Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Transforming Kids’ Lives: A Cultural Perspective on Fitness

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Check Out Therabody 👇 https://www.therabody.com/discount/DETERMINED Use Code: DETERMINED to get 15% off at checkout ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------...--------------- In this episode, we sit down with Donnie Keller, owner of Ionic Fitness in Bonita Springs and founder of Wilson’s Fit Futures, a program helping kids ages 11–17 build confidence, discipline, and better health through fitness and nutrition education. You will witness a cultural perspective on youth fitness and breaking norms in childhood health. After years of sacrifice, working multiple jobs, and nearly quitting during the pandemic, Donnie turned his gym into something bigger than business, a mission to fight childhood obesity and help kids develop life-changing habits.   Key Takeaways -Fitness builds confidence, discipline, and mental health for kids -Parents who lead by example raise healthier, stronger children -Small daily habits determine long-term health and success -Progress, not perfection, is the key to sustainable fitness -Community support can change the future for the next generation   Connect with me : https://link.me/theshawnfrench?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaY2s9TipS1cPaEZZ9h692pnV-rlsO-lzvK6LSFGtkKZ53WvtCAYTKY7lmQ_aem_OY08g381oa759QqTr7iPGA Donnie Keller https://www.instagram.com/d3keller/ Wilson's Fit Futures https://www.instagram.com/wilsonsfitfutures/ Ionic Fitness https://www.instagram.com/ionicfitness/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 The average kid under 18 is fatter than the average American pig. Oh my God. That's scary. When I was in P.E. in eighth grade, you had to run under an eight-minute mile. Yeah. Or you didn't pass. Yeah. You got an F.
Starting point is 00:00:11 It was either pass or fail. That was it. PE's a joke now. You're helping children, right? It's called Wilson's Fit Features. We helped over 60 kids, and the goal is to be over 100 by the end of this year. Why I called it Wilson's fit features. Probably two years ago, a client walked in.
Starting point is 00:00:27 His name was Doug Wilson. He said something to me that stuck with me and still, with me today. He's like, I traded my health for wealth. I worked every day so I can make money and look at me now. I'm 65 years old. I'm 350 pounds. I have this, this, this, this and this wrong with me. Now I'm hiring a personal trainer and a nutrition guy to help me. And that was me. About a year goes by, he's down 50 pounds. He's under 300. We're working out twice a week. We're golfing once a week. He dies in his sleep. Oh my God, dude. What's up guys? Welcome back. I have an amazing guest today. a man here local in southwest Florida is doing amazing things for kids through his gym,
Starting point is 00:01:10 getting them nutrition advice and training sessions donated by small to mid-sized businesses here locally in southwest Florida. This man is doing amazing things and that's why he's here today because of the amount of value he's given to the community. I have Donnie Keller with me, owner of Ionic CrossFit Box here in Benita Springs. And dude, you just are doing so many amazing things for the youth. I mean, mental health is so important. And I don't think people realize that fitness can bring such an amazing mental peace to you and a tranquility to you that you wouldn't even expect.
Starting point is 00:01:48 But, man, without further ado, welcome to the show, buddy. Oh, man, thanks for having me. I'm Jack to have you here, man. Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah, dude. So you're local here, right? And you grew up here. Walk me through your journey as you went to FGCU and now you're doing amazing things in the community, man.
Starting point is 00:02:03 So fill in the blanks for us. Um, started off, you know, born in Benita, my family owns farmer mics. So it's a local produce farm here. Your family owns Farmer Mikes? Get the hell out of here, man. Were there all the day time? So we've been here since like, my family's been here since the 60s. Okay. The farm in Benita, now there's one in four Myers.
Starting point is 00:02:20 Um, when I turned 18, they were like, hey, you can go work on the farm or you can go to college and pay for yourself. I said later. I'm not working on this thing. No, sir. I mean, I, uh, I picked, uh, strawberries and stuff as a kid, but, uh, ran from it as soon as I could. Yeah. But I knew I was always going to be an entrepreneur because I started a lawn mowing business when I was a kid.
Starting point is 00:02:39 Yeah. Called it cuts R Us. Cuts R Us. Like toys R Us. Hell yeah, dude. Bow that backwards are. Walked around, hand out flyers. Started that way. Fast forward.
Starting point is 00:02:49 Go to college. Take exercise science. Take marketing. I knew that one day I wanted to own a gym. I didn't know how I was going to get there. I just knew that I want to do this because this is where my passion is and I'll eventually learn to make money doing it. Found CrossFit, you can train 50 people at once. Everyone pays a cheaper amount than one-on-one.
Starting point is 00:03:11 One-on-ones, like, call it $100 an hour. This is $200 bucks a month, right? So a gym opened, Ionic Fitness or Ionic CrossFit in Benita. About three months later, I walked in and was like, hey, I'll coach for free if I can train here. At the time, I wanted to go to the CrossFit games. I want to be a games athlete, not realizing how hard you have to train. It's a full-time sport.
Starting point is 00:03:35 Oh, yeah. I have no desire to train that hard. No. Not anymore anyway. No. So like, yeah, cool. Started coaching the noon class. There was nobody in classes.
Starting point is 00:03:44 It was very, very beginning stages of the gym. One of the late afternoon coaches didn't show up. I was there, so I coached the class. And then one of the owners showed up and was like, hey, where's so-and-so? I don't want to give his name. And where's so-and-so? I was like, I didn't show up. So I just started coaching class.
Starting point is 00:04:01 Happened again like a week later. And they're like, hey, man, you want to coach full-time. I was like, yes, I do. Hell yeah. Yes, I do. So I started coaching full-time. I had 21-on-one clients that I trained out of my garage in San Carlos Park that I rented from somebody, which is super illegal. You cannot run a business out of somebody else's house, especially without insurance.
Starting point is 00:04:21 Of course, I didn't have insurance. I didn't have anything. I just had equipment. You're making it happen, dude. Yeah, that's like the beginning. It's like everything starts in a garage, right? Yep. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:29 Amazon started in a garage, Apple, all those, right? All those places, right? No, I'm not saying I'm anywhere near their size. But yeah, hey, there you go. Love that mindset. So I was there for from June to October. And in October, one of the owners, there was three owners, came to me and was like, hey, do you want to be part owner? And without hesitation, I was like, yes.
Starting point is 00:04:51 I don't know how much it is. I don't know how much you're making. I didn't even look at the numbers. I was like, yes, I do. So I ended up dropping all money out of my Roth IRA, pulled it all out. eventually paid fees for it and bought it. Didn't have enough to pay for it. So I paid all my salary that I took for the first year, went to paying off the guy.
Starting point is 00:05:09 I bartended at the pub and Mercado. I was there for five or six years, worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday just to make money and eat and pay my bills. And then worked at the gym Monday through Friday and didn't take a paycheck because I was paying off the other guy. So this is what I love about the story, right? And the listeners love this type of stuff. And I do too. because I think when you're building something, you have to do things that you don't want to do
Starting point is 00:05:35 until you can do what you want to do full time. 100%. So many people are looking around and going like, I want to do this, but I'm not going to go work another job at night because then I'm going to be too tired and I can't do that. It's the wrong mindset, man. And I think that given your family background, right?
Starting point is 00:05:53 You look at, you know, Farmer Mike's and everything that they built here since the 60s, it's like you didn't want to be a, part of it as you grew up. But like, bro, that type of work ethic, you know, that you can't overlook that. And I want to commend you for doing what you had to do at night because that's probably an environment you didn't want to be in all the time. You know, but you did it.
Starting point is 00:06:14 I'm bartending until two. We cleaned until four. Wow. Go home. This is Friday night have to coach at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. So, what, three or four hours maybe you have sleep? Because you can't fall asleep right away. No.
Starting point is 00:06:26 Coach class and then go back home, sleep the rest of the day, go back. to the pub at 8 p.m. at night. Train, train. So you see it now. Bar 10 until 2 a.m., clean until 4. Open up Sunday because you made no money Sunday mornings because it was always dead. But because I got Friday, Saturday night shift, I had to work the shitty shifts on Sunday. Yeah, of course. So I was like, cool. Did it. Did it for like five years. Eventually, until I got to the point to where me and another, one of the business partners bought out another guy. So now we're 50-50. And then in 2018, I bought out the last guy.
Starting point is 00:07:01 And then as soon as I bought him out and I had enough money to, because again, I didn't have all the money I needed to pay it. I gave him a big chunk of the money that I had and then paid him monthly. So I didn't take a salary. So again, so we're talking 2014 to 2019, I didn't take a salary because all the money was going to paying off the other owners, either the first one I bought or the second one or the third one I bought out. Do you know how many people wouldn't have taken those deals
Starting point is 00:07:27 because they would have said, I need money up front? Yeah, I'll figure it out. But see, that's a gift, though, right? That is the ultimate determination and discipline, dude, because you can sit there and want everything in one hand. But if you're not willing to sacrifice a little bit up front, like I did my show for free for, I don't know how long. It didn't start making money until 2024. Yeah. I mean, dude, and I started it in 2021, we are five years in.
Starting point is 00:07:52 Yeah. And I was still in corporate America doing my corporate sales and like, you know, in medical and everything like that. And dude, I was miserable. You know, like I loved corporate America because it gave me the ability to talk to different people and relate to so many different people and walks of life. So I owe everything to corporate America. But it got to a point where I was like, dude, I'm fucking miserable. I cannot do this anymore.
Starting point is 00:08:15 And then I took a gamble. And every time I took a gamble, you go backwards, man. And, you know, I have three kids and a wife. And at one point at the end of 2024, my wife was looking at me. And she goes, dude, what are we going to do? I'm like, going to figure it out. You got to pull an arrow back before you can shoot it. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:08:34 And then so, you know, when you live in this, I don't want to say, I mean, you know, you got to have faith in what you're doing. And you got to understand that. And to your point, when you said you didn't know how much it cost, you didn't know how much money they were making. It didn't matter. It didn't matter because you were going to do whatever you needed to do to make it. Yeah. 100%.
Starting point is 00:08:52 You know, and I think that's what's, I think that's the important part of the story so far. Yeah. Yeah. So eventually paid off all the guys, uh, started making money in 2020, January of 2020. We all know what happened in March of 2020. So made it. So made money January, February, March. Mm-hmm. Close down March 16th, the day before, which is coming up. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:17 The day before St. Patrick's Day. Um, and then didn't take another paycheck the rest of the year. So it's like. And now I don't have another job. Yeah. I was like two steps forward, right? And then you're taking a large step back. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:28 There's so many points in this story where most people would have said, I'm done. I quit. And it's okay to think. Like, hey, this probably isn't going to happen. I should probably look elsewhere and do X, Y, Z. Yeah. But it's funny, when those moments happen, it's almost instantaneously. Something else pops.
