Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2625: Fitness Secrets from Military Veteran & Celebrity Trainer Aaron Williamson

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

Fitness Secrets from Military Veteran & Celebrity Trainer Aaron Williamson The catalyst for joining the Marine Corps. (1:51) His traumatic childhood. (4:44) As a team, you are only as strong as your weakest link. (7:43) His most humble duty. (11:00) His time working at the Pentagon. (16:13) There is no safe space from a rocket. (19:17) Fighting for his life mentally. (21:38) His Hollywood destiny. (23:57) The COVID impact on his life. (31:14) His stellate ganglion block experience. (34:40) The importance and value of getting your bloodwork done. (40:52) Being a walking billboard for how healthy you can be and evolve, no matter what your age is. (48:06) His business backfired with Andy Elliott. (49:08) His social impact. (1:00:06) The future of fitness, Katalyst. (1:03:53) Favorite Hollywood/celebrity memory. (1:08:55) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Jolie for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Try it out for yourself with FREE shipping. And if you don’t like it— you can return your Jolie for a full refund within 60 days, no questions asked. ** FINAL DAY: Special MAPS Longevity Launch ** Code 50LONG for $50 off for launch price $97 ($147 retail). Bonuses: Forum access for a year $97, Post Launch Kick off Zoom call $97, Expires on 6/22 (30-Day money back guarantee). ** June Special: Shredded Summer Bundle or Bikini Bundle 50% off! ** Code JUNE50 at checkout ** Stellate Ganglion Block: What It Is, Uses, Side Effects & Risks Visit Transcend for this month’s exclusive Mind Pump offer! ** Telehealth Provider • Physician Directed GET YOUR PERSONALIZED TREATMENT PLAN!  Hormone Replacement Therapy, Cognitive Function, Sleep & Fatigue, Athletic Performance and MORE! ** Mind Pump Personal Training – Apply today! KATALYST - Strength Beyond Limits with EMS Technology Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources Featured Guest/People Mentioned 𝐀𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐒𝐎𝐍 (@aaronvwilliamson) Instagram Website Doc Shauna Springer (@docshaunaspringer) Instagram Adeel Khan, MD (@dr.akhan) Instagram Andy Elliott (@officialandyelliott) Instagram Ballerbusters (@ballerbusters) Instagram  

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind pump with your hosts, Sal DeStefano, Adam Schafer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness, health, and entertainment podcast. This is mind pumping. Today's episode, we're going to talk about fitness secrets from a military veteran and celebrity trainer, Aaron Williamson. This episode goes deep. It's actually one of my favorite interviews. I'm so glad we're airing this finally. It was a while ago when we interviewed him. I had a good time with him.

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Welcome to the show, Aaron. It's good to be here. Good for being on. Good for being on. So I'd like to know a little bit about you, because I mean, what people probably know is your social media, you've trained some really, really high profile celebrities, you've got an got interesting background I would like to know your

story a little bit how that all got started how you got to training celebrities your fitness journey before that I know you served in Iraq maybe maybe start back there yeah so my I ended up joining the Marine Corps just out of a I say desperation because as a kid I was bad, almost died in seventh grade from a drug overdose. Oh wow. Had no direction, didn't know where I was going, squandered all kinds of opportunities. And I remember seeing this one buddy of mine who was a linebacker on the varsity football

team, looked like Goldberg. He joined the Marine Corps and when he came back I was like, who is this guy? Like streamline, language was different, talked different, walked different, looked different, everything about it, and I was like, that's what I want. So that was the catalyst for me to join. I didn't have much else going on in my life. And I think when you join the military, if you go into it with the right mindset, it can really change your life. I don't see a lot of people take it

too seriously now but when I went in my whole goal was special forces I wanted to be Marine Corps reconnaissance but when I got to my first duty station my platoon commander wasn't having it he's like you ain't going nowhere so kind of put a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't really know how the military worked at the beginning, but I was an 0311 infantryman. Went over to Okinawa, Japan on my first pump, and that's where I fell in love with the gym, the fitness. I got bit by the bug over there. I say that's where I wanted to become a pro bodybuilder.

We were either in the field or in the gym. And if you've ever known any veterans or you've talked to anyone when they're deployed You either turn into a PT stud or an alcoholic and I don't and I don't drink so I started falling in love with the evolution of my body changing with fitness and I was reading them the magazines and doing all the cell Tech and the nitro tech when it was you know muscle tech Yeah, and that was that was the beginning of it all what year was that what years I was over there in 99, okay? Yeah, yeah, so they were around the same age Okay, yeah, I'll be 46 in August. Yeah same. Yeah, we're all in the same so if you have the nitro tech and cell text

Yeah, yeah, I know probably guarantee you said that 40 and 47 You know what's interesting before you continue is that a lot of Nitro Tech and Cell Tech still. I'd probably guarantee you're somewhere between 40 and 47 or something right in that range. You know what's interesting before we continue is that a lot of, when people find value in the military, especially young men, it was the discipline you were seeking, right? The structure, was that what it was? I didn't even know what I was seeking.

I just needed something. And it gave me everything I didn't know I needed. Okay, so like structure, purpose, just what you're gonna do. Yeah. You have siblings? I've got a brother and a sister,. This is what you're gonna do. Yeah, you have siblings I've got a brother and a sister. Yeah, where are you at the age? I'm the oldest. Oh, you're the oldest. Yeah, I'm assuming Drugs at seventh grade you had probably a traumatic childhood. I mean or were you just partying? I mean, how did how did that come about?

my My family just started going through a bad time You know divorce and I don't know it affected me in a weird way. Oh My family just started going through a bad time, you know, divorce. And I don't know, it affected me in a weird way. We came from nothing poor and never really knew materialistic things. So family was, you know, kind of everything. And when it fell apart, I just somehow found the wrong crowd to be in. Acting out subconsciously, not even realizing it.

Yeah, but I mean, it was hardcore. I was doing speed and cocaine and stuff. Damn, that young. I'm hanging around with people on house arrest. It was, thinking back on it, I can't believe that was me knowing the way I am now. I mean, I think it's, I hate to say normal, but I mean, in a situation like that,

subconsciously as a kid, there's a part of you that's probably seeking the attention back from the parents or distracting from what's going on there. And you don't even realize you're doing it, but you are because you want that as a kid, right? I mean, I imagine that's what's going on. Did that, was that a long period of time or was it like a short period that happened and then you like turned around or were you all the way up until you went in the military really fucking around It was so I had that near-death experience my mom sent me to Missouri so I was in the Ozarks for the summer in the middle of nowhere

I mean the closest thing was a gas station like 30 minutes away I was building out houses in the middle of nowhere with my grandpa having me do like real work And I came when I came back my mom was wanting me to get away so when I came back from that I just fell right back into the same BS and my so this divorce was my mother and my stepfather my real father I didn't really know they were divorced when I was a baby so somehow he came back into my life got custody to me took me up to Tennessee Chattanooga And then I just managed to fall into the same crowd there and they didn't really want me there His wife wasn't a big fan of mine

so They ended up driving me to Panama City, Florida and put me into this like psychiatric driving me to Panama City, Florida, and put me into this psychiatric rehabilitation center. So I was there for a couple months on medication and just being in a loony bin, weird. So my mom came back to get me right before I was gonna go into foster care. So she took me back home to Daytona Beach

and put me in a Catholic high school. So I'm like, all right, I gotta make this work because my mom's sacrificing now financially to put me in there. So I did better but still, you know, when all you've known is just really doing your own thing and getting in trouble you don't really know much else. Yeah, wow. That's a lot, dude. Yeah, that's a lot for a kid to go through. So you decide, get in the military and now you're there. Did you like it right out the gates? Yeah, yeah, I mean it was it was just a whole nother world I mean when you I was a East Coast guy so Parris Island So I didn't know I still didn't know what I was getting into but I just knew every day there was a lot of growth

happening and You know, I was getting into, but I just knew every day there was a lot of growth happening. And, you know, I was meritoriously promoted, you know, squad leader, all that stuff. So I knew I was kind of in the right place. So once they started giving you responsibility, is that where you started to feel the growth? Yeah, yeah, because then it's like all of a sudden now you've got other recruits looking at you, like, what should I do?

