The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka - 119. Devon Lévesque: What Facing Death on Everest Taught Me about Living

Starting point is 00:00:00 I saw my dad struggling with some mental health thing and he didn't have an outlet. And I come to find out that day after he dropped me off, he killed himself. And then when I saw what happened, my goal was to help people wake up happier. It's very impactful to know what someone's driving force is. And it's not that somebody has to have that major of a catastrophic event in their life, but we don't have a lot of time to waste. I realized my why is I want to live my life without my hands in my pocket. Everyone on this

Starting point is 00:00:25 earth is going to go through transitions. The best way I've found for people to transition is to have a good community around them. And that's all I'm trying to foster. I feel like a lot of people are just disconnected from the basics, mother nature, community. You're meeting people where they are and giving them a space. That's my goal is to calm people's tension in the world by providing these communities. When you sat down, you were telling me a Saved by Everest story for this podcast. Tell me about that. We go up out of nowhere. You're in this blizzard. You're like, holy shit, I might actually die right now. And how are the guys that were with you? People are dying. People literally in

Starting point is 00:00:58 that condition. It was terrifying. Get to the top. You could hear a pin drop at the top. Perfect weather. It's so next level. It's a feeling of this crazy energy. I'm happy I did it, but I would never do it again. Grinding through the pain of Everest. Pushing your body to the absolute limit. You'd call it do hard shit. Why should people do hard shit? The thing with the brain, bigger is better.

Starting point is 00:01:17 And I'll tell you one thing. Ultimate Human, we're honored to have Devin LeVake. He's an extraordinary individual. He's hilarious. He's one whose life exemplifies resilience, endurance, and dedication to mental health advocacy. He's known for bear crawling an entire New York City marathon, which set a world record and backflipping on top of Mount Everest. He pushes his physical and mental limits,

Starting point is 00:01:51 and Devin's journey is so inspiring and so transformative. He's a very successful entrepreneur. He's the founder of Sweet Honey Farm, which I love, and an advocate for sustainable family-centered wellness. Devin's here to share his philosophies on building resilience, supporting mental health, and his vision for holistic health. We are so excited to dive into the powerful stories and insights that define his approach to life and wellness.

Starting point is 00:02:15 Hey guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist, Gary Brekka, where we go down the road of everything anti-aging, biohacking, longevity, and everything in between. And today's guest is a guest I've been wanting to have you on here for a long time. And we narrowly missed each other. He was actually on the summit down here on a cruise ship, and I narrowly missed him. But I got him, captured him.

Starting point is 00:02:37 He's on the podcast today. Guys, welcome Devin Levesque. No, it's fine. No, not Levesque. You said it. Love? Ake. Love Ake. Love Ake. I love it. Devin Levesque or no it's fine however no not Levesque you said it love ache love ache love ache I memorized it differently love ache Devin Levesque um you know I was uh first of all man I'm super pumped about the message that you're putting out in the world we ran a whole podcast before we got on the podcast you know talking about your regenerative farm

Starting point is 00:03:05 and, you know, some of just the amazingly phenomenal physical feats that you've accomplished, climbing Mount Everest, bear crawling an entire marathon. But there was something about that marathon bear crawl. When I was actually really figuring out who Devin LeVake was, and I went down the Devin LeVake rabbit hole. You know, I stumbled on a talk you did, and it actually just really hit my heart because

Starting point is 00:03:31 I feel like very often on this podcast, the most impactful people in the world that are really making great change and really, really affecting a lot of lives have solved the problem in their life. Maybe it was drug addiction. Maybe it was the loss of a loved one. Maybe it was a bad breakup, whatever it was, Lyme disease. They solved the problem and they basically turned that into the most impactful message ever. And you were doing a talk on stage and I heard you say, and I want to dig into this, but I heard you talking about you're going to bear call a marathon. You set a world record for it.

Starting point is 00:04:08 And the two questions were how and why. It was your explanation for the why that really brought things home for me, because I like to know what's the driving force behind people. And now I know why you're so inspired. You're so passionate. You're so purpose driven. But if you wouldn't mind, share that with us. I mean, not just the overwhelming physical feat to bear crawl a marathon that had to be one of the most difficult things you ever did, but it was the how and the why.

Starting point is 00:04:36 Yeah, man. Well, one, thanks for having me on here. Appreciate you. You live it. You breathe it. You're doing it, which I respect. Thank you. The how is easy. It's the how is probably a lot of, a lot of humans listening to this right now, yourself, the how is so easy, man. Guys, we don't quit. You just don't quit. Yeah. Don't quit. Whether it's your company, you know, founders, companies don't fail. Founders give up. Don't quit. Right. Us as humans, we can't quit. That's the how. Just don't quit. But the why just don't quit but the why is is is the purpose the why is a little bit more in depth and i'm glad that caught your attention because that was a it's been a core of mine um since i was about 16 and and you know i'll take you back i

Starting point is 00:05:20 grew up in a small town in new hampshire people, you know, you had to make your own fun. I had a, I had a ski lift half mile from my house. I grew up fishing, you know, snowboarding, riding my mountain bike, kind of took it for granted. It was my natural, you know, milking cows. I grew up on a farm and, uh, I took it for granted and I, you know, you'd have to make, you'd have to make your own fun in whatever you did. And so me and my buddies, you know, would, you know, would cause problems, cause ruckus, cause, you know, whatever we could to, um, you know, keep ourselves occupied. And, you know, I, one night on July 17th, 2008, my buddy Maddie and I went into my parents' liquor cabinet and said, Hey, let's go grab some alcohol and let's drink with the girls

Starting point is 00:06:05 tomorrow night i just turned 16 at the time and uh i was like you know just trying to have some fun as a kid of course and so i remember i was going i went into the liquor cabinet and like any kid you know you have this nalgene bottle and i'm putting like goldschlager and jameson vodka i'm just trying to remember goldschlager dude is that even around anymore like with the gold flakes in it it's literally the worst liquor in the world the worst and I was just mixing it in and we were so excited and fast forward to the next day it's summer so my you know I wake up early 5 a.m I go to work with my dad who was a drywall contractor so you know my job at 16 was you know go pick up all the scraps you know screw screw the you know screw into the wall the you know, go pick up all the scraps, you know, screw, screw the, you know, screw into the wall, the, you know, the drywall, um, you know, just pick up, help them out, go grab lunch.

Starting point is 00:06:49 And he was always, he was my coach. He was my football coach. He was, you know, he's my best friend. Um, and he was always like, Deb, keep your hands out of your pocket. There's always something to do constantly. Get your hands out of your pocket, go pick this up, get your hands out of your pocket, go grab lunch, get your hands out of your pocket, help me with this. And so, you know, fast forward, he drops me off at driver's ed, um, four hours go by my friend, Maddie's mom picks us up. And she said, you know, three words that changed my life forever. When you got in the car, right? When I got in the car, she said three words that changed my life. And you know, when, when your friend's mom picks you up,

Starting point is 00:07:23 you know, you just got in trouble and so i had the alcohol and i'm like shit this is it like we're getting a lot of trouble and instead she said three words your father's dead and and he and i was like what i start i was just in shock man and i'm like man what did man, what did I do? Where is he? I start calling him. He wasn't answering. And I, he just dropped me off four hours ago. I was just working with him. I was, I was just working out with him yesterday. He was a professional weightlifter. And, and I was just like, what the heck just happened? And I, I mean, I must've called him 300 times. I get home and, uh, you know, there's friends, families, everyone's around our house.

Starting point is 00:08:07 And I come to find out that day after he dropped me off, he went and jumped in front of a truck on the highway and he killed himself and took his own life. And so that was the hardest part I've ever gone through in life. When your best friend, um, takes our life and you don't know why. And I, and I was just so confused. And as a 16 year old boy, it was a, it was a pivotal point in my life. And so now, you know, fast forward, you know, to 2020, October 31st, when I started the bear crawl in New York city, started in Brooklyn and I went the exact route of, um, the New York marathon and I'm at about mile 20 and I, I, I remember stopping and I'm like, man, I got six, 6.2 miles left in this bear crawl. And I was doing this bear crawl for suicide prevention and mental health.

Starting point is 00:09:03 That's, that's why I went into it. That's your why. Right? But at mile 20, I realized something. I realized, look, mental health and suicide is a massive cause. But my why is actually how I want to live my life. And I want to live my life without my hands in my pocket. I love that. I want to live my life. And I want to live my life without my hands in my pocket. I love that.