Starting point is 00:09:50 And you're like, hold on, I got this. I almost quit 17 times. And that's probably an understatement in 2020. And every time, started with. with my dad, the first conversation I had with him, um, he's like, all right, I understand things are bad. He's like, you know, no matter what happens at this point,
Starting point is 00:10:07 if you put your whole heart and soulness, I know that you love this. This is what you want to do the rest of your life. Um, if I need to, we'll take loans. We'll do whatever we need to, but you can't quit today. We'll quit tomorrow. I like that. Okay, because that right there, like,
Starting point is 00:10:21 it's, it was a godsend. Dude, it was a godsend. I want the audience to really pick up on this because, you know, and my lot has something. It's called, you know, the power of one more. Yeah. Just one more day.
Starting point is 00:10:33 One more day. One more decision. Yep. I'll quit tomorrow. Yeah. And then tomorrow comes, you ain't quitting. Yeah. You know, and a lot of people, you know, puff their chest upset.
Starting point is 00:10:42 I've never wanted to quit. I've had faith in myself. I'm like, you're a liar. Then you ain't never built anything. You never built anything of any significance because, like, dude, this show is thriving. And there's still days where I'm like, what am I doing sometimes, you know? And I think that's natural to have those feelings in those moments. of weaknesses. But what are you doing in those moments, right? Think of how many kids would not be
Starting point is 00:11:04 impacted if you did quit the next day. Yeah. As of right now, we've already, uh, we've already helped over 60 kids. Um, we're fast forwarding a little bit, but yeah, we helped over 60 kids and the goal is to be over 100 by the end of this year. That's amazing. So for the audience, you know, he has a foundation to where you're helping children, right? It's called Wilson's Fit Fut futures. Wilson's Fit futures now it's up to 16 or 17 years old is that yeah it's 11 to 17 11 to 17 and these kids are coming to you for what tell the audience exactly what they're coming to you for um break that down but also how it's funded by the community yeah so let me start with how why i called it wilson's fit futures because just because it it matters um probably two years ago a client walked in 350 pounds um
Starting point is 00:11:55 I remember we were talking and he liked golf, I like golf, so we kind of hit it off. And then he went, he went down a rabbit hole of what he did for work. He was a public, he was the public defender of Denver. And he said something to me that stuck with me and still with me today. He's like, I traded my health for wealth. I worked every day so I can make money and look at me now. I'm 65 years old. I'm 350 pounds.
Starting point is 00:12:20 I have this, this, this, this and this wrong with me. Now I'm hiring a personal trainer and a nutrition. guy to help me and that was me. So we golfed together. We hung out. His name was Doug Wilson. About a year goes by. He's down 50 pounds. He's under 300. I have him tracking his food. I have him getting on the in body every month. We're working out twice a week. We're golfing once a week. He dies and asleep. He was supposed to be there at 9 a.m. His wife calls me literally at 9 a.m. crying. She works out of the gym as well. She's in our classes, though. She called me crying. She's like, Hey, Doug passed last night in his sleep.
Starting point is 00:12:57 Oh, my God, dude. So I rushed over there, hung out with her for a while, until the ambulance got there because I was there before the ambulance. That's heavy. Yeah. So there's a couple things that he's left with me, and that was the trading his health for wealth and all these things. And he worked as a public defender because he wanted to give back to people who needed help
Starting point is 00:13:18 that didn't have the funding. When he died, him and his wife Doyle, so she's the co-founder of the, a foundation with me. She was telling me, she's like, hey, he has a few friends and colleagues out in Denver that wanted to donate to a nonprofit in the area in his name. Do you know of any? And I was like, I don't know of any per se. And the ones that I do know of, the admins take a $100,000 a year salary.
Starting point is 00:13:48 Don't get me wrong. I know it's hard to run a business. Sure, of course. And a nonprofit is a business in a sense, right? it's difficult. I get that. But I told her, I was like, I've always wanted to do something for the community that raised me, beneath Springs, Naples, Stero. I grew up in these towns before 90% of people that are here. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't here. Yeah, exactly. When the streets were real small, when there was cow fields everywhere, I was like, I want to get back to the community
Starting point is 00:14:14 that raised me and created who I am, who created Ionic. So I've always wanted to do this. And the goal is to take as little admin expenses as we can. And to this day, I built the website. So I had to pay for the domain name and a host a server to host it. And QuickBooks. It's the only money that's gone towards admin. Everything else has gone towards the kids. Every penny has gone towards kids' memberships so they can work out for free.
Starting point is 00:14:42 Right now, it's at my gym. Eventually, the goal this year is to bring one down in Naples. I've already talked to a gym in Naples that wants to do the program as well because they've seen it and they're like, dude, I want this. The goal is to raise enough money to fill the program at my gym And then go to Naples and then Estero for Myers so on and so forth What I found was in 2020 all I could hear about was schools were taking PE out of classes or PE out of Schools or diminishing it making it to where you didn't have to take it
Starting point is 00:15:14 There's no test in PE I remember when I went when I was in P E in eighth grade You had to run under an eight minute mile yeah or you didn't pass yeah You got an F it was either pass or fail that was it We had super laps. Okay. We had mild days. Yeah, to do pushups, pushups,
Starting point is 00:15:28 pull up, sit ups. Yeah. The sit and reach, like all the tests, man. Yeah. Sit and reach. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:33 Yeah. Now they don't have any of that. None. No, I don't go to school very much anymore. No, they don't have it. But yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:41 P.E's a joke now. I read a stat the other day. I don't know if it's true so you can fact check it or not. The average kid under 18 has, is fatter than the average American pig. Oh my God. fat, the average American pig is 20% body fat.
Starting point is 00:15:57 The ones that we slaughter and use for meat and whatever, pork chops and whatnot. The average American kid under 18 is like 24% body fat. Hey guys, we're going to take a quick break and we're going to slide into our recovery segment brought to you by Therobody. What an amazing technology that Therobody has. And it was founded on a really cool story by Dr. Jason Wersland. It was founded on pain. He got into an accident. and had this extreme pain in his arm and found that percussive therapy really helped.
Starting point is 00:16:31 So he created the very first version of the Theragun with the Makita drill, just to pilot and test to see if his pain could be relieved by percussive therapy overall. And surely it was, so now birth to the Theragun and now Therobody, who has a multitude of products to help you recover emotionally and physically. And some of the products even help with stress, meditation, and better sleep, and just overall better wellness. And when I had Dr. Jay on the show earlier in 2025, it really spoke to me because his platform was founded out of physical pain.
Starting point is 00:17:14 And the determined society was founded out of emotional pain. And so it felt natural for us to partner up. So here we are an official partnership with Therobody. and I want to talk to you about some of the products today that I've been enjoying that I think you need to understand and know more about so you could potentially implement them into your life. And I'm not going to get into a big deep dive of the actual science and everything like that. I'm just going to give you some anecdotal information based on the products that I'm using and that my wife is actually using too that is helping us out a great deal at home. Because the great thing about these products, guys, is you can use them anywhere. You can use them in the gym, you can use them at home, in your bed, in your living room.
Starting point is 00:17:58 Hell, you can even drive with the Thera Theragun Pro Plus in your car and use it on your quads, use it on your arms, whatever that is. The first thing I want to talk about is the Theragun Pro Plus. I bring that in my gym bag every day to the gym, and when I'm warming up, I use it to warm up. I put it on my arms, whatever body part I'm using that day, I activate those muscles, and what I find is I'm able to move my body a lot quicker. and I'm a lot stronger on those days that I do actually bring it and utilize it.
Starting point is 00:18:29 I just think it's a great way to understand your body and the connection between your strength and your muscles and being warm and being able to perform. Because it's one thing to go workout, but it's another thing to perform while you're doing it. And the Theragon Pro Plus helps me do that. Another thing that I really truly enjoy is the Jet Boots Pro Plus. These things are wire-free. there's no hassle, there's no cords, there's infrared LED light, there's that compression therapy. And I've been having bad pains in my ankles, both of them actually, for about a year. And I don't understand where it's coming from.
Starting point is 00:19:07 But when I started using the boots, religiously after a leg day or after a cardio session, I throw those boots on and I find myself a lot looser afterwards. I find myself lighter. and then the next day, there's no pain in my lower extremity, like my feet. The other thing that I really enjoy is that product really helps me recover a lot quicker. And let's face it, that's the most important thing when we're trying to move our bodies or we're trying to succeed in life is we want quick recovery emotionally and physically. And these products help me do that, and it can help you do that as well.
Starting point is 00:19:44 One of the other things that I really want to go into because it's helping my wife out, a ton with headaches and being able to distract from the noise in our mind. And honestly, it helps me with that too as a smart goggles. Whenever we feel a slight headache coming on or things are getting really heavy just in our minds, just thinking about all the stressors, all the things out there that we can't control, we throw the goggles on, get in a quiet place. And there's different cycles on there and different intensities of vibrations and mass. massaging that you can either turn it up or turn it down. And what I really enjoy is it allows me to focus on what's going on with just me and I think
Starting point is 00:20:29 about things. And the massaging with the smart goggles relieves either headaches and it relaxes me and relaxes my wife to a point where we can fall asleep better. We are preparing to kind of down shift and shut down and slow down for the evening. So I heavily recommend them. The other thing it's really good for is just creating a peaceful time in your day. And what I found since using the smart goggles and then the other products is it works for me. It works for my family.
Starting point is 00:21:03 And I know it can work for you too. So I want you guys to think about things that you are struggling with. If it's lower back pain or you wake up in the morning, your neck is tight. I'm going to tell you, the Theragon Pro Plus will have. help that out. They have cold therapy on it, hot therapy. I mean, think about that. When I opened that box and realize that I could have heat therapy and cold therapy and a theragon changed everything for me. And also really made the thing that I hate doing the most is warm up, made that very easy for me just by applying it to the muscle group that I'm going to use
Starting point is 00:21:42 before I do it and in between sets, which promotes quicker recovery. between sets. So if you're looking to go high volume or to lift heavy weights, I strongly consider that. All these products are there to help you move along in your day with less pain and recover quicker. So go check it out because now, like I said, the official partnership has begun. And from now until the end of March, in your first order, you get 15% off your first order, not every order. So if you're going to buy some stuff, load up there in that cart for that first time and you get 15% off. Go to therobody.com and at checkout, the code is determined.
Starting point is 00:22:24 So let me know how you guys like it until then stay determined. So that's scary. It is scary, but it's not surprising. Yeah. When we're old, they're going to be running that world. I know. And it's not surprising, though, when you look at how. Our food.
Starting point is 00:22:42 This is a tough one, man. You know, because like you look at how people eat so much out of convenience. And as a parent, that is so hard. Because, for instance, get done here, I'm going to get stuck for an hour in traffic to get back to Estero. Right? It's just the way it is, man. Down Pine Ridge and non-75, I'm, I have time for three or four phone calls.