Can you help me with this? That's when you find as a team, you're only as strong as your weakest link. Because in boot camp, if you don't put your shoes on fast enough, guess what, you're taking a mack off. Not only you, but everybody. And then if you don't do that quick enough,

then you're gonna move your whole fricking bunk bed to the other side of the room. It's just a lot of games. So I found boot camp was a lot more mental than it was physical. You know what's interesting about this story with just young men in general is when they have, when they're given responsibility

and kind of a sense of purpose, they tend to shape up. I had a client once. Crave structure and responsibility. Yeah. I had a client once. Crave structure and responsibility. Yeah, I had a young client. Well, I had these people I trained. Their son was having issues with marijuana. They sent him off to one of those camps

and what they did with him is they put him in charge of other kids and I thought, that's crazy. These kids are totally screwing up. No, that made a big difference. Once he was in charge of other people and given responsibility, he had a sense of purpose and it really pulled him out of what he was doing. Sounds like that's kind of what happened to you. That's exactly what happened to me, yeah. Yeah. I say the

Marine Corps is my salvation. It was like my first transformation. Now when you were a kid and they put you in the psych ward or whatever, did they diagnose you with anything at that point? They diagnosed me with all kinds of stuff. I don't know what, honestly thinking back on it, I don't remember what medications I was on, what all they diagnosed me with. It's all a blur. I think I've somehow blocked a big piece of that out.

What I'm getting at is, again, I think when you lack a direction, sense of purpose, this is in particular for young men, all kinds of things go haywire. If we don't have a clear direction of where we're going to go and why we're doing it, especially if you are purpose-driven, which knowing what I know about you from what I've read, you seem to be very purpose-driven. Yeah. Sometimes to the detriment of me, because I'm still trying to learn the balance of like all right well look what does it feel like to be happy? Like I don't I'm still

learning a whole lot of stuff in my life because I've sacrificed so much to get to where I am now but it's like all right well where am I now what am I doing now? The Hollywood stuff was completely unexpected, came out of nowhere. And then I made massive moves in a very short period of time. And then COVID hit and then wiped it all away and I'm like, damn, I gotta restart again. So there's been so many different evolutions. It's been the wildest roller coaster ride that I can even put into words.

So take me through, so we're in the military right now. You're in Okinawa. You're getting structure. Yeah, you're- You're thinking about bodybuilding at that point. Yeah, you're starting to get into weightlifting, starting to get jacked, liking that. Also leadership, so you're getting purpose right now. Where from there, where do we go next?

When I came back from Okinawa, there's a section in the Marine Corps called the Bodybearers. They're up in D.C., it's a small 15 to 18 man detail that does all the funerals, carry caskets out of Arlington National Cemetery. So they came and screened me at Camp Lejeune. I failed it by a couple reps doing a strength test, but they look for a lot more than just your strength. The strength can be built. It's the character, it's the responsibility, it's the moral compass you have. So they came, they screened me, I didn't pass it, I thought I was done. I was moving on, getting ready to go to squad leader school, and then I

got cut orders to go be a bodybearer. So I went up to DC, went through the whole training program for the body bearer section, and again it was something else where it's like, man, I'm continually finding new levels here, but that's where I really got big in terms of physically strong. I mean, when you're carrying caskets, you don't know how heavy a casket's going to be when you're actually out at the cemetery. When the hearse pulls up, it's like you know how heavy it is when you're carrying caskets, you don't know how heavy a casket's gonna be when you're actually out at the cemetery. You know, when the hearse pulls up, it's like, you know how heavy it is when you pull it out

and you got hands on it. So that's where that went. The body bearers ended up being the section leader. So that job is literally, yeah. I didn't know that was like a specific job for specific guys. I thought it was always like buddies. So you're carrying caskets of soldiers

So for us it was the Marine Corps Marine Corps Yeah, and you're caring and that's your job your job is to handle those move those bodies around bring them to where they need To go type of deal. Yeah. Yeah, so we would do anywhere from three to five funerals a day Okay, so I did not know I didn't know that was like a thing Any psychological impact of seeing that much, because you're around death, you're around mourning probably, right? Because you're in the funeral, so you're seeing family show up, cry, the whole deal. Did that impact you?

Yeah, you know when I talk about it online or when I'm having conversations about it, I say it's my most humble duty because when you when you lay someone to rest, that's the last image a person's going to have of their loved one is you know you you uh you laying them down and for us in the Marine Corps we use six men on the casket whereas most other services use eight. Maybe that's changed, I don't know, but we trained hard and heavy and when you get to the hole, we would raise the casket as a final salute. I didn't know that. Yeah, so I did, you know, both my grandfather's funerals. Thinking back on it now that you're asking the question, yeah, I mean, it kind of did have an impact on me

in a very deep way because not only from the fact that, I'm bearing family members, but also you're seeing a lot of these young Marines come back from the beginning of the war. Yeah. And I remember there was, at Arlington Section 60, there was nothing there, It was just all grass. And literally just every time you're, you know, week by week, you're just seeing it

fill up. So yeah, it takes a little bit of a toll, but I always try and keep perspective about it because I mean, you can't break down or get emotional on a funeral you've got a especially if you're the section leader you got to show up and you know be there for the Marines and and We always look at it as You know pain the most I Mean there's no honor. There's no other way to put

What we do into words like I can't articulate the feeling. And then there was a funeral we did for Mike Spann, the first guy to get killed in the war over in Afghanistan. So there was the uprising in Masri Sharif. He was a CIA guy, but he was a former Marine, or Marine veteran. And I remember doing his funeral, and it was a chapel service, so down in the chapel,

the family could come downstairs while the service was going on, they could talk to us. And I remember his daughter coming up and tugging on my jacket and asking me to take care of her dad. So it's like the little stuff like that. Thinking back on it's

emotional. For sure. Oh man. That's heavy. Yeah. So I was just going to ask you, did you know the history of these people that you were carrying or was it? No, only the ones like Spann, you know, because that was a nationally televised show. We did the Make and Raiders. That was a two day nationally televised repatriation. Those guys were killed over in the Fiji Islands.

And how long you said you did this for? How long were you there? A little over three years. So three years of that. Yeah. And then from there, did you go and serve? So not serve, but go in active wartime? So from there, I ended up going to the Pentagon.

