The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka - 247. Matt Johnson: Jelly Roll’s Weight Loss, Running 842 Miles & Escaping Addiction

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

How does a self-taught ultra runner from rural Iowa end up living with one of music’s biggest stars and helping him lose 260 pounds? Matt Johnson’s journey from a near-suicide attempt with three thousand dollars to his name to moving into a Beverly Hills mansion and transforming Jelly Roll from barely walking a 5K to running his first mile is one of the most unlikely accountability stories in fitness! CLICK HERE TO BECOME GARYS VIP!: ⁠https://bit.ly/4ai0Xwg⁠ Connect with Matt Johnson Website: ⁠https://bit.ly/4qQ9bTd⁠  YouTube: ⁠https://bit.ly/4rw5F1m⁠  Instagram: ⁠https://bit.ly/4s2R2Te⁠  TikTok: ⁠https://bit.ly/3MmiOLf⁠  Facebook: ⁠https://bit.ly/4tRn9XJ⁠  Thank you to our partners A-GAME: “ULTIMATE15” FOR 15% OFF: ⁠http://bit.ly/4kek1ij⁠ AION: “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: ⁠https://bit.ly/4h6KHAD⁠ AIRES: "ULTIMATE20 " FOR 20% OFF: ⁠https://bit.ly/4a3Duze⁠ BAJA GOLD: "ULTIMATE10" FOR 10% OFF: ⁠https://bit.ly/3WSBqUa⁠ BODYHEALTH: “ULTIMATE20” FOR 20% OFF: ⁠http://bit.ly/4e5IjsV⁠ CARAWAY: “ULTIMATE” FOR 10% OFF: ⁠https://bit.ly/3Q1VmkC⁠ COLD LIFE: THE ULTIMATE HUMAN PLUNGE: ⁠https://bit.ly/4eULUKp⁠ GENETIC METHYLATION TEST (UK ONLY): ⁠https://bit.ly/48QJJrk⁠ GENETIC TEST (USA ONLY): ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3Yg1Uk9⁠ GOPUFF: GET YOUR FAVORITE SNACK!: ⁠https://bit.ly/4obIFDC⁠ H2TABS: “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: ⁠https://bit.ly/4hMNdgg⁠ HEALF: 10% OFF YOUR ORDER: ⁠https://bit.ly/41HJg6S⁠ PEPTUAL: “TUH10” FOR 10% OFF: ⁠https://bit.ly/4mKxgcn⁠ RHO NUTRITION: “ULTIMATE15” FOR 15% OFF: ⁠https://bit.ly/44fFza0⁠ SNOOZE: LET’S GET TO SLEEP!: ⁠https://bit.ly/4pt1T6V⁠ WHOOP: JOIN & GET 1 FREE MONTH!: ⁠https://bit.ly/3VQ0nzW⁠ Watch  the “Ultimate Human Podcast” every Tuesday & Thursday at 9AM EST: YouTube: ⁠https://bit.ly/3RPQYX8⁠ Podcasts: ⁠https://bit.ly/3RQftU0⁠ Connect with Gary Brecka Instagram: ⁠https://bit.ly/3RPpnFs⁠ TikTok: ⁠https://bit.ly/4coJ8fo⁠ X: ⁠https://bit.ly/3Opc8tf⁠ Facebook: ⁠https://bit.ly/464VA1H⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://bit.ly/4hH7Ri2⁠ Website: ⁠https://bit.ly/4eLDbdU⁠ Merch: ⁠https://bit.ly/4aBpOM1⁠ Newsletter: ⁠https://bit.ly/47ejrws⁠ Ask Gary: ⁠https://bit.ly/3PEAJuG⁠ Timestamps 00:00 Intro of Show 02:22 Matt Johnson’s Back Story 23:27 The Book that Changed His Life 26:16 Matt’s Running Journey 37:15 Brand Partnerships 40:33 Moving in and Training with Jelly Roll 45:13 Running for a Good Cause 45:44 Where Does One Start? 52:02 Managing Mental Health while Ultra-Endurance Running 58:00 What’s Next for Matt? 56:54 Breaking Guinness World Records 1:00:04 Overcoming Depression After the Texas Race 1:06:42 What does it mean to you to be an Ultimate Human? 1:07:50 Connect with Matt Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not provide medical advice. It is not intended for diagnosing or treating any health condition. Always consult a licensed healthcare professional before making health or wellness decisions. Gary Brecka is the owner of Ultimate Human, LLC which operates The Ultimate Human podcast and promotes certain third-party products used by Gary Brecka in his personal health and wellness protocols and daily life and for which Ultimate Human LLC and / or Gary Brecka directly or indirectly holds an economic interest or receives compensation.  Accordingly, statements made by Gary Brecka and others (including on The Ultimate Human podcast) may be considered promotional in nature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I truly believe any fit person can run 100 miles, but I don't believe that the reason why they don't is because you can't beat this right here. I think we subconsciously don't want to set ourselves up for failure. We either don't try or we do things that we know we can complete. I have like official 100 mile races. I think I've done five and I think I've finished two. I did Texas in 24. I did east to west. I just did it this October, north to south.

I'm the only man to cross Texas both ways. Fastest man to do it both ways and the only man to do it both ways. It doesn't cost you anything. to just get off your couch and set a goal and just start. If you want to get into fitness, have someone with you. When you are doing something and you're suffering, when you know that the person next to you is suffering, it changes everything.

For somebody that is coming from a similar place to where you were, where do they start? I'm not afraid to fail. I truly believe like that's why I'm different. And if you want to be different, you have to not be it. Hey guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist, Gary Brecker, where we go down the road of everything,

anti-aging, biohacking, longevity, and everything in between. And today's podcast is going to be a really, really special one because I just followed and spent the last 48 hours with this podcast guest, really got to know him, see his heart, see like how he thinks and operates. His story is absolutely phenomenal.

Get ready to be inspired. Get ready to have the limits of what you, you think you can accomplish in your life just absolutely blown. And when you hear this man talk about his pain to purpose, I think it's going to be very, very inspiring for you. So welcome to the podcast, Matt Johnson. Yeah. Brother, this is, this is awesome, man. We've had a pretty incredible 48 hours. Yeah, yeah. It's cool to, you know, usually when you walk into a podcast, right, like you just nobody, know somebody by like a sheet of paper. Yeah. Or know somebody by videos you've seen or, you know, but like being able to meet you, you meet, you know,

us being together for 48 hours is really cool to, because now I'm sitting here and I just, I feel like I know you. Yeah, dude, I felt like I spent my whole life with you. And for my audience purposes, I'm going to talk a lot about your background, but this is the fastest man to ever run across the state of Texas.

And when people think like, okay, we ran across the state of Texas, realize that's 842 miles that he did in a little over 17 days. And I want to sort of back the story up because, you know, there's a theme that runs through a lot of my podcast guests. Like some of the most impactful, purpose-driven people, passionate people I've ever had on this podcast have solved a problem in their life. And they've either taken the pain in their life and turned it into their purpose and made a big impact or they solved a major problem. And they're not always the most credentialed. like, you know, my podcast is about longevity

and anti-aging and biohacking. And you would think it's like all these great PhDs or MDs or researchers, but the truth is I've had soccer moms sit in that chair that have had more impact on humanity than the smartest, most qualified PhD. And I think that you fit that category. And I'd love for you to talk a little bit about

your background in the military. Not everything was roses. You're right, you did a little bit of time in the po-po. Yeah. Been in jail a couple times. Yeah, I've been in jail a couple of times, but who hasn't? I mean, everybody's been in jail. Yeah.

