The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka - 33. How to Turn Obstacles Into Superpowers and Level Up Your Life with Alvaro Nuñez Alfaro and Gary Brecka

Starting point is 00:00:00 The toughest physical race on the surface of the earth. The race is six marathons in six days across the Sahara Desert. When you embark on a physical challenge of this magnitude, you want to do it with a purpose that is bigger than yourself. You've seen them jump out of airplanes, cross the desert, compete in some of the toughest human challenges on the surface of the earth. I'll tell you something, if you don't push yourself to do things that you're uncomfortable with, you're not going to find out what your true limits are.

Starting point is 00:00:27 I always like to look at obstacles as an opportunity for growth. I was carrying a plate. When you put that weight on top of it, it helped and inspired people that were going through depression to share their story. I was about to give up. I dropped the backpack to the ground. I saw that weight, the weight of depression. This is my why. And the names of all the people that I was carrying that weight came into my mind. I was no longer thinking about finishing the race. I was thinking and believing that I could win the race. There's a bigger purpose in here than myself. For you, what's is life's journey going to take you? Life begins on the other side of fear.

Starting point is 00:01:22 Hey guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist Gary Brekka, where we go down the road, everything anti-aging, longevity, biohacking, and everything in between. As you know, I try to bring special guests onto the podcast that have made some kind of impact in their life and the life of others, and it's teaching people how to go from being average to being superhumans, being the most ultimate human version of yourself. Today's guest, I am very proud to call a personal close friend for a number of years. He is an absolute icon in the sports world. He's completed the toughest race on the surface of the earth in the Sahara Desert. We're going to get into that in a moment. But before we even start, I got to tell you, take out a pen, write this down.

Starting point is 00:02:05 He wrote a book called Level Up. Alvaro Nunez, when he's not jumping out of helicopters, when he's not skydiving or flying helicopters, hopefully they don't jump out of them, when he's not skydiving, when he's not flying helicopters, when he's not challenging the world and the toughest races on the surface of the earth or becoming the most ultimate version of himself. He's helping other people level up. And he wrote a book called Level Up about how to turn your negative energy

Starting point is 00:02:34 into a positive superpower. And we're gonna dive into the details today. Alvaro Nunez, welcome to the podcast, man. This has been a long time in the making, man. Oh my God, I'm excited. I'm excited too, because the world needs to hear your message. And you and I got started years ago when you were really embarking on this journey

Starting point is 00:02:57 of self-exploration and pushing yourself to the absolute limits of human performance. I'll never forget the day that I saw you standing on top of an airplane wing. It was like a biplane or something in a tuxedo holding up a copy of your book. And I was like, this guy's going to be my best friend. That was a good one. And if you followed him on Instagram, you've seen him jump out of airplanes. You've seen him cross the desert. You've seen him compete in some of the toughest human challenges on the surface of the earth. And he's been a client of mine.

Starting point is 00:03:35 He's a superhuman client of mine. You know, the clinical team has done blood work and gene testing on him to help tune him in. And I just couldn't be happier to have you on the podcast today. Look, it's such a pleasure to be here. So thank you for having me. Yeah. One of the things I want to dig into is you talk about the importance of self-awareness, and you also talk about turning your obstacles into superpowers. Tell me a little bit about what you mean by turning your obstacles into superpowers. And then I want to get into some of the specific things that you've done to just take yourself to levels that most human beings will never experience. Right. I think that everybody's

Starting point is 00:04:16 facing some obstacles at some point in their lives, right? And that helps to either put yourself into the mindset of, okay, I want to take this as an opportunity to grow, or some people get derailed and they use it as an excuse. So I always like to look at obstacles as an opportunity for growth. It's about being in a state of being uncomfortable, and that's where growth exists. You always say that. You either grow or you die.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Right. You cannot grow in a comfortable environment. So if you're pushing towards doing something big in life, you're gonna be encountering those obstacles. That's just part of life. And instead of running away from those, it's about walking that journey of obstacles and turning those into your superpower.

Starting point is 00:04:57 Yeah, you know, I coined a phrase that aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort. And I find that it's very true because we're aging faster as a society because we seek comfort. And so what you're saying is when you have obstacles, we usually retreat from those because it's uncomfortable to push through those.

Starting point is 00:05:18 And when you decided that you were going to encounter, like go pursue some of these superhuman feats, I actually want to talk about one of them specifically. It's considered the toughest race in the world, the Sahara Desert race. Give me some details on that race. I mean, where does it happen? What does it entail?

Starting point is 00:05:37 How did you qualify to even run this race? Look, first of all, when you're going to embark on doing a big challenge in life, you want to make sure that there is a purpose bigger than yourself behind it. I'm not a professional athlete. I was not somebody that was born a runner, but I was pushing myself towards what are those limits that are perceived by society and even myself that I know I can push through. And we embark on this journey together, right? On getting myself to higher energy levels, because as an individual that is doing all these sorts of things,

Starting point is 00:06:10 whether it's, you know, selling real estate, traveling the world, skydiving, flying helicopters, climbing mountains, whatever you mentioned earlier on, it requires a lot of energy. And before I even decided to start this race, I wanted to make sure that my health was on check because you wanna obviously take in consideration that it's your life what we're talking about. We're not talking about just doing a great race

Starting point is 00:06:33 and that's it. You wanna maintain high energy levels that can help you perform in that race and everything else that you're doing. And one of the things that I remember specifically before signing up for this race is where do I currently stand? What's my baseline health wise and how can I raise that? And that's when we started to go into that blood test.

