The School of Greatness - 195 Dr. Oz's Personal Trainer, Donovan Green on Getting Fit with No Excuses

Episode Date: June 29, 2015

"Success will only come when you think successfully." - Donovan Green If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at lewishowes.com/195.

This is episode number 195 with Donovan Green. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Very excited about our guest today.

His name is Donovan Green. If you guys are looking to take your fitness to the next level and have no excuses, then you're in the right place today because Donovan Green is a lovely human being, very positive, high energy, and he is filled with no excuses. A little about him, he was born in Jamaica and raised in the Bronx. He's a national authority on fitness and self-defense, a motivational speaker, frequent guest on the Dr. Oz Show, and he lives in Connecticut with his family. He's also the personal trainer to Dr. Oz show, and he lives in Connecticut with his family. He's also the personal trainer to Dr. Oz.

So Dr. Oz is one of the top health experts in the world, one of the biggest authorities in the world on the topic, and this is the guy he trusts to make sure he stays in shape. He trains this guy on a regular basis. So we're going to dive into Donovan's story, a little bit about how he got connected with Dr. Oz, and really his plan for helping you stay toned and keeping your body supercharged for optimal health. Without further ado, let's go ahead and dive in with the one and only Donovan Green. Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness podcast. Very excited about today's guest. We've got Donovan Green on.

How's it going, Donovan? I'm good, Louis. It's good to be here. Thank you for having me. Yeah, I'm excited. Our agent, we share the same agent, Steve Hanselman, and he introduced us. And he said, you've got to get this guy on. He's doing incredible things.

He's got this amazing energy, positive. He's training with Dr. Oz. And I was like, let's bring him on and see if we can learn some new stuff. So I want to share some fun facts about you first that I learned. One is that you're a jiu-jitsu black belt. Is that right? That's right. That's 100% correct.

And how long does that take to become a black belt in jiu-jitsu? Wow, it can take years. It can take many years. I mean, that's a real jiu-jitsu where it's not a money thing so it took lots of years to get the first degree wow you know a lot of hard work and labor what is so what's a full well how long did it take you from start to first class to black belt from first class to black belt took me about two and a half years wow to get my my black belt

yeah my teacher that's a lot faster than I thought it would be, actually. Yeah, right? But I put a lot of work into it, Louis, man. It was hours of training, lots of throws, a lot of falls, a lot of kicks, a lot of punches. Is that every week? Is that multiple times a week? What does that look like?

Yeah, it looked like class three times a week. Okay, cool. We're looking at about two hours of class. Wow. I'm a little crazy, so I'll do about three hours. I'll do an extra hour with room to train extra. You know, I'm always trying to do a little bit more. So an average human would take three and a half to four years.

But it takes two and a half. Okay. Just making sure. You're also born in Jamaica. Is that right? Yes, I was born in Jamaica. And I spent about eight years of my life in Jamaica. And then I came to the United States. And I've been here since then, just in the U.S., just doing what I do.

Very cool. The accent's pretty much gone. It's pretty much gone, but I could always bring it back. And if you listen enough, you will hear the accent still. You will definitely still hear it. I hear it a little bit. Yeah. But still, it's pretty good

now yeah and then you came here when you were you said when you're eight when you were raised in the bronx is that right yep i'm from the bronx um i was raised in the bronx i went to um elementary school junior high school high school in the bronx i spent a lot of time learning things and seeing things and just going through goods and going through the bads and you know just experiencing the life. Okay. I like it, man. You've learned a lot. And now you're, where are you living now? Right now I'm in Fairfield in Connecticut.

