Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Real Talk w/ Rick Lademann of Beyond Motion

Episode Date: January 14, 2022

In this episode Shawn French sits down with Rick Lademann who is a true professional in the sports performance world. This man has literally done it all from working with the World Champion Chicago Bulls to MLB Hall of Famer, Larry Walker to everything inbetween. What is more impressive than his resume is his true passion for his industry and the committment to training athletes the right way.  Rick's career started with a simple phone call made to Al Vermeil which turned into a domino effect that has benefited multiple professional and amatuer athletes of the years.  You can follow Rick on IG @beyondmotionath  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/shawn-french/message Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's up guys? Welcome to another episode of, you guess it, the Determined Society. This afternoon, I have an amazing guest that's going to be joining us. His name is Rick Laidman from Beyond Motion down in Naples, Florida. This dude is legit. He is a legit performance coach. If you are an athlete in Southwest Florida and you're not working with Rick Laidman, man, I got to tell you, check it at the door. This dude has been Cal Berkeley, helped the rugby team win a national. championship. Actually, he is hopping on right now, so I will let him finish his introduction. Let's wait until he is live. Where is he at? Let me see that face. Where are you at, baby? Oh, there's my guy. You there? Can you hear me? He's just hopping on, ladies and gentlemen. You there, brother? Can't hear you. Are you on mute? Hey, guys, sometimes we deal with some technical difficulties. That's what we do, right? It is what it is. Can you hear me, Rick? Oh, there's my guy.

What's up? Oh, my God. Oh, my goodness. Man, I was just giving you the most proper introduction. It's incredible. Well, you are as handsome as ever. Some of a bitch. I tell you what, there's no Wi-Fi.

I'm in the back of my facility in my truck. This is nice. Dude, this is one of the favorite things about you, brother. A lot of people hit that adversity, right? I don't have Wi-Fi. Let's reschedule. You're sitting in there. your truck, you're offering Starbucks to go sit at the Wi-Fi to get this thing done. So I really

appreciate you, man. I am so excited to have you on today. Well, I appreciate the invite, man. You're doing some great stuff and you're motivating a lot of people and the kids are definitely listening to you and it's making the movement. So we like that. Hey, man, it's a process, right? We got that ramp up going and it takes one to no one. I mean, you've been influencing kids and helping kids get better for decades, man. And that's one of the my favorite things about you is your focus on actual training, specifically training. But I was just telling everybody and you hopped on, I was giving everybody your resume. So I stopped. Okay, I stopped at 2003 Rugby National Championship at Cal. I started there because you're so prompt. So why don't

you fill everybody in on just briefly kind of where you've been and how you've ended up where you're at right now? Yeah. It's been a long road. It, I started with Chicago Bulls. I went to high school with the strength coach's son. So I used to play pickup basketball where the Bulls used to practice, which was at the multiplex over in Deerville, Illinois. And I would pass, you know, in this, you know, them training as I'd go play pickup basketball where they'd play.

But they'd be weightlifting and stuff like that. And I'd see Lance and like, hey, boy, what's going on? Lance Vermil, right? Lance Vermil, yeah. Yeah. So Alvin, Alvin Rill's son. Yep. And he was a really good Olympic weightlifter.

And so I trained that way. He trained that way. And then, you know, Al and I got introduced through football and everything else. And appreciated watching me play and watching everything else. And I knew him when I took a year off of school, I knew him. And I say, you know what? It can't hurt to create a phone call. and say, listen, I know I want to be a strength conditioning coach.

I'm taking a current year off of school, you know, and he calls and he goes, you know what, we really don't do interns right now, but, you know, I guess we'll make an exception. I like to watch you, you know, watching the past and everything like that. You go into the same high school, you know, you know, Lance and everything. So I go to the Bulls for what turns out to be like a year. And I'm just an intern, really, right? So I'm just doing pretty much whatever they want me to do, making coffee for the guys, doing draft evals, doing whatever they, you know, picking up as much as much as I can. And at that point, they were at the Burdo Center, which was their last practice facility.

And this was still the Pippin, Jordan era, everything else, Dennis Rodman. So that's, that would be pretty cool. It was, it was. you know, it's like Pip comes in, MJ comes in, and then at the end of the day, me, you know, me and Rodman would lift like almost every, every night. So, and that was just like, you're around this because you grew up around it too. So these are just freaking legends, right? And, and you just feel, you feel the energy walk through the doors as Michael walks in and everything else. So, so you get to be around that. And I'll never forget, they were like, it was 97, I think.

We were playing, I think it was Seattle in the finals that year. And Gary Payton, the glove. The glove, Sean Kemp, he was fierce at that time. And they're out there. And so then I go to the practice facility at that point. And they're playing the last game. And I just have this big screen for a while I'm lifting, right? And I'm just like where it all is created and everything else like that.

I'm just having the time. I'm lifting by myself, music blaring, big screen watching the game, watching the last game in the NBA finals. When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life. And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at good to know facts.org.

No spin, no judgments, just the facts, straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients. Visit good to know facts.org. And having a very small part to do with any of it, but just being like, you know, feeling like you're part of it, though, right? And so that was one of my fondest memories, and that really got me, you know, in the door of frantic conditioning. So it was that point that Al and I sat down.