Starting point is 00:06:52 We started to go more in depth on the superhuman protocol and some of the things that really elevated that baseline to a degree that not just my health got better, but my mind. I felt that all of a sudden, that limit that I had of things that I was able to do, all of a sudden, we're not here, but here. And that gives you the power to wanna embark on new challenges, including the one in the Sahara Desert, which we'll talk about. Yeah, I remember when we first met each other

Starting point is 00:07:21 and you came to my unit and we started talking about, okay, I'll take you on as a client um we're gonna build you from the superhuman you are into this absolute ultimate human and you were very disciplined you're willing to do anything um clinical team looked at your bloods um we made some changes in the bloods vitamin d3 some b12 levels some support for testosterone things like like DHEA. And then we looked at your genes and we did some supplementation for your gene testing. And I'll never forget about 10, 12 days after you started, you came over and I put you through that superhuman protocol.

Starting point is 00:07:58 And we did some magnetism, oxygen, light, you got out of the red light therapy. And then the next day, you sent me a track of a run that you did, he went out and ran a marathon the next day, just by himself. And he sent me the loop that he did. And I was like, all right, well, that works. I'll tell you something, if you don't push yourself to do things that you're uncomfortable with,

Starting point is 00:08:21 you're not gonna find out what your true limits are. And most of the limits that we currently have as a society are laying on our mind. So if you're able to put the right knowledge and the right techniques to help you and your body to be more optimal, then your mind is going to start raising that bar of limitations. So when we were doing this whole superhuman protocol, I all of a sudden felt better physically, but that also had a huge impact on my mind. And that's what made me push a little bit forward that day and do that marathon and eventually got a routine because everything in life, it's about being disciplined on things that are good for you. And for me, a lot of people

Starting point is 00:09:01 always say, how in the world can you do a marathon every Monday? Because I call it Marathon Mondays. Yeah, you did. You did a marathon every Monday. Yes, and it's not about what you do, it's about how you recover. And those routines of recovery are as equally as important as the training that you do. And the same thing goes along with your supplementation,

Starting point is 00:09:21 the way that you're taking the right foods, the right water intake. So the things that you're taking the right foods, the right water intake. So the things that we're talking about in here is not so much about what is the challenge that you're taking on, but the process on how you get to that challenge. I remember, and some of the changes were simple. I had you start, switch to hydrogen water, start using red light therapy on a regular basis, start taking perfect aminos uh you know full full spectrum amino acids simple things that the body just needs to to go to the next level that we we overlook you know we don't we don't really filter our environment before it gets to our body we let our bodies be

Starting point is 00:09:56 the filter um but i remember when you were preparing for this this big race um and you'd already done some big things you jumped out of a lot of airplanes you'd run several mar. And you'd already done some big things. You jumped out of a lot of airplanes. You'd run several marathons. You'd done the triathlon, the Ironman triathlon. You'd climbed some mountains. I remember getting videos of you in the tents. But, you know, somebody said to me one time, I think it was John Maxwell, and it was one of my favorite quotes of all time.

Starting point is 00:10:23 And I actually reflect on it a lot. And he said, when the purpose is greater than the problem, the problem shrinks. And so when you were going and preparing for the toughest physical race on the surface of the earth, I remember that you shared your purpose with me. And in the back of my mind, I was like, this guy is gonna finish this race. And your purpose had to do with carrying the weight of depression. So tell me a little bit about how'd that purpose come about.

Starting point is 00:10:56 Cause you're certainly not a depressed person. Unless it's a secret brother, you're like the happiest dude I've ever met. But so many people are affected by that um and they're on you know uh they're they're on antidepressants or ssris and maybe don't see a way out so so why did you choose that as your purpose so as we mentioned earlier on when you embark on a physical challenge of this magnitude you want to do it with a purpose that is bigger than yourself it's not just about how can i push myself to become a better version through this journey but how can i use this as an opportunity to empower and inspire others

Starting point is 00:11:35 and in this particular case i was just going deep into something that was surrounding me which was a lot of people going through depression in fact a lot of my family members and friends that were facing depression are no longer with us so it was a very very difficult situation to be experiencing to see friends that seem to have it all figured out and all the sudden boom they're gone and it's all because of that depression now the reason that most of these situations take place is because they're not speaking up. It's that stigma that they think that people will think of them as less of a person because of whatever they're going through. Especially men.