Okay, cool. Um, well, I want to talk about your new book and also just your overall approach to mindset and fitness today, because you've got, your book is called no excuse fitness. And, uh, there's a lot of people in the world who you know most of my audience is entrepreneurs and their their excuses i don't have time because i'm so focused on my business i'm running it all myself you know it's a one-man show or i've got all these employees i've got to manage so i'm working all, all night. And the last thing I can think about is working out

at night. Now, for me, I talk about how you're really setting your business up for failure if you're not spending time mastering your body and your health, because that's going to give you the energy to be productive. Now, why did you come up with this topic of no excuses? Is it because everyone gives you excuses when you train them or, or is that just the general theme in the world? But why did you come up with this? Well, you know why I came up with this excuse was first of all, growing up as a, as a child in the Bronx, you know, seeing all the things that I saw, I got to see, uh, drug deals gone bad. I got to see people getting shot. I got to see people getting stabbed. I saw fights. I saw so many things and everyone that I was around, a lot of my friends and even colleagues, just people

that I knew, felt like they had to be a part of that society, become a product of your environment. This is what we see. So we have to be that person. So I decided to stop. No, I don't want to make that an excuse to join a gang. I don't want to make that an excuse to sell drugs. So what I started doing was I started going to the library and started reading things. I started studying carpentry. I became a barber. I started learning about electrical work and plumbing. I started doing all these things as a kid. Then I got into fitness and the martial arts. And as I got a little older, Louis, I started meeting people and trying to teach these people what I learned and everyone had these excuses. Oh, they're too old.

They don't have enough money. They don't have enough time. They don't have enough energy and I realized that these people were stuck where they were because they made up excuses. So I stopped making those excuses and I started doing what I knew I had to do to survive in these jungles.

And that's what I call the streets, the jungle. Because if you're not going to be a predator, you're going to be you're going to be, you know, going to be hunted. So I had to be that hunter, not the hunted. Right. So that is where my no excuses program came from. where my No Excuses program came from. Now, what inspired you to start studying and do this research and really separating yourself from your environment, from the friends who are doing the negative things, let's say? What inspired you? Did you have mentors? Did you just realize that that's not where you wanted to be in your life? So you studied neocarbatory and all

these other things. What was that switch? That's a good question you know what what inspired me was failing i did not want to grow up a failure i did not want to become the average guy i didn't know and i did not want to fall into the stereotypical black guy either let me be as blunt as possible you know because i don't want to be that stereotype guy. I want to be this person that shows people like, look, I'm black. I'm from Jamaica. I'm not American blood. And I'm here to do something different and to do something good, not only for myself, but for the world as well. So all of that inspired me.

And I'm talking about as a kid, talking about from maybe the age of 13 years old. I've been learning and constantly learning. And I found out that I have a love to learn. If I'm not learning something, I am not happy. So my brain works at its best. My spirit works at its best when I'm learning something. I feel the same way, man. When I'm, you know, when I feel like I haven't grown at all, I feel like I'm slowly dying and it scares me as well. And it makes me like almost depressed when I'm not learning a new skill,. I feel like I'm slowly dying and it scares me as well. And it makes me almost depressed when I'm not learning a new skill.

So I'm right there with you. What's the most common excuse you hear from people about fitness? I don't have time. That's the most common. I don't have the time to exercise. What are they really saying when they say they don't have time? What they're really saying to me is that they have time to be sick. That's what they're really saying to me. You're really telling me you have time to What they're really saying to me is that they have time to be sick. That's what they're really saying to me. That's what you're really telling me. You have time to be sick and that

you're also telling me you have a whole lot of money to pay your doctor as well. Wow. That's powerful right there. That's the way I see it. Okay. That's the way I see it. So what do you, what's the first step for people when they give you this excuse? What's the first thing you should say or that you say that's going to switch them so that they understand the value of moving and working out and being healthy? I ask them to hold their breath for as long as they can. When I have clients who say they don't have time to exercise, I tell them to hold their breath as long as they can. And they will do it because I want to say, you know, I approach it like it's a a test and it really is a test and they will hold it for maybe 20 seconds, maybe 60 seconds. And then I asked them, why did you start breathing? Why did you stop holding your breath? Oh, because I couldn't breathe. And I say, well, that's how it feels like when your ass is dead, when you're not, when you're not breathing. Now you breathe because you want it to live. So now, don't you think exercise is going to make you live a little longer? Don't you think exercise is going to bring you closer to

