Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 553: Elliott Hulse Talks Fitness with Mind Pump

Episode Date: July 17, 2017

In this episode Sal, Adam & Justin visit Elliott Hulse at his home in Tampa, Florida. They dive into Elliott's childhood, fitness philosophy, his fitness business, getting his YouTube channel to over 1 million subscribers and the principles by which he lives his life. Elliott Hulse is an internationally renowned Strength & Conditioning Coach, Strongman, Author, Social Media Celebrity, Mentor, Holistic Life Coach With over 2.5 Million viewers through his YouTube channel “Strength Camp” he made himself a name for unifying the development of the body and the mind. You can find Elliott on: Instagram: @elliotthulse www.elliotthulse.com YouTube: Elliott Hulse’s Strength Camp & Elliott Hulse Facebook: Elliotthulse Get our newest program, MAPS Prime Pro, which shows you how to self assess and correct muscle recruitment patterns that cause pain and impede performance and gains. Get it at www.mindpumpmedia.com! Get MAPS Prime, MAPS Anywhere, MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, MAPS Aesthetic, the Butt Builder Blueprint, the Sexy Athlete Mod AND KB4A (The MAPS Super Bundle) packaged together at a substantial DISCOUNT at www.mindpumpmedia.com. Make EVERY workout better with MAPS Prime, the only pre-workout you need… it is now available at mindpumpmedia.com Have Sal, Adam & Justin personally train you via video instruction on our YouTube channel, Mind Pump TV. Be sure to Subscribe for updates. Get your Kimera Koffee at www.kimerakoffee.com, code "mindpump" for 10% off! Got a beard? Condition your beard with Big Top Beard Company’s natural oils and organic essential oil blends to make it not only feel great but smell amazing! Get Big Top Beard Company products at www.bigtopbeardcompany.com, code "mindpump" for 33% off. Add to the incredible brain enhancing effect of Kimera Koffee with www.brain.fm/mindpump 10 Free sessions! Music for the brain for incredible focus, sleep and naps! Please subscribe, rate and review this show! Each week our favorite reviewers are announced on the show and sent Mind Pump T-shirts!

This month, we have released a brand new program, Maps Prime Pro. This is the first program we've actually put together that is specifically designed to correct imbalances, to assess recruitment patterns and to fix some of these issues. We actually had to recruit Dr. Justin Brink to really help us out a lot with this

because we wanted to take this a lot further than even the knowledge that me, Adam, and Justin share in terms of correctional exercise. I mean, we get into depth with this program. We look at the wrists, we look at the neck, we look at the lumbar spine, we look at the ankles, the toes. I mean, we get the shoulders, we get in depth with all of those areas and most of the movements

that you find in Maps Prime Pro, you've probably never seen before. It's a very unique program, it's extremely popular since releasing it, lots of people have enrolled in it. It's especially valuable to people in the fitness industry, so if you're a personal trainer, it's invaluable tool for you to use on your clients. And it's because it's new this month. It's also on discount. So the price is discounted.

You can find it at mindpumpmedia.com. If you wanna pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind, pop, mind, pop with your hosts. Salta Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. So me and the boys went down to Florida, not that long ago, and met with a few key individuals in the fitness industry.

And one of them was Elliott Hulse. He was someone I was very well aware of before even getting started with Mind Pump. He's somebody that me, Adam and Justin kind of looked up to. He's an internationally renowned strength and conditioning coach. He's a strong man, he's an author. He's a social media celebrity, a holistic life coach.

He's one of those interesting individuals in fitness that combines kind of this like strength training, this you know that side of fitness, but also combines it with the holistic side. One of the very few people to do those things and he's got this very motivational Quality to him and you know when you meet someone like this you kind of think to yourself You know is this person really gonna be like that? Is that really how they are? Well, he's definitely like that. That's exactly how he is He's got over two and a half million viewers on his YouTube channel.

It's called Strength Camp. And he made it himself. He actually had no intentions of it really growing that big, but it did. Actually, he talks about it in this episode. We have some great conversations with him. We talk about his childhood, talk about his motivations, his injuries, what he's learned along the way. You can find Elliot Holst on Instagram at Elliott Hulse that's E-L-L-I-O-T-T H-U-L-S-E his website is ElliottHulse.com his YouTube channel is Elliott Hulse's Strength Camp

and his Facebook is Elliott Hulse. So without any further ado here is Elliott Hulse. So I want to get back to what I was just asking you, Elliott. I mean, I've been following you for quite some time on YouTube watching what you're doing. You seem kind of like a one-man show. Do you have others that you use to help you or you buy yourself? How does that work for you? No, like I mentioned earlier, I have a wonderful partner in a young man that started out as one of my clients. And over the years, he's increased his amount of responsibility

that I've given him. And it started with answering emails and helping me train some clients and helping me edit my videos to now where he's such a great leader and he's such a great manager. And he's the right person he always has been to be my partner. So with Strength Camp, I've got multiple branches of Strength Camp, but he is a key player. His name's Chris Barnard, and he's a key player

in everything that we do. Then we also have a great support staff of coaches, and what I've mentioned earlier, is that when you end up working for me, I may hire you for one thing, but I'm always looking for your talents, you may end up wearing multiple hats. We have people that started out as interns, like Chris, you know, started out as my client, as an intern, and as it's possible for you to expand, as a human being, I want to be there

to support that so that we can all win. So if you happen to be a trainer, but you're also good at copywriting, writing, I have one trainer that now he trains and he writes for me. So I'm not looking for a lot of people. I'm looking for the right people that can support the whole thing. Because we're not going on.

When you said that off air, the first thing comes to mind is just, that's incredible, great leadership. And I love talking to guys like yourself who've been doing this for 15, 18, 20 years of your life. Did you evolve to that leader, or were you always kind of natural leader? I know you did sports younger too,

were you always a kind of a leader, or has that you evolved now? You've gotten to that type of a person now. Well, the type, I've always been a leader. I was the first of four children. I'm in Aries, which is the first sign and my whole life. The type of leader I am has evolved over time,

but I came out leading. How has it evolved? What was it like before? What is it like now? As opposed to the past, where it was more Elliot focused. My leadership now is more other person focused, meaning how can I best mentor you? Be there with you, be your friend so that I can pull the best out of you so that we can

do incredible work together. What are your true ambitions and what are your true talents? I want to know these things so that I can nurture that in you so that we all win. So I'm looking, I said this to Chris when we first started working together, I said, don't get very attached to what you're doing for me right now. I like you. It's you I'm investing in not this position because I saw multiple talents in him. I saw he's a very gifted person. So the type of leadership that I have evolved into is to continue that process of just investing in people.

Now take us back. What, tell us your story a little bit. What got you started in, I mean, what led you to where you're at now? I know you did a lot of sports in the past and how did you first get into the fitness industry? How did strength camp start? How did all of the start? Well, I first came across the idea that number one, fitness is actually a business. You can actually have a profession in fitness back in 2000. I'm sorry back in 1994 when my uncle showed up one day with a gym bag and he told us about his new profession

which by the way he worked for himself that was the second thing that I discovered at that moment when I was 14 years old watching my uncle be a personal trainer. And so he also was my mentor when I was four years old he started teaching me how to exercise he was at the martial arts. Then at that moment in 1994, he started training me

and my brothers had a lift in the basement with a power act just like this. So I was born to be into fitness. It's in my DNA. My uncle was there as a mentor from childhood to the point where I had to make a decision about what I'm gonna do with my life. And I know immediately because he introduced me to the love for fitness and that

I can make a living working for myself in fitness. So you instantly had a passion for it and what was the first business you did in fitness? What was the first job or, you know, how did it start? My first jobs you might say was training my friends, my football player friends. I played football across the street. My high school is literally across the street for my house. And my uncle began teaching me and my brother had a lift in the basement. And so I was showing up bigger, stronger, and faster than the other athletes. They wanted to know what's going on. The coaches wanted to know what's going on. And so I would invite them. I invited them. There are several times, you know, there are six, eight kids

in my parents' basement, and I'm showing them how to lift the barbell, you know, I'm 16 years old. So I've been doing this work since I started doing work. It's what I've been put here to do. Wow. So what I love too to ask is a guy like you is, how many, because we talk about this on mine, Pupilot. We like to share our journey with everybody. And a lot of the pitfalls and maybe some of the stupid things that I used to say when I was 22, thinking

that I was giving good information, but science is evolved or later did I find out that this was a lot of bullshit that was being fed to me for a greater company trying to market and sell. Did you have moments in your career that like stick out to you that were very transformative for you as far as evolving as a trainer that like, oh, I used to kind of believe this one way or talk a lot this way and I've kind of changed directions over those years? I gotta tell you, we had a conversation earlier

about Paul Check. Yeah. I was lucky enough to be introduced to Paul Check at 22 years old. So I didn't get too far doing stupid shit. That's good. You know, I immediately was drawn to the truth that the man lives and spits.