Starting point is 00:09:31 I want to live my life, maximizing my time. I want to live my life being curious. I want to maximize my life, seeing what's out there in the world and helping others. And there's always something to do. And so I wanted to live a life without my hands in my pocket. I love that. And so as I went in with a purpose and intrinsic motivator, I had extrinsic motivators coming from around. I realized what, what mattered to me, what really mattered to me. And that, that was living a life without my hands in my pocket. And I was just, I was just talking to you outside of, I've formed this, this mindset, you know, really in the last five, five years of the closer a man comes to a calm mind, the near he is to real strength. So the closer you and I can be here now talk and not think about the camera, think about what's going on afterwards. Think about this, that the, the closer you and I

Starting point is 00:10:23 can come to that calm mind, I believe that's real strength. And that's a quote from Marcus Aurelius. I'm not just making this up. It's something that's been around. And I really believe if we can be in the now, we can maximize our time and we can truly live with our hands outside our pocket. Yeah. I love that, man. Because it's such a metaphor for life. And I'm sorry I took you. Cause it's, it's such a metaphor for life and I'm sorry I took you there in that story. It's just that, because for me and for my audience, you know, it's very impactful to know what someone's driving force is. You know, I had a very, you know, tipping point moment in my life too, and it changed the direction of my career. And,

Starting point is 00:10:59 and then I've had so many blessings bestowed upon me because I became very authentic. I lived a very inauthentic life and now I live a very authentic life. I'm very conscious, very aware, try to be present. But it told me so much about you. And it gives, I think, people a window into what's driving somebody's passion. And it's not that somebody has to have that major of a catastrophic event in their life. Um, but we don't have a lot of time to waste. No. And, and, and we got to get off our hat, get our hands out of our pockets. You have 24 hours in a day. I don't care how you split it.

Starting point is 00:11:36 If you say I'm, I'm working for eight hours. I see my wife for two. I see my kids for the other two. I'm eating too. You're not getting that. You're not getting it back. If you want to, if you want to break it down and say, Hey'm working a certain amount and family time a certain amount cool it's still 24 hours right there's still 24 hours you're not it's not all of a sudden 20 hours or 24 23 or whatever it's 24 hours yeah in a day we're not getting this time back do it now what are you talking about it's 24 hours you have to maximize. And, and how can you create a life to where you're happy to where your purpose, you have a why, what makes you happy? What's your, what are your values? You know, so many people have companies and, you know, my mission statement,

Starting point is 00:12:19 my, you know, my pillars in my company, but what about you as a brand, you as a person, you as a human, what are your values? I live life off of five values and I don't deviate outside of these values. And it helps me de-risk my time and decisions. I make family, community, health, freedom of time and giving back. I do not deviate outside of those five. And it allows me to de-risk decisions I make and where I go and who I meet with and the people I'm surrounded by, by simply having these, my core five, if you're about it, cool. If you're not, that's okay. Yeah. Like I just don't have time to waste right now though. Yeah. You know, and you, you know, and one of the things that I noticed, you know, just sort of following your trajectory and the,

Starting point is 00:12:57 you know, as your impact has grown, you're big on communities like, you know, regenerative farms, you have a run club with Jesse Itzler. You know, you're, I think you're a co-founder of Pro-Mix. Is that an accurate statement? A co-founder of Pro-Mix. And you've been really militant about your ingredients. And I think there's a community forming around, you know, that. I'd love for you to talk a little bit about, you know, building communities because you really do foster this communal sense. And it's like, you give people permission. I think they don't have to be a super athlete, right? You like to do really hard shit and climb Mount Everest and bear crawl a marathon, but you're meeting people where they are and

Starting point is 00:13:35 giving them like a space to talk a little bit about, I was really fascinated and I'm happy to be very jealous of your regenerative farm, but I come to this. That's my, that's my next dream, dude. That's right. Sweet honey farm. We'll talk about it. Yeah. You know, community when, when I was younger and I don't want to bring it back to this,

Starting point is 00:13:55 but I will, you know, when I was younger and I, I saw my dad, uh, struggling with some mental health thing, he was the happiest human on earth I've ever met, man. Like he was such a man, he was such a giver. He was always given human on earth I've ever met, man. Like he was such a, man, he was such a giver. He was always given to people, helping, donating. Like he was such a good guy. And the last year of his life, I saw him really depressed and he didn't have an outlet and I would watch him and he was reading the Bible and he was praying and he was trying to do the right thing. And I was just seeing the sorrow on his face. And then when I saw what happened and how that happened, my goal was to help people wake up happier. That was, that's really my goal right now on earth is to help

Starting point is 00:14:32 humans wake up happier. And so everyone on this earth is going to go through transitions. We went to elementary school for four years. You go to middle school for four years. You go to high school for four years. You go to college for four years. We are taught by society to transition. But what do you do in those transitions? What happens when you enter the military for eight years and you have to go back into civilian life? What happens when you're an Olympian or an athlete and you're making it to the Olympics and all of a sudden 18 years goes by and you get third place and no one remembers you and now you don't have a place in society all of a sudden because

Starting point is 00:15:09 well you didn't get first and you're not in the military anymore and you're not at this job anymore what do you do at transition the best way I've found for people to transition is to have a good community around them and that's all I'm trying to foster. Whether it's with Pro-Mix, farm-to-table supplements and vitamins, whether it's with Sweet Honey Farm, making an area, a real space where people are welcomed in and not welcomed in for, hey, let me charge your credit card $50,000.

Starting point is 00:15:38 I'm saying, hey, what are affordable ways that everyone can have access? Health, mental clarity, community should not have a barrier of cost. It should have a welcome, open arms feel, you know? And that's really what I try to encompass with everything that, you know, I create or co-create is helping people wake up happier. I think with ProMix, it starts from within. And we'll talk about it, but it starts with your gut. Yeah, dude, I had your gut. The pre and probiotic was amazing.

Starting point is 00:16:12 And sweetened with organic peaches. Yeah, it was amazing. Thank you. It was delicious. And so it's like, hey, how can we start from within? Let's get your gut right. Let's get your blood flowing. Let's get your body right from from within because we all know that your gut impacts your brain it impacts your mood it impacts how you're reacting to conversations it it impacts everything your skin so let's get your that right and then once we once your body gets right what type of uh you know environment can you be around and that's why i created sweet honey farm you know less than than 1% of Americans right now farm or grow their own food. That's crazy. Want to get an extra hour of quality, good sleep every single night? Let me tell you how I do it. My wife and I sleep on Eight Sleeps Pod 4 Ultra. This is a technology that fits over your mattress

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Starting point is 00:17:36 And use the code Gary, G-A-R-Y, for your discount. Transform your nights and elevate your sleep. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. That is insane. That is crazy. less than one percent of americans yeah see that's that's my eventually that is my dream goal i actually have a little a map you know to get there i actually plan to sell this beautiful penthouse in miami and exchange it for a regenerative farm actually i have a piece of i can't wait already picked out i can't wait for you for that yeah i can't dude i can't wait either in in colorado and and have you know a head of cattle and you know heck yeah this particular piece of land it's got

Starting point is 00:18:09 a beautiful stream glacier fed uh spring water and just bring people there because i feel like a lot of people are just disconnected from disconnected basics mother nature um community you know other human beings like um like we vibed when you first walked in the door we had a hug yeah yeah we actually did the heart hug and um and then we had a really good regenerative meal and then we went and did some pull-ups you actually did some muscle-ups i didn't do the muscle-ups we're doing it but yeah we're doing it but it was it's just so awesome and i and i i feel like the temperature in this country would come down if people were back in touch with nature a little bit, really in touch with, you know, humanity, not looking for, you know, what's different about your opinion from mine, but, you know, like, what are the things we have in common? Like you were saying here earlier, it made me laugh my ass off. You're like, pet a fucking cow.

Starting point is 00:19:01 You know, you're out in the garden just shoveling in, you know, you know, you're out in the garden, just shoveling in, you know, um, um, raw spinach. People forget to like, act like a kid. And that's, that's a rule I have. I have a rule. Do one thing every day you used to do as a kid, you know, it keeps you young. You know, the, the, the vibes people get when they leave sweet honey farm is clarity is calmness is less anxiety and it's not that i'm you know having them do any you know crazy drugs or you know some you know crazy biohack and i'm all about

Starting point is 00:19:38 the future i'm just saying take off your shoes go ride a horse, you know, jump in a sauna, jump in a cold plunge, move a little bit. Yeah. Go, go just walk around without your phone. Go walk through the garden. You're going to feel the grounding ripping through your body. And then when you leave and you jump back into society, you're like, wow, this is, I feel a little bit calm.