Starting point is 00:12:15 Especially men. We've almost been taught from birth to not show those feelings and i think that things like opening your mouth and asking for help or getting therapy or talking to a counselor are signs of strength they're not signs of weakness so your life was surrounded by people that you loved and they were going through depression you didn't know how to inspire them so i wanted wanted to do something about it. And that way that they were carrying inside, I wanted to help them carry it and help them not just feel alone in this process of going through the depression. And that's why we started this campaign called the weight of depression, where I will be wearing, carrying that weight on the back. And just talking about

Starting point is 00:13:01 the race is six marathons in six days across the sahara desert it's six marathons in six days across the sahara desert and you need to carry all your food and supplies what do you mean there's no water stations there's some food stations but all the food you need to carry it with yourself all the things that you need from the start to the finish for six days everything is on your backpack i don't know what i'm having for breakfast tomorrow trust me that was one of my biggest things. But the truth is that when you embark on that journey, you want to make sure that, yes,

Starting point is 00:13:31 it's considered the toughest food in the world for a reason because it's self-sufficient race. However, when you put that weight on top of it, I was carrying a plate that said the weight of depression. I remember that. It's one of those things that whenever we started the campaign and got interviewed on TV and different podcasts, it helped and inspired people that were going through depression to share their story. And we started to get hundreds of messages of people with their stories on how they became depressed

Starting point is 00:13:59 and what they were going through. So all those mental struggles that they were carrying inside, they started to share them. So that weight was no longer so heavy on them because they were going through. So all those mental struggles that they were carrying inside, they started to share them. So that weight was no longer so heavy on them because they were now counting on me to carry that weight. So the idea was at the end of the race to bury that weight, bury those struggles in the sand and leave them there. That's amazing. I remember getting the images of you during the race.

Starting point is 00:14:23 You sent some videos out and your feet were bleeding. You had big ulcers that had opened on your ankles. You didn't look particularly good. I was not looking like a superhuman. You definitely looked like, you know, you were staring at the Grim Reaper. And all you referred back to was this weight that you had with you and how proud you were to carry this thing.

Starting point is 00:14:48 And it was like one of those round, 45 pound dumbbell weights. And it said the weight of depression and he had it in his backpack in addition to six days worth of food and your supplies that you needed for this race. And I've never struggled with anything like that. I have so much empathy for people that face that.

Starting point is 00:15:09 You know, I talk about it all the time, but it was inspiring to me. I mean, just seeing that, I was like, shit, this guy is in a tent in the middle of the desert, three marathons into his sixth marathon. And he is so proud to be carrying this extra weight. He's not bitching about it because he knows that there's somebody out there that's suffering and wants to inspire them. It was very inspiring to me. By the way, if you haven't read the book Level Up, this is another

Starting point is 00:15:39 reason to read this book Level Up. I mean, the obstacles that he overcame physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, emotionally, spiritually, just in the service of others is incredible. Hey guys, I think the most important website you may ever go to is theultimatehuman.com. That's theultimatehuman.com because on this website, we can directly interact with one another. You can give me suggestions for podcast guests and topics that you'd like to see me cover. can ask me any question that you'd like more importantly you can sign up for my entirely free newsletter it comes out every single week i write this so i can get the information to the masses on how to live a healthier happier longer chemical free life you can also sign up for

Starting point is 00:16:21 a pre-order of my book and if you'd like to take the genetic test that I talk about all the time, it's available there too. And lastly, you can even see all of the products that I use in my daily life for a chemical-free, healthy living style. A lot of people ask me, you know, what do you use in your daily life, Gary? What do you brush your teeth with and clean your countertops with? Well, it's all there if you'd like to see it. And you can, again, ask me any question that you'd like and get my free newsletter. TheUltimateHuman.com. I promise you that information will help change the trajectory of your life. And now back to The Ultimate Human podcast.

Starting point is 00:16:55 I'll tell you something about this race, though, because this is something that applies to anybody in any condition or any situation. I remember being in that race and as I arrived there, I started to look around and there were all these world-class athletes, some of the best in the field. How many people ran the race? So there's thousand participants around the world and you know, only a few percentage finished. And we're talking about arriving in there and seeing all these different world-class athletes.

Starting point is 00:17:24 Some of them that I was following on social media because I was looking for that inspiration or knowledge that I didn't have at the time. And we talk about the self-talk as something that could be very powerful or very, very negative for you. So I started to have that self-negative talk of thinking, man, am I prepared enough? Am I ready? Am I good enough? And those thoughts started to become the comparison

Starting point is 00:17:48 that we talked about, because comparison is the thief of joy. So I started to compare myself with comparison is the thief of joy. I'm writing that one down. comparison is the thief of joy. And, you know, it was at that time that I started to change the labels of the words once again so i started to be afraid and i said okay no i'm excited and when you start giving power to the words by labeling them the right way then you start building a little bit more of confidence

Starting point is 00:18:16 in what you're doing in life so i remember doing that first marathon crossing the finish line and i was feeling really devastated because I was not expecting those conditions to be as brutal as they were. And on that second day, when I was doing the second marathon, I remember, and this will always stick in my mind forever. I was about to give up. I started to go through the motions, started, as you mentioned, to feel my feet completely destroyed. I started to bleed on my shoulders and on my back because of the weight that I was carrying. I started to cramp on my legs. I felt dehydrated and I got to a point where I got kidney failure. I started to pee blood. All of that, while also seeing one and two and three of the people that I was following on social media that were so good and they were on the

Starting point is 00:19:05 ground sitting on the sand getting the gps tracker and requesting the helicopter to come pick them up because they were dropping out of the race wow so it was right there in that moment that i thought if these individuals cannot continue and i'm in this condition, who am I? And why am I even doing this? And when I asked that question on why am I doing this, I dropped the backpack to the ground and I was gonna also call the helicopter. And it was right at that moment that I saw that weight, the weight of depression.