I said, look, it's time to finish school. I'm like, yeah, I know. I'm like, yeah, I got to go back. And so he goes, what do you think about going to Olympic training center in Colorado Springs? And I said, well, like, I'm not good enough to compete at that level, but I could like help out and coach and stuff like that. And he goes, well, they're looking for a junior coach in Colorado Springs at the OTC. And you coach during the day and go to school at night and like finish up. You got two years left.

So, so I go, yeah, I'm down for that. I'll do it. So I moved out to Colorado Springs. It took me a while to get adapted there just because Dragon Mirror, who was our head coach at the USA weightlifting. There's Romanian background, Eastern Block. So I had to learn some new adaptations to how they actually taught lifting on Olympic style. And, you know, I'm in this facility that like we talked about earlier that like I have no business being in, right? So it's just, it's just, you just sort of like, and you're getting, and let's get it right.

Anyone who's listening to this, you're getting fucking verbally hammered every day. Yeah, man. Okay. So kids, stop being so fucking soft. Like, I'm, I'm like, here he is. Here he comes. I'm like, yeah, seriously. So I'm, they're teaching me how to like, there's a difference between Russian and Bulgarian weightlifting.

Russian's really not a lot of hit movement. Bulgarians got a big hip thrust into it. Okay. It's very hard to learn one when I was taught Russian prior to. Then I had a transition Bulgarian because they wanted me to compete lightly too on the other side. Right. So I had to create a hip thrust. So I'm at the bar like doing a hip thrust trying to create it and I'm missing where it's got to hit.

And they're just fucking laughing their ass off left and right. And literally, they're just laughing at you. So I'm like, okay, well, this is, this is new from me. And you just, you learn to take. it, right? And then you just, you consistently show up. You consistently do go about it. After six months, I earned their respect. They officially offered me the job as like, we need you now is like living on campus on site as the junior coach for the junior team. And really, I was a babysitter at that point. You know, it's not like I knew any more than these kids did. But after a while, I will say this,

is after two years of watching progressions and watching patterns, you learn a lot. through just not only verbology and talking, but through osmosis at the same time because you're watching the same dynamic, it's like you watching catching, it's you're developing patterns with your eyes. So I always say the guys, do you want to coach or girls,

do you want to coach you've seen 25 years, or do you want to coach you've seen five years of pattering? I'll take 25 years all day long because they see stuff that that five year guy or girl has not seen at all. Yeah. So it really helped my coach's eye as far as what I like to see and how I did it and how I performed it and how I actually articulated it

and then coached it. So I was at the Olympic Trains Center for two years, um, finished up school out there and I was going to Colorado, um, University of Colorado State, which is when Pueblo, because I had good exercise science slash nutrition program. Graduated from there and then the Bulls called up and said,

we're ready for you. We need you. And, um, we want to come back. So I go back out there, um, spend, God, a year and a half, two years almost, um,

with the Bulls. And that was the, that was the time by the time we drafted Elton Brand, run our tests. I had a big draft that year. That was 2000. And it was sort of like quite a contrast because, you know, I, I went there a year. You're in 97. You have all this hype. You have all this. You came and walked outside the practice facility. Because you, you know, you're getting mobbed by people. And then you're in 2000 walking back and you're trying to see a team that's totally different. But the thing is when Al calls you and says they want anything from you, you go because Al is the cream of the crop and it comes to strength conditioning. And he has more knowledge in five seconds than anyone does in five years.

So, you know, my only wish if I was a little older so I can take more of it in because we would just call in specialists from all over the country and just learn from them, right? So nothing's new, as you know, right? Everything's just retought to a certain extent, reframed and everything else. So I was with the Bulls. I learned I learned a lot. And then at that point, I was really missing Colorado. And I had an opportunity to go to Stedman Clinic, which is one of the highest orthopedic firms in the country. And they wanted me to learn their progressions, but also then basically be the liaison between them and the Rockies for post-reactors.

rehab. And I was hesitant to take it because I thought I'd be going from team to team to team at that point and sort of ready for the nomadic coaching lifestyle. So I'm sure you were thinking at some point. Of course, yeah. So you're sort of you're prepping yourself for that. And so I went to Colorado Springs. I took the job. And I spent it a year in rehab, which was one of the best years I had because my ego's gone, right? I'm like, I don't even know how to put an ice pack on somebody. I'm learning about post-rehabing ACL, MCL, Labrum, you name it, Rotator Cuff. And it's really giving me a lot more ammunition for like my knowledge base, which I always enjoyed. And then, you know, through that time frame after about three months, they let me door open

to Coorsfield, meet Larry Walker, Todd Helton. We draft that Denny Nagel that year, Hampton, you know, everything else. And walk and Helton sort of become my guys. And, I'm with Walk most of the time. You ended up working with Walk. I was his guy. You were his guy. For those of you listening, Walk is Larry Walker, right?