And, you know, I would love for you to talk about that. And then I definitely want to get into our journey with Jelly Roll because, you know, I was working with Jelly early on in his weight loss journey. But when you parachuted in and moved in with him, everything changed for Jelly. Like, and his accountability changed. His mindset changed. I mean, you had a demontative impact on this man and his capacity to drop 260 pounds. You know, we were talking before the podcast about all of the demons he was struggling with.

Yeah. But first, I want to tell, you know, your story for my audience, from military to 842 miles across the state of Texas. Yeah, yeah, it was very... Breaking mind-numbing. Yeah, it was very unplanned and sorry if I have a raspy voice or my lips are chapped. You did a lot of yelling. I did a lot of yelling yesterday. Matt yelled for 24 and a half straight hour.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yep. We, yeah, the boys did 100 yesterday. 100 miles. And we're a little cooked too. Yeah, both of us. Yeah, but I got to tell you, man, you got my son and Kyle and the elk boys and those runners, six of them safely across 100 miles.

And, dude, it's semi-trucks going six feet away from us, 80 miles an hour. I mean, the wind would almost blow us over. I mean, a lot of people don't know. I mean, I would say the entire operation doesn't know that the crew that made this possible is the Texas crew that I had. Oh, really? Yeah, I mean, it was just me, Drew, who was out there shooting, crew chief Rob, yeah. And Amanda, I mean, we're missing one of my crew members from Texas. And as soon as Kyle hit me up and was like, yo, like, I want to do this. And then I heard about how the operation was going to be. I was like, I need to bring a couple people in. Yeah. And, you know, just to, you know, obviously make this part quick. But yeah, I mean, it was very, you know, crew chief Rob crewed me across America. He's crewed Paul Johnson or crewed me across Texas. He crewed Paul Johnson across America. Okay. He holds his own 100 mile records, you know. And he, so he knows how to do that. I'm like, I need to bring Robin. Amanda, you know, my fiance, Amanda, I'm like, I need to bring her in because she's crewed me. You know, she can help crew the boys as well, knowing what they need. Drew, you know, he's obviously the filmer, but he's done, you know, he's so.

many documentaries on YouTube about running. Okay. But I knew having him there, you know, Kyle has his own filmers, but I'm like, hey, if you bring Drew on to film, you're going to have a second, you're going to have somebody else that knows what's going on. Yeah.

And, you know, so yeah, it, you know. The amount of logistics dude was mind-numbing to me. I mean, I was in Cole's Chase fan. So my, every, every athlete had their own assigned band. Yeah. So I was in the one assigned to my son. Yeah. And there were five of us in there.

You know, Andy, who's like the, the absolute. guru of endurance running. It was a blessing to have him. Yeah. But Cole's sister, you know, myself, his fiance, Megan, you know, we were all in that van for 24 hours. I got in 20 miles on my, accidentally.

Yeah. Yeah. That's how it happens. Yeah. That's exactly how it happens. Like I told Amanda when we wrapped up, I'm like, holy shit. I'm like, that was 54 miles. Yeah.

And there was times where I wasn't, you know, I was running back. Like that was just running. Yeah. You know, when I would be running. When I would stay up there, I would start my watch. Yeah. And it's like, that doesn't even count back to the van, to the front of the van, to the back of, you know, when I would come back to talk to you guys.

And I'm like, who knows? Because here I didn't stop, dude. The gun went off and we moved for 100 straight miles. And I was watching the comments on YouTube because they live streamed it. And I was watching the comments on YouTube. And I would say 70% of the people in the comments gave them a 0% chance of finishing. A hundred percent. And 100% of the people said there's no way six that started.

They're going to come across the finish line together. So the- Beat the odds for sure 100% Really. No one believed in them from the start. Like from the time that I got attached to it

in November, you know, I was going through comments on Instagram and people were like, there's no way you're going to run 100 miles. Yeah,

the Kyle Forgard and all those guys. But that's the thing is like, you know, which I mean, well, I'll probably dive into this later too. Yeah. But like,

there's a lot of people out there that don't really actually know what you're, what they're capable of. Yeah. You know, because running 100 miles is, pretty easy.

And when I say that, I mean, when I say that, I, you know, this is what I called, this is what I told all the boys is I'm like, I truly believe any fit person

can run 100 miles. But I don't believe that, that the reason why they don't is because you can't beat this right here. Like that's why the, the point zero, 0.01% that do finish the ultramarathon, the 100 mile distance,

they're able to conquer this. Yeah. And that's the problem with everybody else is that they, they can't conquer this so they're never going to know. Yeah, you know, I remember when we crossed the 32 mile mark, in the back of my mind, I was like, okay, every single one of these guys is an uncharted territory,

including my son. They have, none of them have been further than this point. So up till now, up to 32 miles, they're like, okay, I've done that before. Yeah. But now I need to go more than double this distance. Yeah. And I have no idea if my body is kind of,

to break down and be able to carry this. And they were all in that uncharted waters. I mean, basically not knowing if they could finish or not. But I want to circle back to your background, you know, because I want to delve into that pain into purpose journey for you. Because a lot of people listening to this, you know, there's another common theme that runs through my podcast. A lot of people are like, well, how do I find my purpose?

I mean, the thought of completing a hundred mile race and doing something that epic and that difficult just to prove to no one other than myself that I can do it is not something that I can wrap my arms around. And maybe starting with the goal that lofty is way out of bounds. But how did this journey start with you from the military to ultra endurance at ultra endurance competition? I mean, you've won multiple races in the 5K, 100K, 100 mile distance. You know, you covered 840-some miles across the state of Texas. Like go back to the beginning of what did that journey look like. Yeah.

And it's been a process for me of doing that on my own now as an adult, right? Because there's times where I'm living this life. And I kind of sit back and I'm like, how the hell am I here? You know, so, you know, I think reflection is very important. You know, starting to how did you get to the military, right? Like, why? Because that's not a choice that a lot of people make. Right.

And, you know, I was born in a small town. We didn't have stoplights. Like, it was that small. Really? The nearest Walmart was 15 minutes away. Okay. So we had a gas station in like a convenience store. Yeah.

And I was born and taken back to a double wide trailer. And my mom got pregnant with me when she was 17. My dad was, you know, was out of the picture from the very beginning. And it was me and my mom. Yeah. And, you know, my grandparents, you know, were around and my mom was working two jobs all the way, you know, I mean, shoot, until as far as I can remember. You know, she was working two jobs. She was driving, she was commuting an hour to work a nine to five and driving an hour back and then working overnights at the gas station.

And then, and so I was rotating a lot through my grandparents' house. And, you know, fast forwarding. My mom got married when I was probably 10. And that was where all of the trauma really, like where it started. And at that point, I had a little brother who was probably three. So actually, I was probably 12. My little brother was about four or five because we would have conversation. Same dad? No.

No, no, so my brother and I, my brother and I both have, we have different dads. And then my mom was engaged to his dad and then that broke off. And then she, she got married. She's been married once. And, you know, she was married to this man who was, he was a really good guy at first. And then, you know, about six months in, shit started just really getting bad. There was a lot of, started with, you know, emotional abuse. Like I remember a time that I tell a lot where my mom went to work and my little brother and I were locked in a bedroom the entire time that she was gone.