Starting point is 00:19:40 And as I saw that, I talked to myself, this is my why. And the names of all the people that I was carrying that weight came into my mind. I am covered in goosebumps right now. That is amazing, brother. So I went on, put the backpack on. And for the remaining of the second marathon, I kept repeating the names and the stories of the people that shared that struggles, that weight with me. So I kept on moving forward and moving forward and moving forward and when i finished that second marathon the nurses at the emergency

Starting point is 00:20:11 tent told me that i was not in a condition to continue the race and they were pointing at some of the individuals that were covered with plastic bags and they were you don't want to finish like that we don't recommend you to continue wow and i said to them is you don't want to finish like that. We don't recommend you to continue. Wow. And I said to them is, I don't care. Whatever you guys need to do, I'm going to finish this race. There's a bigger purpose in here than myself. And it was right there where I knew that no matter what, I was going to make it happen. However, and this applies to anybody in life,

Starting point is 00:20:41 I could no longer look at still having to do four marathons because that seemed like a very far out goal. So you had to break it down into smaller, tangible, digestible goals. And for me, it was how can I now get up and then get to the starting line, do one mile, do another mile, and then another mile, and then another another one and then you look back and you're like wow i'm already five miles in i couldn't move a few hours ago and now here we are and that gives you momentum that gives you the confidence to continue moving forward and there is something very powerful that we talked about which is how can you physically improve yourself but mentally

Starting point is 00:21:24 when you put yourself in those situations and you have a strong why behind, you're going to start leveling up to new levels here in your mind. And when you unlock that treasure, you're going to find an inner power to go through anything that life throws at you. So I no longer was feeling physically better. I was actually feeling worse, but my mind was feeling

Starting point is 00:21:44 stronger. And that's what made me continue moving forward. And to the degree where on that fourth day, we had to do a double marathon, running over 20 hours at night through the desert with a compass figuring it out where to go. And the mind was already at that point so strong, so attached to the why, that no matter whatever else was being thrown at me, I knew that I was capable of moving forward and getting that done. So on the last day, on the last marathon, I was no longer thinking about finishing the race.

Starting point is 00:22:18 I was thinking and believing that I could win the race. Wow. So I went on and I took off as one of the first in that last marathon. And I finished among the first in the last day. And that's one of the reasons that I always say, whatever it is that you do in life, attach yourself to a strong why, a purpose that goes beyond yourself. And you'll realize that along with a great preparation physically, once your mind and soul are aligned to it, you're going to be able to do the impossible. Wow, that is really powerful.

Starting point is 00:22:51 And that applies to anyone in just about any area of their life. And, you know, you talk to in the book a lot about the importance of self-awareness. What do you mean by self-awareness? And what are some of the things that people can do to become more self-aware? And how do I turn that into a superpower? You know this more than anybody else, right? You start your day by doing the breath work and the meditation. A lot of people cannot even sit on their own thoughts. There was a recent study that was saying that 65% of men and 25% of women would rather get an electric shock than to be on their thoughts for 15 to 30 minutes.

Starting point is 00:23:32 You mean alone with their own thoughts for 15 to 30 minutes. And I find that very disturbing, but it's true, right? And I went into this journey of self awareness. In fact, I just recently did the 10 day silent retreat. I was for 10 days just in silence, meditating with over 12 hours a day. And this is one of the reasons that I believe that anybody that wants to become more aware is going to be able to find so much more joy and happiness and fulfillment in life. But we live in a very fast paced environment. So we're always doing things, but we're not taking the fast-paced environment so we're always doing things but we're not taking the time to be with our own thoughts and that i believe is one of your

Starting point is 00:24:10 superpowers for anything in life to be with your own thoughts so by being more self-aware you mean actually just listening to that inner voice i think that self-awareness is one of the critical aspects in life to do anything really, because the moment that you are aware of what is going on in your life with yourself, you can tune in into how you really are and therefore on your environment. And I think that there is a word that not a lot of people talk about or they even understand what it is, is equanimity. To remain equanimity, to remain equanimous, to not add more into your thoughts, remain equanimity. Equanimity. Equanimity, to remain equanimous, to not add more into your thoughts,

Starting point is 00:24:47 remain equanimous. And I think that is one of the things that as you remain self-aware, can create a powerful state of mind. Wow. You also talk about reframing negative thoughts. And I think one of the most destructive things to anyone on a journey in life is when they begin to adopt the negative

Starting point is 00:25:12 self-image of themselves I remember reading an article about Oprah Winfrey and and how she credited this this philosopher Gary Zukav I think was his name with getting her out of trash talk television, helping her lose weight. And when they asked him how he got her to lose weight, he said, I had her stop seeing herself as a fat person. And so reframing those images. So tell me a little bit about what you mean by reframing negative thoughts and how does somebody who's listening to this podcast engage in a practice where they can, number one, become more self-aware and number two, how they can you are at the moment. Take some time every single day, especially in the morning, because that's when you can clear a little bit more of your time for yourself, to be present. And when you're present, you will start observing.