Starting point is 00:20:02 And you know, that boss calls you and they're all pissed off. You're not going to react in a negative way. You're going to respond in the right way. And that's my goal is to calm people's tension in the world by providing these, these, these communities. ProMix has an amazing community. Yeah. My values, the health, the freedom of time, the community, the giving back all my family, the values are the core of Promix. My values are the core of Sweet Honey Farm. My values and Jesse Itzer's values are the core of all day running. Like are the values are being ingrained into these brands to hopefully build a community and help people, you know, just wake up happier. Yeah. And how did you, um, how did you get into business with Jesse and start all day run club? I mean, I see this all the time and I'll, uh, I'll, I'll give a quick high level, but Jesse

Starting point is 00:20:55 messaged me after I bear crawled the New York marathon. Um, and then, you know, I went out to his event two nine Oh two nine, where you climb the height of Mount Everest in 36 hours for four laps into this climb. It's like up 5,000 down. It's yeah. You're every mountain's different, but you're hitting the 29,000, 29 feet of Everest elevation.

Starting point is 00:21:16 By the way, Everest was 29,000, 29 feet, 10 years ago. It's now 29,000, 32 feet. It's, it's,

Starting point is 00:21:22 it's, it's gotten taller. So if you were there a few years ago, he beat you by two feet. Correct. Correct. So I just want to throw that little snippet out there. But I was out at his event in Sun Valley, Idaho. He's a partner and owner of the Hawks as well. And it'll come full story. And so Hawks on one side of the country, this event on the other side, four laps in, he texts me, Deb, meet me at the lodge. I meet him down at the lodge.

Starting point is 00:21:51 He goes, look, we have about 20 hours left in this race or so. If we take the jet across the country and watch the game, game six of the playoffs, Hawks, and watch it, we can make it back in time to finish the race. And I'm like, I love some adventures, man. Let's go. And so me and some buddies, Jimmy DeCicco, Jake DeCicco, Dan Churchill, we all jump on the plane with him. We fly out to Atlanta.

Starting point is 00:22:19 We watch the game. We may or may not have had some tequila. We, Jesse looks at me and he goes back on the plane. We get back on the game. We may or may not have had some tequila. We, Jesse looks at me and he goes back on the plane. We get back on the plane. We land in Sun Valley, Idaho at 3 a.m. We finished the race with 30 minutes to spare. No. That was the first 36 hours I ever met Jesse.

Starting point is 00:22:38 That's so cool, man. What an awesome. Talk about bonding. Yeah, yeah. Talk about like, we were just kind of how I came in here and we kind of just clicked, you know, that's how Jesse and I were. And we're, we've always been on the same page and all day was never about it. It wasn't about money. It's about us having a canvas to bring people together and community and not creating a running company that, uh,

Starting point is 00:23:04 has first, second or third place, but rather creating a running company that has first, second, or third place, but rather creating a running community and a community that says, hey, everyone's welcome. Let's just have a good time. You know, let's take the seriousness out of running. We don't, at Running Man, the festival we do every year, we don't pick a first, second, or third. Matter of fact, everyone's together helping each other finish their marathon. Sometimes your things are circular too. They're all circular. So you can't really tell who's winning.

Starting point is 00:23:26 Right. Yeah. And so, you know, we're, him and I are just on the same wavelength of, you know, how, how we want to impact people in a positive way. And I think that's, that's kind of how we went into business together. You know, it's, it's really interesting because there's a lot of research out now about, you know, the impact of physical conditioning on mental health and like the, just the impact of a simple walk, right? And, and versus an antidepressant, like an SSRI,

Starting point is 00:23:52 like, you know, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are not as powerful as movement for depression. Interesting. And, you know, Joe Rogan's talked about this. I'm happy to put it in the links to the research and the show notes. But I so totally agree with you because if people would move more, speak more, have more eye contact, get better, you know, back in touch with nature, not all the time. Not everybody has to move to a regenerative farm. farm but no once in a while instead of taking a vacation where you just like go to vegas and get blasted and you come back more exhausted than you left and you need a vacation from your vacation take like a a selfless vacation where you actually go and put some hormetic stresses on your body and you know hot cold contrast therapy you know what is that word hormetic yeah hormesis yeah it's cool yeah so hormesis is uh the you know the the you know it's what happens

Starting point is 00:24:46 it's a scientific term for stressing the body and it strengthens and response right i mean you you tear a muscle it gets larger you you load a bone strength hormesis challenge the immune system it right it strengthens um you know so hormesis is the act of like strengthening through um cold plunges, right? Right. Activating brown fat, you know, shivering, peripheral vasoconstriction. I call it type two fun for me. Dude, I love that term too.

Starting point is 00:25:12 Tell me about that. So type one, type two, type three. Type one fun is what we were just doing. We were drinking D-Blow, eating some of your food or laugh. And we're joking. We're having a good time. We can laugh about it. Now we're laughing during.

Starting point is 00:25:24 We're always going to laugh about it. It's immediate fun. Type three is when I was coming off the summit of Everest. All right. And I'm coming down. I, I just, I'm at 28 and a half thousand feet. There's 50 yards to go, but you know, in that 50 yards before I go over the next cliff, there's a hundred people in between and there's two inches to step on and my oxygen's running out. And all of a sudden I say in my head, Devin, you're likely going to die. This is not fun during, I'm not laughing about it. It is. Um, what's, what's my girlfriend Nina going to say at my funeral? What's my mom going to say at my funeral? This is it mom going to say at my funeral?

Starting point is 00:26:05 This is it. I wonder what jokes they're going to make. I wonder what my buddies are going to say. It's not fun during. I'm looking at death in the face. I'm seeing where my head's going to hit the rock. I'm seeing where my body's going to end up. That's not fun.

Starting point is 00:26:18 That's type three fun. And maybe in a year, and I'm laughing about it now, maybe that now it's type three. Type one is what we're at before this. Type two is right in the center. Type two is the cold plunge. Type two is, I don't care who you are. Cold plunging isn't that fun during. You're like, holy shit, this is cold.

Starting point is 00:26:37 Nobody likes the actual. No one's like, oh my God, I love freezing everything off right now. It's not that fun. But right afterwards, that dopamine rush, that feeling you get of like, that was so fun. Everyone wants to post about it. Like, oh my God, I'm Superman. I'm the ultimate human. I feel good. That's type two fun. And I think every single day, every single week, every month, every year, everyone should add a type two fun into their life. I love that, man. So add a hormetic stress, type two fun. Add a hormetic stress. And so do you see these when you're in these communities and

Starting point is 00:27:10 you host these events or people come out to your farm? I mean, do you see transformational change? Like what do people, what do they say to you? Like besides thank you, but I mean, what do they? For sure, man. You know, there's everyone, everyone has a story. All you have to do is ask. Yeah. It's one of my favorite things to say to humans. Every single person has a story. You guys are listening. We're talking, everyone has a story. All you have to do is ask. And if you can put an environment together where people can open their mind a little bit outside of their normal routine, they're not taking the normal route home. They're not going to their normal weekend bar, et cetera. Then their brain is actually going to expand and they're going to feel good.

Starting point is 00:27:47 So what happens when it expands? Well, relationships are cured. Relationships form, right? Yeah. All of a sudden you're sick. You're not so sick anymore. All of a sudden you have anxiety. Well, man, this, this event opened my eyes a little bit and I'm, I'm not even doing what

Starting point is 00:28:03 I love. I want to go work with so-and-so or I want to go start this, or I want to do that. Or man, I'm going to hit up that girl that I was so afraid to talk to, or I'm going to hit up the guy that I was nervous to message or, you know, relationships happen mainly, I would say relationship building. And that can be personal. That can be professional. And that's the main thing that happens. The second thing that happens is you feel better. You feel good. Too many of us and too much social media, I think, tries to put out, hey, you have to wake up ecstatic every single morning, super stoked, happy.