Like just like you like chair to the door and we were locked in a bedroom for 10 hours. Wow. And trying to comfort my brother through that as I'm 13. Yeah. You know, and I'm not understanding like why the hell am I locked in a bedroom. You know, and I'm trying to figure out and I can't get out. And then, you know, then it turned into physical abuse. And, you know, he was, you know, we moved around a lot.

We were moving around to different, because he was a government contractor. And, yeah, you know, it got to the point where, you know, I remember a time where my mom was drug by her hair to her bedroom. And I watched that happen. My little brother watched that happen. And it got to the point where my mom started, my mom became addicted to pills. because she was trying to exit that life, or at least numb it. Yeah. And unfortunately, in the pill addiction, you know, she got so far deep.

She tried to commit suicide. Wow. And I tell the story of me coming home and finding her face down on the floor in the kitchen. How old were you at that time? I was in high school at that point, so probably 16. Okay. And she was taken away for like three days. Like if you,

if you, I guess if you like try to commit suicide, they take you and they like lock you up. Yeah. Like in a facility. Yeah. Especially if it's fake. Yeah.

And so I remember like she was gone for like three or four days. She came back and she like sat me down. And you know, because I was old enough, she's like, she's like, I didn't want to like this isn't me. Yeah.

Like I just, we have to get, we have to get out here. Yeah. And. but she was scared. And, you know, that process led to, that conversation led to, he smashed her face off of the front of a car and knocked her teeth out.

And it became a big debacle. And he left. Like, we, it was a big ordeal that doesn't need to be talked about. But he left. And at that point, you know, there was a, he put us in a situation where, my like he didn't want my mom to work you know the controlling or he had access to everything the bank accounts the cars the and when he left he took everything we had nothing he drained the bank accounts we had no car like it was it was i remember it was just it was bad yeah if you want protein to

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watch my mom like battle, you know, kind of like I did when I was a kid, right? Like, where she did everything she could to put food in and, and give us shelter, you know, just, you know, back to working two jobs. Right. And she was working overnight. I was taking my brother to school. She was, you know, she was grinding. And that is where I get my endurance from. I know that. I know that I get my endurance and my drive and my will and why I am here is because of because of who I watched my mother be. Yeah. And, you know, so, but I think in that process, that led me to like, you know, 17, as I turned 18 and I was a senior, I was like, I need to get out of here.

Yeah. Like I've been, like, I didn't like where, like, Amanda and I talk all the time. She's like, I want to, I haven't, we've been together three years and I haven't taken her back home. Mm-hmm. Because I don't think I want to go. Right. And I haven't been back to that town since I, since I left. Yeah.

And, you know. Now, is your brother still in pictures? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So he actually, he just moved to Austin. Did he? Okay. Yeah.

Yeah, so he, you know, he went through, actually, he went through a big trauma that led, that ended up me is, that's why I'm here. But, yeah, so he lives in Austin now. But, you know, so I, I joined the military. And what age? 18. Yeah, 18. And I left for basic training at 19. Okay.

So I had like a seven month waiting period until I left for basic training. and yeah it was you know i actually were talking about this i think i was talking to kyle or somebody yesterday while you're running i was like there was no like i was a child like i can't we're talking about something and i had no clue like i didn't even know i don't know how to do like you know i mean i mean i mean like like i i don't know how to do laundry but you know what i mean like like i i don't know how to wake up on my own you know like when you're 18 you can't find your ass with both No. And like when I got there, and that was my first time ever away from my mom. And obviously through the single motherhood to my brother to all that trauma, like that fuck, like that got me.

Yeah. Being away. And like that was hard. And, you know, basic training, they just, you know, they break you down. And it took me, it probably took me a little bit over a month to really adapt and be like, oh, like, I'm not leaving. Like, like, I made this. I'm not getting out of this. I'm not getting out of this. this choice and like I like I'm here like this is it um but so what I did is I joined the National Guard because I was nervous going active duty and leaving my mother

like that's because National Guard you come back home right and it's like oh two weeks two weeks in the summer um you know one week in a month so this so I go I leave basic training I come back home right back to that toxic environment that I left and that turned into I lived with four dudes we were part drinking, doing drugs every night.

I went to jail twice. I was fighting. You know, like, I, I, I, I, I'm so surprised those couple, I was not kicked out of the military. Like, I was a, I was not a good part. Like, I came back and I just, I got swept into this toxic environment of, of where I grew up, but now as an adult. And now, all I can make my own decisions around here.

Like, you know, like, just in, and I just, I look at that time frame and I'm like, holy shit like how did I not really implode yeah yeah and I mean because I when I first got in the military I like I have a picture of myself from like 2014 of just like

man boobs like I was this body and I was almost 180 pounds from drinking smoking weed every day just like just horrible I mean I'm talking every single day I was drunk

every night like just just all the time yeah and it was i think because i just never i never faced those demons that i had i tried i left right but then i came right back to that same environment it's what happens that's why people end up failing at things they try yeah and what led me to the ultra running right i think is where we're where we're where we're going with this um yeah so to 2021 uh in that in that time frame i moved out of that town i got out of that partying phase um i actually I got an active duty job in the military. Okay. Such a blessing.

So I was in the National Guard, but I did almost five years active duty. Okay. Where I worked full time at Camp Dodge, which is Iowa's largest National Guard base. So I worked at crazy enough, right? Like during those days of me doing drugs, I got a job at Midwest Counter Drug.

Yeah. Where I was, I'm not even kidding. Like, I'm pretty sure I was still like smoking weed and I was going to work at Counterdrug where we were training law enforcement to like to like kick in doors and find drugs it was it was crazy um but got an active duty job moved up to demoyne the capital um you know was making i made e5 sergeant was making probably

you know four grand a month um got married very young probably uh 20 22 23 um to someone who was 19, 20. And it was, you know, it was a, it was a, it was a great marriage. Um, but we were babies. Yeah. And I was, and I was still a very shitty person.

Yeah. And, you know, that, you know, that led me to, when I moved to Austin, you know, there's more I'll cover in the middle, but, you know, went through a divorce, moved to Austin. Um, but what got me into the ultra sport was, um, Marcus, my little brother in 2021, um, had two friends that were, murdered. And he was,

Marcus was 16. And then those two boys, the two brothers were seven, were 16 and 18. They were brothers. Yeah, and they were his best friends. And to kind of just be completely transparent

and tell you the bond that they had, my little brother's mixed. And his dark, like dark skin. And we lived in, in rural Iowa, right? where that is not that he was the only dark kid in this town.

Right. And these two kids, I have their names tattooed right here, Devante and Malachi, they moved into town and they were also mixed. And so there was a bond between them because, you know, there was a lot of racism towards them and hatred. And they bonded because they were all, you know, when they became friends, they were, I don't know, seven, eight, nine years old. Yeah.

You know, and then they grew up together. Unfortunately, they, you know, they were murder. not in this small town up in the city in Des Moines when they were splitting time at their moms. I think they just got caught up in the wrong crowd in the wrong crowd as they were getting older and they were splitting time between mom and dad. So I started looking for way's self-help. I'm like because my brother dropped out of high school. He just he locked himself in his room said I'm not I'm not going to school. He gained over 150 pounds. Oh my God. And And like at one point he was, I'm pretty sure he was 300 and some pounds at at five foot five.