And I ended up being personal security for General Pace. He was the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs. That's where I started going overseas. But that was in a different capacity. So... That's as his security you're going overseas? As his security, you'd go over in advance and play security teams and do advance reconnaissance of certain areas that we would that we would visit that was a that was my time

active duty overseas because after that I got out okay my my all my time over there was as a contractor okay and that's that was part of what I did over there was part of the war that you don't ever hear about because it was all classified at the time, but it's part of the identity management of keeping bases safe and working with the Iraqis to help them stand up their own biometric capabilities similar to the FBI and DOD here in the states. But I was over there for four years almost straight. I might have been home for a total of two months. So doing security for the Pentagon, is that similar to Secret Service type stuff?

Kind of, yeah. We would always get mistaken for Secret Service. So you got the suit on, the earpiece, your... Weapon underneath, the vest on, all of it. The whole deal. And that's a whole other level of training? Yeah, that was pretty intensive training. That took about four months of just literally back to back to back training, evasive driving, high risk personnel, weapons training, just everything you can think of that would require you to be as proficient as possible to guard one of the,

or to protect one of the highest ranking military. Was this your favorite thing you did of everything? I wouldn't say it was my favorite. Honestly, I always go back to the body bearers just because it had so much more meaning. Oh, sure. Yeah. Sure, you might be, you're probably the right guy

to ask this question but the the whole the security breach that happened when Trump got shot at. I've heard people commenting on this you have a you have a background in security was that just like wild that they completely missed all that stuff was that because I've heard other people talk about like this is how did they even let that happen? Yeah, I mean, when you really look at it, you've got to be a moron. Okay, so you guys are thoroughly trained. So many breakdowns. In other words, that was such a huge mistake that it wasn't a mistake type of deal.

Yeah. Okay. There's no way someone should have been up there. Bottom line, there's no There's no other I'm not even trained and if you put me in charge of like you price put somebody up there So you're not worried about like sloped roofs Okay, so you stop so you were done Contracting out there security was a lot. That's when you ended that and then you come back where to the states and thinking what do I do we started turning everything over to the Iraqis there were there were a lot more close

calls than I care to experience so I took a leap of faith and what do you mean close calls like like Rockets coming in like check like checkpoints that are really no longer safe you know what used to be the green zone is now kind of the pink zone you know it's not so you're now it's like as an American you're going through Iraqi checkpoints I learned a little bit of Farsi so I could navigate through them effectively and yeah I don't even I don't know how to explain it, but I shouldn't be here right now. There were so many close calls that I should not be here and along the way there were a lot of people who were close to me that are no longer here.

It's like you saw this happen around you? Oh yeah, yeah. I mean it's just, it's part of life you know and I was I did a lot of traveling around the country too I mean I had 10 tier 1 sites, 5 tier 2 sites and we had some DNA labs out there. So what does that mean? What is that? So a tier 1 site would be like a bigger base, a tier 2 site would be a smaller you know a smaller fob type deal. Okay.

And then the DNA labs is where we did all the collection of evidence. When that, I can't imagine, so you're working, you're trying to provide security, an explosion goes off, something happens. After a couple times, that would make me so jumpy. I mean, how do you deal with that? I think you just get to a point where you can't hide from a rocket. You know what I mean? There really is no safe space from a rocket.

So if it's going to be your time, it's going to be your time. And I believe the more you can accept that, the better off your mental state will be. Because otherwise you're going to just walk around around like a lot of these grown men I see wanting to go home or they can't take it they're so stressed out they they don't leave the palace they they just crumble. Okay so when you when did you finish that and then what did you do afterwards? I? finished that in 09 the

Early summer of 09 and that's when I moved to the states. I came back to the states To do contract work for Marine Forces North, okay, which is the Marine Corps? Entity under us North come and it just happened to be based in New Orleans. So I'd never been in New Orleans and know anyone in New Orleans, but the the colonel there was, you know, standing up a new section within the Marine Forces North in transit security, which would fall under emergency management. So I had the opportunity to come in and kind of, you know of take that on as my own, but it didn't really work out the way I had planned on financially, the funding, everything was just a mess.

So I had some people trying to help me figure out what to do and it wasn't really working. So I couldn't find work, I'm burning through all my money. I've got financial responsibilities. I take care of my family and I Ended up just losing everything I had I couldn't sustain anymore. So I went from doing all this Stuff in the Marine Corps and all of a sudden now. I'm living in my car. I'm homeless. I filed for bankruptcy. I wanted to You know, I just want how old are you at this point? This was in 2009. I'm not, I filed for bankruptcy, I wanted to, you know, I just want to give up. How old are you at this point? This was in 2009. I'm not good at math.

Yeah, it's like you're young, you're a man. I'm young. Yeah, you said you had a family. 20s, early 20s. Married with kids? You said you had a family. I had a marriage that went south when I was overseas. So came back, got divorced, went back over.

I don't have the relationship I would like to have with my daughters, so it's something I'm really working on and they're a lot older now, so hopefully they'll start understanding more that it wasn't just neglect. Essentially, I'm fighting for my life mentally, not knowing what to do. Every time I think I got a foothold on getting life back to where it should be I get hit with something and so that's what I was constantly fighting through and this homelessness was another piece of it but out of desperation to pull myself out of it because I had friends of mine who were like just do what you're good at, which is fitness. And fitness for me is really personal.

I never wanted to share it with anybody. But I had to, because otherwise I didn't have anything else to offer. So got certified as a personal trainer. I found a 24-hour gym in uptown New Orleans. And I was like, I'm going to compete in the local New Orleans bodybuilding show and become Mr. New Orleans and I'm gonna promote health and fitness around the city. I did all of it. So you competed you won? I competed won and then... Are you working at 24 hour fitness at this time? I'm working there, I'm doing my laundry

there, I'm sleeping on the massage table. I'm doing everything I can to make whatever work. And this is 2009, 2010 era? Wait, was this a 24 hour fitness or just a 24 hour gym? Just a 24 hour gym. It was called NOLA Fit. Oh, I was gonna say, that's weird man. We're in the same company at the same time bro. That would have been really crazy. This is getting weird. But yeah, so you're living in the gym,

and you're trying to build a clientele, and you're competing at the same time. Okay. Yeah. And then, I have my, you know, personal trainers have their picture on the wall, I just have my marine stuff on. And that's when Zac Efron came into the gym

with his trainer at the time, doing a movie called The Lucky One, which is about a Marine Iraq veteran. And they saw my picture, we connected, they brought me to set and they were like, we want you to, uh, help him embody, just like that, embody what a Marine is. Wow. Just like that. Just like that. What a crazy way they unfolded. Now did they hire you or you're like, I'll do it for free?

Or like, how'd that work out? They ended up hiring me. I was one of his technical advisors on the movie. And then that is when I found out, this is where I talk about this piece kind of being the destiny part of it all. Because I never, like I never seeked Hollywood out. I didn't know anything about it but what I found out is when I got there to New Orleans there

were more films and TV shows being shot there at that time than anywhere else. Oh wow. So you were put somewhere and then these opportunities were brought to you. Yeah yeah and and him and I hit it off and we just we kept it going through multiple years all the way up. Now were you still working at the gym

or did you have to quit that to do this thing full time? I was still doing the gym and then it just, it slowly kept picking up so it was, you know, training, Zach comes back in for another movie, GI Joe, Retaliation, I trained the cast, which is where I met The Rock. And Stallone was coming into a movie called Bullet to the Head. So it was really a time where I'm like, all right, I got my footing, here's my second

win, let's see where I can take this. But I never really fit into the Hollywood culture though because I'm just uh, I mean What do you attribute what was it or what do you attribute was it about you That connected so well with Zack and these celebrities that seem to be so different than you. What was it? I uh, I think when you that seem to be so different than you. What was it? I think when you, like we all know fitness to some degree, or in our minds we understand it to a certain degree.