Starting point is 00:28:41 I'm a pretty happy guy. I don't wake up ecstatic every morning. And that's just life. But how can you wake up content? How can you wake up and be like, you know what? Life's okay. You know, I'm good. I'm alive. I'm breathing. I have oxygen. I'm okay. And that's what I'm trying to instill in people like, hey guys, it's okay. Take a deep breath. And so from the relationships to how you feel, I think of the two major takeaways from our events from Sweet Honey Farm is just like, Hey, let's bring it back to the basics. People are good. Yeah. Surround

Starting point is 00:29:16 yourself with some good people. Here's some good people. And Hey, this is what feeling good and content and happy looks like. Yeah. Try to remember those two things yeah and i think and at least know that you can feel them right i mean i think for some people like i i say this all the time like i think the majority of people have forgotten how good normal feels right and and i like in that a lot of times the nutrient deficiencies the absence of whole foods the absence of you know vitamins minerals amino acids you know uh nutrients of all kinds. And so you get, you get them out. It sounds so simple, but you get them off the farm, they're touching the ground, they're petting a cow, they're eating spinach out of the garden. They're in a community, but, but what it

Starting point is 00:29:54 does is it reminds them of what normal feels like. And, and so often when, you know, clients of mine are like, oh my God, Gary, I feel amazing. I'm like, you know, you actually don't really feel amazing. Like what? I'm like, you just feel normal. That's how good normal is supposed to feel. That's how God wants us to feel. He wants us to thrive. You're supposed to have it all. Right. And, and it's just so, you know, so amazing. There was a doctor I was talking to, um, and he said, I was asking him about TRT and I'm curious on this, you know, from you. Um, not that I, I would take it. I was just curious on his, his perspective on it. And, and he said, well, you know what I tell

Starting point is 00:30:30 patients? I say, Hey, one, are you having regular sex? Are you getting sunlight? Are you moving? Are you doing the things and taking the things into your body that are going to make them healthier? And then come to me and see if your testosterone is low. You know, try those things first versus just TRT, TRT, TRT. I totally agree with that. You know? Yeah. And the reason why I agree with that is because, again, you know, hormones,

Starting point is 00:30:57 and I don't want to flip the podcast here, but, you know, hormones are one of those things that need raw materials to be constructed. Like if you're deficient in DHEA, you're going to be, it's going to be hard for you to build the hormone testosterone. If you're deficient in vitamin D3, it's going to be hard to build the hormone testosterone. If you've got rampantly high insulin, you know, which is going to lead you to be estrogen dominant. So when you do, when you get the basics right, yes, rarely there's true testicular hypofunction, right? Testicles for one reason or another, damage, radiation, you know, lots of abuse that

Starting point is 00:31:32 can't produce testosterone. And by all means, you should replace it. In 2018, the Journal of American Urology updated all their clinical guidelines on hormone therapy. It is actually really good for you and can substantially extend your life. Wow, cool, cool. But people also want to start to quick fix and do it before it's needed. I mean, no matter what anyone tells you,

Starting point is 00:31:55 there's no better hormone than one your body produces on its own. So if you can be high on your own supply, healthy levels of growth hormone from your pituitary, healthy levels of testosterone if you're a male from your testicles, healthy levels of hormones, cyclical hormones if you're a female. That's the best life has to offer. And it's usually the absence of the basics.

Starting point is 00:32:13 One of the reasons why I really, you know, love so much, you know, identify so much with the mission you're on, you know, and we've been talking about that. When you sat down, you were telling me, and I'm very flattered by it. You were like, really, I saved my Everest story for this podcast. Because you haven't really gone out with the story yet. So first of all, I deeply appreciate that. I think my audience is just going to love your message. But tell me about that.

Starting point is 00:32:40 Because I've never climbed Everest. I'm actually going on an extreme race with my son in three days where he's doing seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. Yeah, it's going to be a blast for him, 184 miles in seven days. But the cool thing is it's on every major continent in the world. So I'm literally going to see the world in eight days.

Starting point is 00:32:59 And it's astounding to me the negative responses that I get from so many people when I just start to talk to them. I'm like, oh, my God, I would never do that. Oh, my God. I could never do that. Think about all that time in the air. Dude, he's going to be torn to shreds. He's not going to be able to move when he gets home.

Starting point is 00:33:16 I'm like, dude, we're going to seven continents in seven days. This is living, brother. This is the ultimate living, man. Yeah. You guys are going gonna have a blast antarctica is beautiful i'm so excited if you go if anyone's listening and you have the chance to go to antarctica you should go it's it's it's it's quite remarkable but you know everest it goes back to that marcus surrealist quote the nearer man comes to a calm mind the closer he is

Starting point is 00:33:39 to real strength and i've been really trying to get deeper and deeper of what that means you know am i meditating am i working out regularly am i you know is it the gut health is it how can i calm I've been really trying to get deeper and deeper of what that means. Am I meditating? Am I working out regularly? Is it the gut health? How can I calm my mind so I can be here now? It's something I'm really passionate about. I went to this thing in February called the Hoffman Institute, which is seven days, no phone.

Starting point is 00:34:02 It's a total reset. Highly recommend. Changed my life. Hoffman Institute, which is seven days, no phone. It's a total reset, highly recommend, um, changed my life. And so I did that and I went into Everest with a clear mind. Now it's taken me about four, four or five years to train for Everest, just understanding gear, understanding layering, understanding, um, climbing, understanding just topography, just understanding everything about a mountain because mother, you have mother nature, just understanding everything about a mountain because mother, you have mother nature, you have your physical ability, you have your gear, you have other people on the mountain you have to worry about. So like, there's a lot of, there's a lot

Starting point is 00:34:35 of variables that go into it. And so finally this year I felt comfortable. I'm like, I'm going to go attempt to climb Everest. And I didn't go in with an expectation of I'm going to stand on top of the world, but rather than an intention to calm my mind, how can I get closer to a calm mind? How can I just be me and just be on my own? I didn't take any sponsors on, I paid for it fully out of pocket and I was just using it for a time to get away. And I was also using it as- And you had solo, fully solo? I was with Dr. John, who's an amazing guide um he was introduced through a couple mutual friends jesse itzler mike posner etc um and then jen jen our sherpa

Starting point is 00:35:12 who's amazing guy as well he's awesome they're special humans man special yeah so so um you know i went out there with that intention not expectation and just fully took it in and you know what i noticed at everest is there's not took it in. And, you know, what I noticed at Everest is there's not that many people on Everest. You know, that's, that's number one. There's, if you have one hot restaurant in New York city and it's only open one time a year, it's going to look busy because everyone's waiting in line to go up to that one restaurant. The other thing about Everest is that you only have a couple of times, if any at all to summit, there's not that many summit windows, sometimes four, sometimes three, sometimes one, sometimes zero.

Starting point is 00:35:51 And so when there is a summit push and there is an open window, naturally people are going to go up and a lot, a lot of people. And when I say a lot, I think there was 300 permits this year, which you go to a restaurant tonight in Miami, there's going to be 700 people there. So there's not that many people on Everest. They're on the same path. Right. Everyone's on the same path. And if you deviate outside that pass, you could, you know, you could cause an avalanche. You could get someone hurt. You could get hurt. Like it's, you stay on the path and quotes path, right? They put new lines in every year. And when I say they, it's, um, it's, it's the locals,

Starting point is 00:36:22 it's the, it's the Nepalese team. There's about six to eight guys that go up and, and try to put new lines in and those lines aren't guaranteed. And so everything has to go right on Everest. If you're going to summit, um, everything, you can't get sick. A lot of people get, a lot of people have a cough, Gary. I'm, I'm not kidding, man. When I, when I'm chatting with people on Everest, it's, it's, Gary, yeah, I'll be on your podcast. Really? It's bad. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:36:51 A lot of people are coughing. They have colds and these chest colds going on. Altitude sickness. Maybe your gear is broken. You're too tired. Mother nature. Avalanches. Ice falls.

Starting point is 00:37:08 Falling in crevasses. Food. Nut tired. Mother nature, avalanches, ice falls, falling in crevasses, food, nutrition, altitude, right? Like the altitude, just having oxygen alone. You don't have oxygen up there. So there's a lot of variables that come into being able to summit. But again, I was looking at it as calming the mind and, you know, education. I'm a very curious guy. I dropped out of college. I use climbing the highest point of Antarctica, highest point in South America, Africa, now Everest as my school. That's my education. I think it's important for people to know how they learn. You know, society doesn't have to tell you how to learn. You decide how you want to learn. Are you good at listening? Are you good at writing? Are you good at reading? Are you good at feeling? Are you good at touching?

Starting point is 00:37:46 What is your optimal learning levels? And mine is curiosity and traveling and seeing and touching. That's me. And listening. I'm a sponge. I'm not out on Everest saying, hey, Colin O'Brady, I'm going to tell you what to do. Hey, Dr. John, I'm telling you what to do. I'm listening.

Starting point is 00:38:04 I'm like a total sponge and I'm just taking it. I'mady, I'm going to tell you what to do. Hey, Dr. John, I'm telling you what to do. I'm listening. I'm like a total sponge and I'm just taking it. I'm seeing, I'm listening. I'm like, I'm SpongeBob on Everest, man. I am, I'm up there. And so, you know, it took me 47 days. You know, you have to do rotation. 47 days. 47 days.

Starting point is 00:38:20 I was out there. Because you're going to different levels and then you're hanging out there to accllimate heck yeah man trekked into base camp with my girlfriend which is amazing that's i recommend everyone do adventures with your girl man or your partner then you left her at a certain altitude right like she yeah just left her there never saw her again no she's still there waiting for you she's still there no she's gonna see this podcast and be like damn it he's back what the hell she uh no she came to base camp, which is no joke, man. It's about 17,500 feet. That's at 17,000?