Starting point is 00:26:13 The key here is to observe. Observe your sensations, your feelings, write them down, start journaling. But put things out there that you understand that this is where I am here. How can I become better? And in order for you to reframe those negative thoughts or those negative ideas that come through your head into positives, it's very important to understand that you're not alone in this journey.

Starting point is 00:26:34 It's about building a community of people that also wanna level up in their lives, that also wanna help you improve in whatever aspect you have. So a lot of people talk about their vision, which is very energizing i always have a morning routine where i wake up by being grateful first of all that positions yourself in a mindset of gratefulness and that kind of contrast any negative thoughts

Starting point is 00:26:57 you have a lot of people try to just right away jump into social media and then they start looking through all the emotions of the weird things that the world is trying to put you on. Right. But if you start by, you know, keeping your phone on airplane mode and just three things you're grateful for, then right away, jump into your vision, go through your vision board. I love to do a movie scene where I watch a movie of all the different things that represent that vision. And I listened to my voice narrating that movie so i'm really connected to everything that i'm envisioning for my life and then i have a why that is attached to it so right after that i go through the why of why i'm doing what i'm doing then i go through my values i make sure that everything that i envision doing and the reason behind of doing them they're

Starting point is 00:27:41 also aligned with all my values then i make sure that I go through my wheel of life, all the different areas of my life. So I know that I'm aligned. Then I go through the list of habits and routines that I want to make sure that I keep on pounding every day. So I think that a morning routine can supercharge yourself. And again, it's not that it's a morning routine that works for everybody. You need to make adjustments, try things. But if you put your mindset into, okay okay i want to supercharge my day by starting with this morning routine that's going to supercharge your life yeah that is so that is so powerful and now you're getting ready to uh go to the next level that's the mindset brother we love a lot People watching this are like, man, the hell with that.

Starting point is 00:28:34 But, you know, you're getting ready to go to the next level and do what sounds to me to be even tougher than the previous race that you did. I have no intention of doing either of them, so I won't know. Not yet, maybe. I mean, maybe. Come on, this is the ultimate humor. This is what we do. I feel pretty good. Come on, this is the ultimate humor. This is what we do. I feel pretty good. You have all the fun stuff in your place.

Starting point is 00:28:50 Every time I come here, I feel teased. You're always showing me these new things that you got in here. And I'm like, man, this is incredible. You can just literally do anything you want. I do love to just walk around and biohack myself in my place. Maybe I'll do a podcast on all the biohacking stuff that I've got going on in my in my condo but um because it really does give me a lot of energy i mean i i love it we talked about it before the podcast you're like how have you grown so much and i'm like i just don't feel like i work a day in my life you know yeah i feel like i found something i would do for free and i somehow monetized it

Starting point is 00:29:21 was really blessed enough to monetize it but you're getting ready to go to the next level and do um a race that is seven marathons on seven continents in seven days first of all just just the travel logistics of that i want i want to dig into that you know how do you get to seven continents in seven days um and um i did a big social media post. I was so proud of myself last month because I did 11 cities in nine days. But most of them were on the same continent. And I slept a lot in between. So tell me about this race, the seven continents, seven marathons, seven days. Yes, that's an exciting challenge that is going to be happening this year and in october we're going to have in fact a few other participants joining us some of them include

Starting point is 00:30:12 ryan hall which is one of the best runners in the u.s and the whole idea is to do something that again takes yourself to that level up mindset what's next right so for logistics just so you understand we're going to start in antarctica with antarctica well we'll meet in cape town and then we'll go from there with a private jet to antarctica we'll start the race in antarctica do the race the first marathon there then we're going to the next continent which is africa in africa we're going to do you know cape town then we go to australia australia we go to asia Cape Town. Then we go to Australia. Australia, we go to Asia, Asia, Europe, Europe. We go to South America. In South America, we come to North America,

Starting point is 00:30:50 which we'll finish in Miami. No, it's going to finish here. Oh, buddy, I am definitely going to be at the finish line for that one. Hey, guys, if you've been watching the Ultimate Human Podcast for any length of time, you know that one thing I do not do is push products I do not just let any advertiser into this space because I believe that the products that appear on the ultimate human podcast should be things that I use every day in my life to improve my own physiology one of them is something called the echo go plus the echo go plus is a hydrogen water generator that you can take on the go. You essentially take the top off of this bottle, you pour bottled water in this, and repeatedly it will make high part per million