I mean, and he just locked himself in his room, wouldn't leave, wouldn't like wouldn't do anything, but just eat. And so I'm like, I'm like, he's going to die. Yeah. You know, and I'm like, I need to. And this was seven, eight months that this happened. Like that, you know, because this was January, they were killed. And I didn't, I didn't. get to this point until fall.

Right. So I got on Google and I'm like self-help books. Yeah. And sure enough, first thing that pops up is can't hurt me by David Goggins. And I, and the only reason, the only reason I was attracted to this book

is because it was wrote by a Navy SEAL. I had no idea. And I'm like, oh, like, this guy's in the military, writes a book, you know, like, cool, let's read it. Reading that book, you know, I was like, Marcus, like,

we're going to read this book together. reading that book flipped my entire perspective on everything and it wasn't the fact of like the stay hard woo woo bullshit is not what drew me to Goggins

it was the if you go and you read those first three chapters he was abused his father was an abuser his mother like they were poor they were it was him and his brother I related to I'm like how in the hell

did this guy write a book and go through this. Yeah. And I'm like, who am I? I'm like, that was me. Like, like, I, I, that happened to me. I'm like, and this guy's writing books and is one of the most well-known runners of all time.

I'm like, and at that point in my life, I hated the military. I was making excuses. I was still drinking. It was post-COVID. Yeah. And I was, and like, at that point, like, I was still drinking. I was, you know, just, still just wasn't a good person. And it wasn't where I wanted to be.

So what I did is I am not a great reader or writer. I started listening to the book. And three times a week, I would go out to the track on Camp Dodge, and it was a two-mile, like, loop. And I would run four loops, eight miles. And in like Walmart shoes, you know, like I just, and I didn't, you know, in a hoodie and a sweat man.

Yeah, yeah, I had no clue what I was doing. And I would just, and I would listen to his book. And I'm, I'm not kidding. I probably listened to that book since 2021. I've probably listened to that book 15 times. Wow. And to just remind myself, like, who I can be. Yeah.

Because he did it. Yeah. You know, not to stay hard, you know, no rest days. Like, no, no, that's not me at all. It's just like, if this guy can do it, why can I not do it? Yeah. And that's what I'm trying to preach to my audience. So that was the early days of you just starting to run.

Yeah. Yeah. Like even, even. And I didn't start running until I didn't start running until I didn't start. actually running full-time, like running 30, 40 miles a week until April of 2021. Wow. And now we're here. Because Texas was 22, right?

No, Texas was 2024 and 2025. I'd done it twice. Right. Yeah. Wow. So, I mean, would you say that you just fell in love with that or it was an escape? Because, I mean, that's like really hard shit. For me, I think the reason I fell into the love of running is because I,

it was the only time in my life that I was able to control the pain that I was in. No one else had any control over me. Right. And I controlled the pain. I controlled, like, if you want to quit, you can quit. Yeah. And I've been through a lot of things in life and a lot of situations where I was unable to have control over what was happening to me.

So you sort of start to fall in love with this, maybe not for the reasons that most people think, like conditioning and. No, I was running, early on, I was running away from everything. Yeah. I was using that time of running as long as I could. Yeah. 70, 80, 90 miles a week. And I had no idea what I was doing.

I wasn't even eating food while I was doing it. Yeah. But I was using that time because I was able to, in that moment, I was able to exit the fact that I hated my marriage. I hated the military. I wasn't who I wanted to be. And I just, and when I ran, I was, I found out that I liked that person. Mm-hmm.

And so then this morphs into you reconnecting with your faith. Yeah. You kind of really dedicating yourself to the sport. I mean, because you're an iconic figure in the sport. And eventually it morphs into you moving in and living with jelly roll. Yeah. Which is, I mean, you know, the 16-year-old you looking at, you know, the 28-year-old you would have to be like, wow. Yeah.

I never thought that I would be here. No. You know, literally earning and gaining the trust of one of the most iconic, you know, musicians maybe, maybe in all time. Certainly in that crossover rap country genre. Yeah, right now for sure. Yeah. So you start running. Did you set this goal for yourself that said, I'm just going to do something really, really epic?

Because, you know, Jesse Yitzler talks about this all the time, the Mosovo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That one thing you should do every year that you know you only have a 50, 50 shot at completing. And I think most of us don't, I think we subconsciously don't want to set ourselves up for failure. So we either don't try or we do things that we know we can complete. So we set our goal so low. So for you, when was the, when was that big, bold, audacious goal set where you were like, okay, I'm going to run 842 miles across the state of freaking Texas. Yeah. Okay, you want to fast forward to Texas? Yeah. Yeah.

So what happened was, you know, just to quickly get, to quickly get caught up. Yeah. February, 2023, you know, I had been traveling. Like, I had been traveling. I had been racing, you know, Iron Man's. And I was in the military. And the military's like, you know, we don't want you doing this. And at that point, I was a recruiter.

And I was like, hey, like, I can, like, that's what Goggins did. I was like, I can recruit kids by using this Instagram platform. If I can build it. Like, can you guys help me? And they're like, no, like, we don't, we don't like this. Like, we don't want you doing this. Why is that you think? I don't know.

I don't think that's the military in general. I had horrific leadership. Yeah. Like everyone on my team was fat. Everyone was out of shape. Like it was the small town Iowa. It was the small town Iowa vibe within the Iowa boys in the Iowa National Guard. Like, like, you know, well, that's not normal.

We don't do that. You know, and like they didn't, I didn't have any type of support from me saying, I want to do hard things and post about it on Instagram so people can see it. But I never even had, like, I didn't even think, never once in my life was like, I'm going to be an influencer. Right. Or, you know, like, I was just like, hey, people are loving, like, people are telling me that I'm just inspiring them to run. And, you know, like, this is cool. Really, like, the biggest moment of my entire life.

The turning point moment was I came home from Austin and my ex-wife met me in the kitchen was like, I want a divorce as soon as I walked in the door. Yeah. And we had been having horrific problems. I was, I was a horrible person. I was a liar. I was a manipulator. I was,

I was horrific. And, but I never, I knew that I didn't, I knew I needed to get out of that, but I, as a man, couldn't make that choice.

Right. Because I felt like it was my job to like, I don't, I guess be a shitty person, but I was in this, you know, I'm like, I can't say no.

Like, I'm in, you know, and she met me in the kitchen. She's like, I want a divorce. And that was, I got home from Austin on, on Monday, that was Monday, on Friday night, I was sitting in my upstairs bedroom.

She immediately left. My mom had come over. My brother was there. And I was sitting in my upstairs bedroom and I loaded a shotgun and put it right to my jaw. Whoa. And I was sitting and I was going, I was going to take my life sitting on the floor in my bedroom. And by the grace of like God calling me to Austin, I, I'm not even joking. I get a text message from a friend.

There's a text message phone call. I don't know. And it pops up. And I see his name, Harrison Zacher. And he was in Austin. Because when I was leaving Austin on that Monday, he was like, oh, because he lives in the Midwest and it's cold and that's why we bonded.