The Larry Walker. I mean, this guy is, look him up. He's an absolute stud. Rick, tell us a little bit about your experience with him. But just for our listeners in case, there might be some younger people listening. They don't know what Walker. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Larry Walker's a hall of family. He just got in actually a few months ago. He's a right fielder. He is the epitome of five tool player. He can pretty much, I hate to say it, but wake up after having two hours of sleep, hit three home runs, a double, and roll it out and do it the next day. It just came very natural to him. So he's arguably one of the better five tool players that ever saw the outfield in the game.

He played a Coorfield most of his career. He was with Montreal Explos before that and then actually ended with St. Louis Cardinals. But I was his main guy. He was come off in the knee surgery. I told him, you know, he interviewed me at his house in Evergreen, Colorado, which was this gorgeous freaking, you know, metropolis. And he goes, let's go. And I can have to chew out.

I'm like, okay, you want to go now? He's like, let's go now. So. So, yeah, and he adapted very well. Walk's one of those athletes that, as you know, Sean's, like, you can explain it to him and coach him. but all you got to do is show him at once and he gets it, right? So he's just, he's so natural and beautiful, beautiful to watch.

Yeah, I mean, and he's, as you know, one of the best players ever come in the league. So he was, he was fun to work with him that way. But it also gave me the existence of like, listen, like, and I'll tell all those young strength coaches out there, you never want to tie yourself to one person because through that aspect, it also taught me a lesson like, hey, as he's demanding more and more for me, he's not paying more and more for me. So, and he's not really not showing me off the more and more people either. Like it's not like, you know, I want to keep. Yeah, he wants to keep me.

Like, I'd meet John Elway, I meet all these guys. And it's like, it was sort of like, okay, it wasn't necessarily hobnob. I mean, it was sort of like, okay, this is my chef. This is my coach trainer in the back. He guys does do your thing. So it was a really interesting. experience and I did that for two years and it came to the point one year where it was just like you know he he had two very successful years he goes I feel good I'm ready to go and I feel like

I can continue what we're doing and I said that's great because I'm ready to move on as well and it was it was nice to that point I got to deal with more of the farm hands more of the minor league guys and I ended up being in Colorado for about four years and training those guys and I came more of a speed, you know, expert at that point and actually take, she's in speed to all the minor league guys coming up and all the major league guys. I got recruited by about four or five different colleges at that point to be a strength coach for the baseball team and basketball. And I decided to go to Cal Berkeley, and that was more of a strategic move.

Because my best friend, who still is my best friend of this day, is he just got the head strength coach job with the Raiders. Okay. So that that was like when you're a strength coach, you are a strength coach. The NFL and SEC is what pays and you want to be around the sport that you sort of, you know, that you resonate with the most. And so his old staff gets fired like four months after I move out there because they just came off a Super Bowl, Super Bowl year and can't win a game the next year. They had a ton of in a ton of stuff go on. So I'm on Cal Berkeley after a year, and I'm looking at my guy. I'm like, I did not like being a strength coach in college.

I did not enjoy it at all. You have a lot of people telling you what to do when they don't know, like, okay, well, I know their sorts because they're not ready for load yet. And we have to teach them how to create, you know, how to, how to endure load. So they don't have that. So that brought me to a fact of like, I've been through a lot. I've traveled a bunch and I decided, like, my wife and I had visited Mark Weiland a lot, visited Naples a lot.

My parents had a place from Marco, and I'm like, well, let's see what's down here. So IMG flew me down and wanted me to take over their, their baseball aspect, everything else. And then I said, you know, I'm going to tag team this with NCH. NCH was developing a program that actually was developmental for going into the high school for strength conditioning. And so I took that. and NCH turned into a one year or two year stint to like five. And that just turned into like I was a manager, then I was a director.

And then I was pretty much an administration meeting is my last two years there, which once again, I wouldn't change the world because it was just such a business learner. I was pretty much in an MBA fast track, right, at that point, trying to figure out what the heck, you know, how do I do a budget? Like I'm not like, I'm in this computer program. And I'm literally cheating from the people on my right and left. I'm like, what, you know, your oncology? Okay, well, how do you do this?

So I have no clue what I'm doing. No clue what I'm doing. And, and, but it taught me management skills, taught me people skills more so. taught me how to create a better team around me. And so we opened Beyond Motion about 13 years ago. And it brings us. And it brings us here. So like, sorry about that long.

thing is for like everybody that has listened to your background the last 15 minutes, there's a lot of impressive things, right? I mean, it's it's overload of impressive because you've been so decorated throughout your career. That's not why I love you. I love you because of the type of person you are and the fact that you have been there for me since day one, right? I've always been by my side whenever I call, we talk, we have great conversation. But the one thing that I want people to understand is you said two things.

right two things that young people and even adults can key in on right right and like this is going to make me a better professional a better human a better father a better wife a better like husband why everything right is you just made the call yeah you know like yeah i know this kids i know this i know this i know this i know the son right so i'm going to call his dad and just ask for an internship. Guys, ladies and gentlemen, let's be very clear on something in life. When you want something,

you have to make the call. No one's going to come and give it to you, right? And that's a lot of the content that I put out there. Like, whatever you imagine, whatever you could vividly imagine in your life, if you truly believe it and you put it out there, it has to happen.