Starting point is 00:23:03 Yeah. You know what I mean? 30 minutes phone calls. 30 minutes. Yeah, no shit, right? And so you look at that and it's like, well, do I stop at the store and get me and do all the things that I'm absolutely exhausted right now and I don't want to do? Or do I just order something?
Starting point is 00:23:18 out of convenience. And I think a lot of people here in America are so busy. They're ordering out of convenience. The problem is we don't know what's in the food. And the other problem is, is everything that we fill the cabinets with are in a box. And we try very hard. I'll buy some little things for the kids in the pantry, but most of it, like, you're hungry. Hey, there's protein yogurt.
Starting point is 00:23:41 There's watermelon. There's, uh, I love that. You know, there's those little freaking halos. then there's apples. Yep. You can eat that. Yeah. Please.
Starting point is 00:23:51 That's human food. That's real food, man. But it's not surprising the statistic because of what we're feeding our youth. I mean, we are filling them up with sugar. Sugar. Filling them up with fake food. I'm wondering why I kid, why most boys are being diagnosed with ADHD is because they start their morning with
Starting point is 00:24:11 frosted flakes and skim milk or fair life milk that has dextrose in it. which is a different sugar that isn't a sugar. And they're loaded with, you know, 30 grams of sugar before 8 a.m. And then go sit them, bring them inside, put them under these lights, and then sit them at a table for four hours and be like, hey, sit still. Yeah. He's like, what? Yeah, how am I going to sit still?
Starting point is 00:24:34 Yeah, what do you mean? Sit still, yeah. I'm about to run a mile and be fine. It's so funny because like every time, like my little one, she's seven. I have a seven, nine and a 12. So my seven to nine are girls and my boy's 12. Every time my little one goes to the store with me, daddy, can we get cereal? Nope.
Starting point is 00:24:47 Good for you. But dad, but just once, like, no. Good for you. No. Because like the bottom line is if I give that to you first thing in the morning, my kids eat the same thing every morning. You know, it's eggs. Love it.
Starting point is 00:25:01 And, you know, sometimes I'll give them like a half a bagel with some cream cheese. Just depends. Yeah. But we, I do my best to give them a nutritious breakfast before they leave. And my son's starting to watch me and goes, hey, dad, can you cut up some steak in my eggs? Yeah. I mean, like, dude, that's what I do every single morning. I have steak and eggs.
Starting point is 00:25:19 Yeah. You know, protein shake at 4.30 in the morning. Yeah. Steak and eggs, right? And then another protein shake after my, you know, after my workout. And by time, no, by the time I hit noon, I'm usually like 130 to 140 grams of protein in. Love it. Love it.
Starting point is 00:25:37 You know, so I know I'm like, dude, I'm going to get to 200 easily. I'm 200 every day. Every single day. Like without fail. Yeah. Like without fail. But that statistic is alarming. And what it's causing is, like you said, the ADHD, kids get depressed.
Starting point is 00:25:52 And what's the first thing they're going to freaking do? They're going to go to that damn phone or that iPad and numb out and get dopamine responses from likes and how many reposts they get and how many likes they get. And they're sitting there like this all day with 40 grams of sugar in them and then wondering why they're all jittery and like, oh, I can't concentrate. Well, you can't concentrate because you have so much sugar in your body. And dude, it's hard because I understand the social media game. Yeah, like I, I'm, I'm in it. Like, that's how I make my money, right? Well, the show is, but, you know, we get paid on content and things like that.
Starting point is 00:26:24 And you want your content to go to do well and to grow some legs and run a little bit. But I know what it does to me when something doesn't go off, right? Or I'm searching for, man, like, why isn't this hitting? I know this is a good post. Yeah. People want to see this. Think about what that 12 year old is doing, comparing themselves to somebody else because we have a horrible horrible ideology on social media
Starting point is 00:26:47 of what healthy really is. Or what the right way to be or how to make money. And some of these kids don't have father figures, don't have parental guidance at all and they're letting the internet raise them. Yeah. Yeah. It's scary. It's very scary, dude.
Starting point is 00:27:03 To touch on something you were saying earlier about mental health and working out, it's like I've seen more, I've heard more conversations from parents about the kids doing better in school. Their grades are getting better. And they're more, they're so excited to wake up on Mondays and Wednesdays,
Starting point is 00:27:22 because that's when we do the program right now. Because they know they get to come and go work out at Mondays and Wednesdays with me and the other coaches. Why do you think the grades are getting better? Confidence. They're becoming, I mean, like, I don't remember what it's like to be 11.
Starting point is 00:27:38 I'm sure you don't either. But at 11, like, now that I'm watching them, it's like they're clumsy. They're learning how to walk and they've never done a lunge before. They don't know what a push-up is, barely. But to see them go from not knowing what a push-up is to doing one three weeks later because their kids,
Starting point is 00:27:53 they're going to get strong super quick. Oh, yeah. All of a sudden, like, wow, I can do this. When you walk in my gym, it's 5,000 square feet. We have two floors, upstairs, downstairs. The ceilings are like 35, 40 feet in the air. So when 11-year-old walks in, they're like, this is massive.
Starting point is 00:28:06 Oh, my God. So they're super quiet at first, every single one of them. But, man, to watch them go from quiet to, hey, man, we just give me a second. I got to explain this to the whole class because like, Donny, Donnie, did I tell you that?
Starting point is 00:28:19 I caught four games yesterday, pitching and, and yeah. That's amazing, dude. Yeah, they just want to tell me things and I just, I love it, you know,
Starting point is 00:28:27 but when you have 16 kids in a class and you got to keep them all in track and keep them moving, sometimes it's just, you know, it's a little much, but, you know, I think working out,
Starting point is 00:28:37 and it's so funny, it's like you say confidence, right? And this is something that, that C word is, a fickle one, man, because, you know, people think confidence comes from what you tell yourself or gash yourself up as. Confidence comes from doing the hard shit consistently. And one of the hardest things to do is be in really good shape. Another really a harder thing to do is to be a
Starting point is 00:29:03 parent and have a job and, you know, a marriage and be in really good shape. And when you can do that, especially for these young kids that have so much being thrown at them at a young age that we didn't have. Social media wise. We do. We don't know what it's like to grow up in this era. Like I don't envy my children at all. But the one thing I'll say is the moment you start doing hard things every day in the gym, it's all connected. Because the moment you want to take the easy road and not do your homework or not study for your test, you remember what Coach Donnie said about these hard movements.
Starting point is 00:29:42 and that life is not going to be easy. It's going to be freaking hard. But if you dive into it and you seek the hard thing, then you're going to be successful in so many different areas. So I think, in my opinion, when a child or an adult is working hard on themselves, whether it's spiritually, physically, emotionally. Mentally, emotionally, all the above.
Starting point is 00:30:05 Dude, fitness is such a massive component of that. Because that is the ultimate act of discipline. You can't fake it. And of self-respect. Yeah. And you can't fake it. Yeah. You can't fake it.
Starting point is 00:30:17 You can't buy it. You can't, no. You can sit there and say, I'm eating right. I'm not cheating. But your body's going to tell me what. Your blood work's going to tell you different. Everything. The deck of scan or in-body scan is going to tell you different.
Starting point is 00:30:29 Your body fat's going to tell you different. Your doctor's going to tell you different. Yeah, man. I think fitness is a staple for, it should be a stable for everybody. Yeah, dude. And I love what you're doing with the kids because there's, a lot of really good athletes in the area that can't afford training or
Starting point is 00:30:46 nutrition advice. And the service that you're bringing them helps them get better at their sport. But I can't, I don't want to overlook and undervalue that non-athlete. Yeah. That's coming into. We have more non-athletes than. I can imagine, dude, it's coming in there, anxious, withdrawn,
Starting point is 00:31:03 depressed, scared. Slightly overweight. Socially awkward. Or overweight, socially awkward. Very little confidence. Quiet as can be. But watching them flourish, man, has been, it's exacerbated my want to have kids. I bet, dude. I didn't want them three years ago.
Starting point is 00:31:20 I was like, no, I'm good. I don't need kids. I was like, you know, if I don't have them great, if I do, whatever. But man, watching these kids go from day one to, you know, four weeks in to eight weeks in, you know, we're at almost a year and a half right now. And some of the kids are still with us that started with us. One of them is a swimmer at Canterbury out in Naples. and then she started track. She started volleyball.
Starting point is 00:31:44 She didn't even want to swim, but her mom made her do something. So you have to choose a sport. She chose that. She went to her mom. I was like, hey, I want to try track. Now she's, I think she was going to regionals for high jump.
Starting point is 00:31:57 That's badass. She shows me her video. She comes in. She's like, look, look, look, look. One dad the other day came in and was damn near in tears. This is a good story. Yeah, tell us this story here. So his daughter came in.
Starting point is 00:32:10 She was slightly overweight, never worked out ever in life, never played any sports. Was getting picked on at school. Didn't really have very many friends from what I was told. Confidence level, super low. Started with us. She's been with us now probably five or six months. Her grades were kind of lacking. He's like, he was like C's and B's.
Starting point is 00:32:31 I had to like struggle to get her to focus to get a B. She started with us. She met a couple of the older kids. They go to different schools, but they exchanged not. They exchanged Instagrams and TikToks and everything else that they exchanged. So it became friends. And then they would meet every Monday, Wednesday at 6.30 at Ionic. And they would talk about whatever they would.
Starting point is 00:32:52 It helped her. He was in tears telling me he's like, this program has done more than just change her body. It's changed her mentally. It's changed her physically. He's like on Mondays and Wednesdays, she wakes up excited because she gets to go to the Ionic and go workout. He's at her grades are A's and B's. He's like a C doesn't even come across and then this is this about January to now. So it's a new semester, I guess For her and he's like this is the best semester she's had since she was a kid like a younger kid and he's like her confidence level was crazy
Starting point is 00:33:24 She's excited she wants to eat better because so we do a nutrition talk it's about five minutes every day I have 30 different points so it's every 30 classes they start to repeat And it's basic stuff like what's protein what's you know we're striving for like the what we talked about last night is like Like we're striving for progress, not perfection. You don't want to eat to perfection because then eventually, like, if your friends are going out and they're having chick filet, have chick filet. Yeah. You know, it's not the best choice, but don't limit yourself because then you're going to resent it
Starting point is 00:33:55 and you're going to hate the process. But then, you know, the next day, make sure you eat all plants and animals. And we, you know, focus on if it has a table of contents on it, it's not human food. If it grows, if it swims, if it flies, if it walks, It's human food. You know, it's so funny, dude, because that's biblical. Yeah, literally. You know, Christ said, I'm putting the plants and the animal's here for you to eat.