And he's like, I'm not leaving Austin. He's like, I'm going to stay here for like a month. He goes, he's an online coach. And he's like, I'm just going to chill down here. As soon as he texted me something in me, I saw his name and it said, go like within me was like go to austin and i picked up my phone i texted him i was like are you still in austin and he's like yeah dude and i go i'm coming tomorrow i'll i'll explain more yeah and he's

like okay and and i i packed a duffel bag yeah actually it wasn't a duffel bag to be completely real it was a like broken hamper that i'm pretty sure we still have that that black hamper that's like missing a handle this hamper means so much to me i like put this hamper means so much to me i like I like packed up this black hamper and just all my clothes and stuffed them in there and grabbed my dog and I drove to Austin. Over the last 20 years in human biology, one compound I've trusted again and again is NAD Plus. It's critical for energy, focus, and cellular repair. But your levels drop around age 30. I used to administer NAD via IVs in my clinics, but now I take Roe Nutrition's Liposomal NAD, the first oral formula that actually works. Their advanced delivery tech gets NAD straight into your bloodstream.

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Okay. And he is incredible. I drove to Austin and I called. I told my mom on the way down to Austin and I was like, I don't give a shit what is about to happen. I'm going to figure it out. I had $3,000 in my bank account and I was like, I'm like, I'll be an online coach. Like I don't care. I was like all like I'm my idea was that I was going to use.

At that point I had about 25,000 followers. I was going to be an online fitness coach. Cool. And to make that story quick, got down to Austin, lived in an Airbnb, lived in five Airbnbs over 61 days, ran out of all of my money. I had just won a marathon and did an Iron Man within the same week. And right after the Iron Man, I had a friend that gave me this bike. I sold that bike to put a deposit down on a duplex.

And I slept on the floor of that duplex for two weeks. And I just started grinding of people like, I'll coach you, $100 a month. And I just slowly, like next thing you know, I got a couch for $100 from the market right down the road. I got a mattress pad. I have a picture of the mattress pad with a blanket and a pillow. Yeah.

It was laying on the floor. Damn. And then I got a TV. Not a mattress, a mattress pad. Mattress pad. Yeah, yeah. The little pad. Yeah.

Fast forward there. Just started, just kept going. I just kept going. Yeah. And the Instagram following started to grow. Very first brand ever, Ketone IQ. Oh, yeah, yeah. They sent me a message.

I love those guys. Michael Brandt. And they sent me a message and like, we'd love to pay you 500 a month to promote our product. I know. I was like, are you kidding? I was like, I was like, I will give you my right arm for $500 a month. And, you know, over the next two or three months, I signed another deal.

The second deal was an alcohol deal, which was like. At that point, you'll take whatever. I probably shouldn't have done that one, but, you know, I signed the alcohol deal. I started blowing, like, it was like all the sudden, everything started changing. and I met Amanda and this amazing woman was like she is amazing like first first day we're together she's like well she's like it was Saturday night we're going to date she's like what do you do you want to go to church with me tomorrow yeah and I'm like I'll go wherever the hell you want me to go yeah like take me take me wherever she's amazing yeah started going back to church yeah

started going back to church the ball started rolling the followers started skyrocketing and you know that led me, that led me to my masaki, right? Like the big, the big one. And late 2020, all in that time frame when I went back to church, right? Like, like, and I met, I think I met Amanda after the leg injury. So I was running. I spent 2023 running from everything. Yeah.

Run. Just run, run, run, run. And I was like, oh, my leg hurts. I kept running. My leg hurts. I kept running. I did a hundred mile race on a broken leg. And I had no idea my leg was broken.

and I just thought it hurt. Couldn't finish this race. Go to the doctor. They're like, you have three fractures. Like, I have the x-ray of like, like you could see that it fractured in the calcium deposits. Like I can feel the calcium deposit right here

because it's trying to heal itself. And she's like, you're done for six months. Mm. And that's your identity at that point. Yes. That's everything I have. Yeah. And it was in that moment

where I had to like sit with myself. I had to sit with God. I had to, you know, where I'm like, what do I do? Yeah. And one day, just one day, I went to the gym and I remember exactly where I was sitting outside the gym.

I still couldn't run. I still was walking with a limp. And I texted one of my best friends and I was like, I don't know how it came. I don't know. I have no clue. I said, I just popped in my head. I was like, I want to run across the whole state of Texas.

Yeah. And I texted my friend and I was like, I want to across Texas. And he's like, you're a logistical nightmare, but I think you can do it. That's a good friend. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

You're out of your fucking mind, but I think you get, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, that, that was kind of, you know, obviously it took a little bit there. You know, but that's how we got there. Yeah. And it was, it was 20, 20, 24 is what changed my life forever. But the money and the logistics, I mean, you know, for 17 days to just be absent,

obviously you're not coaching during that time frame. You're not earning money during that time frame. Do you get sponsors and you just lived in a van? Yeah, yeah. So what happened is, you know, yeah, just like what you said. Like a Sprinter. Yeah. The operation that we had was the exact operation.

You know, we had an RV. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We had an RV and a Sprinter van. Yeah. But yeah, I just, you know, I, I overworked my team. At that point, you know, I didn't have a lot of, you know, I mean, I had 200,000 followers.

I had a little bit of poll on the social media side from brands. Right. But I just started hitting them up. I was like, yo, like, how much money can you give me to use your product while I do this event? And, you know, I feel like it was so good to do that. because now I know so much about business and I had to teach myself all of these things because I didn't go to college.

I was right to the military. Right. And like, oh, like, we'll give you five grand for three reels and a thousand stories, you know? Like, it was just, they were just getting me and I'm like, done. Yeah, yeah.

And, you know, like, and we accumulated $60,000 the first year. Wow. Through 40 brands. Like it was, it was, it was, I, like, I tie my shoes with things like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Drew, who you met. Drew is now, now one of my best friends.

And he was, he was the league content guy out there. And I just put him through the ringer with the things he had to do. But yeah, we got, we got $60,000 in the operation was, we cleared. We had a, I had a thousand dollars left when we were done. Like, like we were, and then we don't. And then I donated it to Valer Fix. I was doing it to raise money for charity. But yeah, yeah, that was.

That's awesome, man. Yeah. And now, you know, so I saw none of that side of you in the last 48 hours. I mean, the precision with which you ran this operation to get these guys 100 miles, like I say, including my son across the desert in the middle of the night. Because I don't think most people realize, like running for 24 and a half hours like these guys did. Just the sheer grind and the, I mean, we got pulled over three times by the police. Yeah, right off the bat.

Yeah, right off the bat, dude. We were barely in at night. Let's see the Popo come by and he bangs a U-turn, throws his lights on him, parks. In parks in front of the convoy. Facing the convoy. That was the, like, that was like, it felt malicious. Like, I was like, I was like, you're going to turn and face us. You were so nice to me.

Like, how are you, I'm sorry? Yeah. And I'm like, just keep running. Are you on shift? Yeah. Small talk. But, but, you know, the, the, I was impressed with, like, your, unrelenting commitment to the safety of the runners.

I think none of them understood the task that they were getting ready to do. Like I said, there's semis blown by a six feet off the side of the road. Half the shoulder was not wide enough for the vehicles to get off the road. And the first thing that cop said was, you need to be on the other side of this white line. The entire tire time you're down. So half the time we're driving on all that.

Like gravel was pretty crazy. Yeah, I was pissed off because I couldn't sleep. Uh-huh. I wasn't going to complain about No, no. A little sister sacked out in the back. But, you know, so you do this iconic race in Texas, but how does that jump to you moving in with jelly roll?

Because I do remember during my journey with jelly roll, this dude, Matt, and I didn't know who you were, you know, like was moving in with them to train him. And I was like, who's Matt? Literally everyone. Like, like, how did this kid? News stations were like, who is this random person? It was super with jelly. Random.