And you know, I watched those videos. And I immediately, you know, within months, I was miles ahead of other trainers. So I was one looking around like judging them. You guys don't know what they're doing. So maybe that did now, did you catch yourself ever at one point? Because that probably did build a lot of confidence. At young 20 year old going like, what the fuck are all these guys doing?

Did you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder for a while? Maybe did you, there it is. Maybe that was the paradigm shadow. Taking moment for a while. Not only has that chip played a significant role in my life, but the healing from that chip. Oh wow. Has been a tremendous thing in my life.

What was the damage that caused that made that you needed to heal from? I've always been arrogant. It's in my nature. Once again, born leader, aries, fire, arrogant and smart, knowing you're good and being good is a great place to be. That's why I have that big gold button back there that you were so fascinated with because I'm good and I know I'm good. Well, that's a great recipe for humility to be introduced into your life. It's a my life. You'll get that lesson taught. Yeah, it's coming.

So I've had it come in many different ways, at many different times in my life. One of the most obvious are the amount of injuries that I've sustained because I can just go. I can just do it. Well, talk about the first one, the first one that really woke you up. Because I mean, the way you're talking right now,

by the way, you're in good company with people who think they know. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing that. It's right. And I mean, I can speak personally, I've personally been taught that lesson many, many times that no, you don't know what you think you know and you're not as good as you think you know the less you really know. And every time I come out of it, I come out of it thinking, oh, I know now and I'm better and I'm, this is never going to happen again.

And then I get knocked back down again. Let's talk, talk to us about the first time that happened. The first big, I don't know what you want to call it, wake up call or less than where you were like, oh, I'm human. Or maybe I'm not as good as I thought it was. I don't know. Restate the question one more time so I can wrap it. What was the heart around you? I guess you said injuries. Like what was the first big injury where you were like, oh no, I'm not Superman. When were you aware of how big your ego was?

Oh, I was aware of how big my ego was when I was seven years old. I mean, you know, it was established that way, being the first son and, you know, yeah. It's interesting. I know what you're saying, but it's interesting because with each slap that I've gotten, I knew it was coming and I knew I deserved it. And not only did I deserve it, but it was there to help transform me, to help grow me into what I truly am. So each one of these experiences, I never lamented too long or beat myself up too much. I could probably think of a few, but I also immediately began to think about how this thing is blessing rather than a curse. A lot of people dwell, and they have regrets and resent.

I don't carry much regrets or resent, but I get the injuries and I own them. So I've torn both biceps, torn my achilles tendon. Heck, when I was five years old, I ran smack into the corner of a wall and split between my two eyes. Not only do I have two different color of my eyes, but I have a split between.

What is this saying about this person? You're still handsome, bro. You're still fucking handsome. It's okay. It's all good, bro. Yeah, a lot of people talk about seeking happiness, but what I find more resonating is finding purpose. Because always being happy doesn't really make sense because you don't have anything to compare it to.

Like what's happening? That would be boring. Well what is being happy if you don't know what's that is? What is light without dark? And finding purpose to me always resonated more because you're gonna have, I mean, life. Shit's gonna suck sometimes. Sometimes it's gonna suck really bad. And really the way you come out of it or at least the way I've learned to come out of those things is to find the meaning and purpose behind it. So okay, this horrible thing just happened to me. What's the meaning behind it? What's the purpose and how is it just going to make me a better person? And it doesn't necessarily make it a happy moment because it's still sucks. But at the end of it, I feel like I got something out

of it. And I feel like I don't repeat the same things Over and over again sometimes I do but not as much as I think if I sat there and kind of dwelled on them When you coach people You're obviously a successful coach of clients one of them became Your partner in business and that always tells me that you've been very successful as a coach. You've been able to lead people in meaningful ways aside from just fitness. What are some things you can say that make you that person? What are some ways that you coach people? Because we have a lot of trainers that listen to the show.

There's a lot of people who listen to Mind Pump, who are personal trainers or online coaches, who desire to help other people through fitness and wellness, and who want to become successful at it. What are some tips you can give them? What makes you such a successful coach? Well, the first thing is love languages, if you're familiar. There's a way that you like to be loved. And generally speaking, you're going to like to love other people that way too. Break that down, explain that a little bit so according to

I believe his name is Chapman he wrote a book called the five love languages. There are people who are Attracted to physical touch There that's how they get filled up and that's also what they're how they're going to I almost did There you go. There's one affirmation. There's one physical I almost did There you go. There's one affirmation. There's one physical. That's my Territory things. Yeah, right words of affirmation is mine. I like being told I'm doing a good job I like being told you got this trust yourself. You can do this

So if you study my videos on YouTube a lot because I'm coaching when I'm making those videos And I speak the same way to the people around me. It's about you got this you can do this. You're amazing. Look at this. Look at the progress. Look how you're evolving. You're growing. I want some I want these things to be said to me. So I say them to other people and we all rise. You have a lot of passion behind your words. What what's driving that? Well, first of all my dad talks like this. I see. And all his brothers.

And when I was a kid, I'd see them sitting around the table having conversations with their bodies. I bet dinner's on. I'm gonna say, I have a dinner's gonna be awesome then. I'm sure it's loud and fucking totally colorful man. Everybody going back and forth. Awesome.

And they're from Belize. So the way the culture was was a bit different than here. So talking loud makes some people uncomfortable in our culture. Person talking too loud or laughing too loud. Well, there, when you're expressing yourself, you're just expressing yourself, and everybody is expressing themselves too. This is where the social economics are lower in the world.

People tend to be more into their bodies, more expressive. This is higher up the ladder you get, the more repressed we become. That's a very excellent observation. I'm the product of poor Sicilian immigrants. And complete opposite side of the world, right? Belize and then, you know, Sicily. But we are very loud. We speak a lot with our bodies.

There's a lot of touch. It's very expressive. People used to come over my house to eat over. And we'd be eating dinner. My parents would be speaking Sicilian and then my friends would kind of get quiet. And then when something, you know, when they get a break, they'd look at me and be like,

should I leave? Is everything okay? What do you mean? What do you mean? They'd be like, why is everybody fine? We're yelling. Yes. I'm not fighting. That's just how we talk. We're? You'd be like, well, why is everybody fine? We're yelling. Yes. I'm not fighting.

That's just how we talk. We're doing this with their hands. We're just how we talk. Yeah, I was thinking Italians too when I was saying that. Absolutely. For sure. So besides that though, besides the way you talk,

look, I've known lots of people from countries that are expressive like that. But there's something else behind your passion. I can feel it. Is it from your own personal growth? Maybe you find your own pain and it drives you to be passionate to help others. Is it because you felt since you were young that you were here to lead? Was that something that was maybe you were raised that way because you're the oldest of four. What is it that makes you so passionate about what you do besides just how loud you are? I'm going to give you one of my dad's responses and you're not going to like it.