your health, being on top rather than being depleted and dying young? And they said, well, I never thought about that. I said, like, yeah, you have to want it as bad as you want to breathe. And that's the idea, you know? And, you know, people would think that the first thing I'm going to do is talk about jumping jacks or pushups or sit ups. See, no excuses. Fitness is not talking about that alone. It's really hitting a person's spirit. It's hitting their mindset, how they look at their life. I love that. Yeah. And here's the here's the challenge. You know, I've had a lot of health experts, fitness experts on, you know, food

experts from vegan to vegetarian to, you know, meat eaters, everyone who's been an expert, I feel like has been on this podcast. What I'm curious about is, you know, there's really not too many new ways to work out that people have come up with. You know, they package it in a different way. They position things a little with. They package it in a different way. They position things a little differently. They call it something different. But really, you're moving your body and you're either throwing weights around, you're doing resistance band, you're doing something. Why should people be inspired by your message of fitness? And why are you different than what everyone else talks about? I love that. That's a great question. And you know what? You actually gave the answer.

It's all about moving. Forget about the fat. Forget about the packaged goods. This is not a package program. What I'm teaching is I'm teaching people how to do what we did years ago, what our ancestors did years ago, was simply move. There is no, oh, this works better than that. And that works better than this. Oh, you have to do this to do that. No, I simply want my readers and my viewers to get up and simply learn how to move. Now that might be in the form of walking. That might be in the form of jogging. It might be in the form of lifting weights. Maybe it's dancing. Maybe it's hiking, bicycling, you know, whatever it is that comes to mind that makes you feel good. That's all I want people to do.

So I'm taking away all of the complexity, you know. Yeah, making it simple. And where was your, you know, you learned all these other skills when you were growing up. But where did your passion for fitness first come about? Oh, I got my butt whooped, Lewis. I was in junior, no, not junior high school, elementary school, CES 173 in the Bronx. I got my butt whooped by this guy named Abe.

Abe beat me down to a pulp. And my Uncle Duncan, my Uncle Duncan got me into exercise. And at first, I didn't want to do no exercise. I didn't want to learn no working out. I was a young kid. I wanted to play Atari and Nintendo. I didn't care about anything else. And he started teaching me about the importance of exercise and how it built me up and made me stronger.

And I'm like, whoa, this feels good. All right, let me do it. So that's what really got me into this physical thing. I just, I did not want to feel feeble. I didn't want to feel weak at all. And were you an athlete as well? Or are you more just like a workout guy? Oh, I'm just more, I'm more of a workout guy. Athlete in the martial arts, yes. But when I say athlete, people would assume that basketball or football or track and field. But martial arts is my love.

That's what I'm really good at. And I love that type of stuff. Why did you pick martial arts and why did you commit to that discipline? My spirit chose martial arts because of the discipline, because of the mindset on being humble, learning how to defend yourself, which increased your confidence level. And it also increased my energy and my awareness of my surroundings. See, where I lived, I found it very important to know how to defend myself. And knowing that I was able to do that, it kept me out of trouble because I did not walk around looking for a fight. I actually walked around looking to evade fights

and I actually took that same martial arts mindset and created friends rather than enemies. Wow, that's powerful. Yeah, man. Now, in that two and a half year span, when was this when you became a black belt? In the two and a half year span, when was this when you um you became a black belt in the two and a half year span when i became a black belt i want to say it was 2000 2000 okay so 15 years ago wow

yeah um now i'm assuming that during that time you learn a lot of lessons about yourself with all that wear and tear and that discipline and dedication. What would you say are the three biggest lessons you learned about yourself during that time going through that martial arts practice? What I learned about myself, the first biggest lesson I learned about myself was I love to teach. I love to teach. I enjoy it. The second thing was I also love being a student, which made me,

I don't know, I guess a mutant because some people love to teach and they don't want to be taught. And then some people are born just to be taught, but don't want to teach. So I had the love of both of those things. The third thing I realized about myself too was my strength, my ability to internalize and dig deep and come up with some superhuman strength. My ability to internalize and dig deep and come up with some superhuman strength. I don't know how I do it, but I did it and I can still do it.