Yeah. I didn't have any, you know, necessarily a problem with it. I'm like, well, look, man, he's got a, he's got a chef. He's got a, you know, he's got a coach. I mean, it sounds like a great idea. But dude, when you parachuted in and were with him 24-7, you were traveling with him everything, right? Yeah, yeah.

So we went to Hawaii, like in April. Yeah. And he was landing in L.A. for like a West coast stent of like he had things that were, you know. So they got a, they had a house up in Beverly Hills. And when I was flying back from Hawaii, Amanda was going to fly home. And I was staying and I Ubered to this $30 million Beverly Hills mansion. That like, yeah, yeah.

And I'm like, all right. And it was, yeah, it was the entire month that I was out there. We were traveling and, you know, training together. Yeah. And I mean, because at that point, Jelly hadn't even. and walked at 5K. Yeah, yeah. I think the first,

you know, my connection to him was Ian. Larry was his coach. So crazy enough, 2023, when I was grinding, when I first moved to Austin, I was grinding for, you know,

selling coaching to people, I get a call. And this guy's like, yeah, like I'm on tour, you know, I want to run around the island of Bali. And I'm like, oh, like, you're like a musician?

Yeah. And he's like, no, he's like, I'm jelly roll chef. And I was like, holy shit. Like that's crazy. crazy. And then come to find out, he's like, he won chef of the year for the UFC. Yeah. And like, and I'm coaching this guy. Yeah. So that's how I got the end with Jelly is I, I gained the trust of,

of Ian. Yeah. And Ian was like, oh, like, you know, Matt's personality, who he is, like, you know, and he pitched it to Jelly where he's like, because Ian wasn't there the whole time. And the problem was, and you probably saw this with Jelly. Jelly and Ian are like side by side at all times. Yeah. And Ian was going to be gone and Jelly wasn't going to have anyone to train with. Yeah, yeah. And so And that lack of accountability is a death sentence. Yeah, yeah. So they brought in a secondary chef, but then they wanted to bring me in to kind of play that and role to help him, you know, to have somebody there to train with. Yeah.

But yeah, I remember my first workout. I wish I could pull it up on my phone. But my, the first workout was like a five minute walk and like 10 seconds of like, and we use the term run very loosely. Yeah, yeah. 10 seconds of as fast as you can. Yeah. You know, and then, and then, and that was it. Yeah.

And then we got in by the time, by the time that I got done right before the Two Bears 5K, he had, he had ran one mile without stopping. Yeah, dude. And for him at that time, I mean, that's, that was iconic. Even when I was out there, he was still three, he was still right at three, three, three, three, three, three 30 maybe. Yeah, yeah. And that's a big boy. Because when I look, when I look back at him now when we were out there,

I like I look at photos and I thought he was skinny then. Yeah. Now, now he's like he's. It's a game. Now you look at him and you're like, oh, this guy is skinny. So many people. So I love how to me this is like two stories, this is like a story of two like misfits like with very kind of similar backgrounds.

Yeah. You know, doing something really iconic because if, you know, even if you've never done a 5K, I mean, to think that you're going to take a 350, 60 pound man and move that mass over, you know, 3.2 miles is a major feat. I mean, getting to the mailbox is a major feat. I remember one of my first conversations with Jelly, and he was like, where do I start?

And I said, you just start by walking to the mailbox, like literally. Yeah. Just, you know, bite-sized goals. And it sounds like when you parachuted in, like you just started chipping up. being away with this with these little bite size goals. I love how you say we use the term running loosely. We use the term running very loosely.

That is a full sentence quote from Jelly himself. Really? Yeah. Y'all know we use the term running very loosely around here. Yeah. Yeah. But you had a major impact on him and then, you know, finishing this 100 mile race with these guys,

I know that it had a major impact. They raised almost $400,000 for it. And the documentary, it'll go well over 500K. Yeah. with the documentary coming out and yeah and yeah and i think for the people that are listening so you know what does all of this mean they're like okay he had a rough life jellies had a rough life but look at them now i mean there's somebody sitting on their couch right now maybe listening to this podcast that in a similar situation to you and they have to take that first step like literally just take that

first step what i like about what you did and what i like about what you do is that it doesn't cost you anything to just get off your couch and set a goal and just start so what you're where does it for somebody that is coming from a similar place to where you were where do they start how does it start tomorrow morning what do they get up and do yeah um you know i think that you know i've said this multiple times you know if you you have to set a goal and and i feel like the problem with people is is that you're you're scared to fail and you can't you truly can't be scared to fail what a lot of people don't know about me is i've actually DNFed more ultra-marathons than I've finished.

Wow. Yeah, it's true. Like I have, like official 100-mile races, I think I've done five, and I think I've finished two. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I'm not afraid to fail. That's why I truly believe, like, that's why I'm different.

And if you want to be different, you have to not be afraid to fail either. And what is a failure? You have to define what a failure is, right? failure's not trying yeah yeah you know but if you're sitting on the couch right now and you're like well what do i start what do i do well you know tomorrow if you're fit enough like go run you know set a goal hey i'm gonna run a mile i'm gonna run a mile monday through friday yeah you know and like like set a goal and here's what happens monday you run a mile Tuesday you run a mile Wednesday you wake up and you're like uh i'm sore i don't want to do this anymore and then you quit right

right what do you do the next day because what you do the next day defines who you really want to Yeah. And you have to be okay with that failure because what you do the next day, if you want to, if you want to sit in chairs like this, the people that are here, guess what, they woke up the next day and they started over. Yeah. And then you start on Thursday. All right, I'm going to go Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

I'm going to run a mile. And then, you know, next up, the last time you got two days, next up, you're going to get four. Yeah. And you're going to fail again. And that's okay. Yeah. You know, you'll get it. Just you have.

have to be okay with failing and and and that's it like people why don't you start well because it's hard and and and and i might i might not be able to do it yeah well and you know i noticed too like you're you're very present also like um you're not somewhere else when you're doing these things i'm i'll never forget we had just left the 93.5 mile aid station um and my son was in really pretty good shape but I pulled up next to him and I was I got about a mile in with him and um my mind was like wandering around somewhere else and you pulled up right behind Cole and I and you put your hand on our back and started running with us and you're like hey guys never forget that this is um this is that there will never be a first time um for you to be in this in this situation this is the last time

that it will be the first time so just be present just take this all in because this is an amazing moment you know you'll wish that you were right back here yeah at some point you sort of just and then you backed off and it was just such a cool moment for cole and i because i've been in that situation with cole before you know in Antarctica and when he did the great world race and there's nothing to me like no place i'd rather be than in one of those situations with one of one of my kids and i was like you know what he's so right this is this is the last time that it will ever be the first time yeah you've run a hundred miles and Vegas.

And in my mind just instantly cleared. And I was like, I'm just not going to do anything, but be present right in this moment. And what was so cool was the sun was starting to rise. And that sun was like caffeine for these guys. I saw the mood change. Even you, even you, because you came up, you're like, the sun's up, it's caffeine.