That's just the way I am. That's just the way I am. I can go into very different, all these different aspects as to what brought me to this place. We can start anywhere and I'll bring you to where we are right now. This is just the way I am. So what I came here to do, this is what I came here to be, which I think is cool because if, being someone who's been following you for a long time, I was actually really excited to meet you because, you know, when you get to a point where you got the big play, the gold play button on YouTube,

you get tons of hate that you get from all these people that wanna be like you or wanna hold you down from what you're doing. And one of the knocks that I've heard or seen people say is they don't believe this is really you, that it's this act for YouTube to get followers, but I think that's what's so unique and I think that's the message you're trying to convey

right now is just like, well fuck this has always been me. You know, maybe you just got introduced it. Maybe you just got introduced to me, but this has always been me and I've been real, which I think is a big part of why you've been so successful doing that is because this is also what I think is so great about Mind Pump is we're in a world right now of you know Photoshop and fake it till you make it type shit and a lot of people you know renting Lamborghinis to look like they're

ballin out of control when really they're living at home with their mom and dad and I feel like you're one of the few people out there that are very real raw and transparent and comfortable with who you are and you've always been like I don't give a fuck if you're one of the few people out there that are very real, raw, and transparent, and comfortable with who you are, and you've always been like, I don't give a fuck if you're going to judge me. I think that's why we have to get to ask those questions because it's very rare to find people that really know themselves, and then it can express themselves as their true self. So, you know, we do get a lot of that.

We get a lot of the facade and this mask, you know, that you meet somebody with, and you want to just cut that mask away and you just want to get right to the person. So, you know, we want to find people like yourself that can express that and get people on board with that mentality. Well, I want to know this too since you are such a self-aware, confident guy, what are you currently working on in yourself right now? Like, what is, what is, give me a struggle right now,

a growth struggle for you right now? A growth struggle right now. Yeah. I'm in a place of receptivity. Explain. I'm not struggling. And where there is a something that could create struggle, I do my best not to struggle with it.

I'm allowing things to unfold in my life. I'm receptive to what comes. There are strategies for that, one I discovered was called free reframing. I do a lot of reframing. When I did it, someone was like, yeah, it's reframing, I'm like, well, yeah, I do a shitload of reframing because I believe in taking the path of least resistance. And a lot of times that means there's a struggle, but hey, what's the gift in it? How is this going to turn into a gem in my life? How is this going to help me evolve? You see? So when you ask me about struggle, that means I'm

currently wrestling with something, but it's something that comes up that I would ultimately need to wrestle with. I'm in reframe mode. I'm currently wrestling with something, but it's something comes up that I would ultimately need to wrestle with. I'm in Reframe mode. I'm in receptive mode. So let's talk about something you're creating. Let's talk about something you've reframed recently. Hmm. How about that? My Achilles tendon. Okay. I told my Achilles tendon. Doing instant reframe. I'm thinking about the moment and how I've shown up so much that the people in my life helped me reframe. moment and how I've shown up so much that the people in my life helped me reframe. I was doing a one day grounding camp in Amsterdam just so you know that's Ocho active meditation. So there's a lot of jumping around shouting, dancing, getting into our emotions, expressing ourselves through our body.

Well, my body expressed itself that day by snapping my Achilles tendon when I did a jump. It was a very little jump too. I don't even know what I did. It just snapped and it was dark. And I knew what happened immediately because I felt like I stepped in a hole. So it wasn't like, oh I tweaked something. I was like, I'm fucked.

And this thing just started. No more than 10 minutes into a eight hour event that I was doing. Oh man. And I walk over to my wife, who's there, and I say, sweetheart, I just tore my Achilles tendon. I'm pretty sure I tore it. And she's like, you sure?

And she has this look on her face of despair. And I'm like, I got to roll with this thing now. I tell her, immediately my mind goes to fear. And I'm like, when this happens happens people don't walk the same again The same because the fear comes to me. Oh, yeah, the first thing I I'm a rabbit's hole and before I think I Mearily uttered that and Colleen looked up smile. Give me high five and said you got this Give me a high five. I said

And I went out there and I did the entire event on one leg. Oh, wow Hell yeah. Reframed that ship. Right. Let's go. Bring it on. What's it like? It sounds like you have an incredible relationship with your wife.

How important do you think that is to have somebody like minded as far as health, fitness, wellness, take care of it? We get a lot of couples on our show that ask questions like, what do you do if my partner can't give them to buy into this conversation? Yeah, I don't, they don't want to work out really. What do you have to say to people that deal with that? Leave her alone. Let her be.

My wife wasn't into exercise until maybe about five, six years ago. Oh, yeah. After Benjamin was born, she was busy having children. Now, if I'm so in love with my idea about what I'm doing in life that I need her to mirror me, then I've got a pretty weak sense of self. Oh, that's a good, good statement right there.

I'm into fitness, I'm into exercise. She doesn't, she don't like to sweat. She does now, she loves training. But I never pushed it on her all those years. We dated throughout high school. I lift. This is what I do. All the things that I did was so polar. We are so polar opposites in the way we chose to live life that we left each other alone. And I could just support her from my place and she could support me from her place. And the things that are supposed, that are true,

that ultimately come together in our lives like exercises true. And I've been doing it this long. Yeah. She figured it out. Like, yeah, I should probably give it a shot, especially after, you know, last child. Talk about how that happened because I share my story. My girl and I have been together only six years, but we just really started consistently training with each other, maybe two and a half years ago, maybe.

And I left her alone and people think that's weird being a personal trainer. Why weren't you, why weren't you teaching her this or telling her this and I say something similar? What was that journey like for the two of you and how did that happen where she started now getting involved more into it and what's that like now for you? Well, we have four children, so she spent a lot of time with that. And in between each child, depending on where I was and my journey and where she was, we would do a little bit of exercise in between children that I got pregnant again.

So it was very intermittent, it was very small. When she was pregnant with Benjamin, our last child, which was, I was well down my career path and she knows, she knows me better than anybody. She asked me what I thought about her taking yoga classes, prenatal yoga classes. And I was like, yeah, that's great. That's exercise. You're breathing and you're stretching, you're being with your body or being with the

baby. It's a wonderful idea. So, she did that. That was her first introduction in a way. And then when Benjamin was born, she went back to the same gym that offered the yoga and she started taking kickboxing classes. Now, here I am a professional strongman. And this is what somebody who in his weak sense of self would need for their wife to go lift. Right. And but because I knew that it was best for her and it's not about me and her satisfying anything in me. Exercise is a great idea. And when it showed up on her radar, I was like,

yes, wherever it is, I'm supporting it. Yeah, go do that. And so that is the kind of love that I even give my clients. It's a matter of where are you and what are you ready for? And how can I support you right now? Because everything's a seed. That, by the way, is what, if you're listening in your personal trainer, that is what will make you successful,

truly successful. That's, those are the kind of trainers that have clients who work with them for five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years, or who work with you for so long and then go off and continue on their own. Well, you're constantly getting feedback, right? And I feel like a lot of times with personal training, we have an agenda and we want to influence these people and change their life and get them to lose weight when we're not

really picking up on a lot of the feedback they're already giving to us with their body language and the way they show up to the session and all that. And my early days, I actually didn't recall specific clients that I lost because I would sit down with them and I tell them you have to do it this way. And if you're not coming in this many days a week and if you're not eating like this, then you're wasting your time and then they'd stop coming in and stop all together. And then I remember at one point thinking, I have not only a terrible job with that. That was that didn't help anybody.