But I think when you come across someone who's genuine about it and authentically living it, it hits a little different. And not only that, but I would always do things for them. I would go, like, if they needed something, I would go get it. I wouldn't say, oh, let me get your assistance so I can get some money.

I'll just go get it. Extra mile. Yeah, I would just, I was there for them whenever they needed me to be. You know, I'd pick them up sometimes and drive them. I mean, at some point, I've pretty much driven some celebrity around to whatever gym. I like to take them to the hardcore dungeon spots where they wouldn't normally go.

Where it's like when you go in it smells like armpit and blood. You know what I mean? I love those gyms. So do I. Those are the best. Yeah, so I just started creating like really genuine relationships with these people. But I never, I never seeked anything. I wasn't always trying to take pictures.

I wasn't always trying to like, hey, can you introduce me to this guy? I'm here to do a job. Outside of that, I'm a homebody. I love my own personal space, because I need to recharge. You know, that's one of the most common things. We have several friends that are...

Trained celebrities. Trained celebrities. The most common thing, I think, because you guys are all so different the one thing that they I think that I've noticed is that you guys all have that about you where you're like you understand that these celebrities probably don't want photos taken of them or you using them as leverage to make your like and the more privacy and that respect that you give them they tend to really really appreciate that and I think that that's the respect that you give them, they tend to really, really appreciate that.

And I think that's the common thread that you guys all kind of have, is that you were the same way that way. Now at this point, are you financially starting to pick up and doing well and you're like, okay, this is working? Yeah. After the Rock and the short stint with Stallone, he got injured early on in filming.

So our training was limited, but I would still go to set and hang out with him and Momoa and I don't smoke cigars, but I'd go there and hang out with them while they smoke cigars and just shoot it up. And I started getting a lot of notoriety, so directors and producers started training with me and then they're the ones who were like, hey, have you ever thought about getting in front of the camera? I didn't even know what that meant. But they're like stunts acting something like you have a presence, you know, it could be

valuable. So I got a stunt or I got an acting coach started doing stunt training. Things started to pick up. I was getting small roles here and there in New Orleans. And then 2015 I moved to LA signed on with some bigger representation and really got into the the acting and stunt piece and then 2020 was lined up to be the biggest year acting and stunt wise and I was I was actually phasing out of fitness and doing more of the acting or stunt.

I've always been curious because I've never met somebody with your path like how does that pay how well does stunt pay? Is it like per movie? Do you get contracted for multiple? Is it like one big payday and you're going to let that stretch to the next one? What does it look like? Well, the streaming, the streaming changed a lot of that. Yeah.

But in general, it depends on like how big is, how big is the part? How dangerous is the part? What's the duration? where do you fall out on the sag scale. And then obviously the residuals is going to depend on how much money the film or the TV show made. So I mean, there's sometimes, like I get checks right now sometimes it would be a penny. And then I'll get checks that are thousands of dollars.

From the residual or whatever? From the residuals, yeah. But if you have a good stint on the movie, like a big part, it's pretty lucrative. So 2020 was lined up, but that's the year of COVID. Is that when, okay. Yeah, I actually was finishing two, I was doing two movies in New Orleans.

And my producer, who I was working with out there, he was like, we were just having this conversation, because I didn't really like being in LA. He's like, why are you there? Where else am I gonna go? It's like, I don't have the funds built right now to move somewhere, and he's like, dude, just do it. So I'm like, fuck.

So I did it. So I'm like, you know what? We had a pause for the holidays at the end of 19. Went back to LA, moved everything to Vegas, went back to New Orleans, finished filming, came back to Vegas, which is now home. And then I was supposed to be there for three weeks before I went to Boston for my next movie and then my producer after the first

Week he's like hey, there's this there's this like kovat thing going around so production Got pushed a little bit and then the next week it was like hey We're shutting down production for a little while and like everything just within three weeks. Just everything shut down. I'm like This has got to be a like when am I going to wake up from this because it made me realize everything that I was doing was relying on Hollywood. All the depth I had was in stunts, acting, technical advising, celebrity training. When that shut down I didn't have anything which was when I started launching my uh I was like I'm just going to launch my online coaching business and it did good.

This was during COVID that you launched it? During COVID. Yeah. And you were just using, I'm assuming just so, cause at the time we couldn't go anywhere. So it was social media. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, I didn't, I had no idea what I was doing. I've never been in the coaching space before. Didn't, didn't know how it all worked. I just know that I'm good at what I do when I'm working one-on-one with somebody but I was running myself

ragged because I didn't understand how to scale something and and you just adding clients I'm adding clients the next thing I know I'm like seven days a week shit I don't know when I'm gonna take a piss yeah how long did you do that for I did that for a couple of years. Okay. Yeah, and then. So was it like a light switch went off when the 2020 thing happened

as far as like financial for you? And then was it, did you pick it up right away or was it like a grind to get back? Like what was the- It was a grind to get back because not only that, but I'm like, you're just watching the deterioration of our country.

It was affecting me in a really bad way. I lost a lot of friends during this time too because as a veteran, when you're in the military, back to what you were saying before, you've got that sense of purpose, you've got that specific goal, mission, whatever it is, and then when you leave that, you have to recreate that somehow now in the regular world. And it can be very difficult. So when these guys are already struggling,

and then you see all this nonsense on top of it, they just give up. So is- Wait, so you're talking about suicide? Suicide, yeah. More military service people die from suicide than war, is the statistic that I read. It's bad.

Yeah. Were you dealing with, because I've read a little bit about you, you've had to deal with PTSD and some of that stuff. Were you aware of this at this point? Were you dealing with it or was it just in the background where you're trying to work? Oh yeah, it's, yeah, constantly dealing with it every day. This is actually when I had, there's a lady named Dr. Shauna Springer. She's just kind of one of the pioneers behind Stellic Ganglion Block. And I just felt like I was on a downward spiral, you know, 2020-2021. And that's somehow we connected. I think it was through a

mutual friend we connected and she was like, hey I would like to, you know, to do this for you and maybe we can, you know, see if we can help any other veterans too. So that's when I started really trying to address my own shortcomings because I was miserable. I couldn't sleep. I was just going to ask you, what were your symptoms of your PTSD? What did they look like? I was just someone you didn't want to be around.