Yeah, dude. And like, yeah. Because it was so cold and so dark. And it just sucked for them, not for me. And I look over and I could. see the sphere and they had the sphere that was like a like a sunrise. I've never seen that before. And it was just that that cold, bright morning. And at that moment, I was like, these guys are actually all going to finish it. And you could feel like the energy of the group starting to

pick up a little bit. And so thank you for that, by the way, because it was like that, I needed that reframing of, of that moment. Just so I could be present. I think a lot of times we just go through life and we never stopped to realize it's not the destination it's the journey yes yeah like you want to enjoy the journey and that's the biggest thing is like even downstairs this morning right what were the boys talking about all of the painful times yeah you know like like they're like oh the finish line right because that's probably about damn near the only good time that they had yeah but but they're just they're talking about those horrible painful moments cave yeah i remember um you know some of them couldn't even move their hips they were doing this like

side wobble and I didn't know you know exactly what I'm talking about it's like they had braces on their legs and couldn't bend their knees or their hips and they were doing this sort of weird because they weren't they weren't supposed to do that yeah you know they trained for 71 days what are the top three reasons why I prefer a vertical cold plunge versus a laydown tub well I've used both when you're in a vertical position your body naturally regulates your breathing better so if you're holding on to the sides and you're in a vertical position you can just focus on your breathwork and you can stay calm. A lot of people feel more calm when they're in a vertical position than when they're laying down in the water and think they might slip under the water.

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So click the link below and you can order yours today. Make sure you get the ultimate human version. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human podcast. So how do you deal with the mental side of ultra-endurance racing? I mean, what percentage of it is actually mental versus physical? You know, it depends on where you're at in the process, right? Like, I would say, honestly, at this point with me, I would say 95% of it is all mental. Yeah.

And 5% of it is physical. Once you're in shape to run that distance, like, you know, just like you saw, you know, the reason why Cole feels so good today is because he's already done this type of stuff before, the seven marathons in seven days. His body is already like, oh, I remember this, you know. So once that you kind of build that base, it's all here. And I even told, you know, right at the very beginning, even after looking at those guys, I told, I don't know, somebody, Amanda, I was like, if Cole was doing this on his own,

he would go under 20 hours. Yeah. Like, you know, he's just, Cole was probably number. I'd call it one, Kyle at two, Brad at three. And, you know, the rest of them, that was actually pretty much how it was. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly that. And, yeah, but, you know, once you get there, It's all mental.

Just like I said earlier, I truly believe anyone can move that distance if you are a fit human, but not everybody can do that. And that's what sets people apart. Yeah, when we were on the Great World Race, we were six marathons in,

and Cole had gotten a really bad stomach bug on the flight from Istanbul to Cartagena. I mean, just thrown up, diarrhea, probably lost four or five pounds on the flight. He was still sick as a dog. He was fully fasted, had no fluids. Oh, boy. And I remember telling my, telling Max, the head of our production team,

who went with us before the race, I was like, there's no chance. He's finishing this marathon. And Cartagena was so hot. And it was such a hot, humid, sunny, long, unforgiving course. And like, just the dehydration alone is going to, he's going to DNF it. I actually ended up running the entire marathon. And I'd never run a marathon. And I didn't train at all.

But I ended up doing that just because I was so worried about my son. And he just went to this place. He locked in because he was in the pain cave from like mile six. Just so dehydrated. And every two and a half miles are these restation. And it's Cartagena, right? It's like third world country. So the restations were like third world restations.

They just basically had a porta potty and a little table with some bananas. And he would go into the... porta potty and he'd throw up and I could hear him he had diarrhea he would sit on the little porta potty toilet and then throw up into the urinal and then he would get back out and start running again and I was at the end of the race I was filling little um bottle caps full of coconut water and he would sip on a bottle cap while he was running it was like the only nutrition he could take and uh to this day I don't know where he got the fortitude to go through that because I uh you know my level of concern for for him was like at a 10 out of 10.

Especially when you're in a third world country. Yeah. And you're like we don't have a lot of access as a medical facility. Yeah. And I'll never forget. Like I start to get a little delirious. Like I was all full of vigor at the, you know, at the start line, I pull up next to Cole. And I'm like, listen, if you don't give up on this race, I won't give up on you.

You know, I'm going to stay with you this whole race. And then like, mile 18, I was like, you want to throw in a towel, dude. I'm all in. I mean, there's a lot of quitters in this world. Yeah. Yeah. The quitting's not as bad as much as hard. People quit all the time.

People quit all the time. Thomas Edison quit 35,000 times. And then in the light bulb. I didn't say it. And then I would start to get like sentimental. And I was like, because I was half delirious. And I was like,

you know what, Cole? It's no place I'd rather be than right here with you right now. Someday we're going to wish we were right back here. And he looks at me. He goes, Dad, shut the fuck up.

Yeah. I was like, pull a letter. Yeah. Because he was just in that. Yeah. Yeah. He apologized to me after me.

Oh, no, for sure. I give Amanda that same thing all the time. weren't she's just, because that's it, that's when you're in there. Yeah, you know, when you're in there, and it's just like you're trying to battle yourself and you just can't have anything from the outside world come in.

Yeah, yeah. So I think that's the big takeaway from these. It's such a metaphor for life. And, you know, if you're sitting and listening to this podcast, you're like, I'm never going to run 100 miles. And maybe you never will. Yeah, it's not about that. But it's not about that.

It's literally about accomplishing something that you never, ever thought you could. But every single one of those guys broke down in tears at the end of the, you just saw every emotion. Even as we were coming up to the finish line. Brad? Brad just lost it. Brad was going through it. He was, man.

And I don't think most people never find that place in themselves. And it's such a beautiful thing. Yeah. You know? And it's not just the pain. It's that overwhelming sense of accomplishing something really, really hard. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, and that's, you know, I've heard that, you know, I said that after Texas where I was like, I hope, I hope that anyone out there in an Instagram store is like, anyone out there can feel this type of happiness within my body. Amen. Like it is the most incredible thing in the world. It's not about, just like we said, it's not about running. Yeah. You know, it's not even about fitness. Yeah. Like, you know, if you changing your life looks like you're scared to just leave your job and go to a new one.

like that and then oh no like what happens if i don't like that one then find another one yeah then find another one then find another one that's the same thing is run one more mile one more mile you know like that's you have to figure out where you can apply you know this type of like like you can't be afraid to fail yeah it doesn't need to be fitness yeah so what's what's next for you like what's what's what's your next big bold audacious goal yeah um july uh the four With the July. This year? Yeah.

Yeah. We're, yeah, I haven't announced this yet at all. It's not a, it, it's, drop it,

drop it. Hold back. All right, this is a, this is 90% confirmed. Okay. All right. So that's why I haven't really dropped yet.

We'll keep it between you, me, and 20 million people that watch the people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm going to run 250 miles

from Times Square to the front lawn of the White House on the 4th of July. And my goal is one of our Iowa National Guard units was deployed in Syria and two of our boys were killed about a month ago. You probably saw that. I did see that. That was an Iowa National Guard? Yes.

That was a wow. Yeah. And my goal is to get a hold of them and get their deployment flag. And I want to carry their deployment flag to the White House in honor of them while raising money for a veterans charity. That's so cool. So that's, that's my, that's my goal this year. It'll be part of the White House. So, you know, the 200, you know, this is our, this is America's 250th birthday.

Yeah. This year. So, happy birthday. Yeah. So, you know, 250 miles for 250th birthday. And then, you know, hopefully I can get a hold of that deployment flag and, you know, carry. I'm sure the families will do that for you. Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah, I'm, I'm excited about that. And, you know, there's some, there's, there's, there's some partners involved. I'm just going to leave that. I'm going to leave them out of it for now. Yeah. Yeah. very excited to do that and then you know the next one is getting married I guess

got a yeah got a got a beautiful fiancee right off camera bruised up from the fall that she took on the side of the road I was falling her and I saw her eat it out the side of the road but she bounced right back up yeah and so getting married the accomplishments of skull that's that is phenomenal also put in a shameless plug for you know jelly um and your run club, which is now one of the biggest run clubs. Yeah, on Strava, yeah, the Losers Run Club. Yes, we have a big, large Strava group, a Facebook group. Yeah.