Starting point is 00:38:49 17,500. Dude, I've got a cabin at 10.5. Yeah. And I go on these ruck walks, just a straight walk. I put on a 20-pound ruck, and I go on this little route in the woods. When I come back, I'm significantly winded. I feel amazing oh man um but i'm also not just pushing straight up a hill and it's it's at 10 5 my son actually did

Starting point is 00:39:12 a half marathon from like almost a half marathon in pieces from like 10 5 up to 13 and a half thousand feet and back down to prepare for this race but man you you you get a hundred yards and you gotta take take a knee. You're winded, man. If nobody's been to that altitude, it's hard to respect what it's like when the ambient oxygen goes from 21%, which is sea level, at 10.5, it's about 13.7. And it doesn't sound like a big deal, a 7% drop in oxygen, but you dead sprint 100 yards and you're taking a knee. Hey, everyone. If you've been tuning into the Ultimate Human Podcast for a while now,

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Starting point is 00:40:50 causes the lines on everest it's not a line due to people are going too slow because of someone in front of them a traffic jam it's due to what you just said you have to take a knee you're exhausted even with altitude or uh even with oxygen tanks you have about five levels on each tank some some tanks have six each level level one drops by 1500 feet drops you down 1500 feet if you're at 20 000 feet you're going to 18 5 if you go to level two you go to 3000 feet just 1500 per level but the issue is if you go all the way max go to level two, you go to 3000 feet, just 1500 per level. But the issue is if you go all the way max out to level five, your oxygen tank might only last 15 to 45 minutes.

Starting point is 00:41:35 Those oxygen tanks weigh a lot. You can't just bring up a ton of oxygen tanks. You have to know how to regulate. You have to acclimate and you have to make sure that your body is, is, is, is, uh, recreating these cells. Right. And so, and so with that being said, I, you know, for, that's why it takes 47 days, right? You want to trek into base camp.

Starting point is 00:41:56 That takes a couple of weeks. You hang out at base camp. You might even go all the way back down, um, uh, to Kathmandu. You will then go back up, um, to base camp and you wait for a weather window and once you get that weather window and you and you after you've done a couple rotations so you're back down back up you're back down you're back up you're just getting this acclimating the problem with the the nepalese side and not a lot of people know this but everest is split um split in half half of it's china and half of it's Nepal. The China side doesn't have the Kumbo icefall.

Starting point is 00:42:30 The Nepal side does. And so what happened was we, China didn't approve our permits. They approved them and then they took them away. China's funny with that stuff, man. They, uh, they, they let their locals go up first and you know, they're And they're not that inviting to Westerners. And that's just what it is. It's a pretty known fact. Right. And if it's not, well, this podcast will tell. There it is.

Starting point is 00:42:53 It's climbing the Nepal side. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's crazy how they treat us. But anyway, so we somehow managed to get a permit on the Nepal side. We get to base camp and now we have to redo all of our logistics because we don't have a team out here. We don't have our tents. We don't have, we're, you know, it's kind of a free for all, you know, we don't have support. And so we were kind of, uh, we're, we're in a little ruckus for, for a week or so. Um, finally get a window to go up the Kumbo Icefall.

Starting point is 00:43:27 The Kumbo Icefall is one of the scariest places on earth because you have these thousand foot deep crevasses. Ice can fall at any time. There's avalanches all around you. You have to go in the middle of the night because if you are middle of the day, it could cause melting, which would then increase the likelihood

Starting point is 00:43:43 of bicycles falling on you. So a lot of variables are going into it. Go up the Kumbo icefall at say 11 PM, um, takes about five, six, seven hours to get through it. Exhausting. There's cliffs. There's, I mean, it's the first time I went through it, I, I messed up and I, I told myself, uh, I was like, I don't need to eat that much. Like I can't, like, I'm just gonna get sick at altitude. And so I didn't eat. And I, I told myself, uh, I was like, I don't need to eat that much. Like I can't, like, I'm just gonna get sick at altitude. And so I didn't eat. And I, I got really, really sick for not eating. So nutrition is big on out on, on Everest. Uh, finally we get out of the Kumbawai's fall. You go up to camp three, you hang out there for a sec, you come all the way

Starting point is 00:44:19 back down. That's rotation. Number one, if you do it correct, you can acclimate and then you make for a summit push maybe a week later. It's pretty wild, man. And so I come back down to base camp. We go up from camp two to camp three, which is 22-ish thousand feet to 23 and a half. There was a big storm that came in. And so a hundred people were making a, you know, a jump for summit that day. And everyone started coming back down. And I told Jen, Jen and I, and John, I was like, man, let's just go up. I was like, I think the storm's going to pass. John's like, I kind of do too. Jen, Jen's like, it's up to you guys. Let's go. And so we all, we all proceeded up, uh, ended up getting to camp three safely. The storm did pass, but I mean, it was 50 mile per hour winds. It was, I mean, it was terrifying.

Starting point is 00:45:08 And it wasn't storming. It wasn't supposed to storm in the weather forecast. It just boom out of nowhere, 50 mile per hour winds, negative 10, 15 degrees. And you're just, you're in this blizzard. And at that point again, it's type three, you know, you're like, holy shit. I might, I might actually die right now. And how were the guys that were with you i mean what was their state you know they they're they're somewhat indifferent jen jen was so cool man he you know he summited multiple times before and he

Starting point is 00:45:34 was you know he's a family guy i was never trying to risk anyone's life and neither was he so like we were always we always were on the same page and i would ask him like are you comfortable and he said yes john you comfortable yes i'm comfortable cool guys everyone's on the same page and I would ask him like are you comfortable and he said yes John you comfortable yes I'm comfortable cool guys everyone's on the same page no one has to be a hero if you know if we feel unsafe let's get out so finally get up to camp three man I'm in the tent at camp three and there was a group that went up before us um and all I hear in camp three at 11 12 a AM, man. And then it started, it just went on all day. People are coming back down the summit that didn't make it because it was a storm.

Starting point is 00:46:10 The blizzard that I was in at camp two to three, they were in at the summit. So imagine how bad it was up there. So people are dying. People can't breathe. People are being, trying to be evacuated off, but helicopters can't go above camp two. And all you hear is give them oxygen, give them oxygen. He's not breathing. CPR, Nepalese people yelling, American, British, like all these just yelling intense. It sounds like I'm in a war zone and I'm supposed to go for summit the next day. And I'm just sitting here

Starting point is 00:46:44 in my tent. I start getting emotional. People literally in that condition. Dying. Wow. and I'm supposed to go for summit the next day. And I'm just sitting here in my tent. I start getting emotional. People literally in that condition. Dying. Wow. And I'm like, this is crazy. Like, what am I doing here? This is not a place I should be. And it's not like there's an ambulance or a, uh, you know, like I said, a helicopter, there's nothing around. If you, if you break a leg up there, you're probably going to die. If you're, if you, if you, you know, stop breathing, you're dead. Like it's not, you don't have resources. So we then had to make the decision to go up. And so we then, I didn't sleep that night cause I was terrified. And so we then went up and pushed the next day.

Starting point is 00:47:16 It is so slow trying to get up Mount Everest after camp three, you can't move. I'm saying you might be not even half a mile an hour. I mean, you might be going 0.2 miles an hour. I mean, it's so slow because you're so exhausted, even if you do have a little oxygen. So fast track to camp four, somehow we get there exhausted. People start thinning out. You start seeing people turn around imagine being out there for 47 days going for summit and then all of a sudden weather comes in you're like i gotta turn around and that was your only chance maybe in your lifetime someone just spent 250 000 to be out there and they're in their their life and and their time and everything and all of a sudden

Starting point is 00:48:02 they turn around so that's kind of what's going on. I'm watching it. We get to camp four, you know, super bright outside. And, uh, by the way, there's a lot of trash at camp four, a lot. Yeah. And I'll tell you why, you know, as, you know, as I was coming down, I'll tell you after, but, um, so anyways, get to camp four, we then make the summit push, try to get ahead of everyone. And what happened was my guy, Dr. John, was trying to help facilitate me and Jen Jen. And so he put an extra oxygen on himself. And so he got stuck behind, which I didn't know about. And so he has a little bit of double the weight on him.

Starting point is 00:48:40 He's behind us. So now I get separated from him. So now I'm just with Jen Jen, me on Mount Everest climbing. How now i get separated from him so now i'm just with jen jen me on mount everest climbing and i'm like separated though you just climb faster you can't even you can't run you can't walk faster everyone's going pretty much the same speed so yeah i mean he was just behind and when i say behind a couple hundred yards and it wasn't he was trying to do us a favor which john's amazing one of the best guys out there. He's a great guy.