All it did was help my ego. It just fed my ego, but that person is not doing anything anymore. What are they doing now? Exactly. And I switched. I changed. I changed my approach. And what happened was if there's patients that's involved and letting people have their

own journey. And then I'd have clients who work with me once a week. And they do this for years. And next thing you know, they come up to me three years later and be like, hey, Sal, I want to work out twice a week with you now. Just out of their own. I'd be like, okay, next thing you know, three days a week. And now I'm eating right. And then they lost 30 pounds. But it was permanent. It was a permanent change

versus the, the old approach, which was, here's your meal plan. Follow it this way, train this way. And if you're not doing it this way, then you're wasting your time, which doesn't help. And I think when you have a partner, uh, and you want to share what you enjoy so much, it really has to come from a place of love because if it comes from a place of ego, then you end up forcing it on them, it ends up becoming a condition of your relationship, like you need to be fit and if you're not, then this isn't good and I am and why aren't you. And you'll find that again, if it comes from a place of love, they tend to do it.

It tends to become something that they want to do. Yeah, I never had to ask her. When she started lifting, she came to me. She said, I think I'm ready to start lifting. And at that time, she tried to hold it, you're exactly like, okay, honey. Yeah, let's get this going. No, dude, I'm always looking for the greatest return. So, yes, I'm going to teach you how to lift.

And I have a new intern right now who needs to learn how to lift the way I teach people live so We're gonna work together on you and now that trainer is our head trainer at the closer over here With the big like look like not the spotlight So you're your approach to fitness is very, I mean, very holistic. I mean, you talk about your professional strong man. So, you're talking about strong man. Here's a guy that lives heavyweight, you know, loves iron and chalk and, you know, the dungeon.

And then you talk about things like meditation and yoga and how emotions are stored in your body. I watched a video that you had posted a while ago of you, you know, screaming and laughing because someone was working on, it looked like they were doing a so-as release or some work in your midsection. I mean, just what looks like things that shouldn't be put together because I think fitness puts people in so many boxes that you're either this guy or you're this guy.

Like you either do strength or you do cardio or you do yoga or you do meditation but you nobody does all this stuff, right? What made you so open to receiving all of that? Because I mean, I remember myself, I was hard headed for... Especially the meditation. I've been in fitness for 20 years.

I was a personal trainer at the age of 18. I was managing gyms at 19. I didn't become open to this until my body literally forced me to, which was probably 10, 12, maybe 13 years into my career. So I learned a hard way. What made you so open? Was it a lesson or was it just day one? You're like, cool, I'm going to learn all the shit and it's all awesome. I want to share with you fundamental paradigm that I believe allowed that to unfold in my life, which is that I am of multiple ethnicity. I don't have a box.

Oh, wow. That's interesting. So you already felt that from early on. That's, I relate to that big time. So I'm half Mexican, German, right? And if I would hang out somewhere where, where there was Latins, I would be the white boy. If I was with all the white guys, I was Mexican. I couldn't fit in with anybody. So from day one, I was like, you're free. Yeah.

I'm free to be whatever I want to be. Which I think, I think benefits guys, like I said, we get later, built character young, right? And then you were like, you know what? I don't want to be in a fucking box anyways. I was trying, as a young kid, you're trying to, you're trying to fit in, but then you start to get older and comfortable with yourself and you're like, wait a second,

it's way better not belong in a box. You guys don't, you're so free. You don't get it. So that's how it started. So right away, you're like, hey man, I'm not in the box and you get into fitness and you gravitated to war. What did you gravitate to first? Was it the strength training?

Well, it all is one thing because I had a fundamental question that I had to answer, which was, what am I? What are you? Right? Well, I'm a little bit of this, a little bit of an ad from this country. It's not an easy answer. So I started doing research into what am I? I stumbled upon the philosophy section in the library at about the age 12 or 13 Wow, and I saw a book that said you know something to the effect of man search for himself Apollo may and I think that's the author's name Apollo may Anyway, that was a very long time ago, but that opened me up to the fact

with that opened me up to the fact, facts about what I really am. And he went into quantum physics, and he went into spirituality. And that opened my taste for religion and spirituality and practical application and science. So being attracted to fitness, it's a very grounded thing. Fitness is very rooted in the body, it's very dense, it's a very grounded thing. Fitness is very rooted in the body.

It's very dense. It's your muscle. Yeah. But also being open to, I'm a lot more than what I'm seeing in the mirror was the soil upon which Paul Chekci dropped into because the minute I came across his talks and his books, I was like, whoa, here's a guy in fitness, but he's everywhere. He's talking about the cosmos.

He's talking about psychology and spirituality. He's going, he's expansive. And his whole position was holistic, corrective, holistic, exercise, kinesiology, holistic. It was first introduced to that idea of holistic, or holism when I was 23, and I was like, oh, this is it, this is where I've been. This is what I've been looking for. This is, I'm riding the correct train now. This is a thing, I don't have,

it's a thing not to be a thing, I'm all of it. Hmm. Bruce Lee. I like that. That's what Bruce Lee talked about. So when you look at the current state of the fitness industry right now, what do you think? As a whole, what do you think about it? I like to think of personal trainers and fitness trainers as kings. as kings. I see it as our responsibility to be lined up in

ourselves and with the higher, however you want to look at it, God vertically. If you look at the chakra system, right? It's the body lined up, but also it goes beyond. And also the horse, that's a vertical line of the king, the Axis Monday. If you notice it's a cross, like the Jesus cross.

That's the symbol of for the Axis Monday or the spot where the king's throne is. It's vertical, meaning I'm lined up, I'm being the best version of myself, and I'm connected to source. I'm available to source. And the horizontal, I am very much present and available and engaged with the physical world. I'm drawing down from above and I'm blessing my horizon, my world, the people in my life, the work that I do. Do you see? That's what a coach does. A coach has to be the thing and then his vocation is to serve others with it. And there's nothing better to serve other people with than giving themselves back through fitness, through health, through alignment, making other kings. So coaches are kings not because they're kings,

but because they create kings. So you really think that's the fitness industry right now? That's my vision for what this profession could be. I was just, now that's different. Because I think there's only a handful of people I've ever met that even talk this way. Well, I a spark. It's happening on its way. So let's let's talk about though its current state where it's at right now. I'm with you and I believe that there comes great responsibility for us that teach others and I

think that I think we are heading in the right direction in some areas. It does feel like real. Yeah there's I think there is some things that we are heading in the right direction in some areas. It does feel like we're going to. Yeah, I think there is some things that we see going in the right direction. But then I see a lot of bad stuff too. And I was curious to what areas do you see the industry the most wounded? And where do you see the good? And where do you see that going? I know where you want it to go. And I know what role you kind of play in that, but

as the industry hole and everybody else, what do you think about it? I'm not interested in it. I'm not interested in the contrast because I'm moving beyond it. When you say you see the bad things, well great, it's good that we're seeing the bad things because the light has risen. The internet exposed this bad shit. Now I'm not interested in the bad shit. I'm grateful for it being exposed so that I can work to help heal it by focusing on where we really are going. What the truth is. So if bad shit is going on over there,

it's great to acknowledge it so that we understand the contrast between what is dying and what is rising. But I'm not interested in fixing the dying. That's like, you know, you you gotta be a beacon yeah i'm moving the other way yeah it's that's uh... it's you we were talking earlier so we're obviously when you're your garage which is also a gem uh... and you have the the gold youtube uh... trophy which means we keep referencing the time and why is there and uh...'t get over it. I love it. And it's a press.

When we asked you about when you first started using the internet and you brought up the internet right now as it exposes, right, it's like light to everything, you said you entered into that not even considering that that was like it was to help your clients, your bootcamp clients, and it just took off from there. What was the first video that did that? The very first video on my stront camp YouTube channel, which is me and a few guys flipping a tractor tire in the park. So that first video took off just like that? When did you start talking about the universe? You know your videos. Okay, so where you want to go with this go Yeah, those are two different drugs

You went university you went YouTube celebrity Let's get together. Can you tie them together there? You're real good We'll be here all day. What was the first video that really got lots of I guess attention I wouldn't say it was one video. I would say that when I hit a I wouldn't say it was one video. I would say that when I hit a particular version of Elliot evolving. Oh, interesting. Right. So there was a version of me that was most appealing on video. So there was a version of me that was when I was a professional straw man. I wasn't that sexy. I was huge. I was swollen. And I also hadn't had much practice at that time.