Yeah, so we're going to try to break the Guinness Book of World's record on April 19th in Vegas with Dana White. Yesterday, I was in Dana's office, and I got him to commit to running the 5Ks. Like, I haven't run a mile in 15 years. That's crazy. When I think of Dana White, I'm like, yo, like that, like, that's wild. Yeah, that's wild. And I know Dana, because Dana's one of those guys. If he, he's either kind of all in or all out.

Like when I first started working with him and he was like, I'll do whatever you say for 10 weeks. I can do anything for 10 weeks. And then six weeks in, he was like, I'm never giving this up. But he committed. And so I brought his assistant in. I brought his right hand Elliott in. I got his many witnesses. Uh-huh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I took a video, sent a jelly roll. And I was like, Jelly, Dana's in. So he's going to run it. And the whole idea is not the set of land speed record, but just to inspire. inspire a lot of people. Yeah, for sure. We want to carry the weight that jelly lost over that, you know, over that 5K.

Yeah. That just show people that it's just like what you've overcome, what he's overcome, and just inspire people to maybe choose movement and exercise as an outlet. Yeah. Rather than drugs or alcohol or or just isolation. And what I find that happens every time I'm around one of these groups, like the Great World Race or the, 100 miles that you guys just did,

the unity, the community that comes out of accomplishing something like that is absolutely palpable. Like you guys love each other. Like you guys, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I told Kyle, I said,

yo, like after this run, yeah. Like, like you... The six of you will have a bond that is different than any other bond you have. Oh, you guys think that your friends now, like you will, like, these will be the greatest friends

that you have for the rest of your life. Yeah. Because you suffered together. Yeah. That's the type of camaraderie that you see in the military. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. And that's why. I've interviewed a lot of seals. Yeah. Yeah. DJ Shipley and, you know, Sean Ryan, other guys that like talk about how that, that, that, that, you know, that pain is a unifier. Yes.

You know, that struggle is a unifier. Yeah. Because when you're, you know, and that's something to the audience as well, you know, like, like, if you want to get into, you know, fitness, have someone, have someone with you. You know, if you're just trying to get off the couch, call up one of your friends. Maybe they're just waiting for you to call. Yeah.

And because. Maybe they. need the same thing too. Yeah, yeah, because when you are doing something and you're suffering, when you know that the person next to you is suffering, it changes everything. Because then you can, you know, in your own head, you're like, well, you know, if I'm suffering, if Gary's suffering next to me, then, you know, if he's doing it, then I can do it. Yeah. So, yeah. So the last thing I want to touch on is, is you talked about suffering some depression after your Texas race. Yeah. And, like post-race depression, post-accomplishment depression, whatever you want to call it.

How did you grapple with that? Because now you accomplished this insanely bold, audacious goal. And you fell into depression. And I've had a lot of athletes talk about that that I know, including like John Jones and Michael Chandler. You know, they've always talked about how your identity becomes this iconic figure. DJ Dillishaw talked about the same thing, you know, three-time UFC champion. And then you're no longer a UFC champion. And like your accomplishments are yesterday's accomplishments.

And now you find yourself in this really strange identity crisis. Like, well, who am I now? What's next? Do I have to keep doing this to get validation? And how did you crawl out of that? Yeah. Well, you know, I want to be completely transnational. parent right off the bat is that, you know, the depression was, you know, imagine, imagine going

for 17 days and having people tell you all day long, you're the greatest, you're so good. Like, you're the best. You're inspiring me. No, other people couldn't do this. You're the go. Like, you know, and then, and then unfortunately when that ends, whether it's running or, you know, carrying a, you know, UFC World Title or anything like that, when it ends, no one cares. Right.

They don't. Like, you know, and like, yeah, okay, maybe you have fans out there that care. Yeah, sure. But like the noise stops. Mm-hmm. And when you fade from the UFC, right? Like, if you're not fighting. Somebody else is.

Somebody else is. The world just always continues to move on. Yeah. And so what I found is, you know, just like what you said is it's identity. You know, I don't like Matt Johnson, the ultra runner. you know the the Matt Johnson underscore underscore the Instagram guy right like that's that's not who I want to be right I want to be Matthew like I want to be me yeah and you know what does that mean and you know for me it's like even this year right like for me it was it was so big I told Amanda after the

Texas run you know because I did Texas in 24 I did east to west I just did it this October north to south okay and so I'm the only man to cross Texas both ways wow yeah so fast man to do it, fastest man to do it both ways and the only man to do it both ways. Wow, that's cool. But I told her, I was like, I don't want to do anything next year. Like, I don't, I don't want to do this again. I don't want to, like, I don't. I don't think I will ever do a 20-day event ever again.

Yeah. It's just too hard on the body. Yeah. And, but I told her, I'm like, that's when I became, you know, and then I had the opportunity with Kyle in November, you know, October November or, yeah, October to, become Matt Johnson coach Matt. Yeah. You know, so that it's like, okay, like now I'm coached Matt.

Like now I have something. So then it was November, December, January, I was wearing the coaching hat. And I'm just training. You know, I'm just training on my own. I'm running 50 miles a week. I'm lifting in the gym, you know. But like, I know that like this big event yesterday is coming. And, you know, so it's just, it's not putting your identity.

Yeah. You have to. Yeah, so it doesn't become who you are. So I wind down all of my podcasts. I can't wait to hear your answer here by asking my guests the same question. There's no right or wrong answer to this question. But what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human? That's easy.

To me, like being the ultimate human is is helping others. Like I believe that we are put on this earth to, you know, to not just be for us, but to be for others. I get my most fulfillment when I am helping others. I never had anyone there for me. I never had a dad there for me. I never had anyone telling me how to run, how to lift. Like I had to go to the gym and just watch people doing, you know, tricep, you know, tricep pushdowns. And I'm like, okay, like, I'm going to copy that, right?

Right. I never had anyone there for me. Like, if you know something, share it with somebody. Be there for somebody. And that, like, to me, like, that is the ultimate human. Like, just showing, just showing love to others. It's just, like, that is, to me. That's amazing, man.

That's it. It's helping. I got to say like John Maxwell, one of the greatest success authors of all time. He talks about the difference between living a life of significance and living a life of service and like being in service to other people and like how much more fulfilling it is. Brother, mad respect for you, man. Thank you for getting my son 100 miles through the desert safely. Appreciate you. We're going to follow your story. Absolutely. How does my audience find you if they want to know more about you? Yeah. Instagram, you know, I have the Instagram page at Matt Johnson. Google Matt Johnson Runner.

You'll find all the crazy stuff. And then YouTube. Yeah, on the YouTube, you know, we're trying to, I'm trying to, one of my goals this year is I want to hammer down on the YouTube, just doing cool stuff and documenting. inspirational stuff. You know, I built the Instagram following through all the funny, you know, BS, but like now, like I want to really show people like the life I'm living.

Yeah. And, you know, hopefully they can figure out how to, you know, get there for themselves as well. Sounds great, man. Matt, I hope you come back on the ultimate. Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much for having me. And until next time, that's just science. You know,