Starting point is 00:34:24 And if you, my buddy Matthew Haddon, he has an online coaching business, and it exploded when he changed his handle to the God food guy. That's all he talks about is eating God food. Yeah. I mean, that's really it. Yeah. And when you look at that and look, and I'm, I look at every single time that I've done really well in my fitness, I'm not eating a lot of the garbage.
Starting point is 00:34:49 Garbage. I'm only eating, you know, if it's carbs, it's fruit. You know, if it's protein. I eat a lot of fruit in the morning. Dude, I don't eat it towards the back half the day. No, yeah. But, you know, it's so funny because I really focus on like a modified carnivore diet. Like, I'll have fruit in the morning sometimes.
Starting point is 00:35:07 Carbore based is what I call it. Yes. Yes. Just based. Like, if it's meat, I'm eating it. I don't get a shit. To eat 200 grams of protein? I mean, you're not going to want to eat much else anyway.
Starting point is 00:35:15 No, you're not. That's right. That's the really thing. If you really think about it, right? I mean, I'll have my, you know, I'll have my intact grass-fed protein because that's a way I can get two shakes a day and that's 120 grams of protein. I can get another 100 and 120 grams through meat. Beef and steak and chicken and fish.
Starting point is 00:35:31 Not a big chicken guy, man. I love beef. I eat so much of it when I was like in college because it was cheap that I'm with you. I buy chicken, cook it. But if you open up my freezer, it's venison, it's bison, it's bison, it's steaks, and fish. So good, dude. But it's super important, right? Like, every time I've been on a roll, it's because I'm eating what is grown here or what's walking here or flying.
Starting point is 00:35:59 80% of how you look is what you put in your mouth. It's not rocket science. It's not easy, though. Like, I mean, I'll give people that. It's not easy. Like you said, if you stop anywhere, where are you going to go that's going to give you Plants and Animals Only, that's not going to be $50 a meal. Dude, good luck.
Starting point is 00:36:13 You got to pay extra for real food. It's crazy. Isn't it crazy? It's mind-blowing. No other countries like that. So I don't remember what I was listening to or what I heard, but it's like it went, it went down the rivehole of, if you look at gazelles, all gazelles run the same speed. Because the slow ones die because they get eaten. So they all run about the same speed and they're all very fit or whatever a gazelle.
Starting point is 00:36:39 is all the lions are very stealthy the ones that aren't don't eat so they die off or they're strong so they can fight or whatever right but if you look at the human race we have people that can run a mile with the guy ran it in what 358 like banister a month ago i don't know a month ago oh really three minutes and 58 seconds that's all that ass too there's another guy who did two miles in the same pace now i'm not saying everybody should be able to run that fast that is a god that is a gift yeah for Sure. But you should be able to run a full mile without stopping. Oh, 100%.
Starting point is 00:37:11 I mean, you could see a man at 45 years old. That's 350 pounds. You can see a man at 45 that's 180 pounds. So the same height, one's got 10% body fat. One has 45% body fat. You won't see that in any other species. It's interesting, isn't it? Because of what we eat.
Starting point is 00:37:30 Yeah. Lions eat meat. Hippos eat plants. Did you not? Yeah. I was after I said, I was like, wait, did you know that? I did know that, but it's different, right? You know what you forget, you know it. And I'm like, yeah, you're right.
Starting point is 00:37:42 Yeah, but they don't eat fruit loops. No, no. Well, I mean, look at, you know, the gladiators. Yeah. Look at the cavemen. What do they eat? Yeah. Plants and animals.
Starting point is 00:37:51 Plants and animals, dude. That's it. Yeah. You know, nuts. Yeah. You know, but I mean, the majority of it is like this baseline theory of, this is what we're going to eat because this is what we have. And what we have now is genetically engineered food.
Starting point is 00:38:04 We have all these different things that are just poisoning us. And let's not mention, I mean, I mean, I am going to mention it, but like, cancer. Yeah. Well, it's based off sugar. Guess what? Everything has. Dextrose, fructose, sucralose, all the loces that aren't sugars, but are treated like sugars in her body. They say Alzheimer's too is like they call it type three diabetes.
Starting point is 00:38:26 Really? It's sugar in the brain. Interesting. Yeah. As they always say, I've been seen like, there's this clip that keeps going around Instagram right now. If I had cancer, what would I do? And he said, the first thing I do is I'd starve myself of sugar. Because the cancer cell feeds off sugar.
Starting point is 00:38:44 If it doesn't have sugar, it can't. It can't grow. It can't grow. I mean, it's interesting to me, right? And I think there's also a lot of people that are super healthy that have taken care of themselves and still get that shitty diagnosis, man. And it's just, so the bad luck of the draw, man. And I'm not saying that if you go carnivore, you're going to get cancer.
Starting point is 00:39:02 No, totally. I'm going to put a disclaimer out there. I want anyone to think that you could just kick cancer and just. just because you ate carnivore. That's not what I'm saying. But you can limit your ability because they say everybody has cancerous cells. There's just a mutated cell in your body that feeds off sugar. When it feeds off sugar long enough, it can turn cancerous.
Starting point is 00:39:19 It's scary, dude. It can become what it is. It's scary because there's times where I'll go on a sugar bench. I'm not going to lie. I still do it. I eat ice cream all the time. Oh, dude. The other night, the other night, and this wife, I'm so mad at you for this.
Starting point is 00:39:33 She's like, I want crispy cream donuts. And I'm like, well, I'm not going to pay for delivery for three or six donuts. You can pay $45 for six donuts? Yeah, let's get the whole dozen. You know, we'll spoil the kids, you know, one morning with a treat or, you know, after dinner. I think I had five donuts at night. Yeah. I mean, maybe six.
Starting point is 00:39:53 I'm a glutton. So I feel you. If I have one and it's delicious, I'm going to go for that dopamine response again. I'm going. And I'm not even hungry. Until they're gone. Like it's a mouth pleasure. It's like, okay, I'm eating this.
Starting point is 00:40:03 This is so disgusting. But like literally, I woke up the next day and I was just so upset. And you're probably lethargic. Oh, dude, my body hurt. You're tired. Inflamed everything. My workout sucked yesterday. It was just not the best workout, right?
Starting point is 00:40:19 But, you know, I think it's important to talk about these things because a lot of people think that you can never touch these things again. You can never, you know, I might not have another suite for three months. I don't know. I mean, you know, it's not something that really controls my life anymore. but when I have it, it's nice. Oh, I'm like an addict, dude. I'm like, I'm with it.
Starting point is 00:40:38 I'm with it. I'm with it. I'm going to buy, if I buy ice cream and I bring it home, lately I've only been buying it out, eating it and done. Yeah. But I buy a pint only now because I used to buy a half gallon.
Starting point is 00:40:50 Yeah, of course. That half gallon lasts me three days. Because I am just in there. I don't even use a bowl. I'm just eating out of it. I mean, dude, you know. I'm human just like everybody else.
Starting point is 00:41:01 Just like you are, man. Like you get that dopamine response of that. good sugar in your mouth, man. You're like, oh, what more of that. Fresh donuts, dude. It's like, fresh hot donuts. Fresh hot donuts.
Starting point is 00:41:09 Like, I'm just, I'm destroying these sons of bitches. Have you tried Jackside and Benita? I've heard of it. Is that the one like right off the exit? Yeah, it's right off Benita Beach Road. It's at 041 and 41. It's called Trackside donuts because the race the dog track used to be behind it. Oh my God.
Starting point is 00:41:24 Oh, my God. I heard about them. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. There's another one called Airport donuts in Naples. Okay. They brought him here.
Starting point is 00:41:31 Grit brought him to the studio one day. and apparently it's tallow and it's healthier ingredients. Yeah. But I had one. And dude, I had the maple bacon. I was like, I ate,
Starting point is 00:41:42 I just fucking scarfed it down there like, how was that? I'm like, oh, it was really good. Like, oh, whatever. I don't get the shit.
Starting point is 00:41:47 It's a fucking donut. Yeah, it's not going to go bad. Yeah, it's not going to go bad. It gets it here for a month and still be fine. Seriously, it's fine.
Starting point is 00:41:53 It's enough preservatives in that day. But dude, like I just think that, you know, and, you know, back in the day, though,
Starting point is 00:41:58 when I'd have something like that, you know, I would shame myself. And then the next meal would be off plan again. What I really learned in this journey is to if I have something like I did that night, you just have to hop back on the next day. That's what we talked about last night with the kids. It's not over. Strive for progress, not perfection.
Starting point is 00:42:17 Because perfection is going to get you to that battle of, well, I did it yesterday. So maybe I'll just start Monday or I'll get back into the gym Monday. Or I'll start eating again, healthy Monday. Well, it's Thursday. You have Friday, Saturday, Sunday to go. Dude, that's half a week. Yeah. You're going to waste a whole week because yesterday you had donuts.
Starting point is 00:42:34 Like, come on, man, get back on today. Let's make the change today. And you'd be surprised. Like, and people would be so surprised that even on a night where you have six donuts. If you're moving your body five, six days a week and the bulk of your diet comes from real food, you're not going to gain an ounce. No. You're going to feel like shit the next day. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:54 And you're going to sleep. Cheeks are going to be out to hear. Your eyes are going to be heavy. Bro, I woke up in the middle of the night, swore. wedding. I was just full on drenched in my bed. I'm like, what the hell? I'm laughing at you. I'm laughing with you because I've been in the same boat. Dude, you can laugh at me all you want, man. I was just like, I had to get up in the middle of the night and go to the couch. Yeah. Because I was just, I was just, I was drenched, bro. But like, you know, those moments, you just kind of got to look at it and
Starting point is 00:43:17 just kind of laugh, like, hey, I'm not shooting for perfection. I'm still human. But I think too many kids and too many adults, just people in general right now think that they have to be perfect. And that causes a ton of issues, man. One thing I have helped with the kids as well is sending an email to the parents because now I have the parents on my app to where they can reserve the kids spot in a class. We started tracking their attendance and we started tracking their weights. Next week and the following week we're going to test a bench press and all these things. So I have the parents emails now.
Starting point is 00:43:50 So now I can send them emails and say, hey, today we talked about this. You can expand on it if you want with them. Here's some things that you could talk to them about. Or here's some things that you can do to help. Don't buy the zebra cakes for them when they're ass. Get a thing of cuties. I mean, those are a wonderful substitute because it's going to give you the kid the sugar that they're looking for or want. And it's a God-given plant.
Starting point is 00:44:18 Yeah, it's a natural sugar. Yeah. You're fine. Yeah. I don't know many people that have gained a ton of weight and are fat because they eat fruit. I don't think anybody ever. Ever. So this morning I had an apple.
Starting point is 00:44:28 I had a handful of raspberries, a handful of blueberries, two cuties, a banana, and a mango. That's probably your whole carbs for the whole day, though, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'll have a little rice in my second meal. I create, like, these little lunch bowls, I call them. Yeah. With venison, ground beef, rice, green peas, red, yellow, green pepper, garlic, shaved carrots.
