. Perfect. Yeah. Well, thanks for coming on, brother.

Thank you. Awesome. I appreciate it. Hell yeah, Adam. Awesome, brother. Thank you guys for listening to the Human Optimization Hour podcast, HOH, with Adam Wheeler. Y'all got questions, hit us up online, Twitter, Instagram,

at Kingsboo for me, and click the show notes to get the links to Adam Wheeler, and we're all good gravy. Thanks for tuning in. And as always, 10% off all supplements and food products at onnit.com slash podcast.