You know, that's just the law, right? So by you making that call, you change the whole trajectory of your life. It may have just been that, It may have just been that little, what is it, an internship. But it created an domino effect for your whole career. It did.

It did. And I preach that to our young coaches. I said, just show up, man. I mean, just keep on showing up. And you do that. You know? Exactly. Exactly.

And I think as we get older, we stop doing that sometimes because that fearlessness leaves us. I don't know if you've experienced that at all. So like, you know, go ahead. No, because like that's, I'm so glad you went down that road. Because when we're young, I thought I could fly, right? I put a super band pajamas on at the cape and I thought I could fly. Right. That's the believability when you're a kid.

You think you can do whatever you want. But as we get older, what happens? You know, a loved one or your friend or your coach or your teacher tells you you can't do something, you start to believe that bullshit, right? You make that agreement with yourself like, you know what, Sean, Rick, no, I can't do that. So walk me through that because it's a very good point. Like as we get older, that sucks. It sucks, right?

So let's be like totally transparent. Like I left out Air Force Academy. I did the Air Force Academy too when I was in the Colorado Springs for football. And one of the things, the reason I got in there is because this head coach looks at my head resume and says this is ridiculous. How have you gotten this much experience? You know, 23 or 24 years old? And I said, you know, right place, right time. I'm not afraid to make a call.

And the exact thing I said at that M24, I'm saying this out loud. And at this point, you know, it's like is in business now and you and I talk, hell, I'll send emails out. I'll make a call. I won't even get a return call from a high school coach, you know? And it's crazy. And it's like, you know, there's a way. to do business. There's a way not through business. There's a way to create relationships and not. And it's like it's very interesting that, you know, you make so much leverage when you're younger

like you did, like I did in that point in the coaching curriculum. And then you're down and it's like, okay, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you. You're a high school basketball coach. I think we can really help your program out. And this, you know, this kid doesn't want the help or the guy doesn't want the help. And it's like, I'm not looking at. coach your kids. I'm looking to say I could definitely help the kid and help the program. And it's it's very interesting how the field has evolved that way too because the fields become so saturated to a certain extent, as you know, that I think this is not, this is not new to anyone either. This is this is also this is this is this is not like, hey, there's a strength

coach call him. I actually knows what he's doing. I might be the sixth guy that's offered my services to him. But the first four. five guys really have no resume or no experience to go with it. And so I think there's so many things that go on within life that create that like, hey, do I have faith or do I have fear? And I'll pick faith over fear any time. And we can go into, you know, we go into like COVID talk and everything else, right? So it's like, are you afraid at getting COVID when I work in a gym? It's like, no, you know, if that's the way I'm supposed to go, that's way I'm supposed to go. I'll pick fethle or fear, regardless of whether I vaccinated or, you know, everything else.

True, true. But that's got to be sort of like, hey, you can't be afraid to throw it down and throw it out there because there's someone going to be hustling right behind you and trying to get that. But I truly do, I truly do think that at some point you are funneled and there's enough messages on the wall that say, listen, it's time to make a little bit of a pivot and go, way instead of this way. And in business, as we've seen it in 12, 13 years, I mean, we have a population that changes every three or four years as we go through the gym in the facility. We have more young athletes now than old. And I'm enjoying it more so than ever because we're

getting people that just want to be freaking animals in front of me and that aren't worried about, my shoulder hurts a little bit. I don't fuck your shoulder. Let's fucking train, right? Let's go. Let's go. It's like stop being a pussy. So and once you surround yourself with fucking lions like that, that's all you want. That's all you want to be around, you know? And that's, and it's hard to tolerate. It's hard to tolerate anything but that. So I want the best eye to you, best out of your genetic predisposition.

And in order to do that, I have to get you used to a load that your body's not used to right now. You got me fired up, man. You're making me excited for April. I don't want to give me what's coming. But, you know, when, when certain things do happen, you know, I would expect that I'm getting trained there. Well, yes, yes, yes. So, you know, there's some stuff coming up. I can't debauled right now.

Yeah. In a contract, but we've got some big business moves coming up, big facility moves coming up. And it's going to be, it's going to be lines only because I'm going to tell you right now, it's, we're going to stick to what we love and what we want to be surrounded by. And if you come in bitching about something this year or there and complaining and go, go, go, go, let's get up the same place for you. I go, let's get up on the door, lions only. I know, well, I know.

And let's address it, right. So, I mean, so many people run away from it. And, you know, for instance, hey, if you train in the sand and you're sore the next, day. That means you didn't adapt to that load. Okay. So why didn't you adapt to that load I gave you? And you can look at just load isn't freaking a different surface I trained you on. So let's look at, let's let's attack that instead of I walk away from it. No, I don't want to go in the sand anymore. It's like, well, you're unstable somewhere. Something's happening. There's like mental instability. Let's figure out why. Because of 10 years old, I guarantee you weren't sore after you played in the sand.