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Starting point is 00:32:18 And now back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. Different environments, different altitudes, seriously different climates. When are you sleeping? You're sleeping between. So you try to eat in the plane, sleep in the plane, get as much recovery as you can. But as you mentioned, it's not so much about yes, seven marathons in seven days. That's already a thing, but it's about the seven continents that makes the time

Starting point is 00:32:41 changes, the, what you mentioned, all the logistics and i will say temperature altitude levels everything so your body needs to adjust to all those conditions within a frame of seven days so wow it is it is very interesting because again this challenge on its own is brutal it's called the great war race we're gonna have actually a friend of mine coming in to do a great documentary that we're going to have on a big network. So it's going to be all documented. And the idea is with the weight of depression, we did a campaign that was very powerful. So for this, I'm also coming up with a strong campaign that we're going to be announcing soon so that also more people will come along this journey and make a huge impact in the world. So I was going to ask you that, you know, you've got to attach yourself to a new why, right?

Starting point is 00:33:29 And you haven't announced it yet, so I won't make you announce it here. But you've attached yourself to a new why. And now are you focused on this new obstacle, this new problem and saying that this is going to be my inspiration to this race because I tend to agree with you. I mean pushing yourself to certain physical limits has a lot to do with mental toughness. Pushing yourself to extreme physical limits has a lot to do with whether or not the purpose is bigger than your problem. So can you talk about this new why? Yeah, no, good. I want to hear it because it's got to be a good one.

Starting point is 00:34:12 I haven't talked about it at all anywhere. I mean, you're the first person that I'm actually getting a little bit more in depth with this. But you know, I love a quote by Oprah Winfrey that says, the biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams. And for me, I think that's a very powerful quote because it really represents what life is about. And I always love to say that life begins on the other side of fear. So any challenge that you're taking, it needs to be on that side of fear, right? And I believe that sometimes we don't want to cross that line. We are too comfortable so yes this challenge is something that i'm afraid of doing to a degree but that's where life really

Starting point is 00:34:52 begins and you need to attach a why that is going to help you walk through that journey because if you're afraid of doing something and you do it regardless but there's not a why attached to it then eventually you might quit because this is not something that is like right now, oh, I want to jump out of a plane. I don't have like really anything to think about. I just jump. That's it. But to prepare yourself for a race of this magnitude, it's a lot of time, effort, consistency. And you want to make sure that you always have that constant reminder on why you're

Starting point is 00:35:20 doing it. Right? Right now we live in a society where there is so much hate going on there is so much negativity and and all these wars going on and i feel like we are less united than ever right we can be connected through social media but we are less connected than ever so we want to make sure that we're unifying the world by bringing together all the different people that are movers and shakers for each continent and bring them together within this project to raise a voice, raise awareness, to bring the world together, to dream

Starting point is 00:35:58 bigger, to go after their goals. And we're going to be carrying a huge flag that represents all the different countries in the world. We're going to have every single person that has a huge name and not to sign that flag. We're going to carry all the names, all the dreams around the world and understand that we are all one. And no matter where you were born, where your religion is, what is going on, we are all part of this world as one. yeah we want to make sure that we unify this by doing this race man that's a beautiful message um it's funny i get a lot of uh flack on social media sometimes i'll do a post with dana white and people go i can't believe you work with him he's an atheist i'll do a post with the grand cardone i can't believe you work with him he's a

Starting point is 00:36:39 scientologist i do a post with you know stephen seagal and they're like i can't believe you work with him he's a he's a putin supporter and can't believe you work with him. He's a Putin supporter. And I responded one day and said, I just see a human being. At the end of the day, I just see a human being and not a political affiliation or religious affiliation or sexual orientation. I mean, we can find so many ways to grow apart,

Starting point is 00:37:06 but I love that this mission is to like pull people together. So I imagine that there's racers from all nationalities going on all over the world. We're going to have a whole team of top influencer celebrities also to help us bring the awareness everywhere we're going. We're going to be meeting with local media everywhere. We're going to have a whole infrastructure with a strong message behind that is going to unify the world. That's so awesome. You know, you also talk about the importance of strong habits and goal setting. And life has a tendency to get in the way of developing good habits. And I know how I tackle those, but I'm just interested to hear your take on how do you develop strong habits

Starting point is 00:37:49 and how do you set a goal? Because I find that sometimes people set a goal out in the lofty, not so distant future, because it's not in their face, they don't do something for it every single day. So how do, if you're listening to this podcast and you have a dream you know to build a company to change humanity to whatever your dream is um to complete a race um and or to launch a product how do i go from that being an idea to setting the habits in place

Starting point is 00:38:21 that i accomplish that goal it's a great question and a lot of people think too much long term or too short term it's not about thinking long or short it's about understanding where you are today is that self-awareness that we talked about earlier on if you're self-aware of where you stand today what are your triggers and triggers could be a good trigger or a negative trigger i know for a fact that if I wake up in the morning, and I open my phone, and I go on social media, that triggers already a whole different set of habits. Now, if I stand up, I go to the couch, I know the couch triggers me to also do other things. So however, if I know that I'm going to this