But then the Elliot that slimmed down around 2014, And I also hadn't had much practice at that time. But then the Elliott that slimmed down around 2014 that had been making lots of videos that has been practicing, that learned how to speak from his core rather than from his head. And began answering questions because he loves doing that rather than anything else that I was doing. That's when I hit a stride when I found that sweet spot between

practice, preparation, and opportunity. Also, you know, I started when YouTube started and when YouTube began to grow, I'm growing right there with it. So a lot of it, I want to say is luck too. But you know, that when timing preparation. Right? Yeah. Exactly. Talk about the importance though of because we do we have a lot of trainers, we have a lot of business-minded people that listen to us. That that transformation of realizing that you know when did you realize, hey I'm speaking what I think I'm supposed to say on this channel versus speaking from my heart, what you referred to. What was that transition like? Was it a process or was it just like one day you're like, you know what, fuck this.

I'm just gonna speak my mind. I'm gonna go this way or I'm gonna answer this question even though normally I wouldn't answer this question. Was there a video or something that you did that? I've been like this from the beginning. Yeah, they gave me riddling as a kid. They shit no fly at school. Yeah, now I've always been expressive.

I've always, my friends used to say that I don't have that switch that says don't say this right now. And one of my kids has that, so I know it's in the DNA. That's not appropriate. Just think before you, my dad used to say, think before you speak. So because it's gotten me to a shitload of trouble also, not being mindful of what's coming out of my mouth

and just rolling with it. So now that's always, I've always been this way. You talked about slimming down in 2014. How, what, what was that like? How big were you before versus after that point? Biggest I was was 237 pounds. I waited when I competed as a lightweight because in straw man you know around 230 pounds is lightweight with heavy weights in a show guys are a

300 pounds and you're what I'll tell you about 511 not in 5.8 okay yeah so you're a big modest so you're a big you have a big dude and you you slim down in 2014 what did you wait get to about what I am right now except I looked better then I was younger, I guess. About 198. How's lifting more? That's a big difference in weight. What did you do differently to drop that weight?

Was it a difference in diet training? Dude, you know, your whole hormonal profile shifts when your mindset shifts, when your brain shifts. So my priorities changed because my mind changed. So I just turned into where I was now going. I'll put it a little bit more practically for you. So in 2010, I had just become a professional strong man. And I was winning.

I was destroying. I'm good at this shit. Flip in, drag in, push in, carry in. I'm built at this shit flipping dragon pushing carry and I'm built for this and I was going into my first pro show and I decided to do tremble on Cyclist steroids yeah to be exact and

Man, I'm swelling the fuck up. I'm getting big. I'm getting strong. I'm like, as of no one's gonna beat me. I was slated to win. Was that your first introduction to Anapolks or had you played around with it? Or my first introduction? Oh shit. Yeah, especially when you got good genes. It takes out.

Yeah, right, that's the other thing too, you know. I'm built for this, I was gonna win anyway, but I was ready to just do whatever. I was in that place. I was that was that version of Elliott That was like do whatever you have to do to win. I'm lucky. I'm happy that I had that mindset that I'd never have any Remedior regrets or remorse because that's the attitude that dug me out of a Whole of $90,000 in debt starting my business having my four children

Being that fucking aggressive and willing to do whatever it takes. It was useful at that moment. Right. It got the momentum going for my life. That was my attitude. So yeah, fuck it. I'm a winner. I'm going to win.

I'm going to do whatever I have to do. And so yeah, I juiced up and I paid the price almost immediately. I got so fucking strong that I popped my left bicep before I even got to do the show. Oh, shit. In training? Yeah. Well, no, my dad, it was a day after intense training doing Conan's wheel to my dad asking me to pull up some dead roots, tree roots in his garden.

It's always doing some shit. It's like throwing in the shower. I sure that bicep. And when the moment that tendon tore, I knew what was happening just like when I tore my Achilles tendon, right? This is a theme in my life, death and rebirth through engine. I cried, the minute it had my first time my children were there to see Daddy crying, you know, there I am 230 pounds. I didn't cry because it hurt and I didn't cry in disappointment about missing the strawman show. I cried in mourning of that version of Elliot Hulse, because I knew that with the bicep,

not that I couldn't come back, and I did. I did a few other shows later, but that version of me, that way of Elliot Hulse died. Well, it stays true to you, which you've said since the beginning, because we started this podcast, was that you've always kind of been aware. And so you got to slap in the face and it was more like, motherfucker, you deserved it. Like, it was more like that than it was anything else. So I could see that.

So at that moment, done, transition, no more, no more trend, no more strong man, none of that after that. I took a break, but I did strong man, but I slimmed up quite a bit. And I began dedicating myself to what I, look, here's the contradictory, this is why I run the spectrum. I was a Paul Tech student, and you know Paul's pretty conservative about a lot of things.

He's a genius and he holds you to it. Well, I threw all that out the window when I became a professional strongman and I was doing anything that, by all means, that's, I was drinking, drinking bro. I remember time I was making protein way protein shakes with heavy cream with I Then I put some flax seed in there. I put shake cereal in it Right and then I waking up the next morning beaten the shit out of myself getting up early to train clients So you know I went hard, but when I exploded, I knew better. So when that happened, I was quickly able to begin healing

myself with, all right, I should probably not be eating that. Shit, I should probably, you know what I'm saying? Just confirmation for you. Right, my dad says, I can tell you not to put your hand on that burner all day long, but until you touch it, you won't know. So that's, I've lived my life that way a lot, you know. I do it till I hang myself, and then I gotta be reborn again from the experience.

Do you try to avoid that now or do you still do that? You still like, hey, I'm shitting. Oh, I'm trying to avoid that. It keeps showing up though. Yeah, I'm very happy with where I am at right now. I'm not trying to change anything, but hey, it might be what I need. So I'll just roll with it, whatever happens. It's the burden of being, because we can all totally connect with that. It's like the burden of the young lion, you know, this energy, this testosterone, this any problem I have, I'm gonna bulldoze it and I'm gonna hammer it.

And I can work, bell the bell, 24 hours a day and I don't need sleep and I can eat all this, and nothing bothered me, I'm indestructible. And if you're this person and you're listening, at some point there's a lessons coming for you and you can learn from it or you can keep going down that path and it's sad when you see young lions continue going down this path because then they become dead lions. And I'll tell you what, learning that lesson just makes you better. It makes you much better and much more effective at what you do. Did you train, did you change some of your training after that point where you, did you focus

more on things like mobility and flexibility training and yoga and meditation? Did it awaken those things up or at least strengthen those in you after you tore your bicep that first time? Well, it's been a long adjustment in healing process. So, you know, it depends on like which stage are you talking about. But I'll tell you this, that it is evolved into the place where for the past two years I've done mostly yoga than training in the gym. So I've gone from professional strong man training like no one could out train to I want a comfortable place with air conditioning.

I want no distractions and I want a yoga mat. I just want to do my yoga. I want to breathe and I want to stretch and I want to move. So not to say that, look, I go extremes. That's just my nature. I went extreme with the straw man. In order to create any kind of balance in my life, I've got to go extreme with the in. So that's not to say that this is the right thing to do.

And I never offer myself up as an example. So that's what you should do. That's important what you're saying now. You said you're going extreme with the YIN and people may not know what you're referencing. So YIN is the female energy, right? That's the calm that meditate, the working in. Then you have the YIN, which is the male energy, which is the aggressive, the strong, and the working out. And when you say you're bringing balance for you to bring any kind of balance to your life, you have to go so extreme. You incorrect me if I'm wrong. The way I'm interpreting it is you were so extreme yang for the first part of your life that now you need to go extreme yin. And then at some

point you'll be able to do more both. One-hmm. One of my teachers put it this way. He said, Elliot, it's like you've been living in 10 years of summer. You haven't let a winter come in. You have a lot of paying back to do. And I got it, and I'm doing a lot of paying back. But that's just a corrected. Because you're in my new gym now.