I was all over the place. You know, every moment was fleeting into whatever the next one was. I didn't, I couldn't find happiness in anything I did. I didn't get excited about anything. I kept thinking back to, what else is going to go wrong now? It's like, you just, you just, your mind takes you in the

wrong direction. So it's like I'm trying to get my life on track, but my mind is taking me to a place that it's not going in the direction where I need it to go. Anxiety, depression, all of it. Which is crazy because you are a successful personal trainer. So I imagine you probably kept it together while you're with a client and you're probably training people like this. And then it was like, as soon as that, as soon as that interaction shut down, then you're, you're battling yourself, I would imagine. Cause there's no way you have that many clients and be that successful if you

were a mess while you were training them. So they probably didn't see or feel that, or am I wrong? Yeah. I think, I think when I'm busy and I'm engaged and I have something that I'm doing that keeps me aligned, it's easy to keep it together. It's when there's nothing going on. It's your silence and the cyclic thoughts that just continually bring you down

all these different rabbit holes that you don't really wanna be in. Any self-medicating at this point? And that's a common thing with things like cannabis or? I started doing cannabis when I moved to LA before sleep, before I went to bed at night because it just helped me sleep. And when I did the stellate ganglion block,

after that is when I was really fascinated with psilocybin. So started really going down that whole path and you know I was finding different things in my mind that helped me make sense of what was going on by using that medicine. But yeah outside of that not... Explain the block for the audience because I didn't know what it was until you guys started talking about it. So I don't know a ton of it just through what Dr. Khan explained to me, but essentially this is the communication pathway between the part of the brain that is kind of in this

loop of trauma and your body, right? So that block kind of prevents that from happening is that what it felt like when you got it like I recall them all of a sudden well so I'm laying on the table they go into the the c4 like then there's a nerve block on each side right and I remember seeing the needle and I was like how the

hell is that going on? That's going in my neck. So they yeah they So they numb it all up. And I remember when they went in, it just felt like, how do I describe it? You know when something is shrink-wrapped? It's like if you buy a blanket or something, it gets shipped to you, and it's like this big, and then you pop it open. And it opens. So it felt like everything expanded? I felt that whole sensation go across my entire body and then out of nowhere, I just started crying. Wow. So it was a powerful experience, but the thing with stellar ganglion block is it puts you back

into parasympathetic, but at the same time you, you have habits and, and, uh, specifically, uh, in your mind that you need to fix. Right. It's not, it's not done. You still have the patterns. There's the therapy that the, the follow on therapy that goes along with it. It's the fear response that has been blocked. It's the physical, physiological response that's gone, but now you can go through and work on it. And that's probably why you cried. It's probably like your body felt safe enough

to let you do that. Yeah, probably. Because I mean, I would just, I don't show very much emotion. I'm pretty straight across the board. Sure, sure. So you do that, you feel that relief right away. Were you like, did you have a vulnerability

hang over afterwards? Were you like, oh man, I just cried in front of these people? What's going on? No, no, actually, surprisingly I didn't. Okay, great. And I wanted to talk about it more because it was a powerful experience. Now once you did that and you're going into therapy,

are you able to visit memories and things that were maybe too hard before? Or was it different visiting certain things? Well, this is where I didn't take it all the way to the end because I started getting on these calls talking and I'm like this is not what I envision you know it being. I don't do good with therapy I think probably because as a kid I had some bad experiences with therapy and I'm just like you know back to the the mindset of you're not gonna understand what I'm

saying. Right. Like I can't, I have no relatability with you. I can't talk to you about this. And when I watch you writing notes and yeah, like I, it kind of rubs me the wrong way and then I can feel myself kind of pull back. So you didn't do that all the way, but you got some relief. I got some relief from it,

but I just realized that, man, I got a lot of work to do on myself, so. How do you think people like you, because there's a lot of veterans who come out with PTSD, obviously the block helped a lot, but it's not the complete story. How do you think they should visit that? Because the therapy you said doesn't work for you, I know a lot of men that not the complete story. How do you think they should visit that? Because the therapy you said doesn't work for you, I know a lot of men that say the same thing.

By the way, I know a lot of men without PTSD that say the same thing and I think that might maybe because a lot of therapy is geared towards the female mind and not necessarily the male mind which is a bit different. How do you think they should progress or move forward? Do you talk to them? Do you help them on it? Okay. Well, great question because this is where transcend comes in. The way I look at all this now, when I came back to the States and I see it across the board with most veterans who get out

is they go to the VA. Who knows how long and how much BS you're gonna have to go along with the VA to get the right help. So if you can just get your blood work done and see what the hell's wrong with you and then address it hormonally the right way, you're probably gonna have a much better outcome than trying to do all these post-traumatic stress therapies and all this other stuff,

because me thinking about it now, toad venom, psilocybin, stelliganglum, like, all right, but if that, like it can help mentally, but if my endocrine system is off. If you feel like garbage, you feel like garbage. Yeah. Physically.

Yeah. So my recommendation to everybody is, especially when you get out, the first thing you should be doing is blood work. Blood work. Yeah. And PTSD or stress in general is strongly correlated with hormone disruption. So, and this is just for anybody, like if you're just overstressed, which PTSD is tremendous stress on the body.

You're just stuck in a sympathetic state. Right. So this is just tremendous stress on the body. But even if you don't have PTSD, you're in tons of stress, job, divorce, whatever, your hormones got effect, especially over long periods of time. And for men that looks like low testosterone, almost always. For women, it looks like all kinds of different things.

Inverted cortisol, you know, the cortisol is low in the morning, comes high at night type of deal. And balancing that out doesn't fix the issue, but at least you physically feel good. So now you can, it's like a stronger version of myself can move forward versus- Would you say the biggest sort of

Once you figured out how to balance your hormones and everything in terms of your sleep. Was that like the biggest? Difference you saw right away or yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and then I mean I've never been one to wear like, you know lecture like trackable whatever you want to call these things, but You can really start putting pieces together that makes sense. Like, oh that's why I feel like that. I felt like this for so many times over the past, you know, however many years and it's like put like once you get your blood work done and you have data, like you can really start putting the pieces together. And like, I mean, I feel like you can really make a massive correction. But right now we're like we're so used to being stuck in this this baseline of unhealth that we don't even know what it feels like to be at

what normal really is yeah yeah that's my favorite thing when I when I train a client and they start to get healthier and they're like I had no idea how bad I felt. All of a sudden I just feel you know so our bodies are so resilient and they're adaptation machines and they do such a good job so many people are walking around so subpar but they think they're fine because they don't know what optimal feels like you know and then you get optimal and you're like, oh shit, this is what it's supposed to feel like. Yeah, it's amazing. You know, and in the military also too, I don't understand why there's not more, there's not something in place that helps with that so that way when you get out,

you don't have to deal with it. Like you can address it from the beginning because when you're in these, When you get out, you don't have to deal with it. Like you can address it from the beginning because when you're in these, you know, all these hostile environments and you're, you know, you're just expected to be a superhuman. But yet you're not fed like one, you don't get to sleep like one. Like nothing matches.