Starting point is 00:44:50 Oh, nice. Mix it all together. And it makes, like, seven meals. Oh, wow. So I use two pounds of beef, a cup of rice, whatever. So I get a little bit of rice there too. But the rest of the day, like tonight, I'm having steak for dinner. And that's I have steak and that's it.
Starting point is 00:45:03 I won't have any carbs over there, no potatoes, no nothing. Because at the end of the day, you don't need any carbs anyway. Carbs are like your energy, right? So everything we eat is turned to glucose, everything. Protein, carbs, fat, everything. That's how your body uses it. It's how we create ATP, which is our energy, all that stuff. if you're putting sugar, aka carbs, into your body that's already going to be created into more sugar
Starting point is 00:45:27 for it to be processed through the body, you're giving yourself a load of energy right before bed. So now while you're sleeping, your cortisol is going up. So now you're, if you wear whoop or what's the ring that people wear, the aura ring that people wear, your sleep is now instead of an 88, it's going to be like a 78, which is still good, but it's because all the carbs you had right before bed. carbs are an energy source. You're going to use them throughout the day. That's why I eat all the fruit in the morning.
Starting point is 00:45:52 And then a little bit of rice in my lunch bowl that I eat at 11. And then for the rest of the day, it's all protein and tea. See, I love that approach because for me, I think everybody's body is different. Of course. You know, and I operate really well on a carnivore-based diet. I have more energy. I don't wake up in flames. I don't wake up in pain.
Starting point is 00:46:11 But the moment, like if I have like an off-planned meal, right? Because I'll still do it. Yeah. I had buffalo chips chicken wings last night. I don't know if you know what Buffalo chips is, but it's the best chicken wings. Yeah, okay, best chicken wings in all of the land. Yeah, I had a club sandwich.
Starting point is 00:46:27 I don't ever eat bread anymore. But the bread I had was sourdough, which is probably that and rice, probably the two best you can do. But I feel it. Like I can feel my body really hot right now. And because it's sitting there saying, wait a second, what did you just do?
Starting point is 00:46:45 And I just feel it working overtime. to burn that off or to kind of figure out what the hell's going on. But when you say you don't need carbs, there's a lot of people that say, you know, well, you definitely have to have carbs, especially if you're lifting. I don't know if I agree with them, dude.
Starting point is 00:46:59 I think a little bit, you know, so your muscles can be full and shuttle some glycogen if you're in a build. But if you're trying to lose weight and you're trying to cut fat and just be lean, spoiler, you don't need them. You don't need a lot of them. You don't need a lot of them.
Starting point is 00:47:16 If you have fruit in the morning, dude, you're going to be just fine. there's four essential proteins, meaning you'll die if you go long enough without eating them. I forget them, I'm not going to try and name them. There's two essential fats. There are zero essential carbohydrates.
Starting point is 00:47:29 There's three macros, carbs, fats, and protein. There's zero essential carbohydrates. You can go to the rest of your life without eating them. There are some people that say you need 150 grams of carbohydrates just so your brain can function every day. So your brain is made up of cholesterol. Okay. Clestriol.
Starting point is 00:47:43 When people, when doctors tell you you have high cholesterol, what do they normally say it's from? eating a lot of meat, eating a lot of red meat. Your brain is made of cholesterol, your myelin sheath, which is around your spinal cord, your spinal cord, all of your synapses are all made of cholesterol. Another thing, sunlight, they say sunlight is bad for you. There's only one vitamin your body can make.
Starting point is 00:48:06 You know what it is, right? Vitamin D. It's the only one. Obviously very important. It's the only one that your body makes. You do it with cholesterol and sunlight. If you don't have those, you can't make it. So low vitamin D is you're probably either a lot of people are on statins because they're at 206, they're just above, or where they want you to be.
Starting point is 00:48:28 So like, hey, we're going to put you on a statin and get you below it. Most people don't know that the liver makes 70% of your cholesterol. So really, they can only lower the 30% that you're eating by this statin. So yes, it does help. And some people are way above that because they eat a bunch of fried food or a bunch of seed oils or whatever else. But the statin game is what makes me nervous for adults because it's lowering your cholesterol We're not outside in the sun because of skin cancer So now we have low vitamin D we have low cholesterol our brains are fogged because we're we're not taking enough salt
Starting point is 00:49:04 Salt holds onto water gets it into your cells keeps you hydrated People think drinking a gallon of water is wonderful for you but well if you're peeing clear you're peeing out all your all your your calcium phosphorus sodium all that stuff which is all all essential stuff that you need. I just think so many people are just listening to the wrong people that are given books that are like, hey, this is what you should do. I mean, look, I probably drink over a gallon of water a day. But I also have electrolytes mixed in there and a lot of Coke Zero.
Starting point is 00:49:35 Yeah. Good for you. I'm fucking going to like you. I love Coke Zero. I'm on that game, man. I'm on the train. I used to be on energy drinks. Oh, me too.
Starting point is 00:49:43 I don't touch them. Probably two years ago in July. I remember I went out to Washington. And I was like, you know what, this is going to be. my last one. It wasn't. I've had a couple cents in, but I used to drink one a day. I used to drink, energy drink, or energy drink, and then a pre-workout before the workout.
Starting point is 00:49:58 So both of those, I mean, they're both loaded with sucralose and fruit glows and dextros. You're destroying your adrenal glands, dude. Like, now I don't have really any of them. I don't have pre-workout ever. I don't even drink protein powder anymore. No, really? Yeah, I don't drink any. But I get, I eat 200 grams of protein every day.
Starting point is 00:50:16 Yeah, dude. So I've been 100. 65, 170 pounds for the last eight to 10 years. I just competed at the World Championships for Olympic weightlifting. That's badass. I got fifth. That boy, congrats, dude. One of my clients got first.
Starting point is 00:50:29 Shout out to Marcella. Congratulations, Marcella. And it's all based off of spending time in the sun, working out on a regular basis. I don't work out every day. People are like, oh, you own a gym. You must work out every day. When I was broke and making no money at the gym, I went two years without working out. And I owned the gym.
Starting point is 00:50:48 So I tell people all the time, like, strive for progress, not perfection. Just show up today. You don't have to do five days this week. If it's Wednesday, you don't have to wait until Monday to start. Go hit a workout today. Hit another one on Friday. At least you got two this week. It's better than zero.
Starting point is 00:51:03 Like, I mean, how many people in America can honestly say they work out consistently two days a week? Probably very little people, dude. Yeah. I don't know the number. I would hate to see that number. I don't want to know the number. Yeah. I bet it's scary.
Starting point is 00:51:16 But, I mean, there's still weeks where like, you know, I'm in the gym pretty consistently. But if I only get three or four days in that week, I go, damn, that was a down week. But then I think, like, wait a second, man. Okay. My down weeks used to be zero. And if I'm moving my body three to four days a week
Starting point is 00:51:32 on an off week where I'm just buried in my business and I can't really function. Yeah. Dude, this is things happen, man. Yeah, dude. And here's the other thing, too, man, you got to listen to your body. I've never done a delode week.
Starting point is 00:51:47 Never. I know what it was and I was starting to get really sick I did get flu A okay but but that was in I don't know like end of January but what I noticed is like I wasn't getting any stronger anymore and like my shoulders were burning
Starting point is 00:52:07 I'm old now I'm old I'm old right no but you could you can still gain muscle and still get stronger even in their 80s yeah I train my grandmother dude she's 83 years old I don't I don't let me finish this thought. I'm going to go back to that because I have ADHD and I'll forget. I think I've already forgotten. But no.
Starting point is 00:52:23 So I did a deload week, right? Where I just took 60% of my normal weight. I just did three sets of 10. And it was the most boring week I've ever had in the gym. I'm like, dude, I feel like such a loser. I'm not doing anything. Everyone's looking at me. Like, what am I doing with this 135 pounds?
Starting point is 00:52:38 Why is Sean like, you know, doing dumbbell bench with 45s today? Like, what the fuck? And I'm going to tell you, though, last week was my first week back. on like North. Felt wonderful. Felt wonderful. I don't have any more joint pain. My shoulders don't hurt anymore.
Starting point is 00:52:53 I'm getting stronger again. So I think it's important to sometimes take a step backwards, you know, just for progress. Yep. Not perfection. Yep. You know, where did you go when you said the, you can get, you can build muscle at 80. You know what? You know, it drives me crazy.
Starting point is 00:53:10 It is when people say, well, you know, I'm 40 now. I can't build muscle or, you know, So I'm, I'm, I'm literally going to get so much hate for this. And ladies, I'm sorry. But when they hit premenopause and they hit menopause, they're like, that's their, that's their pass. Like, this is just the way my body is right now. And what they have to understand is they're getting stuck in this ideology where they have to do all this cardio. I have to do all this cardio.
Starting point is 00:53:43 And that's not going to build them. That's not going to get them lean. and what women and older men need to realize is you have to lift heavy shit. Yeah. You have to really. Good for your bones. Good for your joints. It's the fountain of youth, bro.
Starting point is 00:53:55 Yeah. You can still get strong. Yeah. You can look better when you're 50 than you were 25, 30. Yep. I mean, it's just got to work. You just got to work. Like you said, you got to do things hard.
Starting point is 00:54:07 Dude, I'm 47. People don't want to do hard things. I'm 47. I look better than I didn't when I have 30. Oh, man. Love that. And I'm just getting started. I'm like a year in.
Starting point is 00:54:15 Yeah. Like I'm focused on this. I love going to the gym now because I know what it did for my mentality. I know what it did for my show and my business. So for me, like that is enough. The aesthetic thing, cool. Yeah, that's great. But you know what else is really cool?
Starting point is 00:54:32 Because when you have kids and they're old enough and they see you go through a transformation, the amount of respect that they have for you is wild. It is the craziest shit ever. Like there's times now. If I decide, like last night we did burgers and I had a bun, but I had like a keto bun. Yeah. It wasn't even like a full on like normal bun. But my kids go, you're having carbs?
Starting point is 00:54:56 You're going to have bread. You're going to have bread. Yeah. I'm like, yeah. I love that, man. I love that. And I don't want them to have any programs thinking they can't eat that stuff. Of course.
Starting point is 00:55:04 What I want them to understand is balance. But when your kids see you go through something and completely turn your life around, that is the most empowering way to lead your family than in any. Anything. The kids that do best in my Wilson's Fit Futures program, their parents work out the hour right after them. So the kids go from 3.30 to 4.30 to 430. Wow.
Starting point is 00:55:27 And the parents do 430 to 530. And then I have another adult 530 to 630. And then I have another Wilson 630 to 730. So you can do either 3.30 or you can do 630. That's badass. So either the parents work out right before them and then they work out or they work out. And then the parents work out and they hang out in the lounge. And in the lounge, like, it's 5,000 square feet.