So, uh, good point. That's a thing. Yeah. That's just that's that's that's that's that's just. That's, that's, that's just that's another way we look at it in this field is like, hey, how do that athlete handle that that segment of programming? And if they didn't handle it very well, we really dig in and see why because that's something we can prove on. Dude, so many nuggets, guys, so many gems dropped by Rick Labeman here. You know, Rick is not the new age trainer. And I don't want to, I don't want to diss anybody out there, right? But I know you're passionate about this, right? Because you're old school, right? you're an OG and you've worked your way up and you've built your clientele.

I don't want to say the hard way, but the old school way, right? And what set you apart, man? Like, why are you, how are you so different than, let's just say, a trainer down the road from you? I know what I'm talking about. Stand on that. These guys. I'm intrigued.

Ah, man. Let's rock the fucking boat here. man. These guys are junk. Listen, when you, when you pick a coach, pick a coach that's had many mentors, pick a coach that understands movement, that understands how everything's based, pick a coach that isn't looking on Instagram the night before and trying to figure out the workout prior to, pick a coach that simplifies it's so good that makes you understand the process just as good as they do. That means you're picking someone that,

understands it more so than anyone else. Okay? Now, I've been, I've making the mistake of going in the room and presenting parents and having parents look at me and go, I have no clue what this guy just said. Just because when I get nervous, I'm going to talk like, you know, like you, like a shop talk, right? So, all right. But when I'm in front of a kid or an athlete, my job is to say, okay, I want you to

understand it just as much as I understand it. And that's my goal. And if I can't simplify it enough, then I'm not doing my job. as a coach. And the competition, you know, it's, it's different. It's like you don't look at them as competitors necessarily all the time. You look at it like, what are we doing not to attract that athlete? And I will say from day one, even the parents say, we attract a smarter athlete, we attract a cognitive athlete, we attract an athlete that wants to understand the training process. I am not attracting an athlete. Listen, if you come in and say, I want to be,

this is one family, one unit, one thing, everything, like, oh, fuck that, dude, I'm your coach. You don't want me as your family. You want me as a coach. That's what you're paying me for, and you want me there. Okay, let's go down that road, okay, because you sent me a text message a couple days ago, getting ready for this. You're like, I'm your coach. I'm not your fucking friend, right? So, and here's the thing, like, I agree with that complete. it. When I grew up, my coaches were my coaches. They were not my friends. Like I couldn't go up to them to put my arm around. I'm like, what's up French? Like, you know, like or whatever, what's up? Coach Pete, like, what's up, Pete? No, it was like, hey, coach, how you doing, sir? Yes, sir. Like, nowadays, the

modern day athlete wants to be friends with their coach. So, like, when you take on a new athlete, you know, you have your intake, you know, have your meeting with the parent, everything like that. how do you bring that across? Because to me, like, if you want the best out of your performance and Mr. Smith, if you want the best out of your daughter's performance and you want her to go swim in the Junior Olympics, then I'm not her fucking year. Period. That's probably that's, that's well said.

That's very well said there. And that's a level of being, that that's a level that I think they relate to. I think parents that when we do e-vals, we do about an hour, an hour and a half e-val. we go over everything and I make it very clear in the eval that I'm here for you know he or she to get better we're here to progress them we're here to actually mentor them we're here to actually make sure they understand where their weaknesses are so we make them their strength so they're not of their weaknesses anymore it gets a little more blurry when you start dealing with the 20 plus year olds a little bit yeah as you as you can imagine yeah and listen some of some of

my best friends down here are guys I've trained. I don't train them anymore. Our guys I've trained. But they involve into that, right? They be involved into that. And I think that's in common interest and respect. You've been in the trenches with them before you've pushed them. You've put load after load, progression after progression on them. They have he or she has responded. They have gone to college. They have done their deal. They've gone to play pro ball. And now that they're in pro ball or their career is done, now we're friends. See, there's a point. you know, when relationships evolve, right? And your athletes can become your friends down the road.

But just because they're not your friend or you're not a friend to them now, doesn't mean you've lost any, you don't have any love for them. In fact, it's quite the opposite. You love them so much. You don't want to be their friend. You want to be their coach. So they get everything, so they work and achieve everything that they set out to do in this life as far as athletics goes. And that's so well said, and that based on a conversation,

I have another coach their day. It's like some kids and athletes demand it. You could feel it from you, right? So you see an athlete once in a while that's just they demand to be, they want to be coached. And that only makes you a better coach. You know those kids on your schedule that are coming in. And if you're coming in 45 minutes early and gabbing left and right,

if you're staying 45 minutes later, listen, like, I'm here for you in every aspect of the way when it comes to this. If you need to lean on me mentally or physically, that's what I'm here for. Okay, but I'm not here to talk about your girl. I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to talk about how are we going to get the next contract, how are we going to get the next team, how are we going to get the next college?

That's what I want to get. That's what I'm here for you to do. Through that process, we'll become very close. And we will lean on each other on that aspect. And once this rides all over, we'll be boys. And that's how it works out. And it's the relationships you remember. It's not the training that you remember.