I bought all new equipment in my new little space here. I'm ready. I lifted yesterday and I'm integrating in a respectful way resistance training into my healing process. It's not I'm not lifting to beat the shit out of myself or prove anything any longer. I'm lifting because it's good to keep the spokes tight. It feels good to be sure. And talk about how you, I mean you're a 38 year old man, you're not a young spring chicken, none of us are anymore. So talk about how you feel, everything from how you feel aesthetically about your physique mentally physically.

And by the way, for someone who doesn't lift weights that much, this kind of, I mean, you're just guys, I fuck you, that's what I have to say to you. You're just fucking me, bro. I'm walking, I'm like, man, look at this guy's forearm. I'm just yoga. Yeah. Okay.

It's a gift. At least you admit it, though. I fucking hate the guys. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don and like some serious strong man left you from it even gets your size. It's crazy. That's why giving advice is a difficult business to be in. Because you're not in that person's shoes. I can't tell you based on what I've done, what you should do. All I can hope to do is to help you live your greatest experience and be there to kind of point out some things that might help you along your journey. Let's talk about some of all of our greatest advice that we've ever received. And I like to go business because you are very sick.

We're over here talking about our bodies and that's all of our profession, right? We can we're all similar when it comes to that. We have very similar philosophy. So if you've listened to Mind Pump, you've probably heard a lot of the things that you're actually even talking about from us or our guests, but I love to give people the behind the scenes, the business, how we turn something that we're so passionate and we love, and to make you money and being profitable doing that. And you mentioned digging yourself out of a $90,000 debt.

Like that's incredible. Can you remember some major points in your life, books you've read, or advice that made that happen? I'm like, what was some of the best business advice you ever received from somebody? There's so much, but I'm going to give you two that run the spectrum, that give the whole picture, the Ian and Yang like we're talking about.

Dan Kennedy once said, success is cooked up in a dirty kitchen. I like that. I like that. That means it doesn't have to be neat, it doesn't have to be clean, it's a dirty kitchen. You're cooking some shit up. Imagine a chef in there. He's got stuff all over the place, he's got chips flying. On his face, he's got stuff. So with that image, I realize that I don't have to be perfect to be into business. It's cooked up in a dirty kitchen. And then the other end of the spectrum,

which I'm gonna attribute to Craig Valentine. And he's spoken about this for many years. He was a fitness trainer and now he owns early to rise and he's got a book. I don't remember his book, it's in there. I wish I could remember the name of it. Perfect day formula. He is on the yang end of the spectrum in that you need to structure your day every hour. Get up and for the first, you have to nail down the first 15 minutes,

but perfectly the first hour of your day. Nail it down with your most important activities, your most important ritual, and plan your day out ahead of time, be very structured. So when you have successors cooked up in a dirty kitchen, and you've got everyday formula by Craig Boundtine, which is about structure

and creating more and more structure and rules in your life, he has rules, you gotta write yourself 12 rules, things you will never do. What I see and what I hear and what I experience in your life. He has rules, you gotta write yourself 12 rules, things you will never do. What I see and what I hear and what I experience in my life is fluidity within the structure. It's sort of a dance, it's yes to both. And knowing that business, like everything in life,

in Yang is a dance between fluidity, success cooked up in a dirty kitchen, it's very feminine, you know? It's all over the place. It's like nature. It's creative over the place. It's like nature. It's creative. It's creative, right? It's passion. So when you're talking about these two,

what seem to be opposing philosophies with business, one of them resonates very strongly with me, and the other one doesn't. And I'm realizing that I tend to, and I'm changing a little bit, I'm starting to grow myself as a person. But what's always resonated to me was the yang approach Get up do it get it done and I'm realizing now that the ones that resonate with me are probably the ones I shouldn't focus on The one that because those are the ones my ego

Right, yeah, so it's probably the one I should probably read or The philosophies I should probably look at or the ones that are on the other side. Here's a philosophy for life in the new world. I know it might sound strange saying that, but things are evolving rapidly and we ought to figure out how to roll the punches. Is that there is no right or wrong. That's your judgment. Quickly pointing out which one I like and which one I don't. The answer to everything is both and. It's both and. When we can get to the place of both and now we're really cooking in 5D. Now we're really evolving our consciousness because the minute we resonate with one thing

and we have its polarity, if we judge it or we push it away or we turn our ears away to it, we're missing half the puzzle. Because you're yes. You're what you're, yes, you're yes, what you're feeling good about. But that one that you're saying no about or that you have resistance about, you're not going to get the whole picture. You're not going to get the full thing. You're not really going to benefit until you start exploring what that's all about.

God, it's so true. It is. Now you're a father of four children, so you've got a big family. I have two children. And my kids, when people ask me, the teachers that I've had in my life, and the people who have mentored me, I quickly start to realize that my kids teach me more, as much or more than almost any mentor. What's it like for you being a father? What has that taught you just in life and even in coaching?

Humility. I've learned humility in many different forms over these years and injuries will give you humility and so on and so forth, being in debt provides humility. But when it comes to the humility associated with raising your family, being there for your family, holding space for your family, it's to realize that you don't know all the answers. You can't do this right.

You're not gonna win. You're humble enough to receive that and humble enough to receive that you're doing the best that you can. I'm doing the best that I can with what I know, right where I'm at. Sometimes I could see where I can do better and I'm going to try better. But you have to have humility to be in that space. Otherwise, it's just been my experience that humility supports that. Otherwise, I resist being a tyrant.

I don't want to know everything and force my children into too rigid of a structure, of an idea of what I think they should be. You know what I mean? Colleen and I play a very beautiful Yin-Yang relationship in our relationships where dad is the Yin and mom is the Yang I'm the I'm a bit open with the children and she's very structured with the children and it works out beautifully That's that's interesting because people would if they saw you they would think you were the yeah, and I do find this

This being a challenge, you know when you're a leader or a natural leader, your tendency to raise your children is you it's all it's natural to be authoritative right? It's natural to be like do this, don't do that, you know, listen to what I'm saying. So I must be that is that difficult for you to take that role where you're not that authority is. It is. And in that way, I'm a bad leader.

Because I don't like to, I don't like anybody telling me what to do, what to think, who to be. And I don't like doing it to other people. Now, are your kids like you? Do they, do they, are they like that as well? Or they like, don't tell me what to do? They're very young, but that's, that's human nature. Our first word is no, typically, for good reason,

because it's our first boundary, and it's our first expression of our sense of self. So the ego develops when you say no. I don't want to deny my children, they're ego. So I know that there are going to be no's. I know that there's going to be resistance. Sometimes I have to win, and I rationalize it to them at that moment too, and I have Colleen,

who I call the commander a lot of times. And she doesn't play around. So I don't remember where this is going, but it's a tender balance. It's both again. You know, it's yes and no. Do they know what you do for a living? Or how old are your kids, by the way? And that's the other thing.

Yeah, they're all very young, so it's hard to gauge some of these things. They come in with their temperaments, which is very obvious, but they evolve. They grow. And it's interesting to see how that, you know, what's the oldest and youngest? What are the age? Six, eight, ten, and twelve. Okay. There you go. Yeah, they're close to you guys. Yeah, they're pretty close. Yeah. Yeah, because at my daughter, she's seven and she did a father's day gift for me and she wrote a card out and they're always hilarious when that, when they that age because they'll ask the she was answering questions like what does your dad do for work? And she wrote he's a youtuber and then said what does your dad like to do?