So when you get out, you're just, you're messed. That's the point, is the protocol when you get back. People don't understand that the trauma response is an adaptive survival response. So it actually serves you well when you're in the environment where you need to be on guard all the time. But when you go back to a quiet, normal life, it's a mismatch. So it's like I have this adaptation that is now hardwired because of where I was and where I was, rockets I was rockets are flying

over me and stuff's happening but now I'm you know training people I'm in a gym and that trauma response that adaptation is terrible for this life but I can't turn it off so that's kind of becomes... Did you have moments do you have like big like I would imagine someone like that that is was coming from a place where they're on edge like that did you have moments? Do you have like big, like I would imagine someone like that that was coming from a place where they're on edge like that. Did you have moments where you caught yourself like snap over something like stupid, like you spilled coffee and all of a sudden you fucking put a hole through a wall or did you do things that like kind of woke yourself up of like,

oh, I've got I've got something going on. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, not in front of like clients and stuff, but in my own, behind my own walls of my house, it was, yeah, I mean, I've had to patch up quite a few holes. And definitely, especially when you're in a relationship, you really learn how much is wrong with you. Yeah, yeah. I would kick myself for not asking you this,

but do you have a spiritual component to this, to look back? Because the things that you're lining up, the odds that those things would line up the way they did are super crazy. It's almost like you were put in those places. New Orleans and everything, yeah. And you're given these opportunities for something,

for some purpose. Honestly, it's one component that's allowed me to keep going because I've just wanted to give up so much. That component of knowing that, like this path is special. There's a reason why I've been presented with all these amazing opportunities. Granted, these amazing opportunities

have presented themselves when I've had to hit rock bottom again. But I think there's something to the story that even I don't know what it is yet. And not only that, but also too, there's a responsibility that I feel like I have with my life to do something in honor of the people who didn't make it back. There's just, there's so much inspiration I think behind what continues to

give me life right now to keep going. But from what you just said is 100% true. Do you, are you currently training people? Is this what you still do? No, no, right now I'm, so with Transcend I'm trying to just be, I want to be a walking billboard for like how healthy you can be and how much you can continually evolve in the right way, no matter what your age is. And there's a long story behind the whole thing with Transcend, but I want to build a platform. I want to give people hope. I want them to hear my story and I want them to know no matter how many times you get knocked down,

you can always get back up. And I want to be an inspiration for my family. I want to change the course of my family's history. I want to, you know, I want my daughters to look back and realize that I wasn't neglecting them. I was really just trying to stay alive. Yeah, there are so just trying to stay alive. Um, yeah, there, there, there's so many pieces to this question.

When 2020 hit and you had to go online, was this the point at which you reached out to Andy Elliot to help you build an online presence? Was that what, what, what point did you meet him? Um, so there's, there are a few businessmen who I know and I have had respect for. They've helped me. They're the ones who kept telling me you need to meet this guy. So I met him in Vegas and he really pitched this great idea to do something fitness related because he preaches fitness and all this stuff. And I think this was really before a lot of people knew who he was. He was just starting to go viral. So I bit like a lot of other people did and I moved out to Scottsdale to do something with him, with his business, but also to on, for my business with fitness, to use that unique synergy.

Yes. Before 2020 or is it? This was right after I started online coaching. So this was the summer, this was, I moved out there in the summer of 23, and I met him in like April or May of 23. Okay, so he's just starting to pop off around that time. Just starting to pop off. No one really knew what was going on with him.

And then you, so he pitches you on this idea, hey let's go build this fitness army together, you know, you with all of your connections, your background, your physique, everything that me with my business savviness. And then we're going to build this together. You move, you actually relocate moved everything. And then you guys start building together. What does that look like? Are you guys meeting every single day? Is he, are you doing something for him and what are you doing for him in return? Is he supposed to do something for you? Like, what does that look like? Yeah, he was supposed to help build out a CRM. We were, you know, basically for really high end, you know, business clientele to give them a very unique fitness

experience, which I was excited about because I can do that. I just don't know how to build. I'm not a tech guy. I'm sure old school knuckle-draggar. And in return, I would be the face of his company for fitness. Man, none of it materialized. And I started learning very quick that I had made a wrong move coming out there, but I'm already out there So now I need to figure out how to make this work trying to make the best of it. Yeah, it's like I'm pretty resilient. I can I can figure this out, but it just kept getting worse and worse

In terms of follow-through, it's just a lot of talk. A lot of talk. I mean, I would get up on stage with him sometimes, and I'm like, I don't even know how he's going to introduce me. There's no plan. Well, it's not only that, but it's like, when you lie so much that you don't know what the truth is anymore, it's kind of hard to like decipher from the two.

Yeah, I mean, get up on stage, he's telling people he moved me out there, he bought me a house, he bought me a truck, he's talking about me training all these celebrities that I've never trained. I'm like, I don't know, like this is. Oh man. Wow, like that. Yeah, just cause it started getting a little bit embarrassing and. Did you say anything to him? Like, hey man, no, that was true. Why mention that?

The way he is, he's a very difficult person to talk to. It's his way or no way. Yeah, he comes off that way, for sure. Yeah. So I was, you know, there was a fitness company in place called Earn it All. There was kind of the fitness company there. I was coming in to just be the face of it all.

And Earn it all. He kicked him to the curb in December. So what ended up happening on my side was from November of 23 until May of 24, they didn't pay me a penny. So that whole plan like backfired in the worst way possible. I got to imagine that your military background, you probably trust people, you're loyal to a fault and that's why you lasted that long without getting paid until finally we're like okay this is getting crazy. Yeah, yeah it's... I started learning about what was going on behind the scenes and when I actually made the

move to leave and people found out that I was gone. The amount of people who reached out to me in sharing their stories with me, I was embarrassed and sick to my stomach that I was actually a part of that. There's no human resources department at that company. So it's like you have nowhere to go if you have an issue.

Sure. So all these people are losing thousands of dollars not getting anything just like I didn't get the CRM. I'm supposed to come in there and you know make this what we talked about it being. But he's very he's he's he's just a very He's just really good with his words, you know, what do they say you can sell ice to an Eskimo? Yeah, he's like the ultimate used car salesman. I mean he comes off that way. I mean, that's it to me That's what I don't know him personally, but obviously seen him. We've been around enough online that It's like yeah, he's a he's quick, smooth talker and probably does pretty well at manipulating people or getting people to believe in what he's gonna do, which he has no intention to ever following through.

And then once he gets what he needs from you, then he's just kind of on to the next. And if he did a good enough job of leading you on, but never really inking anything on paper or doing like that, then he probably just takes advantage of a lot of people that way. And I've heard stories like that trickling out. I have friends over that are connected to the Baller Buster page. I've known that page since it first started. The guy's behind that. And so I've watched them kind of unfold. It sounds like

he's got a lot of cases against him. Yeah. And, you know, talking to a lot of these people after the fact, they either don't have the money to legally fight it, or the people who do have the money just don't have the bandwidth or the time to mess with it. So, I mean, I've got the amount of messages and the list of people. Like I have it. I'm not, it ain't going nowhere. I'm not saying I'm a pissed off Marine after somebody, but like it's not right to do that

to people. And the day of reckoning will come, whether it's through me, whether it's through the government, whether it's through somebody or some entity or something. Yeah, you can't rip off that many people and get away with it. Yeah, it'll catch up. I think what we're in this weird, all of us being the age we are, right? We were here before it and we're in the middle of it now with social media and the explosion of it. It's just a weird time that someone like that can make a lot of money really quick

before they get found out. I just, you couldn't do that. Of course there's always been scammers and people that have been around forever well before the internet and social media, but because of how fast somebody can grow and the attention they can garner so quickly, even if they're getting, they're screwing over five people, if they can get a hundred new people on

fast enough. Eventually it catches up. It's eventually does. The term snake oil salesman comes from that. So, you know, when those guys move town to town, they go from town to town selling fake elixirs and stuff and they'd sell a bunch of them and they'd leave before people would be like, hey, this didn't cure my cough, this gave me whatever and they'd be in the next town. They just keep going until eventually it catches up to them. So eventually you get found out. What makes me annoyed is that Fitness Space has got these people and they use fitness

to prey on people either through selling bogus supplements or selling other fitness people that they can help build their business. And you can make a lot of money, you know, follow my program or whatever. We're seeing a lot of that now, which is really frustrating. See, this whole coaching space is so new to me. Like when I launched my online coaching business, I just did it like, I know I can help people.