It's the relationships. And it's, you know, the fact that, listen, you don't want a coach that doesn't bring 110% and is looking strictly out for you and giving you high fives and going out to be drinking that night. If you're going out drinking and doing all that stuff for the coach, listen, I made those mistakes. I did that with walking those guys, right? I can tell you right now, the respect the next week or two is different. So that's showing that that's not what your role is. your role is strictly they're paying you to make you a better athlete.

And you want to make sure that they're mentally and physically comprehending what you're doing, how you're doing it, and where they're going with it. So for instance, we talk about load. And I know I just keep on going back to that. And I said, if I get you used to it,

if I give you a workout, you're crippled from it. You're not ready for that load. All right. If I give you a workout, you're somewhat sore. Where is that load from? And we do that with sprinting,

running, lifting, thing else and all these things can be programmed together to inherently progress the athlete to a certain extent. You know, my pet peeve is just that you get these Instagram trainers down here and everywhere else that just they don't quite understand how to incorporate that so you're actually creating a better athlete that does not get injured instead of that that progresses and it gets the best of their potential. So. And I go out forever. I probably, I probably talk too much. But, um, I'm going to be in my car.

It's like, that's the thing though. See, dude, that's the thing though. Yeah. Hey, no one's here to listen to me, man. This is your son, right? This is, this is you, you know, presenting who you are, right? This isn't about me. So, like, I, I just enjoy every conversation that we have truly because every, I don't think you and I have ever had a dumb conversation. like we're always finding ways to get better. I mean, how you and I had a conversation last night, right? I'm not going to divulge it on to hear, but you asked me for some advice. And I gave it to you.

Just like when I asked you for advice, you give it to me. It's his friendship, guys, and this bond to where we are so focused on helping each other get better and progress that we don't want, I don't want him to follow me. I don't want him to leave me. I want to run right next to this guy, you know? And that's just the time. person you are, man. So, you know, and it's apparent to all your athletes, too. I don't, I know a lot of kids, you know, young athletes that train with you. Okay, a couple of mine

specifically, you know, one at CSN and, you know, we have, we know a lot of mutual people that used to train with you when they were playing, right? There's ever been one thing, not one thing that I have ever heard that. It's like, dude, he's a badass. He's the real deal. He's a dude, and he'll push the shit out of you. What more, what more, like, testimonial could you have than that, dude? Yeah. I mean, it, I appreciate that.

And, you know, you don't remember all the good things that about you. Do you remember the two things that, like, could have done better and everything else? I think as you, as you get older, you start to question your ability to create those relationships sometimes as well. Right. And you start to question the ability of like, listen, I, you know, it, I'm giving you 110% right now. And I think the kids see through that pretty quickly. And I really do believe, do believe like likes attract, like you said. Like, we talked last night. We had some, I had some questions for you. And, you know, meanwhile, the guy reached out, actually.

Did you? He did. You did. Yeah. And, uh, uh, uh, uh, it's about getting better at our, you know, practice. And I think even though I may have a lengthy resume, I'm learning more and more now. And that is true because there is so much information out there at your fingertips at this point. This field is so saturated that you sort of know who's good and who's not. And you look at these people and you're like,

okay, that's interesting. There's some good, there's some good info out there. So just like with catching, I'm sure there's new aspects of saying, okay, that's another way to look at it. That's interesting. Don't give you started.

Let me give you fucking started. I know, I know, I know. It's just a lot of it's just semantics within conversation. And a lot of it is just saying it differently. And it's like, well, that's what I told you. This guy's saying it this way. But like I said, the better coach is going to make it make it so you understand it. And so you could really simplify it.

And if you have an athlete that is somewhat intelligent, it's going to be a very easy transition. So, and I, and the one thing I do cherish more than anything else in this world besides my wife, my family and everything is the fact that the kids that I have coached that I'm still friends with and the relationships that we do have. I mean, that's my family. Like the Don Blancos, you know, it's just that that's blood and everything else. Like Peter Garcia, one of the coaches down here that's been, you know, so these are guys I lean on. And these guys I see come up and I'm so proud of because they stay true to who they are. And it's a fun process to go through. And I think any coach will let you know what your relationships that matter.

I think that's a very good point. You know, we'll start to land a plane here. We can have you on again. But like being authentic. Like, dude, you cannot have picked a better way to segue towards the back half the conversation. and being your authentic self. Can you tell us about a time where you were not your authentic self and what the results were compared to when you said,

okay, here's the wake-up call. I need to be who I am 100% of the time and then the results there. This year. As you know, we're making some big moves. We're signing some big contracts coming up. I think you have. have to understand that you're not for everybody. And I think you have to understand that not everyone is going to love you in the room. Right. And it's, you can't please everybody. So you

have to put your best product out there that you can and that you know is actually helping people. And it's, it's taken through this aspect of really understanding of how am I creating the vision of Beyond Motion and how are we, where are we going forward with it. And whoever am I and who do I want to attract? And once I lay off that aspect of like, well, you know, this kid can come in. He's, he's got this program. He's doing it from this organization, this from this organization. We'll blend that in here. We'll blend that in there. And I'm not like when I want you, I want you full throttle. Like I don't, I don't want you someone else's program in unless we have to sign it off and do some list for that they're doing it, right?