What do you mean by that? When can you do it? Super strength would be for example, if I'm in the gym, I'll give you a quick story. I had a gym in the Bronx and I had three trainers. Diamond was one trainer. Renan was you a quick story. I had a gym in the Bronx and I had three trainers. Diamond was one trainer, Renan was the other, and Kevin. And I had each one of those guys train me for 30 minutes each at their most intense training. They were trying to beat me down, trying to destroy me.

They were trying to pulverize me. And I'm going to tell you something. They came close. And at the end of that workout, Diamond racked on 405 on a bench press. I've never bench pressed 405 in my entire life. Wow. The only time I've done was to be 15. And I got underneath the bench and I did it. I bench pressed it. One rep. Wow wow so it was amazing how i felt awesome very cool i like that and where do you apply the superhuman strength uh now are you still using this in certain situations or is it only come up whenever you wanted to oh no i still apply it i stopped i applied a superhuman strength also not just in the physical plane but also doing during rough times in life, you know, when things are going bad, when things are bad either financially or if I lose someone. I dig deep, man, and I just connect myself.

I reconnect my thoughts to my mind and my mind to my spirit. So it's just learn how to connect. I look at myself as one big muscle. There you go. I like it. Now, I'm curious. Everything one big muscle. There you go. I like it. Now I'm curious. Everything is about no excuses for you. And is there anything in your life where you don't want to do something that you have an excuse? And if so, what do you do to

shift out of that excuse yourself? Oh man, of course. Sometimes I get up and I don't want to go to work. I get up and I don't want to go and train anyone. I just feel like I don't want to do it. And I look in the mirror and I tell myself, why don't you want to do it? These people are dependent on you. You are the no excuse guy. And I get my butt up and go. So when I applied at No Excuse, it is embedded in me like an HTML code. It can't go anywhere. So there's nothing in my life now that I make an excuse for and I listen to it. I do not listen to it. As I'm talking to you, I have a lower back problem. It does not stop me from going to the gym. I just work safely. I work smart. That's it. Right, right. What would you say is the number one breakthrough in your career that you can contribute to all the success you've had?

The number one breakthrough in my career that I can contribute to is me making the decision to open up my gym in the Bronx. Really? Yes. People would assume because I became Dr. Oz's trainer. No, it's because I opened up a gym in the Bronx, which the area where I live was in Prospect Avenue. And the people there were struggling financially. They were struggling spiritually. And a lot of people were doing great. You know, people thought the Bronx was all poor and all broke and all gangs. No, it was some great people. And when I opened up my gym, I got to connect with all types of people in that community, from police officers to business owners to people who were on welfare to single moms

to gang members. I connected with everyone. And what that did for me was it showed me that, you know what, Donovan, you can actually reach out to all these different type of people and somehow get to them without even trying to get to them. I like that. And when did you open the gym? The gym was open in 2008. Okay. And it stayed open for three years. Okay. And the only reason why the gym closed down was I gave it its time. I told myself I'm not taking any loan out.

I dug into my own pockets and opened up that gym. I bought every equipment in that gym. It was a small gym, used equipment, old school classical stuff. And I said the neighborhood is going to be the one to keep the gym open I didn't do any I didn't do any monthly contracts it was all you know pay by the day five dollars a day um 25 a month and people came in and it worked I mean people's lives started to change and I had to close it down though because finances didn't add up anymore sure sure and did you always set out to wanting to work with celebrities or personalities or how did this come about?

Well, I didn't, I never set out for any of that. Actually, in my book, No Excuses Fitness, it's breaking down how I actually connected with Dr. Oz. The story is a good story and it's teaching people like, wow, how did I become Dr. Oz's trainer? And how did he and I connect? How did that happen? Well, he and I, I met Dr. Oz through his wife, Lisa Oz. You know, his wife, Lisa, I trained her for a while. And I'm not going to give too much of the details because it's me giving the book away. I want the listeners to actually get the book and listen to my story, read the story and really understand like, yo, this guy is the real deal. This dude is the real deal. But I can tell you

that Dr. Oz and I became really good friends. It's no longer just Donovan Green as trainer. When we see each other, we are just laughing and having fun. You know, it's just natural, everyday fun. And what I love about him is that he's as real as you are, Louis, as real as I am. He's not a made-up type of character. Right. That's cool. Yeah, I've got a lot of mutual friends that are close with him, and I hear the same stories as well.