Starting point is 00:49:07 Highly recommend. He does, you know, a ton of climbs around the world. Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, et cetera. But, you know, he got stuck behind. We then make the summit push. I fell asleep. I fell asleep on the summit push on the side of the mountain, negative 20 degrees out. I was exhausted, Gary. I like, I couldn't breathe. I was tired and I just fall asleep on the line.

Starting point is 00:49:32 And all of a sudden my tank stops oxygen and I go, Jen, Jen, my Sherpa turned my oxygen back to level one. It was at level three and he turns it back the problem was when you go to level three you start to get relaxed because you're like i got a little bit of oxygen right but the problem when you get relaxed and you're that tired is you fall asleep when you fall asleep at negative 20 degrees you freeze and that's what happened that's what happened to the two mongolians before us they froze on the line it was in the news um that was the day before us that was the day before right date before us um and then so the guy woke me how do they get the bodies down from there they

Starting point is 00:50:11 just leave them oh you can't yeah you can't so you have to hike past them oh yeah yeah so you actually saw dead there was multiple and you know these these bodies man they're they're wax figure they look like wax characters they're they perfectly preserved. Sometimes their eyes were open. There was a guy, his eyes were open. He had a blue black diamond helmet on. He had a red North face onesie on, you know, the man. And he was just there. And it looked like he was alive.

Starting point is 00:50:40 And I'm looking at him like, man, this is someone's brother. This is someone's maybe father. This is a child of someone. man, this is someone's brother. This is someone's maybe father. This is a child of someone. Like this is wild. Multiple, multiple people. So then we proceed past these bodies. It's starting to get scary. You're approaching 29,032 feet.

Starting point is 00:50:59 Get to the top. You could hear a pin drop at the top. Perfect weather. Perfect. Blue skies. Get to the summit 505 i had a little extra energy because i took that mini 60 second nap did a little backflip on the top which is really fun and proceeded down up there for about 30 to 45 minutes so you stayed right at the summit for 30 to 45 yeah man just take all the flags stuck in there and like man when you stand on top of the world and you just look around you're like man i'm

Starting point is 00:51:31 i'm the tallest point on earth there's no one higher than me right now yeah i mean it's giving me the chills thinking about it is it's so next level it's a feeling of this crazy energy of just, okay, I did it, but I didn't do it. I got to get down now. Yeah. And that's the hardest part, man. That's the scariest part. I go down. Why is that? Well, you know, it's, you have to go past people. It was what I was saying earlier in the podcast. You have to literally, Gary, I have to, I have a, I have a carabiner attached to the line and I have to, my stomach to your stomach. I have to come around you and put my other Caribbean around every person, hundreds of

Starting point is 00:52:11 people you have to go around and you have this much to step on. And guess what? It's a 5,000 foot drop if you fall. So it's terrifying. You're just, there's no way I'm getting down right now. And it's not just a walk in the park. You're going down, you know, the size of buildings, just, you know, trying to pass people, rappelling down. I'll go over the Hillary step after some, and I'm at about 28 and a half thousand feet.

Starting point is 00:52:34 I go over the Hillary step 30 minutes later behind me. Boom. The whole thing collapsed. No. Multiple people fell dead. No. Dead. And I'm just like, John, we got to get the fuck out of here.

Starting point is 00:52:48 That is insane. I'm getting out of here, my man. Like, I'm not staying on this mountain. I know, you know, people take three, four days to get off Everest. Two, if you're good. I was like, we're out. I'm thinking one day. Went down the whole freaking mountain in 20 hours.

Starting point is 00:53:02 We were like, see you later. And you say collapse. The area that you were walking, is that because it's pure ice ice snow mother nature and it just cracked off and down they went yeah and the caribbean didn't didn't hold them to the yeah it must have it must have came out and so and if any families are listening man i you know and and you lost someone on everest like serious condolences. Because it's like, it's scary, man. I would never go back there. And my blessings go out to everyone that tried.

Starting point is 00:53:31 But like, shoot, man, it's really sad. And there's good climbers out there. You're not getting to the top of Everest as a bad climber. These are experienced people that have trained their life to do this. And it's just, it's a sad, it's a sad, sad thing. And I don't know. I think if you have a family, if, if, you know, you have a wife or a husband and man, I wouldn't recommend going to Everest.

Starting point is 00:53:55 I just wouldn't recommend. I'm not going back. You know, there's also, there's also, there's a debacle between the Nepalese and Westerners. And I'll be the first to say it. There's, there's a little bit of a, it's a debacle, man. It's they'll cut your lines. No, they will cut your lines, man. I'm not kidding.

Starting point is 00:54:17 I was standing coming out of the Kumbo ice fall. John and I standing there, there's 20 sherpas locals around us and they're all jamming in front of us to get their carabiners on the line ahead of us and i'm like brother like can i get in and they're like they're just pushing me out of the way and i go to shove in and just put my carabiner on so i don't fall off this freaking cliff and john's like no no chill and i'm like why he's like, no, no, no, chill. And I'm like, why? He's like, they'll cut your line.

Starting point is 00:54:48 I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, they'll cut your line. They'll push you off. He's like, don't fight with them. He's like, it's two verse 20. And I'm like, got it. And I'm like, and I believe this goes back to 1953 when Tenzing Norway, a Nepalese, and Sir Hillary, they both summited.

Starting point is 00:55:05 And some say that Hillary, Edmund Hillary summited first. Some say Tenzing Norway did. Some say they summited together. But the world puts Hillary on this pedestal, which probably isn't the right thing, you know, if they did summit together. And so I think ever since 1953, there's been a little chaos and confusion and debacle between the Westerners and Nepalese.

Starting point is 00:55:30 You know, it's their mountain. It's not ours. And so you got to watch out for that. You got to watch out for who's guiding you. You got to watch out for your health. You got to watch out for Mother Nature. There's so many variables. If you have a family, I would not recommend climbing Everest.

Starting point is 00:55:43 Dude, who wants to be a guide doing that? I mean, dude, forget it. I'll be a river guide or something like a little less dangerous. Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. But I've found a little bit more calmness in my brain. I'm happy I did it. And man, what an adventure.

Starting point is 00:56:00 You know, I probably wouldn't be talking about this if I didn't do it. And I think it's a, it's, it's something cool. I can, um, I can, I can always have my back pocket and know that I accomplished. So yeah, I'm happy I did it, but I wouldn't, I would never do it again. That's amazing, man. How, how did those experiences like, you know, the grinding through the pain of a bear crawl, uh, grinding through the pain of, of Everest, you know, pushing your body to, to the absolute limit, even into the zone of the unknown. Right. Because, um, you know, I feel like when you do, you know, you prepare for a race, like a marathon or distance race, you kind of know what you're getting into. You can manage your exhaustion.

Starting point is 00:56:43 Um, like, look, my son's never done seven marathons on seven continents in seven days but he knows what a marathon is right and and if he gets into trouble he can slow down a little bit and bring himself back and but these are like sort of black holes that you're going into black hole right i mean they're they're not pre-planned um obviously you can train but right you're also in that black hole like what has what has that done what did that experience do to shape you what what what was your big takeaway from from those it because nothing prepared you you didn't like prepare to look at frozen dead people no um you didn't prepare to have somebody maybe uh cut your line and actually take your life because right you bought in front

Starting point is 00:57:30 of them in line like that wasn't part of your training right um so i think and i'd love your your um your perspective on this but you know the the thing with the brain bigger is better yeah right and i i believe when you activate your brain in different scenarios like i said not the routine in and out you're expanding your brain and i can take that my brain and things i learn and i see and i push through i don't start a race until i get to last 10% of the race. That's when the real race starts. The first 90% is guys, we're having fun. This is type, type one, type two fun.

Starting point is 00:58:12 Right. The last 10 is the type. Damn, man, this is a 2.5 fun. This is some shit. I'm man, my heart's beating. My head's going to explode. I'm dehydrated. I have a blister on my foot.