Starting point is 00:55:45 It's not that big. Yeah. You can see them. And then they're like, dad, I beat you. I was counting your reps. I beat you today.
Starting point is 00:55:52 That's a healthy competition, man. Dude, it's, and it's even daughters to dads. It's not just boys to dads or, or to moms. Like, we have both moms and dads
Starting point is 00:56:02 that work out at the gym with their kids that do it that are in the program as well. Which is another plus of having the program is that I got a couple parents to sign up as well. Yeah. I'm like, you're going to be here.
Starting point is 00:56:12 Might as well just try a couple. And if you like it, great. Like the example. Come on. Yeah. You do it too. Yeah. If you do it, you're going to have something to bond with with Jason or your kid or Ava or whoever it may be.
Starting point is 00:56:24 It's like you have now a different bond with them that they'll never forget. They'll remember doing workouts with you for the rest of their lives. And those lessons are caught. Right. And, you know, there's a lot of things. You know, people talking about how you truly lead your children. You lead your children by doing and showing them the right ways. not preaching it to him.
Starting point is 00:56:46 Just like, this is how I live my life. Yeah. And what's crazy to me is my middle, my middle child, you know, I have two daughters. I have a seven and nine and a 12-year-old son. And my nine-year-old, she does gymnastics. And I asked her one day, I'm like, hey, what, what do you need to do to level up your class? Like, oh, I got to do like a pullover on the bar. I'm like, okay, like, what, how do you get better out that?
Starting point is 00:57:10 Like, what did your teacher say? She goes, I'm not sure. Let me ask. I'm like, okay, cool. So she asks, right? And she goes, she told me to start doing pushups. I'm like, okay, great. Get stronger, right?
Starting point is 00:57:22 And last night, I'm sitting there in it. This has happened a couple different times. She'll come up to me and go, Daddy, can you, can you watch me do my pushups? And she'll, she's nine. Set down everything. Yeah, of course. Let's go. Let's watch them.
Starting point is 00:57:33 Go. Like, she'll get on her knees, right? Because she doesn't, she can't do the full form yet. So she's nine. She's nine. Yeah. And then it's perfect. You know, I'll have her do sets of five.
Starting point is 00:57:42 And I was like, hey, hold on. And then she'll get back. I'm like, give it another minute. Yeah. Talk to me. Like, just talk. Yeah. And, and, and, and, and, and, but you set the example to where the kids are starting to find ways to get better when they're not in the environment.
Starting point is 00:57:56 I can't wait for that. It's the best. Yeah. It's the best. Yeah. It's a lot of things. Yeah. That's not, that's not.
Starting point is 00:58:02 You don't just wake up the nine-year-old that wants to do push-ups. No, I get that. I mean, you can. I mean, you know, I mean, you just got to adopt, you know, you got to adopt. But, no, yeah. You know, being a parent is one of the most rewarding but stressful things. that I think I've ever had the pleasure of doing, to be honest, because something's always happening.
Starting point is 00:58:19 Yeah. You know, something's always happening. Sports, school, friends. Drama, especially with girls, dude. Yeah. There's always something. My seven-year-old comes up, listen to this. I'm like, oh, boy, here we fucking go.
Starting point is 00:58:30 Like, I can't. I was like, I can't. But no, dude, I think when the children start to follow in footsteps and understand that we do this because we get to and we do this because it's a privilege. I think a lot of people, including myself and, and, you know, Doug Wilson, you know, back in the you were talking about him. I think that's such a powerful story because he traded his health for his wealth. And it ended up long term, you know, I mean, maybe that's the reason why he passed,
Starting point is 00:59:01 you know, and in that, I started to see that in myself that I was so focused on building the show. I wasn't taking care of me. I was like, damn, I don't, I don't really want to die young. You know, I want to be able to walk my daughters down the aisle. I really truly want to be functional until I'm 9,500 years old. Yeah. And the only way to do that is to build your body. Got it. Got to have muscle.
Starting point is 00:59:23 You have to lift things. You have to push what you can and cannot do. Yeah. Meaning bench press or squatting or leg press. It doesn't matter what it is. Squatting, I hate it. Muscle is the, like you said earlier, the organ of longevity, man. If you want to live to be 100 or 95 and be able to do everything,
Starting point is 00:59:43 You have to have muscle. Dude, it's like how, if I look back, right, and on the times where I was just primarily fat, you know, like, it's hard to function on the weekends. It's hard to function when you're doing things with your kids. I assume you're tired all the time. Dude, you know what's really hard is being at fucking farmer's mic and it's 100 degrees out and you're picking strawberries when you're fat. That's not fun. That's not fun, dude. But, you know.
Starting point is 01:00:10 I hope I never know what that feeling is. Yeah, dude, it's crazy. but it's like once you come out on the other side, you have some progress, right? All of a sudden, it's not so hot outside. You're not so tired. You just need some water. You're not really hungry.
Starting point is 01:00:23 You're just bored. You start to understand certain things that can trigger you, but also be like, okay, no, I can work through this mentally. And that's why I love what you're doing so much with these kids, man. I know we're having an amazing conversation and the audience goes, man, we're talking about a lot of different things, but, you know, the main thing is the main thing. The education, you're providing these children.
Starting point is 01:00:50 And also, because of that, their parents are also working out and getting fit and they're doing things together. When- And creating bonds that they wouldn't have had a year ago. What's a trade-off? Yeah. You're at home talking to your wife and your kids are on an iPad fucking around. Like, that's not good. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:07 So we've talked about the program. We've talked about what it is. But, you know, walk the audience through how it's funded because I think that's an important topic to cover because there's a lot of local businesses that do listen to the show. And of course, you know, the determined society would want information on how to potentially donate to the cause because I want, if we're going to donate to something, I want to know it's going somewhere. Yeah. And I want it to be towards progress and everything like that. So how are the local businesses getting involved? right now so if you go to wilson's fitfeutures.org
Starting point is 01:01:42 I have information on there about how to donate there's a donate button you can go donate monthly yearly one time it doesn't matter um 1200 bucks is one kid for an entire year so awesome at the bottom of the page you'll see uh flow grown nicoletta uh and company um be your gift top hat roofing uh there's probably 10 of them on there and to get on the page you have to donate at least 1,200 bucks. That's one kid for an entire year. So cool. And at that, it's only $100 a kid per month, which the gym's not making a lot of money off that.
Starting point is 01:02:19 Again, the purpose of this is to teach the kids to work out, to get them moving, to teach him nutrition. And then eventually, the third step is I want to actually rent out a kitchen and start teaching them how to cook. That's third step. But that's, again, I need funding for these steps. but right now so it's you go to the page you can donate there if you donate $1,200 or more you'll get on the website your logo on the website you'll get the letter that you can write off for your taxes
Starting point is 01:02:53 we are a IRS accredited 501c3 real deal holy field no nothing fake about it I love it like we talked about earlier I've literally only taken money out of the account to build the website and to pay for QuickBooks I do the bookkeeping I built the website. I update the website on WordPress. I learned that in 2020 when we were all sitting at home. I was like, well, what am I going to do?
Starting point is 01:03:14 I went to codeacademy.com and learned how to code. Now, I'm no coder. I'm no programmer. By no means necessary. Now they make it basically, I mean, with Wix, you can go on. And basically, it's just dragging. Yeah, yeah. If you can figure things out, you can figure it out.
Starting point is 01:03:29 My website's not the best CEO-driven website that you can have, but it works. Yeah. It's doing what it needs to. I also run a golf tournament in October. That's where I got most of the funding for last year and that's pushing through this year. We had 72 people to sign up and play. We had 18 different sponsors that were local businesses. And then at the end of the year, we did a end of year campaign.
Starting point is 01:03:57 And that's where we got a couple different businesses to donate $1,200, get their name up on the website. We posted on social media. I shared it with the gym account, my personal account, and the Wilson's account just to get more reach for them. Yeah. If you're willing to help the kids, which I want to do most, I want to be able to give back to you as well. I want you to get some benefit from it.
Starting point is 01:04:21 You know, it's crazy because I look at all these different ways that these local businesses are choosing to spend their money. You know, a lot of them donate to the Little League field and they get the sponsorship and it's on the jersey. Yep. That's cool. Yeah. But like, you know, it's so important to.
Starting point is 01:04:36 to put it towards something bigger. You know, and I think the most, I think you'd be surprised most companies when you say, okay, well, I'm gonna share it on these different pages so you get more reach. They're like, cool, but they're doing it. Because they out of their heart. Not because of that.
Starting point is 01:04:52 They don't care about that. I wouldn't care about that. Yeah. I would wanna know that there's a child or children getting the help that I didn't have when I was a kid. Yep. I created a email blast that I sent out to everybody who donated at the end of the year
Starting point is 01:05:05 last year of our impact. of what we did and there are stories of that I gave you about the girl earlier that didn't want to play sports but swam because her mom made her do a sport and now she's in three different sports that's in there the amount of money we raised how many kids are paid for this entire year and then a goal in there is like what we want to do for next year I'll show anybody the quick books I'll show you every line item every dollar that went everywhere and then all the money that hasn't gone is still sitting in the bank account for the nonprofit that will go to paying for
Starting point is 01:05:36 the kids memberships for the remainder of the year. So badass. Because I didn't just take a lump sum and just be like, hey, yeah, they're good for the year. No, I want them because I also make it to where they have to come twice a week to get for the nonprofit to pay for them. It's only come once a week. So I have like probably 10 kids that I can only come right now because it's only two days. They can only come on Wednesdays.
Starting point is 01:05:54 It can't do Mondays because of sports or whatever else. The nonprofit doesn't pay for them. See, that's accountability, right? Yeah. These are the parameters. Because I'm setting it up to not just be at my gym. I don't want it to be at my gym. Or I do, but I want it to have my gym.
Starting point is 01:06:07 I want it to be in North Naples. I want it to be in South Naples, Astero, Fort Myers, South 4thmore Myers, North Shore Myers, Cape Coral. I mean, the sky's the limit. If the funding is there, I know it's super easy to find kids that will come twice a week at minimum if there's four days a week because eventually that's what the goal is to have four days a week at each gym. And if they come at least twice a week, the nonprofit will pay the gym for the kid. And to find parents that want their kids to work out.
Starting point is 01:06:35 Because even parents who don't work out realize the benefit of working out, and especially if they bring their kids to work out. Yeah. I mean, the sky's limited. If the funding is there, again, I don't want to take a $100,000 salary from the nonprofit. I want that money to go to the kids. Yeah. I make my money through the gym.
Starting point is 01:06:56 I make my own money doing that. That's not being held back because of the nonprofit. The nonprofit is, like what I said in the beginnings, I don't want to take money from the nonprofit, for me to run it. Yeah. I want the nonprofit to pay for kids to go. So impactful, dude. More kids we can help the better is my intent.