I want you full throttle because I guarantee you I'm going to coach much better than what you got out there. Right. I'm going to give you a program much better than what you got out there. I love it. So it's just we've had some conversations in the last year that have really brought light to that and makes you realize that, listen, you know, I'm not willing, I'm not willing to compromise on my beliefs. I'm not willing to compromise on what I know makes an athlete better. Right. And it will show you through the other side too because authenticity at the end of the day,

the kids understand and the kids know. And you're going to attract the client that you want. I love that, man. I think, you know, as we progress in business and in our lives, we have these pivotal moments of, okay, who are we? Right. And not only who are we, are we ready to let the world see that, right? And I think for me, when I started this,

this thing. It was still hard for me to kind of let the world see who Sean French really was in the, you know, the vulnerable spots of me because, you know, growing up, a lot of people would say, you know, he's, he's very confident, borderline cocky. That's not who I am. I mean, I'm not a cocky individual. I can be very confident, but I also have a lot of limiting beliefs, right? So I've been working through those my whole life, right? And I mean, you know them because you're one of my closest friends. So I tell you what those are. And the people that are starting to, you know, watch the, listen to the podcast and then, you know, tune into my, my Instagram page and, you know, which it's growing, they're starting to see that Sean French for who he really is,

but I'm finally just now comfortable with a letting that get out, right? And I think there's a point in time as we get older that, you know, we either do that or we live in our own personal prison. that's so true. I mean, you elegantly say what I'm thinking and I wish I can express it like you. But, uh, because when I hear myself talk is just like, want, want, want, want, yeah, no, man, it's so true. And it's, um, you know, listen, social media is a way, a way to get that authenticity out there. And, um, I think, uh, after our conversations, even about like social media aspects and everything, it's, it's, uh, you don't want to be in a box. You want to be authentic. You want to be authentic and it's it's hard to show truly who you are and truly what you believe in but also with

you know the the differences now compared to 20 years ago when you're coaching um you know they're you want you want to be able to lean on a kid and be able to have them respond because you're preparing them for college preparing them for pros and um if they don't respond well to you they're not going to respond well to someone else so you're trying to leave that out of it I think kids respond really, really well when they can tell what your true heart is. Sure. If they know, and kids can sense bullshit from a mile away, man. If they feel like you're just there to take a video of them and make a real, okay?

Or if you're there to truly impact their lives, brother, they feel that shit, right? And then when they feel it, they dial into you so much more. You and I talked about a ball player earlier this time, probably about in the fall. And I said, hey, man, you know, get that kid to look me in the eye, little coach. I'm going to tell you what. Some bitch doesn't break eye contact. If I want to thank you, that's part of what you do. And it's inadvertent, man, right?

And it's like you focus so much on the process and progressions with your athletes that they subconsciously learn how to pay better attention. And then when I get them, whether it's one of my catchers or one of our outfielders, it's just like, holy shit, this person has way more emotional intelligence, emotional maturity. It's incredible. You know, I think that's really just from getting coached. I think now all of a sudden they're getting coached, coached and coach. If we take a tennis player or a golfer who's used to getting coached, as you know, they need a call, you know, they have a one-on-one person with them for two hours, four hours a day. Right. These are athletes that just are so receptive to every aspect. you're giving them. So all of a sudden, that's, I think, a skill, too, you're talking about how in tune they are with you. If you have a kid that has not been coached a lot in the past,

I think that that becomes more difficult. And all of a sudden, natural talent got that individual there, and all of a sudden, they need to refine this natural talent, and they're not very receptive sometimes. So the more someone's actually getting in front of them and saying, no, I want it this way, not that way. And this is how I want it to look. This is all I don't want to look. And this is the reason why. And like you said, I think it's just, it becomes a very coachable athlete. And at the end of the day, they're very successful athletes because it's not only you and me seeing it. Now it's the college coach seeing it. Now it's the scouts seeing it. Now it's the scouts say to the GM, now they're getting drafted. Now, you know, low A seeing it, double A seeing it.

The whole world seen it. These kids are very projectable at that point. Dude, I can talk to you forever, man. I really can. I appreciate everything you're doing from the youth standpoint to being a true coach. But I do want to end on this thing. I asked you a question the other day. I said, what's one thing? What's one fun thing that we don't know about you? And you're in your response. I don't know. Well, I fucking found something. Oh, shit. Oh, shit is right. And it's out there in plain sight, but it's something that was so interesting to me. And I want you to elaborate on it. You are a certified wilderness responder. What the hell is that? Oh, my God.

God, that's, um, are you bare grills, bro? Like, what's up? I couldn't do one damn thing I had to do in that course if I needed to. If you're, if you're hurting the woods, please don't call me. Anyone that listens to this. Well, shit, man, if I'm hurting the woods, I'm probably panicking. Actually, you won't find me in the woods. One of the advantages is going to school in Colorado was you had an opportunity is to really do some outdoor activities and outdoor aspects of classes. Um, a wilderness first responder course is called a woofer. So if anyone's listening on the West Coast, they're going to be like, wow, you know, Listen, if I went to REI when I was in Denver, I would just say that.