Starting point is 00:39:00 particular area of the kitchen, it triggers me to do something positive. So is the habit stacking. You need to find the triggers. Habit stacking. I'm stealing that one too. Go for it. I'm getting a lot of good tidbits out here. Comparison is the thief of joy. Habit stacking. I'm going to trademark that one. I love it. No, it's great. It's one of the most powerful things that you can do because if you already have a habit that you do regardless every day, it could be a good one, right? Then stack on top of it. Because if you're already doing something, it's much easier to do something even better

Starting point is 00:39:37 right after than to try to reconstruct your whole habit structure. And then the things that you're doing that are negative don't go so much to that go to the source and that's the trigger why did you end up doing that right so for example i think that we go back to the same thing if you are looking towards reaching this big dream break it down break it down break it down like we talked to the marathon the sables break it down into your you know yearly the marathon, the sables, break it down into your, you know, yearly goals, small quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily, and then to the point where you're doing it as a habit. So I was getting overwhelmed to a certain point where I was putting all these

Starting point is 00:40:16 dreams out there, all these goals. And I'm like, man, I'm going crazy. I remember when I was launching the book, I was like, finishing getting my helicopter license. I was getting like all these different things in real estate. I was coming out with a show. Jumping out of airplanes. I was doing the other Ironman. All at the same time. And I was getting a bit overwhelmed.

Starting point is 00:40:35 And I said, this is not healthy. How can I minimize the stress on my mind and still be able to move forward? And I started to focus on the source of the habits, right? Wow. A lot of people think that in order for them to do a crazy ultra marathon or something, it requires a lot of work and effort. I no longer even think about my training. It's just so stacked into my routines that I just wake up and do it. You know, I don't think about it. So I don't even feel that is a goal. It's just part of the process.

Starting point is 00:41:06 And if you remain consistent to those little habits, then you're gonna build that compound effect and you're gonna be able to do way more than that you overwhelmed yourself by thinking just about the dream itself. Yeah. You know, it's funny. I set my condo up with this little path

Starting point is 00:41:22 that I played this little game with myself and it's, it, it probably sounds really stupid, but, um, I earned my way to the coffee machine in the morning. It's, it's, it's just my little thing. I've never actually shared this with anybody, but, um, yeah, I wake up in the morning and, and my bathroom's right next to the bedroom. So I go in the bathroom and brush my teeth, a splash water on my face. And then as I go through the next room, my cold plunges right there. And, um, And then as I go through the next room, my cold plunge is right there. And the last thing I feel like doing is getting in a cold plunge right out of bed.

Starting point is 00:41:51 But I use the David Goggins method, like don't negotiate with yourself, just solve it with massive action. I can actually hear, I've never actually met him, but I hear his voice in my ear every morning, like, get in there, you pussy. So, and I get in the cold plunge. And as soon as I get out, I never regretted it.

Starting point is 00:42:09 And you could do the same thing with a cold shower. And I'm like, wow, I've already, I've been up for 10 minutes and I've already done the hardest part of my day. And I dry off, I get on the treadmill for 10, 12 minutes, breathe a little oxygen. Then on the way down the hallway, I have my red light bed. So I stopped there.

Starting point is 00:42:24 And then I know when I get out of the red light bed, I get to walk to the coffee maker and have my coffee. And as stupid as that sounds, it's like, I don't let myself have that little reward until I've completed those habits. And then I'm out on the balcony doing breath work. And it's really served me well. And it's kind of a funny little game because the mornings where I get up and I try to walk out of the bedroom to the kitchen i turn myself back around and i'm like you're taking the wrong path get get in there brush your teeth slash water on your face get in a cold plunge walk on the treadmill this is so awesome it's it's so i love it by the way this is gamifying your totally

Starting point is 00:43:01 gamify it and i think this is amazing it's so funny because as you were talking about it I was just thinking of you doing it literally the path that I mean I'll walk it with you yo it's you know what like if I'm thinking about the way that at least my morning routine is structured it's also like you already have things prepared you know I have the Sunday rituals where you prepare all the meals for the week all your supplements for the week all the meals for the week, all your supplements for the week, all your containers for the smoothies for the week, even like it might sound crazy, but all the books that I'm going to read that week, audio books, when I go for runs, everything is already laid out. Now, one of the things that we didn't mention, and I also have like the clothes even ready for the week, which is kind of crazy. But the reason I'm able to do all of this is because

Starting point is 00:43:42 I make sure that all the goals that came from the top of the dreams to the yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, those weekly goals get reviewed and they start being implemented into the calendar. Because like Tony Robbins said, right, like you can have a goal that is a dream, but the moment that you schedule it is a reality yeah so you want to schedule everything and when i look at your calendar man it's it's all packed up but that's why most of successful individuals reach so much success because it's all scheduled it's packed so if you have goals breaking down into things that are tangible and doable and then put them in your calendar and then boom you go through that motion of doing things it's beautiful so um you wrote the book level up um what was uh the why behind that book what was because i'm i'm writing a book right now i have the utmost of respect for anybody that writes a book is it is a very difficult journey because you want to make it entertaining, but you want to