Starting point is 01:07:15 You know, and there's so many different life skills that you're teaching. You know, they're learning how to study better because they're focused, right? They're eating better because they understand the macros. They are lifting, they're understanding movement and how it's medicine for their body. But now if you mix in, you know, cooking classes. Yeah. You know, because some of these kids that you get, you know, maybe 16 years old, right? They're getting towards that, that adolescent age where in two years, they're gone.
Starting point is 01:07:43 Yeah. Like, do you know how to cook? Yeah. And have oil rice. Yeah. I mean, like, I didn't, you know, I mean, we had the forming grill back then. I have 40-year-olds that don't know how to cook. I mean, it's just crazy.
Starting point is 01:07:53 You go to their house and their boxes everywhere because they order in every night for dinner. They eat out at lunch because they're at work. I'm like, oh, man, no wonder why you're 40% body fat. It's hard, man. like on days like this where I have multiple shows, like I'll just go to Naples brunch. Yeah. A lot of times I have this like chicken platter and I'll just eat the chicken. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 01:08:12 And then go about your day. And go about my day. You know, but like if if you're going to go to places and I think this is important for the audience because I don't want them to feel like you said. Like if the family's eating chick filet, you know, you can eat chick filet too. You know, and sometimes I'll have what I want there. I'll have the chicken sandwich. But most of the time, I'll get the kids and the family what they want. then I'll go get the salad with the grilled chicken on it and remove things that I don't want on there.
Starting point is 01:08:40 And I'll get the fat-free honey mustard and I'll get extra chicken. So I know at least I got. So you got your 40 grams of protein. Thank you. I got my 40 grams of protein right there. I eat a little bit of the roughage. I'm not a big lettuce guy. But, you know, if it's filler, I'll eat it.
Starting point is 01:08:53 Yeah. Because I know it's very low calorie and I'll be full. Yeah. And I won't want to eat anything the rest of the night. You know, I just think that we have to understand that there are options. every where you go and you just have to be disciplined enough to execute them. People tell me they don't have discipline. I'm like, well, do you show up to your kids baseball game every week or practice every week? Like, yeah, of course. It's for my kids. I'm like,
Starting point is 01:09:17 well, that's discipline. So you have it. It's there. You just have to direct it in a way that you want to direct it. You want your kids to go to baseball. You are going to make sure that they're there every day or every two days, whatever the practices and games are. You don't miss those. That's discipline as well. Yeah. Showing up to the gym is discipline. discipline. It's the same thing. You have it. It's funny because like I think a lot of parents and you're going to learn this, you will do whatever you need to do for your kids. But sometimes you fall by the wayside. You know, like moms are notorious for this. My wife is a godsend. Like women sacrifice more of themselves to make sure that the family's okay. You know, but when I look at
Starting point is 01:09:57 this whole thing of, you know, like you're talking about redirecting the discipline, what if you tied it to your kids. Yeah. You know, what if you looked at it as, I'm going to go work out because I want more energy from my children.
Starting point is 01:10:13 I want to be a better father. I want to be a better mother. I want more peace in my life. But I also want to live longer and be healthier longer so I can watch them fucking grow up. Grow up and then have kids and then be able to play with my grandkids.
Starting point is 01:10:25 Yeah. Like I want to be a grandparent, dude. Yeah. Nothing scares me more. Because I look at, I'm 47. My youngest is seven. I'm like,
Starting point is 01:10:32 doing the math here. I'm like, Oh, man. Hey, I'm on the back half here. I better, I better dial in. You know? And so for me, like, my biggest fear is not me dying. My biggest fear is me not being here when my kids need me the most.
Starting point is 01:10:48 That's deep. And I think that if more parents looked at it like that, then there would be a lot more healthy households. Just do it for your kids, man. Yeah. I mean, what's more powerful than that? I think there's a quote that says like, you'll do anything for your kids, but will you eat healthy and work out for them? I see, dude, that's a trend going on on Instagram right now, dude.
Starting point is 01:11:13 I see it like crazy. It's like, you said you'll do anything for your kids, but will you work out for them? Yeah. It's one hour. That's all it is. I mean, dude, there's days. Like, if it's an ancillary day and it's just a shoulder day for me, I'm in, I'll live for 30 minutes.
Starting point is 01:11:27 I'll get four shoulder exercises in, three sets of 10. Then I'm in the sauna for 20, 30 minutes. Like, I'm good. It sounds wonderful for you. Especially males. So, so good, man. Especially males and testosterone. Dude, my testosterone level is way too high.
Starting point is 01:11:40 It's just way high right now. It's a good thing or bad thing? Yeah, it's a good thing. Yeah, I'm doing it the right way. But, you know, a lot of times they have to keep decreasing my dose. How's your blood? You're not clotting or anything, are you? No.
Starting point is 01:11:50 You get your blood checked. Yeah. Yeah, like, every, whatever they, you know, whatever we want. What are they tell you to? Three, four months or whatever it is. Maybe five months. I don't, I don't know. But, yeah, my last levels came back at like over 1,700.
Starting point is 01:12:02 And they're like, Like this is a problem. Like, not for me. Like, no, this is awesome. I love this. But they say,
Starting point is 01:12:10 okay, what are you, what are you pulling? I go point five. That's my prescription. So they, they, they knock me down to point four.
Starting point is 01:12:18 No, point four. But like, you know, here's the thing, though, like, you know,
Starting point is 01:12:23 of course my testosterone level is really high. Mm-hmm. I am leaner. I'm absorbing it better. Mm-hmm. I'm not filling my body with,
Starting point is 01:12:31 with shit. 90 to 95% of the time on one plan did. But that 5 to 10% is way off. Enjoy that. Enjoy that. Enjoy that 10% man. I'm going hard. You have to enjoy it.
Starting point is 01:12:42 If you enjoy that 10%, it makes the other 90% worth it. You know, it's funny because like it used to be, if we had pizza, it would be like four or five pieces. You know, now me going off the rails is two pieces. And I'm just like, I can't eat anymore. Like I'm done.
Starting point is 01:12:58 I literally can't eat more than two. But I enjoy it, right? And I don't feel like shit later on that. day and I just, you know, I just think it's super important to, that we got off in the weeds about testosterone because we're talking about saunas, but like, like, dude, I'm doing everything right. Mm-hmm. You know? Oh, look at you.
Starting point is 01:13:15 Of course you are. I mean, everything right. Look at those veins. Yeah, they're getting right, man. They're getting there, right? They're crushing life. But it's like. Especially at 1,200.
Starting point is 01:13:21 Dude, fuck. My doctor thought I was high. I'm in the 700s. Oh, really? My doctor was like, how old are you? I told him, you know, I'm 38 and I'm like, what are you doing? That's not even like. What are you doing?
Starting point is 01:13:32 Yeah. Dude, they get scared about that, man. Yeah. Because they know that I don't have to come back. Yeah. Yeah. I go to Waste the Well to get my blood work done and have it done online and go to LabCorp and have them check in. They send me the results and there's 78 biomarkers and all of them are either optimal or barely suboptimal. You know, the only thing that what I check most is my PSA because it runs in my family. But I'm 0.2.
Starting point is 01:13:57 So it's super low. My PSA levels are always good. my levels that have always been high. This is what's wacky. And if there's a holistic doctor listening, please. Please reach out. My liver enzymes are way high all the time. And it started probably around 2015.
Starting point is 01:14:17 And doesn't matter if I'm overweight, doesn't matter if I'm lean, they're high. And I mean, to a point where I went through the whole thing, dude, I went through ultrasounds, cat scans. So you don't have a fatty liver then, right? or do you? They said you went to college. That's the only thing that we can tell. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:14:34 So like I did it with contrast, without contrast. I did a transjugular liver biopsy. Nothing. Like nothing. Like so when my blood work comes back, it's my liver enzymes are always way up here. But what I found out is my biological father,
Starting point is 01:14:51 I don't really know him, but he's pre-diabetic. So I think that kind of runs in the family. So I'm on this mission to figure out how I decrease that, right? So I'll do the Himalayan liver care. I do all that stuff. But for some reason, just my liver is just always like, just, hey, no.
Starting point is 01:15:05 I wish I could give you an answer. I wish somebody would. Yeah. I wish somebody would. I mean, there's got to be something there, right? But that's the only marker. Yeah. That's the only marker that comes back.
Starting point is 01:15:14 We're like, what the hell? Like, why is this like that? Especially when everything else is great. Yeah. Or optimal. Yeah. Whatever the scores. Tests too high.
Starting point is 01:15:21 Yeah. I don't find that. I don't find that a problem. You know, my wife might. Your wife doesn't find out of my wife. She's like, dude, you're not 18 anymore. I'm like, I feel like it. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:15:31 You have more than an 18 year old. Dude, seriously, man. You know, waking up in the morning and you're like, hey, like, I'm here. You know, I'm ready to take on this day. You know, like when you get older, you know, everybody tells you like, you know, you're not as virile. You're not as, you know, ready to go and, you know, you start having issues with, you know, erectile dysfunction and everything like that.
Starting point is 01:15:51 And that scares men. Yeah. You know, that's not. Because who wants that? No, I don't want that. I want it to work, man. I want it to work and I want it to work well. I wonder.
Starting point is 01:15:59 So I don't have never looked at the studies, but I wonder if there's a direct correlation to body 5% and erectile dysfunction. There has to be. Right? I mean, there has to be something. Yeah. I've yet to meet now. The men don't go around talking about it because we're men and we don't talk about our feelings really ever. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:16:16 That's a problem too. I go to therapy. I'm going tonight. I go every two weeks. Good. I think that's great. Yeah. So shout out to men.
Starting point is 01:16:23 If you need therapy, go do it, man. Or talk to one of your boys too, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, have a couple beers and talk and hang out. Hang out.
Starting point is 01:16:29 And, you know. But then you're airing your dirty laundry to a man who could possibly use it against you later. That's why I go to therapy because I never see this guy outside of the every two weeks when I see him. But I can talk about everything that's bothering me. He gives me things to think about. He doesn't tell me how to think. He just asks questions, which makes me think about why I think about this way. That's good.
Starting point is 01:16:52 Which is wonderful. It does. And owning a business. and now running the nonprofit, the foundation and whatnot, and I'm busy. Oh, yeah. I don't get time to think about me
Starting point is 01:17:01 and what I'm doing. You know, I'm moving all the time. So to go spend this hour every two weeks with him has been wonderful, and I've been doing this since 2020. It's smart, dude. I mean, therapy is, I mean, you need that unbiased. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:17:18 Someone you can talk to, you know. But I do think, though, you know, dudes need to open up to each other more. you had a really good friend and you're struggling with something and they ask you how you're doing. You're like, I'm good, man. Yeah. Like, nah. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:17:30 Like, I can tell you're not. Tell me, man. I can tell you're struggling, man. Like, what's going on? And, you know, I recently had a conversation with a good buddy of mine that I met through the show, right? He was on a reality show. Like, we're going to be.