And all I know is customize coaching. Right. Which is, I mean, it's time consuming. Yeah, it's not cut and paste. No. So it's like, but at the same time, having went through this experience, and then working at the Elliott Group,

and then going around to be with all these other influencers everywhere else. And I'm like, this is literally a circle jerk of dudes using each other. Yeah, dude, it's 100%. So it's like I feel dirty. I feel dirty. Like anytime I see anybody pop up that has anything to do with that entity,

I unfollow them, I block them, whatever it is. I just don't want to see any of it. I want to cleanse, I feel like I want to go back to before I even knew who he was. Because, granted, my life wasn't amazing, but at the same time I was building something that was out of integrity and authenticity. And I was literally helping people.

Like I got a lady, this real estate lady up in the New England area. She's big time Sotheby's lady and I changed her life and she's writing a book about it. And I'm like, so it's like the little things that make all the difference in the world to me are the stuff that these coaches could give two shits about because all they're in it for is the money or the accolades or whatever. Yeah. You sound like a real trainer. Yep.

That's one of the things we're trying to do right now is we got fed up with that. We got fed up with that whole space. So we entered into it and you know, luckily we have a platform like this podcast where we could call people out and they'll have a tough time hiding. So that's what we've been doing a lot lately.

It's so good, man. What you guys are doing is so good. Yeah. When did you actually find the podcast? We were talking off air and you had said that even before you got to Transcend, you had come across a podcast. You remember when it was? How you found?

I mean, you can scroll back in my social media like several years ago and I've reposted some of your guys' stuff. Oh, really? Oh cool, that's cool. That's great. Oh yeah, that's really cool. So at the moment you're really trying to be a spokesperson for health and fitness and now how are you doing that?

You're working with Transcend, we all work with them, large company. Are you, do you have somebody managing social media? Are you doing speaking engagements? So where I'm at right now, I feel like 2025 is the year that I, everything that's happened, I pull it all together and then I'll find out later this year where all this is going. I don't have a social media manager,

I don't have social media, nothing. I kept trying to go down this path of talking to these PR people and you know And social media people and it's like, you know, well, this is the strategy and I'm like, I don't understand Like I just for authentic people to get it, bro When you're a real person, it's really hard to connect with these social media strategies that they want you to do.

Hack the algorithm. Yeah, I'm like, I don't know what the algorithm is, I don't care about what it is, like, let me do this, let me just share what I'm doing. So that's what I'm doing right now. And granted, I don't have the reach of millions and whatever, I think that'll eventually hit a number where it's supposed to be, but I don't have the reach of millions and whatever. I think that'll eventually hit a number where it's supposed to be, but I don't sit there

and think about all these different posts that I'm gonna do and how they're gonna look. And I'm not paying attention to the metrics of it all, the data, like, I just wanna post things on there that people have asked me about several times over the years. And I'm like, here it is. You're good. This is what we're trying to teach the trainers and coaches that are with us that have gone through our course.

And by the way, one of the challenges that we have is when we were working with, we have a marketing team and company that we work with, that their greatest challenge is that we refuse to say things like, oh, make your first 10,000 in 30 days. And it's like, no, if you're going to be a good trainer, it's going to take a fucking long time. You're going to train people for a long time. You got to get good. You're going to suck at it for a while.

Then you're going to learn. Then you get better. And it's going to be a slow process, but it's really rewarding. And the good part is if you can stick through it and you can stay with it, then it will build and then it'll stay. And you'll have a career. You will, and you'll have a solid foundation. If I showed you some gimmick how to do some crazy challenge

to make $10,000 next month, I can't promise you you're gonna be a great trainer two years from now because you did that. You might make a quick 10 grand, but that doesn't make you a good trainer. It's a long time to be that. If this makes you feel any better, we did it. The, what you're talking about, that's how we built this company.

That's right. That's how we did. And I'll tell you what, we, we, we had a year there where we had somebody help us try to shake, chase the algorithm for a second. It was the worst thing we ever did. And a year, a year into it, we looked at each other like, fire him. We're going our own way. Yeah. And it was awesome.

Alien thing for us. Yes, man. It resonated. Yeah, dude. You're doing it the right way. You're actually trying to make an impact. And that's what builds a career. And by the way, we've been doing this for 10 years. Do you know how many people we've seen come and go who try to hack the algorithm? Yeah, how many? Andy Elliott's that are famous for a couple years and then gone. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. They make a run for a little bit because they know how to help the algorithm or they all like you said they're all in a big circle jerk helping each other elevate and then they get found out and then nobody cares again. Yeah. That whole space they're dropping like flies right now. They are.

But yeah I mean I just like being authentic because it's easy and I want to worry about anything Like that yeah better get what you see yeah, that's great, but uh, I wanted to just mention one more thing I work with this other company called catalyst. I don't know if you've ever heard we do know that Why do we know somebody mentioned that before app? What is it? It's it's I call it the future of fitness. It's like an EMS, like EMS fitness, right? So it's got a base layer, tinsel suit. Oh, so it's STEM. Yeah. And the reason I mentioned that is because, you know, back to the veteran piece, but also to anybody. So I say the veteran piece, because that's how I got involved with them. It's

a tool where, let's just say you can't get into the gym because of whatever injury you might have or ailment or whatever, or for the normal person time. This suit is, you can have a 20 minute workout and literally be more sore than any workout I've ever done. And I say that because the first time I used it I was... Pull it up Doug. I'm like this is kind of gimmicky. I'm not a gimmicky guy. And they took me through a 20-minute session. My shoulder was a little bit bad. Yep. Now you do exercise while it's on. So this is like I told you about before where a lot of it's become so popular and even in

the bodybuilding world where they're hooking up to east end while they do a movement. So while you're moving it also fires the muscles that are being. Yeah so essentially it's instructor led on an iPad and it's Bluetooth so as the instructor increases the intensity it increases on yours too. But while you're moving. While you're moving. While you're moving. I just read a study on this.

So Catalyst's first claim to fame or big deal was Usain Bolt. So if you look at him at the very beginning, it almost looks like he's a suicide bomber. The technology has come so far. But this EMS stuff is big over in Europe. We're just kind of slow to get to it. But I was working with a paraplegic with it. That's got to be valuable for them because they can't. Yeah.

And this is what I go back to the veterans stuff on, these guys who might be missing limbs or can't do certain things. I could see a lot of value with certain clients like that for sure. It's a really great utility. Yeah. I just read a study on this where exercise in addition to STEM. So at the same time produced better strength gains. So this is different than the old school STEM, right? You know, it's funny because this is what this is.

Leave it to the bodybuilder community. They're the ones to figure this out. They have, I've been talking about this on the podcast for a while now that I'm like, man, the big movement right now with, I see all my bodybuilder buddies doing is they're hooking themselves up to the C-STEM and then they're deadlifting and they're training And it's like firing their quads while they squat. Yeah, the first time I did it I was By the end by the end of the session which was 20 minutes I'm now I'm talking to him at the end and I'm already noticing my upper chest was already getting a little bit sore and Then the next day it was like my triceps and then the next day my glutes

And then the next day my adductors and it but it just kept getting deeper and deeper I was sore for seven days from using this It's what you have to plug it in the wall, huh, it's got enough power. Oh shit. You don't have to plug it in the wall, huh? It's got enough power? Oh yeah. It's got a battery pack. You just pop the battery pack in there and when you're done you just charge it.