And she said oh, well, what's your dad's favorite thing to do? She wrote take a nap Yeah, it's hilarious like damn it. It's so true. But anyhow, yeah for me having children It's like a dammit. So true. But anyhow, yeah, for me, having children, probably the biggest lessons I've ever learned come from having kids because if there's something inside for at least my observation, there's things within us that we don't like to face or try to learn from and then you see these little people exhibit these tendencies and these personalities and then you got to face them 100% I'm how am I gonna deal with this you know this behavior when that's totally like me that they're just being like their dad Yep, so Elliot you brought up and I love that you said this about not caring about

The bullshit in the industry and staying focused and healing others Is there anything though that is really positive that you see that's happening that excites you? Are you into tech? Are you one of the tech side of fitness? Do you like what's coming out with the wearables, the newest, latest, greatest thing to get us closer to understanding our bodies, metabolism,

and stuff like that? Or is there anybody that you've found recently that's giving information out there in the fitness industry that you gravitate towards? Are you really like learning or listening to? Is there information out there in the fitness industry that you gravitate towards or you really like learning or listening to is there anything out there? I'm really fascinated with how the conversation is evolving and our language is excuse the term becoming more new age and where it's not so weird to say certain things like consciousness or spirit. I had a conversation with

on another podcast and a guy was telling me how he spent some time in the Amazon and a shamanic thing and he used a frog to get some medicine. Frog medicine, yeah. Right and so definitely generation before us. Yeah. And definitely yeah yeah, definitely not them. And even as little as 20 years ago, depending on the niche, because now we're talking about fitness, for this new language to be spreading in fitness,

to me excites me because I'm like, we're waking up and it's evident in the way people are talking and the conversations that we're willing to have, that are not linear, that are sort of spacey. I love that you said that because it's not necessarily, and maybe it is, but it's not necessarily that there's the right answer and all of these different things.

It's that people are now open to talking about them all. And I've been in fitness for 20 years. This is a rather recent phenomenon. It wasn't that long ago That literally maybe five years ago if you went to a yoga class You did not see a man in that class. It was rare to see a man. I took a yoga class last weekend I took a yoga class last weekend, right? Out of maybe 20 people in the class that were about eight of us. Yeah, that were men

Five years ago. That, you never saw that. I'm hearing people like strength athletes talk about meditation. I mean, whether you like that kind of stuff or not, I just love the fact that we're talking about it. Yeah. It's great. It's great. Oh, it's, you know, the microbiome of the gut.

Here's another one that's great. I just heard the other day. I remember what bodybuilder was it, Ben been that talked about it? I know he's reading on it right now. Yeah, these are pro bodybuilders talking about the gut microbiome. I mean, are you kidding me? The last people on earth that I would expect to talk about, you know, the health of the gut, but the conversation seems to be opening up, which in my belief, the only way you're really going to ever find the true answer for yourself is first you have to be able to be open to exploring all the potential

answers and then the answer is somewhere out there, right? Somewhere of a combination of all those types of things. Where do you see your evolution moving forward? You're not the same person today as you were 10 years ago. You're probably not going to be the same person 10 years from now. Do you have any inkling of an idea of where that may go or what you think that's going to look like for you? Well, I think the best way to predict the future is to look at what's present, what's here now, and what's evolving, what's unfolding. And so we can go to business and I have four

businesses, one of which is Strength Can't Vim, which is my gym here in St. Petersburg. Along the other way. I started Strength Can't but 2007, this year is our 10 year anniversary. Excellent. Right. Actually, the big thing at the end of the year, November. Now, how does Strength Can't work, by the way, is that a membership fee or do people pay membership so they just work with coaches? We do group training.

Got it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I can go into that, but what's evolving, what's in the future for me, is working with that. We're in strength camp gym itself because that's one part of the business, one of the businesses, working to, we're working to develop the program design a little bit better and improve the coaching a little better. We could always improve in everything. So we're working on creating a curriculum for that. We're also, our business model is tight. We have great branding and we have great coaching.

Our systems are great and they're going to be better. So we're also licensing strength camp, that's Shun Camp International. So we started it, the ball got rolling a little bit, we're drawing back a little bit because we realized we need to spend a little bit more time educating, and that's why I just mentioned the education system that we're developing, so that when we do franchise, ultimately, which is the goal, license to franchise, we can, I can feel confident sending someone to

strength camp San Francisco and They're gonna get the type of treatment that they would get, you know, and that's not an easy task I was just gonna be a little nerve-racking because there's a lot of responsibility that comes with that We're gonna do the best that I can we have good coaching in other words I'm being coached by someone who's gone through this a business coach So that's strength camp at the national that's one of the things that we're working on I have strength Kemp Media, which is my media company that publishes my books.

We're also publishing many other experts. The late Dr. Squat, who just passed away, Fred Hatfield. We're republishing all his work, and we're doing a documentary on his life right now, which it will be coming out soon. And he was my first formal education in fitness. I took his certification back when I was in college. Wow. Now what was it? What was it? Fred Hatfield. Yeah. What was it? What was a certification called?

I SSA. That's original ISA. That's right. Yeah. Very fast. One of the first ones I took. Yeah. That's right. After IFP. I did IFP a then I assess a. Did you really? Right afterwards. He was like, wasn't he the first first man if not the first man to squat first thousand pound squat that's right the man is a legend that's right and and we're we're lucky enough blessed enough to be republishing his work and and putting him out there to to be recognized as a legend he is and we're doing that through shun can't media shun can't media publishes any of the works that I'm in creation of so right now I'm creating a book called the non-job revolution which is all about entrepreneurship in this day in the new age in this age I publishes any of the works that I'm in creation of. So right now I'm creating a book called The Non-Job Revolution,

which is all about entrepreneurship in this day, in the new age, in this age, which the internet has exploded. I call these non-jobs. So I'm writing that now. You saw those papers on my kitchen table that's what I'm working on. So that's just gonna get media.

Grounding camp is my event company, meaning my traveling event where I put on grounding camps, 3-day grounding camps, where that feature Ocho-active meditations and bioenergetics. And I call this an initiation. It's a 3-day initiation. And I position it as what it's done for me in my life.

And what I've seen it do for countless others, which is when you feel that transition in your life, where things are evolving more rapidly than you can get a grasp on or you're confused about where you're going in life, you need a jolt. The type of meditations that we do and the exercises that we do during ground and camp and the community that's built really supports people into blossoming or skyrocketing into the next phase in their life.

It's amazing to see all the things that have happened. So ground and camp is my company to share those gifts with the world. I have a few other projects with grounding camp. Is that for businesses? I guess I think that- You can even count them, YouTube monster. I mean, that's a business in itself.

YouTube is a part of Shren Camp Media because it's a lead source for the books that we publish. So that falls on the Shren Camp Media, but yeah, I got my hands full. So there's a lot unfolding. I don't know how it's gonna turn out, but this is where it's at. Do you advise like young entrepreneurs or trainers

that are coming in and wanting to get started, see all this great stuff you've created? And what do you normally tell them, like how to start? Like, hey, Elliot, I wanna be just like you. I wanna have the gold YouTube play button. I want to have camps like what's spoke about that earlier when we spoke about teaching getting people into fitness.

Yeah. And my number one advice and I have a great story about this. My number one advice was low resistance advice for getting into fitness, getting your body, getting your health back in order is to walk for one hour every day. That's it, just walk. It's not a big deal. Just find a space to walk every day. And if you can't do it every day, do it every other day. But start walking.