Starting point is 00:58:23 Jesus, man. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I have a blister on my foot. Jesus, man, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I need this to stop like freaking out. That's where you learn about yourself. How do you, how can I, for me handle chaos? How can I handle exhaustion? How far can this body go? And I'll tell you one thing, this body can do a lot. Our bodies are so, so, so, so smart, man. And they're there. They can, they can recover fast. They, they know when they need hydration, they know when they need protein. They, they, it knows and understanding my body on all fours. I want to understand it. And I wanted to be as comfortable on twos. You know, I wanted to be as comfortable on bear, like literally crawling on all fours as I was walking in two feet. And I want to see what's that like, right? I want to be as comfortable on

Starting point is 00:59:11 Everest as I am walking around central park. I wanted to be just as comfortable. And I want to see how can my body adapt and how far can this body really go? Not to the point of death, but to the point of like, all right, knocking on that door real quick, you know? And I think I, I believe in what's helped me in my business career, my personal life, my friendships, um, everything is when I push my brain a little bit past that uncomfortability, I can handle all those other scenarios so much more easier. Like, you know, people are, you know, they flip out about the most basic things. And I'm like, man, like, have you ever stood on a cliff, man? Like, have you ever, have you ever ran a marathon? Have you ever like really been in a situation where, you know, you know, death's knocking on your door? Cause if not, then put yourself in

Starting point is 01:00:03 a position where it's really hard and you need a test, do a Masogi, do something that you don't know if you're going to complete or not 50%, you're going to complete it 50% not and go put yourself out there. Cause that's where your brain's going to expand. You know, I was reading in a book, take a different route home every day from work. Don't take the same route home. Don't take that same subway back and forth, back forth, take a left turn, take a right turn. Go to that coffee shop you've never been to. Go to that restaurant. Try that workout place. Try different things.

Starting point is 01:00:28 Expand your brain. And that's what these races, the marathons, the bear crawls, the Everest, the Antarctica, the trips, these adventures. I put myself riding across America. That's where my brain expands. The other part, you know, like riding across America in New Mexico, people are living in tents, Gary, they're living in tents and they're chilling and they're former doctors. Guess what? They don't have bills. They can go, they can go to

Starting point is 01:00:57 the store and get food once a week. You know, they don't have that nagging girlfriend or boyfriend. They're chilling, man. And they're, and they're, they're doing their life. They're riding their bike every day. They're running and they're living out of their tent. They're jumping in the river. They are living and they have reset the standard of what they want. And you know what that did to me? That made me think, man, we add the stress to our life. We're the ones that keep stacking up. Well, I want this and I want that. And I need this perfect. Well, guess what? This is the standard. You can live it. We can all live in a tent next to a river somewhere on this planet. And that's the very simple life if you want that. But if you want to start a company, expect stress. If you want to run a race, expect you're going to have to get in shape. If you want to do this,

Starting point is 01:01:39 you're going to have to sacrifice that. We're adding the stress to our life. You know what I mean? I can have a simple life, man. I asked to be on this podcast. You wanted me to be on this podcast. I was, you know, the last 24 hours, I'm like, all right, let me look at these notes. Let me listen to Gary. Let me, I put that stress on me. You know what I mean? If I didn't want to do it, I would, hey, I'm going to back off. I'm going to chill in my tent at the river. Right. When it comes to snacking, Masa is flipping the script on what real food should look like. Masa chips are crafted with grass-fed beef tallow,

Starting point is 01:02:10 one of the healthiest fats on the planet. These chips are packed with essential vitamins like vitamin A, D, E, and vitamin K2, all of which play a role in keeping your skin vibrant, your immune system strong, and your bones solid. But here's the real magic about masa. Masa's corn goes through an ancient process called nixtamalization, which makes it way easier to digest and it amps up its nutrient profile. Plus, these chips are low in PUFAs,

Starting point is 01:02:36 so you won't find any of the inflammatory seed oils that you find in most snacks. And instead, masa uses pure Redmond sea salt, giving you a natural hit of minerals that keep your cells hydrated and your energy steady. So don't just snack. Reach for Masa. It's real food, real health without any of the junk. Grab a bag and I promise you'll feel the difference. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. Yeah, I think that's such a great metaphor for life is like, you know, you talk about finding that calm in your mind, but being calm under stress, you know, it's like, if you've ever done like a really hard yoga session, they wrap you into the candle stick pose or something,

Starting point is 01:03:13 and it should be like called the torture pose. And, and you know, you're there, you're half squatted, your hands are together, your butt's firm, you're holding in your abdomen, and you just start shaking in pain and and like and you know the sweat's coming off of your head but you're just trying to calm your mind in that scenario i feel like you can condition yourself condition your mind it's like why why i tell people to you know if your morning's hard your day will be easy and i'm not saying you have to go in and and do a workout that just taxes your joints every day of your life but But a few months ago, I was like,

Starting point is 01:03:48 I really freaking hate wide grip pull-ups, and I really suck at them. Do them. And so I got that David Goggins in my mind all the time. Like, you pussy. Like, do it now, do it now, do it now. And what was crazy is I went in and started doing it. I was like, hold myself, hold myself, hold myself down.

Starting point is 01:04:09 You know, and then, you know, and then I just started working through it. Now I'm in there rolling them out. And I'm like, you know, it's such a metaphor for life. Like, you know, you'd call it do hard shit. And I think the reason why you want to do hard shit. Well, I'd love to hear your reason. You know, why should people do hard shit? Expands your brain.

Starting point is 01:04:29 Yeah. It expands your brain. It makes, it allows you to enjoy the good times much, much more. Yeah. Man, that Memorial Day weekend when I came back from Everest, I was the happiest guy on earth, man. Were you really? I was so happy. I enjoyed that burger and I enjoyed my friends and I enjoyed my hugging my mom and I enjoyed it so much more than before Everest. That's so cool, man. You know, I, I, I took the family on a, um, extreme Costa Rican vacation, uh, about two years ago. And, um, my, uh, my daughter, my, my two sons, my youngest daughter and, you know, my wife and my son's fiance fiance and we all went down there and it was really cool when i say extreme vacation it wasn't like definitely not like everest or bear calling it you didn't take your family to everest no only one of us would make it and that'd be my my son but um

Starting point is 01:05:17 but what was really cool is you know we rafted the pecorary river we did spelunking we did you know repelling um you know we had atving out in the uh you know we we stayed in these lodges that didn't have any running water freaking bugs everywhere and um in the last night we were in the uh uh the the pecorary lodge and and the next morning i had to leave if i left the family there i'd leave the jungle 4 30 in the morning because i had to get to town and take a flight to Miami. Cause actually I was just speaking engagement, Miami.

Starting point is 01:05:49 And it was at live nightclub in Miami. And, um, you know, somebody had rented, it wasn't a nightclub thing. It was like, they rented the nightclub and it was,

Starting point is 01:05:56 it was actually, um, uh, Dan's Dan Fleishman's, uh, uh, mastermind, a hundred million dollar mastermind.

Starting point is 01:06:02 So anyway, but the whole point is I, I woke up in the jungle i'd only been there for seven days i take this flight i land in miami and as i'm like getting to the speaking venue it all felt so surreal like i was looking around i'm like none of this is necessary like these fucking buildings, that Ferrari, this crazy gorgeous nightclub, all these clothes, these fancy clothes you guys are wearing, that $20,000 bag that just passed me in the lobby.

Starting point is 01:06:33 Doesn't matter. It was super perspective for me. Like I was almost like, I don't belong here. Like I wanted to go back to the Costa Rican jungle so bad. And so I really identify with what you're saying. And I think that by doing really hard shit, you know, people understand that, you know, life's, you know, take it a little easy. Like take it easy on yourself.

Starting point is 01:06:59 It's not that serious. Guys. I got a hater on Instagram. How do you know who this freaking person is? Yeah, man. It's not, you know, I don't want to sound like this but you know in i think we'll live to 180 i really do um i think in 150 years none of this is i don't think any of this is really going to matter it's you know that that that person that you, you thought was mad at you or that stupid little fight you got in with your girlfriend or that.

Starting point is 01:07:27 It's not really going to matter. It's really not. Yeah. Take it easy. It's not like, relax. Everyone take a chill pill. You know, the other reason I like doing hard stuff is because it, you know, Stephen Kotler from his book on flow state, you know, speaks on there's three ways to re-tap into flow state in our brain. You have to do something mindless. You have to do something hard and you have to do

Starting point is 01:07:53 something calm. And with those three things, you can re-tap into flow state. You have to do all three of them. Flow state only lasts in the brain for 75 minutes according to studies 75 minutes you can be in that state of not understand not understanding time being in the zone and just being in your own world that feeling of oh my god what just happened laser concentration i just got that shit done that i want to get it's 75 minutes i. I can't have flow state, Gary, for 10 hours in a row. It's not possible. However, the way to maximize it is by doing hard shit, cold punch, by doing something mindless, meditate, doing something calm. Maybe it's a sauna. And so that's why like at Sweet Honey, that's what I do every 75 minutes. And that's why I encourage

Starting point is 01:08:43 members and people- Every 75 minutes? Every 75 minutes. Dude, that's what i do every 75 minutes and that's why i encourage members and people every 75 minutes every 75 minutes dude that's so cool i never yeah and so then i get to i get to reset and i re-tap into flow state and so if i'm taking calls or meetings from say 10 30 to 3 i'm doing it multiple times in between and by my three four o'clock call or meeting guess what i'm at 100 baby I'm good to go. That's awesome. Cause I'm re-tapping in. Three saunas, three cold plunges. Yeah. And I just lay there, meditate. I'll do a Hoffman meditation. I'll just listen. Sometimes I'll just go pet a horse and I just do something. I'll just, I just chill. And guess what? By the end of the day, I'm a hundred percent on a call. I'm not, Hey Gary, how are you? Sorry,