Starting point is 01:17:42 Yeah, exactly. It's like, I'm, we're already here. You're sitting here, you know? So it's like, what do you call it? Like, he was on a reality show, really good looking dude, division one athlete. You know, won a gold medal in the Pan Am games. Oh, good. like stud.
Starting point is 01:17:57 And I remember calling him last year at one point. And the conversation was very short. It wasn't normal. I'm like, hmm, I wonder what's up. And then I went on a little bit of a road trip. I went to Atlanta. And he was coincidentally also in Atlanta. And we were supposed to link up at one point, but I never heard from him.
Starting point is 01:18:18 And so I just kind of, I'm like, hmm, I wonder what's going on. I ended up talking to him last week. And he finally opened up. and said, hey, I was really struggling last year. And, you know, I felt like I had lost everything. I was like, is that why you were kind of like, you know, these conversations? And I was like, I'm like, bro, you can always talk to me, dude. Like, you can all, you just know it's a safe space, man.
Starting point is 01:18:41 Because, you know, a lot of times if we don't tell people what's going on, we leave their imagination to run wild and make up stories, you know? And I thought, like, hey, maybe he just, maybe he doesn't want to talk to me. Yeah. Maybe he's upset with me. Maybe I did something to make of them. Or maybe we're not as tight as I thought we were. Or, you know, like, hey, we were tight for this period of time.
Starting point is 01:19:01 And then, you know, he's decided not to, you know, be tightly in it. And that's fine. But, like, we have to be able to talk more. And I think it comes from confidence, you know, in doing the hard thing every day and having these conversations that you can completely open up and be okay. Yeah. Because I tell you, the pressures in this world. To be a man is not easy.
Starting point is 01:19:24 To be a man, a husband, a father, an entrepreneur. A man of God. That's the hardest, especially in this world. Especially now in this world. Especially now in this world, man. And I think it's equally as hard, obviously, to be a woman and to be a mom and to be a wife and have to worry about all these different things to make the household run. And I think what's important is the two people in the house, they pull together and they pull the weight together. but, you know, if we're not talking about things that are bothering us, man,
Starting point is 01:19:57 I just think that it's just, it's a recipe for disaster, dude. Yeah. And, but through your work, you're giving these kids and these families the opportunity to grow strength and to have these conversations. The other thing that I think is really interesting about what you do is, you know, when you look at the parent and child dynamic, you're talking about this bond that they build. but you're also helping them build this vacuum
Starting point is 01:20:26 where they can be completely honest with each other. Like, hey, I don't like when you're doing this. Or this doesn't feel good when you do this. Or I'm struggling with this. My friends are out drinking. What do I do? You have to have these moments as a parent when you're putting kids in the situation
Starting point is 01:20:45 to where they can be honest with you and you not judge them. And there's no better avenue to do that when you're sitting there watching your kid sweat and your kids watching you sweat it's dude that's congruence dude yeah you know and a lot of people listening may think this doesn't make sense just go try it yeah because to me it makes all the sense yeah it makes everything yeah it makes complete sense yeah man um i think what kids watching even if the kids are too young so we have some kids that come to the gym with their parents every day at 430 they sit in the lounge but they're there
Starting point is 01:21:20 every day. They see their parents sweating every day. They see their mom and dad fall in love with each other every day working out together. They see them high five each other at the end of it. They see that this is part of life. They guarantee you they're going to grow up and work out the rest of their life. Yes. Guarantee. Because they realize it's not a punishment. They realize this is just a lifestyle. Yeah. And I think a lot of people, a lot of people look at it as a chore. Like, no, this is a blessing. You get to move your body. How many people out there can't move their bodies right now that wish that they could. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:21:51 And we're sitting here pissing it away. Yeah. You think about that. Yeah. Dude. I did an event at the Red Sox Stadium last Saturday. We did a health and wellness event and I ran the workout. And when I was up on stage because I coached it, aka talked them through it because I was up
Starting point is 01:22:05 on stage with the mic. I said when we're in one of our breaks, um, don't forget that your workout is not a punishment of what you ate last night or what you drank last night. It's a celebration of what your body can do. I had three different people come out to me after. It was like, oh my God, I've never heard that. I will never forget it.
Starting point is 01:22:27 And every time that I eat bad on Friday night, I'll make sure that I still go to the gym on Saturday morning or whatever. And these are adults. And they're like, I've never heard that. A celebration as opposed to a punishment. Dude, it took me until I was 46 to realize that. One of these guys was 50. Dude, it was the first time I ever heard it.
Starting point is 01:22:46 No shame in that, bro. Yeah. So, but now you're not. he's got the rest of his life to realize that movement or exercise is a celebration, not a punishment. It's very good, man. Well, thanks for coming, dude. Been a freaking awesome time, man.
Starting point is 01:22:59 This is almost even the fact that I was even thought or one brought up to you to be on this podcast, then considered to be on the podcast and now sitting here. I mean, all of it's a dream come true, man. I never thought. Thank you. I appreciate that. But, I mean, when I look at things, you know, um, sharing things with my audience, it has to be something that I feel is impactful,
Starting point is 01:23:26 something that is alignment with the brand, but also more importantly, I can give an insurmountable amount of value to the listener, right? And it was a no-brainer for me, dude. Like there's, I mean, dude, straight up, bro. I mean, I'm equally as grateful and excited that you are sitting here with me today because, you know, a lot of people, you know, walk through life in this world and they only do things for personal gain. Your life would be so much easier.
Starting point is 01:23:56 You would have way more money if you were not doing this. But what I do know. Yeah. But you know what? And more time, right? To do whatever to, you know, go through the half gallons of ice cream. God gave me a calling, man. He did.
Starting point is 01:24:09 And you can't, you can't disrespect it. You can't disrespect it and walk away from it. because like that's why I wanted you on because of the fact that you're still choosing. It's a conscious decision every day to do this for the community. And when you talk about a calling, for me, I looked at this whole thing as something I wanted to do until I realized this is what he wanted me to do. And then there was no turning back. I heard a clip.
Starting point is 01:24:44 and after that we'll roll is CJ. He's in Eric Thomas's camp. You know, he's a preacher. Yeah, yeah, Eric Thomas is an amazing human being. I love that guy. I love when I get to hang out with him. He's just, he is who he advertises. That's awesome.
Starting point is 01:25:05 And same with everybody in his group, Jeremy Anderson, Brandon Burns, C.J. Quinney, Inkey Johnson. I mean, you want to talk about an amazing human being. Like, but, you know, where was I going with? Oh, CJ. CJ, yeah. I saw a clip.
Starting point is 01:25:23 It was literally two days before I met him at an event of one of Eric's events. And he was talking about this virtual reality headset that he bought his kids. That's all they wanted was this VR set. So he buys it for him. A couple weeks goes by and he hasn't seen him playing with it. And he goes, hey, you guys still, you know, playing with the VR headset, what's going on? They're like, oh, well, about that, you know, we lost it.
Starting point is 01:25:50 Right. It's a gift. As a parent, you want your child to use the gift that you gave them. And value it. And value it because you spent money on it. You spent thought, what about when God gives you a gift and you don't use it? Like when he said that, and I didn't even know this man at that time, it hit me right in the chest. It's like, I can't piss this away.
Starting point is 01:26:12 because it was, this is a gift given to me from a higher power. And, and again, like, call it what you want. But this is what I'm really good at. It's because I was given this ability. And now I've refined it. I've worked on it. And some days I'm better than others, right? Because I'm, but I'm human.
Starting point is 01:26:31 Right? I'm not always going to operate at a 100% capacity. Yeah. It's impossible. But to turn your back on your gift, I think is the ultimate act of disrespect. And I think more people need to identify what their gifts are and find a way to use them for the good of other people. And then you will be blessed, right?
Starting point is 01:26:53 It'll all come back to you. But I think the main part of that is not to worry about how. If you get stuck in the how, you'll never move. Yeah. It just will never happen, man. You just got to blindly go and figure it out and stumble and like fall and fail, be laughed at, be scoffed at. Like, dude, we've gone through some crap in this show, man. Like, big time. But it's my gift. It's a gift. And we're still moving. We're still,
Starting point is 01:27:23 we're not anywhere close to where I want to be. Until I make that impact on a larger level and I can see it every day, I'm not done. And that's the same path you're on with what you're doing. You know, it's like you're being very successful at how you're doing it now, but you have bigger goals, but you're not focused on, you know, down the road. Yeah, I'm not focused on having 100 gyms with the program. No, you have to execute what you have now. Yeah. And then it grows.
Starting point is 01:27:52 Yep. Because here's what you're going to find, man. You're going to run into somebody. They can come into your gym. You're not going to know who or she is, but they're going to have a kid. Don't worry about it. We just heard about you. We're going to pay.
Starting point is 01:28:04 But don't, we just want them here. But what they're really doing is vetting you out because they have a ton of money. And that's how it's going to happen, bro. That's how it's going to happen. Someone's going to walk in there and they're going to end up funding everything that you need. I hope, man. It will. Because the funding, again, like I've told you a hundred times and I want to beat that dead horses, the money's not for me.
Starting point is 01:28:24 The money's for the kids and their memberships. So they never have to pay for a gym membership or a trainer to teach them how to eat or to teach them how to work out ever. They can go through 11 to 17 and then be fine for the rest of the lives. Because now they have the baseline. They understand the habits. They understand what it's going to take. It ain't hope. It's just when. Yep.
Starting point is 01:28:44 It'll happen. The right person will walk in and you're going to be able to give to this community at a scale that you've wanted to, man. So I hope and pray. It'll happen, man. I appreciate you, brother. Thank you so much for coming on. Yeah, dude. It's been freaking great, man.
Starting point is 01:28:58 For the audience, go check out Donnie Keller on Instagram. All his links will be in the show notes. If you're local, go check out the gym. If you're a local business and you have a budget to donate to nonprofit, check them out. Wilson's Fit Future, $1,200 a year is going to pay for one kid throughout the whole year for the membership. I can think of so many things that I blow $1,200 on that doesn't benefit the children of the community. Baseball bat. Yeah, those are like $500 now.
Starting point is 01:29:27 That's freaking insane, right? So check them out. If it's something that you are interested in and sponsoring, you can go to check it out. And, you know. Even if you want more information, just go to go. to Wilson's fitfutures.org fill out the form. I'm going to be the one. I get the form directly sent to my phone. I'm going to be the one that's going to message you back. I'll call you. I'll talk to you. I'll do what I want this program to grow. Yeah. I need to meet the right people
Starting point is 01:29:53 to help me get to that level. I love it. I love it. All right guys, share the show with someone you know, love and trust. And until next time, stay determined.

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