I went to my 20 year high school reunion up in New York last weekend. And nobody that I went to elementary school with, Robert Pepe showed up and said, Elliot, I watched your videos in January. It's June now and I started walking and I lost 38 pounds between that and now. It was so happy, it was telling everybody,

it was patting me on the back and saying, Elliot, it's the real deal. It's the real deal. It's got me walking. And I'm like, yes, because it's that simple to get the momentum going in your life and the direction that you know you're going Start with low resistance. Well, let's talk about how crazy that is I actually talk a lot about this on the show

It's you know, I'm wearing my Fitbit right now and one of my favorite tools that we have now and really for the awareness purpose of it That's what I don't get hung up on the percentages of, oh, is it how accurate is it to my metabolism? What it does is it reminds me how fucking lazy I was today. That's what it tells me. So it's crazy that the average American is stepping less than four to 6,000 steps in a day. When you break that down mathematically,

if all of us right now took off for a little stroll around your block for one hour, okay, one hour walking, you would get over 6,000 steps. So the average American doesn't even move fucking for 60 minutes in the entire day of their busy life. So I think that's incredible advice. And as simple as it is, it's amazing how much we're going the other way. It's scary how little we move these things. I'm not scared. You get caught up in the contrast again. And I've always said this as a personal trainer. I'm interested in people who are getting better.

I'm interested in people who are ready to get better. Let me put it that way, because I don't know who's getting better, but they're ready to get better. If you're not ready to move with the light, then you're just going to dissolve with the darkness. In revelations, and I'm not a Bible thumper at all, I don't even consider myself a Christian, but it speaks of this particular day.

And one of the things that's described in this day, which is, you know, it's the end times, we're living in transition. 2012, the Mayans had it, it's there too. There will be a harvesting of souls. I see that as those who are evolving in consciousness, taking care of your bodies, evolving in consciousness, your body is conscious, and those who,

separating the wheat from the shaft, they'll cease to exist, one of my teachers said. Don't worry about them, they'll cease to exist. You worry about healing you, and healing those who are ready to heal. Well, you can't help people, that you can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped any more. And it's okay, which is fine.

Yeah. Now do you, I have my own spiel, I'd love to hear yours if you have one as far as, when you first meet somebody who's considering, hiring you or one of your trainers, do you kind of lay that out to them? Because let's be honest, in our industry, how often has someone tried to pay you

and thinking that that's the real answer, it's just the paying or service. Oh, Ellie, it's a really smart guy. If I pay him all this money, I'm gonna get all this, but then truly they're not really ready to do the work. How do you separate that right from the beginning or do you do you have something you say or how does somebody convey that message?

Well, I can give you that answer for Elliot today, well I can give you that answer for Elliott today or I can give you that answer for Elliott 10 years ago. Oh I want both. I want the worst version and I want the good version. Well, there's a time, there was a time when I needed the money. So I know you're not interested in doing much more than what we're doing here today Which if we're doing anything it's great. I'm an ambitious guy. I got into this because I wanted to train football players So it's like I'm preparing you to smash heads All right, so if I've got an old client

You know, I don't want to put it into the category, but someone who's just not wanting to evolve beyond a particular point As much as I resisted it, there were times where I was taking their money. I do remember cutting one client off that was the last straw, like I carried her for a long time and having the confidence to just say, I have to cut it off and it was hard because I needed her money every month,

but I was prompted. My soul told me that, okay, you got to cut her loose now. That was a tough thing. I made a vow at that moment to put myself in a situation where I only work with clients that I want to work with. I don't want your money. I'll take it because there's an exchange for what we're doing here, but I don't need it.

Yeah. And so today, if I have a gym and my trainers do a wonderful job and we have a wonderful community at Strength Camp. Oh man, I mean, I can't even, I can go on for days about the amazing things that are happening at Strength Camp for the members, the people that are there. But if there's resistance, my trainers are dealing with them. And they got a job to do. You know, it's part of it, you know, this person. And that's've got a job to do. It's part of it.

This person, and that's why it's group training too. It's not so draining. If they show up every once in a while, it's fine. They're doing something. You don't have to be emotionally attached and you're getting paid anyway. We still get to serve those people. You see what I'm saying? There are those that that's where they're at.

If they show up, if they show interest, that means there's a spark there, so that they're on the healing path. Where are they in their ability to make a commitment, long term and truly evolve? That's not up to me to judge. It's up to me to create a space for and perhaps inspire them, but I can't be wrapped up in trying to get you to be what I think you should be at this moment. I just create the space.

Do your trainers ever come to you at a frustration though with dealing with clients like that? Do you get some of these guys that work underneath you, or girls that work underneath you, and feel like, oh, Elliot, so and so, she never fucking shows up and this and that, and do they express that frustration? And is this what you say? Yeah. So, of course, there are those people,

there are those people that do show up. And everybody's where they're at. And I think what I might train myself and my trainers provide is compassion for that. Also, there was a time when I was a version of myself where I was quick to fire people. And it had a little bit to do with ego too. But as I've grown in my compassion, I am more tolerant and I can accept people where they're at and know that when you're ready, you know that I've created the space for you

that you can blossom into. So we have, like so for example, we got this one guy and I'm going to say his name, but he came in really overweight, family friend even too. I have a lot of family friends at my gym. Came in really overweight, and someone like that, you know, as a trainer, you don't have to do much, they're gonna start losing weight.

So he's not changing too much in his lifestyle. Every once in a while, he'll make a commitment to eating a little bit better, but he's living the way he wants. But he's exercising and he lost some weight, but he got stuck, right? And so because we're family friends, we bump into each other at an auction

that we did for our children's school. Our kids are in the same school. And I'm sitting there, and he comes over to me and we know each other from the gym also, and he's looking better than he did before, but I know he's stuck. I'm like, dude, it's been a year, and you still bust the same weight.

But I don't say anything. I'm not judging him at all. I know what's going on. He comes he sits next to me with a cocktail in his hand You know some fucking soda sugary drink with alcohol and he and he starts asking me. What do I need to do? You know what I'm doing everything. I'm trying everything and I didn't say anything except What do you got in that cup over there? And he looks at it and he goes, oh, well, yeah, I get it. Cool, you're just not ready, bro. I see you, you had, right?

Right. We should get a drink over there, buddy. Oh, no. Right. Oh, you got me. I always find that the most comical though, that's how people are. I see when I have a slice of pizza my mouth Understand

At the grocery store. Oh, that's the best All the boxes I've actually seen clients will see me and they're like oh you can see them like oh shit And they'll like yeah, I go around the corner like don't look inside my basket. Oh, you know what that reminds me of How about this for you then you got to get this to one of the things that we talk about, it drives me crazy. I like to get away from this talk all the time because this is what we all do for living. We talk on it, we talk all day, we help people all day long.

So like, you know, when we shut down the mics and we're just hanging out with friends or socializing, I feel like people always have to explain themselves on what they're consuming or what they're doing in front of me or how they're going to be doing all this and like, hey man, it's okay. Just relax. Do you, bro?

I don't care, you're saying like, being not being the actual trainer there allows me this space to be completely indifferent. Right. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, and I don't know how it is in their mind, but I know I'm a leader. I know I'm a leader. I'm the strength camp and I'm saying? So it's like, and I don't know how it is in their mind, but I know I'm a leader. I know I'm a leader.

I'm the strength camp, and I'm there, but I don't care. So you don't have to prove anything to me now. Shannon comes. My trainer, the gym, now you might have some explaining to do because he's been working with you for the past couple of months and you keep complaining to him. And now he sees you eating that shit. Don't let Shannon catch you. I get to be the good guy, right?

But when you're ready, I have all the resources you need to take yourself to the next level. Right, right, that's so great. Well, very cool, man. Yeah, man, it's been a great time hanging out with you. I look forward to us doing some more stuff. I'd actually would love to get you out in the Bay Area, man. I think maybe doing a strength camp out there or maybe bringing something over to

Mind Pump Headquarters. Hold it in the facility somehow. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. It's been a pleasure, my friend. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Listen here. If you go to Mind Pump TV on YouTube, you'll find that we post a new video every single day, subscribe, and get tons of great information on fitness, health and wellness. Also, find us on Instagram at MindPump Media and our personal pages are MindPump Sal, MindPump Adam and MindPump Justin. Thank you for listening to MindPump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy

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