Starting point is 01:09:22 man. I'm so tired. It was my last call for today. That's not Gary. Let's go, baby. What do we got going on? Yeah, I'm in it. Let me focus. I'm you and me, baby. Let's get this call done. You know? And, and I think that energy is what we all need in our life. It's not the extra caffeine. It's not the cocaine. It's the good, real energy that we can give to ourself. It's a real dopamine. It's the real flow state. And that's, that's just what I believe in, man, from doing hard shit. That's so good, man. I think it's like I said, I think it's such a metaphor for life. And I, I remember back when I first started doing CrossFit, because I've always tried to meditate. Yeah, I do breath work every morning now, which really helps, but I never was able to really, really quiet my mind and i found crossfit

Starting point is 01:10:07 and the thing that i loved about it was if you know if you're ever doing a crossfit wad and you actually don't want to quit you're just not doing it right right like yeah about 70 of the time you should really want to quit like it's and it's brutal it's brutal and like you know whatever the amrap is that you're doing um but afterwards by the way as many rounds as possible yeah as many rounds what's gary doing okay yeah yeah and you guide next to you you're like e-moms are a walk in the park it's like all right i get a little rest these are fun amrap is just torture amraps are torture because you're trying to condense time and and i realized you know over long term that combining speed and heavy weight was a bad idea that's why i stopped doing it i didn't have a problem with heavy weight or

Starting point is 01:10:47 a problem speed but i think the combination for like deadlift for time 400 meter sprint deadlift for time no good to me is yeah that's that's it's that room that's a recipe for it is it is right but what do you so what do you think of these hybrid athletes then that everyone's like yeah the deadlift and then run the mile or whatever. And is that, is there longevity to that? I think there are athletes that, you know, can condition and participate that. But, you know, compound Olympic lifts, you know, like a real overhead snatch, right? Or a squat snatch. I mean, that's not something that your average soccer mom should just do twice a week after she drops the kids off at school.

Starting point is 01:11:26 I mean, just come in fresh out of bed, had a cup of coffee, dropped the kids off at school, pulls in, and now she's doing compound Olympic lifts. And it's not that I have any problem with those activities or even the CrossFit Games. But what I saw, and I owned a CrossFit gym. It was called Real fitness in Naples. Um, and we had great programmers, but, but I, I did see a lot of people get injured because I think you were taking people too far, too fast, you know, just getting somebody to understand the mechanics of, of deadlift and safely deadlift real weight, um, or overhead snatch or clean and jerk or, or just clean. I mean, those are complicated movements.

Starting point is 01:12:07 For you to master 15 of those as someone who's not dedicated to that craft, you know, I think is a risk for injury. No, boy, no. I actually watched. It was terrible. We had those called the GHD setups where you kind of lock your knees. I love the GHD. I have one.

Starting point is 01:12:22 Yeah, we have one on Sweet Honey. I love them too, but I saw, it was like my fifth day owning the gym too. And I was like, I'm so excited, man. I just put this big investment in and, you know, and, you know, this guy comes in and he, we didn't have, we didn't pre-test him for his level of conditioning

Starting point is 01:12:43 and he jumps in the water and he gets him on the ghd and he goes flying back and splits his linealba from like the base of his sternum to the top of his pubic bone oh man just saw everything come out through through through the skin oh he ended up getting surgery and being fine but it was like 18 months of recovery for him you know stitching that all back together but it just came came right out and it was just laying outside of his abdomen inside of his skin i did not even know that was possible i'll never forget that um but um now he must have had like a hernia or something uh but in any case i i that was the worst thing that i'd seen but like lots of knees hips shoulders rotator cuffs you know you know people don't work on their shoulder mobility and then they're trying

Starting point is 01:13:30 to do a snatch and um right you know just those kinds of things but i i'm not dishing on crossfit at all what is what is your what is your daily but it was my meditation oh that was your meditation yeah it was my it was my meditation because when i was done that workout, because there was that period of time where all you wanted to do was quit, there was nothing else on your mind, but trying not to quit. And at the end, I always felt this incredible sense of Zen calm. Like I actually got addicted to, it's like the, the, the post cold punch feel like i got addicted to what was coming after right the workouts always suck but the after was and you know now that i look back it lasted

Starting point is 01:14:12 like you know 75 ish minutes i always remember that by a certain time in the morning you know it would wear off but i clearly remember that which much must must be what, you know, you're no a hundred percent. Yeah. The flow state is, you know, when, when you just lose, lose track of time, man, and you're, you're in this zone of just Zen getting this done. Some, some people can tap into it easier than most, but Steven Kotler has a book stealing fire and it's a, it's good. It's a great book and talks about Navy SEALs and how you kind of integrate flow state. But, you know, I do think if you can tap into that and you don't need a,

Starting point is 01:14:54 again, you don't need caffeine or anything else to do that. You can do it yourself. That's so awesome. And I had a cosmetic surgeon on here one time, Dr. Cameron Chestnut. Oh, cool. And what was really cool about him i'd never heard a physician say this or a surgeon say this is he he's he doesn't allow himself to schedule more than a certain number of uh surgeries a week and i think he only operates two or three days a week and the reason is because he puts himself into a flow state before every surgery because he's like i want to be so present for that patient i want to be so present for that procedure for that you know

Starting point is 01:15:28 and being a patient you got to be like that's the guy that i want you know i mean if you're cutting my eyes or 100 redoing my nose or whatever you're doing on my on my body i want you in a flow state too 100 it's just really um cool to see that he actually used that as his super my surgeon uh dr sam sports doc sam he's amazing he's not quick to cut he's not a guy that's like all right your your ankle hurts let's let's cut that thing over baby let's throw he's a peptide guy he's a stem cell guy he's so he's functional health but he he jumps in a cold plunge every morning before he goes into surgery like that's his jam and he just he rips you know i that's his jam. And he just, he rips, you know, I, that's the

Starting point is 01:16:05 other thing I think with, with, with this whole health world is having a doctor, having a biologist, having someone that you can really go to and, and, and trust and, and, and they're going to provide you the information or the peptides or the functional way of going about your, you know, your injury or, or your disease or whatever you're dealing with. I don't know. I think it's really important. I have this guy on speed dial, you know what I mean? Like, I think everyone needs that. And especially someone that lives kind of lives that life as well. But yeah. Well, um, first of all, this has been amazing, man. Um, I mean, your, your, your story is inspirational. And I mean, just the way that you're making an impact in a world and building communities is, is incredible. Thank you. I, um,

Starting point is 01:16:50 you know, I ask every guest that comes on, on my podcast, the same questions, and there's no right or wrong answer to this, but, uh, what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human. I think for me to be an ultimate human, it is to develop my own patterns, not patterns that were passed down from my parents and their parents and their parents, but develop my own about who I am. I think it's understanding what values you live by. You're absolutely no matter what. Um, and I think it's, I think it's to be kind to others and do the right thing when no one's looking. I really do, man. I, I, I believe in that. And I think

Starting point is 01:17:45 if we can just, if we can just put a little bit more love out in the world and I don't want to sound too woohoo, but a little bit more love, you know, I'm going to hug you when I leave, man. I'm going to hug her. I'm going to hug him. And I'm going to, you know, I'm going to put that love out in the world. And I think if more of us could do that, we can be an ultimate human. The energy you put out in the world is exactly what you're going to get back. Yeah. So true. And I'm going to spend every second of my time on earth putting out positive energy and putting out my values because guess what? The people with similar values are going to be attracted back in. So true. Gosh, that's so true.

Starting point is 01:18:22 And the last thing I'll say about being an ultimate human is maximizing your time for what you want, not what your boss wants, not what your mom wants, not what your girlfriend wants, what you want. What do you really want to do? If you're not going to control your time, someone else will. So true. And so that's, that's how you can be an ultimate human. That's a great answer, dude. I've had a lot of answers, but that one's awesome. Devin, I cannot thank you enough for coming on, brother. You're, you're, you're a bright light in this world. I mean, and you're touching so many lives and I'm going to continue to follow your mission. I hope you'll come back on again. A hundred percent, my brother. I appreciate you. Thanks for having me. You're welcome. Awesome. Awesome what you guys are doing. Thank you. And as always, guys, that's just science.

The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka - 119. Devon Lévesque: What Facing Death on Everest Taught Me about Living

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