So interesting. I wonder if you could use, well I guess not, because it's got to set up with the app. But I wonder if you could use that while lifting. So you could go bench press and then. I don't think. It goes with the app, right?

It goes with the app. I mean if there was a hack around it, there's, what the we were talking about using it while we training it and I don't remember what the conversation went But basically it's not a good thing to do because it can be too much. Yeah, you drop a weight or so And it goes up it goes up. This one goes up to level 500 The highest I've been able to get it up is like 270. really it's too much after that's too much oh wow wow that's cool that looks cool how much that cost I could really see the benefits of that with over the client that coming out of especially when they can't fire a muscle

oh yeah especially connection for sure yeah's cool. There's so much utility to it, but back to what you were asking before. I'm getting back into film and TV stuff, it's already happening. I just did some stunt work at the beginning of the year. I got two different productions that I'm casting right now that will happen later this year. And I want to just get on, I wanna get on podcasts and just really just talk about everything that I haven't talked about before, which is why I'm doing everything on social media

right now, sharing everything I've never shared before. Because I've always just kinda used social media as like, I hate saying the ego, cause I don't feel like I have an ego, but I guess I do, cause before it was like, oh, here's look at me, I'm't feel like I have an ego but I guess I do because before it was like oh Here's look at me. I'm on fucking I'm on set again But I'm just trying to be more more mindful now of

Creating a little more value. Do you have a Favorite Hollywood or celebrity memory for yourself so far I mean getting into a world that you probably just didn't expect yourself to be in or even identify with, you had to have a, to keep doing it, you must've had some cool moments. You have one that stands out. There's a lot, it just depends on where at, if it's in the celebrity training side, the stunts, the acting, because I've been, on the acting piece,

I didn't mention it before, but essentially, the reason why I fell in love with acting is it became another source of therapy. Yeah. Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, so it was like when up to this, up until the acting stuff, it's just always been the gym. Like the gym is my outlet, the gym is my therapy.

Yeah. When I got into the acting stuff, and you get with a legit acting coach, and you realize how much technique and craft is there because it's like, all right, well, you have the technical side of acting and you have the method side of acting, but also too, you have so many different layers underneath. So if you're going to read for a part or you got cast for a certain role as this character, well, you have to create in your mind why this character is the way this character is. So you go back to childhood and you create a whole story.

And then it allows you to kind of use all these emotions and then you get into animal work and all this stuff. It's like my coach had me slither around on the floor like a snake reading lines. And I'm like, is this serious or are you messing with me? Yeah, but it's really cool. I saw one pic where you looked like an orc. What character was that? That was Bright on Netflix. Oh, oh that's right.

Yeah, so Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, during the movie there's this group of like five orcs. So that's us. And that, that, that whole, that whole prosthetic stuff was pretty cool too. Cause it's a lot. I mean, it's like six hours or how long did it take to put makeup on the first week when we were doing all the camera testing, it was, I was in that seat or we were in the seat, probably eight to 12 hours a day.

Wow. Just doing, just, just getting everything right once we had it honed in It was three and a half hours to get it on you had your full filming day and then About another 30 minutes to an hour to get off. Oh my god. That's intense cold glue on your face I mean, it's like the fact that uh I mean, it's like the fact that, uh, uh, Joel Edgerton did it every single day. Like I only had about maybe a month and a half of work on it. How was it? How was it training? Uh, uh, Stallone. I mean, when I was a kid,

I grew up watching his, you know, he's, he's, he's, he's great, man. Like, I think, uh, just having the fitness piece in common with them. Yeah the conversation flow so so much better we had just a lot a lot to talk about and That was probably one of the more surreal moments for me Not that I'm a celebrity struck type guy But when when you grow up watching Rambo and rocking come on man you have to all of a sudden now you're in front of them Like let's go. Yeah, it's It's pretty cool. Did you work out with him? No, no.

Well, at that point, he's older too. But still, he's still a badass. You see some of the stuff he does. Yeah, he really is. For sure he is. Anybody surprise you? Anybody totally different than what you would expect or anything like that?

A lot of women are not a good way. But JK Simmons is a good one. but JK Simmons is a good one. Josh Brolin is a good one. Yeah. When you say not a good way, obviously you don't have to tell us who, but what do you mean by that? They're just jerks. Pretentious.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like when they come in, you don't know how they're going to be. Sometimes they come in, they shake your hand, give you a hug. Sometimes they walk in and don't even acknowledge you, let alone, like, are we, are we even training together or are you doing your own thing today? I don't, I don't know. You said you didn't like to live in LA. I can only imagine why.

What was it about LA that like? I feel like you would stick out like a sore thumb in LA. Maybe not. It kind of looks like an act. He's all jacked, but LA's, man, when I fly in there for work, I can just feel it right up there. You know what I found very interesting about moving to LA, specifically within the fitness scene, but also too in the celebrity training space,

is a lot of these trainers, there's no method to what they do. They're just moving people around to make them sweat. Yeah. Yeah. And- That's everywhere, bro. I know.

And the next thing you know, it's like this somehow they got hooked up with a big name celebrity. So now this celebrity's getting them press. This trainer doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Yeah. And it's just a really it's a really wild thing. Cause it's a, it's very much so personal training and it's been this way forever. Yeah, exactly. Even in the, I remember finding this out in the sports world.

I remember thinking like, oh, you know, this, this pro athlete must have the best trainer. And when you actually get to meet these athletes it's like my cousin who got certified right he's like fresh out of school you know first client is him and he's letting him train him it's like dude you're a pro athlete what are you doing with this kid who has no idea what is there's a lot of that there's a lot there's a lot of that i mean i i want to believe that uh i think trainers are getting more credibility today i think as far as their knowledge, but I think back say 10 15 years ago It's like it's just who you knew I did you do you know somebody who's in acting and then you know

I'm saying if we'll go get your basic cert now you're training them You know I'm saying like you don't have to have any real experience or anything. You know, I really enjoy Helping just a normal everyday person because they're the ones who are lost. Yeah, they're the ones who You can literally change their life and like, you know, one or two months agreed. Yep There's just so much conflicting information out there that they don't know where to start and they need direction when you can give them That direction when you can give them that guidance when you put them on the right path It's it's amazing what can happen So so different than somebody who's getting paid to look away for a part or paid to get out

millions of dollars to perform on the field. Totally different than the person who... Yeah, I got a job, I got three kids. Maybe not even like, I don't like even like this. I don't like working out and you get them to fall in love with it and it become a lifestyle and change their life, their family's life, that's always way more rewarding. I agree, totally. Awesome, well thanks for coming on the show, man. I could talk to you guys all day.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll do it again for sure. We'll definitely do it again. And you're definitely a real, I mean, I could smell them out just by talking to them and you definitely are the kind of person that we communicate to our trainers, like these are the things you need to value

to really make this a good career otherwise it'll either be tough for you or it'll be it'll be fleeting so yeah yeah you're on the right track stay the course dude appreciate it stay the course appreciate you guys and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Super Bundle at mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Super Bundle includes maps anabolic, maps performance, and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs.

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