So, very cool. What's your take on intermittent fasting? Because a lot of people are doing different diets, different training. A lot of my friends have been doing intermittent fasting lately and they love it. I'm curious what your take is as a trainer. for another. So I never knock a person's choice. I'd always say, do what works for you because every one of us is developed differently. Some people say to fast. Some people say don't fast. One person would say it did wonders for them with no bad side effects. The other person would say it is bad for them because it made them get a lot of headaches. They broke out in hives. They lost energy. They passed out. They bumped their head. They had to go to the ER. You know, so many different things that can happen. So my take on things is always neutral. I never knock one thing

over the next. I always tell people, just do what works for you. And that's it. That's making it simple and making it easy, not making it too complicated. Right, right. If you could only do one exercise for the rest of your life, what would you do? That's a good question. If I could do only one exercise, I'll jump rope. Really? Why?

Yeah. Jumping rope is total body. Jumping rope, I'm hitting strength in my wrists, my arms, my chest, my shoulders, my legs, my calf muscles. And it's also hitting my cardiovascular system. I'm also working on the endurance aspect of jumping rope. My abdominals are being engaged.

Jumping rope, I love it. And it's portable. I could do it anywhere, anywhere. Wow, yeah. Whenever I do rope for, you know, five minutes, my shoulders are always what hurts the most. They're like, oh, you're trying to relax, isn't it? But it's like, it's tough, man.

And then the calves are burning. Yeah, it's a good exercise. It is. calves are burning. Yeah, it's a good exercise. It is. It really is. I like that. It really is. What's your favorite fat-busting exercise? For those that feel like they've got a little bit of fat they want to get rid of,

what's your favorite exercise for that? My favorite fat-busting exercise is a deadlift. Really? A deadlift. Yeah, I love a deadlift. Deadlifting is, oh, my gosh. I mean, I love a deadlift. A deadlift is, oh my gosh, I mean, if someone don't have back issues, you know,

even if you do have a certain type of back issues, if you master how to do a deadlift, your back won't bother you. Because I do deadlifts with a back issue and it doesn't bother me. The reason why I love a deadlift, Louis, is it's everything. It's everything.

It's working every plane of motion that we move in. From the time you lift that weight up, it's bringing you up and you're working every muscle group that you can possibly think of. I like it. Deadlifts is one of the hardest ones as well for me. Like whenever I do it, my heart rate is up so high and my legs are jelling afterwards. It's tough, man. That's what I'm talking about, man. That burns the most fat?

That burns the most fat. You know why? Because it's recruiting more muscles than almost anything else. It's a major compound lift. Major. And a lot of people don't do a lot of deadlifts. And if they do it, they're doing it incorrectly. So they don't get the full benefit from a deadlift.

It's not like you're getting it, though, because you're saying your heart is up to the roof. It's up to the roof. How many times a week is it safe to do a deadlift? I would say at least two times a week. You don't need to do it too much. Okay, cool. Now, I love your philosophy. I don't know where I read this, but your philosophy says success will only come when you begin to think successfully. Yes. Think successful, right? That's right. So how does someone, what's an approach that someone can do, you know, whether it be fitness, being, you know, being the size they want, the fitness level they want, or in any area

of their life, their relationships, business. How does someone in your way, your approach, think successfully and what do they do? I tell people to fake it until they make it. That's what I tell people. Fake it till you make it, you know. The idea, when I say fake it till you make it, I'm not saying to go out there and be a phony. What I'm saying is if you, for example,

want to take off weight, you want to get the weight off, you know what, instead of hiding in your big clothing and feeling unworthy or, you know, not feeling sexy enough to put on something that's fitted, put on something that's fitted. Let it be your motivation to get out there and take some more weight off. You know, that will build your confidence. Instead of looking at yourself and downing yourself with all the negativity, do something positive. Look at yourself more

positive. If you want to make more money, you know what? Get rid of some bills that you don't need to have. You would never be successful until you start to think successful and act successful. So how you act successful is number one, change your style of posture. If you're somebody who is droopy and saggy, you'd never look successful and people would never respect you. Change your posture. Lift your chest up. Straighten your back up. Sit properly.