And they'd be like, oh, my God. And my sister would lap so hard because she knew I wouldn't know how to do anything in my life depended on it outside. And it was a semester of pretty much learning outdoor rescues. So I could, I could, it was a Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, every other weekend for a whole semester. So it was intense. And every Sunday.

day we'd be in the back country doing rescues like river rescues everything else and it was the coolest thing because one of the one nights and i and uh i was also that's when i was doing with the airport academy they were playing in a bowl game but we had river rescues and it was just off in the westcliff mountains i don't know if anyone knows that region it's right near in pueblo and everything else in colorado and it's snowing with flakes like as big as you know my palm and um you just look up and i don't don't know how many 20-some-year-olds can really be appreciative of the present moment because I think that's a learned skill more. Yeah, sure.

And it made me appreciate that with just the monstrous aspect of the energy that the outdoors can give you. And I know I turned it not to a funny thing, but it was one of the coolest things I've done. So it was just, yeah. But a funny thing about me, man, I mean, I listen like, okay, if I like, I love music. Like I love, I love singing. I love playing with stuff, music, instruments, everything else. I'm horrible at all of it. But if I like a song, I listen to the same song consecutively. Bro. Every day. Like, I'm in the shower, the same song, pop, same song. A. My wife goes, oh, my God. What are we, what are you doing? No wonder you're not in a good mood. The song's depressing.

same. Dude, you, you, we are the same fucking person. Like, like, I'll send you my latest song I'm addicted to. I'm going to send you mine too. Oh, I love you. I'll send you mine too. Should we tell what it is? This, Connor Maynard is this kid, M-A-Y-N-A-R-D. Okay. Z-O-N-O-R. The kid can get chops, man. He can sing. Dude. And I just, I talk like that because I feel like I should because I listened to it. So I don't even know what that really means. Send me a link. I want to listen to it. So I'll tell everybody here, when you see me working out in the gym, I will play. I can't believe I'm saying this online. I will play over and over again, Jason Aldeen and Carrie Underwood, if I didn't love you. That's like a romantic song. What are you doing? I know. Reminds me in more life. It's crazy. I know, but dude, I love the song.

I think music has its own vibe to it and I you know I listen I love disturbed I love POD I love all that stuff yeah um there's some songs that I just put on replay replay and it as like music has a strong serotonin and gaba reflex on the body as well so um it can it can be substituted for a lot of like a lot of feelings so but um yeah my wife and your wife can chat and discuss how weird we are that like he plays the same i'll go to bed with speakers in my with my, with my earbuds in, the same song over and over and over and over and over and over. And I'm just like, and my wife looks at me like, there's something wrong with you. Yeah, like, what is your deal, right?

So yours, yours is, yours is, uh, yours is good. I like that. That's, that's, that's, that says a lot of stuff about you that we may need to talk about. Yeah, we can talk about it offline. You know, I don't think we need to be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, but no, I mean, like, hey, the reality is I love the song and it for some reason it just hits me and then just like maybe that's why I'm not very strong I don't I think I think it's

good I think it's good man I think you feel it and then you just go with it and uh that that's that'd be that'd be the weird thing though but uh I'm sure I can go off of how I feel right if I'm feeling in a certain way during my lift right like I forgot I lost my headphones I don't know where the hell they're at so this morning I wasn't listening to music and I noticed throughout my workout like my my mindset was still like asleep right but when I listen to that song it just wakes me up it cranes me it just I'm I'm here for it you know all right so puts me in a good mood but uh look look on my Facebook page just got him doing it's got him doing a solo of my favorite song I've been listened to I'm gonna check it out we'll go check it out no one else checks it out so

someone might check it out I can do your Facebook so tell everyone where they can find you before we before we get off here. So probably Instagram is the best. It's Beyond Motion, AF ATH. You can DME. I'll get back to you as quick as I can. We have Twitter, Beyond Motion as well, at ATH. And anything you guys need, I'm pretty quick to getting back that same day. And if not the next, right away, more than happy to answer any questions. But that's the most active platform that we utilize. right now. I'm just starting utilize Facebook a little more because I'll tell you I'll tell you who trained just as good as an athlete is a 45 year old woman. They train their ass off. So my coaches, we have five of them. They go, well, instead of an athlete, I'll take that 45 year old woman who wants to go after and run through a wall too. So like we just want people who want to be freaking lions in front of us. And you don't have to be athletes, ladies gentlemen. It's interesting to the demographics and what you're what you're received exactly so you don't have to be an athlete guys girls

not at all no no we uh we love all our clients there and um as long as you come in 100 percent that's all we ask we'll give you the rest i love it man i love it well rick thank you so much i appreciate you um i'm gonna say you text when we hop off here but uh i've got about an hour off and then i got to report another episode so i know good good for you yeah well thanks for happy, man. I love what you're doing. Keep it up. Thanks. And the energy that you're portraying and, I mean, your model consistency and I think that's what the kid's got to take out of all this. I appreciate you, brother. Much love, dude.

All right. Thanks, bud. Amen. Peace. Bye.