Sit like somebody who has character and demeanor and is dominant in their field. You know, it's just those little things, those little tweaks. The little small tweaks can make big changes in the long run. I just sat up straighter when you said that because I was leaning over on my microphone. So thanks for the reminder. You're welcome. I got a couple questions left for you, Donovan. And I really appreciate your wisdom and your energy. The thing that's coming up for me the most during this is your passion and your joy. So I want to acknowledge you for bringing your energy and your passion and your excitement. And I love that you make it sound so easy and simple for people because there doesn't

have to be a big excuse to being in the shape you want to be or having the fitness levels you want to be. It's really about having fun, doing the things you love doing, the exercise you love doing, and just having a good attitude. And I love how you say, you know, you have days where you don't want to wake up. You don't want to go train people and things like that. So it's not like you're this superhuman where you don't have excuses. You have excuses as well, but you're able to face the excuse and push through it. And I think there's going to be, you know, the bigger the dreams, the bigger the things we want to achieve in our lives, there's going to be a lot more

opportunities for excuse to come our way. And it's going to be there. You know, that the fear is going to be there. Those excuses will show up. I think the key is acknowledging what is holding you back and saying, okay, I'm going to do it anyways. That's what I'm getting from you. Yes. Yes. That's it. That's it. Very cool.

Very cool. Okay. A couple of questions left for you. It's the end of your life in a hundred and something years, right? Because you've got superhuman strength. You're going to live for another hundred years. Because you've got superhuman strength, you're going to live for another hundred years. And everything you've ever said, all the things you've ever created, all of your books, all the TV shows with Dr. Oz, everything you've ever talked about has been erased from time.

And you're at your bed. You're about to have your final night's peaceful sleep. Your family is surrounding you and showering you with love. And you just realize that everything had been erased from the information you put out there in the world. And your family gives you a piece of paper and a pen and they say, we want you to write down the three truths that you've learned over your life that you want to leave behind to the world and that you want us to be, um, to have as our tools to move forward. What would those three things, three truths, truths that you know about life be that you would write down? The three, I love that question. You just put me in a, in a, in a, I felt myself being in that bed,

bro. All right. so here it is. So the three truth is, number one, is that life is what you make it. That's the truth. Life is what you make it. The second one is persistence is the key to success. The third one is that you can never make it by yourself. You can never make it by yourself. You need to have a team behind you.

I love that, man. That's powerful. Simple, powerful, and effective. Yes. Final question for you, Donovan. This has been a pleasure having you on. We've never met in person, so hopefully we get to connect and hang out sometime and do a workout together. Sounds good.

Final question is, what is your definition of greatness? My definition of greatness is simply who you are. That's it. Simple. Who you are. That's it. Donovan Green, thanks so much for coming on the No Excuse Fitness book. Make sure to go pick it up. I'll have it all linked up here in the show notes. And thanks again, Donovan. You're a champion. Lewis, you're a champion as well, man. And thank you for being here and doing what you're doing as well. You're doing great things. And there you have it, guys.

Thank you again so much for tuning in today. Hopefully you got a lot of positive insights out of this episode. And thanks to Donovan Green for coming on. Make sure to head back to the show notes at lewishowes.com slash 195. Go there now. Share this with your friends. Get people inspired about their health

and their fitness. Thank you guys again so much. We've got some big, big, big guests coming up in the near future. I don't want to spoil it, but I've got someone who I've been wanting

to get for a while. He's finally coming on. I'm very excited. So stay tuned. Share this with your friends. You guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.