Starting point is 00:44:45 make it impactful. And you also want to make it very authentic. And you're a very authentic person. I mean, you're, you're, you know, as I've gotten to know and grow with you, you are a truly passionate human being and you're really passionate about impacting others. I mean, it's not just hyperbole in your case. So what was the why behind the book? Because I feel like after Level Up, you almost had this responsibility to level up. Like you went crazy after this. And, you know, crazy marathons, crazy climbs, crazy races. So what was your driving force behind the book? Lead by example, right? I mean, I don't force behind behind the book lead by example right i mean i don't think that necessarily the book just is focused on a particular audience i've been getting amazing

Starting point is 00:45:34 feedback from people that are 12 years old to 80 years old right from all different sorts of life and the reason that this book came into fruition is because i was fortunate enough to have built a big social media i had over a million followers and i wanted to make sure that i will optimize that in the most powerful way i don't want to just entertain people but i want to also inspire educate so i wanted to take that route to start putting more of that content that was inspirational empowering and i started to get a lot of questions on how did you make it to where you are today a lot of people think that you already were born like that you know and the reality is that through that journey there were a lot of obstacles and that's why i say

Starting point is 00:46:15 it's like turning your obstacles into superpowers i wanted to showcase in a very raw version of my story how i got to where i am today and the key lessons that you can apply to anything in your life. So people have been taking that very, very into consideration when walking their own journeys. And it's very rewarding the same way that you're doing this podcast, and I'm sure your book will blow everyone away, is how can you share little things that you've learned through your journey that might impact someone's life?

Starting point is 00:46:44 Right? Oh, man, I love that, too. I mean, there's nothing better than going out in public and having just a perfect How can you share little things that you've learned through your journey that might impact someone's life? 00.01 Right. Oh, man, I love that, too. I mean, there's nothing better than going out in public and having just a perfect stranger come up to you and say, Hey, you know, you changed my life. Just want you to know that I do your, your breathwork or read your book or, you know, taking some of your teachings, put them into my own life. And it's had such a positive effect. 00.02 100%.

Starting point is 00:47:02 And I'll tell you something even like you build that journey already, right? Like once you are there, you find your purpose. I was not seeking to be this person speaking in front of thousands of people like you or even doing these master classes or courses or even coaching to a certain degree or consulting. I was not going in that direction. You know, I'm a real estate broker, entrepreneur. I have a marketing agency as well. So I was going going in that direction. You know, I'm a real estate broker, entrepreneur, I have a marketing agency as well. So I was going more in that direction. And all of a sudden,

Starting point is 00:47:28 as I started to push myself in all these different areas of life, you realize that there is so much more in you and you become that gift. You become that source of valuable information and inspiration that might help others to level up as well. Yeah. I totally agree with that. Yeah. I put together that course that people can also take action to level up as well. Yeah, I totally agree with that. Yeah, I put together that course that people can also take action to level up through that journey. So I'll put that information as well,

Starting point is 00:47:52 but it's very powerful for people to understand that they're not alone in this journey, that there is some sort of system already in place that they can plug in and help them build the momentum towards that route on becoming their best version. Most of us have a very difficult time meeting our protein needs and certain protein sources like whey protein and others can be as little as 20% absorbable. This is 99% absorbable and it has all of the essential amino acids that the body needs

Starting point is 00:48:21 to build lean muscle, to recover, to improve our exercise performance, and most importantly, to repair after we have intense exercise. So this is called Perfect Amino by Body Health. It's, like I said, 99% absorbable. It only has two calories. Eventually, the caloric intake has virtually no caloric intake. It will not break a fast. It tastes amazing. You mix it in water i take this literally every single morning if you're working out in a fasted state you have to take a full spectrum amino acid prior to your workout to preserve your lean muscle and make sure that you're recovering properly and again it will not break your fast so the caloric impact is virtually zero you get

Starting point is 00:49:03 all of the full spectrum amino acids. It tastes wonderful. I use it every single day. You can go to bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate. That's bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate and look for the perfect aminos. They actually come in capsules if you're on the go or it becomes in several flavors

Starting point is 00:49:22 that they make in a powder, which I love. It's flavored with natural means of flavoring. so there's no artificial sweeteners in here so this is one of my absolute favorite products give it a try if you're working out at all you need a full spectrum amino acid go to bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate that's bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate I love their lab tested products you can actually see the absorption rate for all of their products they've got great electrolyte protein combinations my favorite is the perfect aminos bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate and now back to the ultimate human podcast that's so great man my you know my father is a salty old navy captain

Starting point is 00:50:03 um captain john brecca and he had one of the greatest i met him by the way That's so great, man. And my, you know, my father is a salty old Navy captain, Captain John Brecka. And he had one of the greatest. I met him, by the way. Legend. He's a legend. And he's true, truly an inspirational, you know, figure for me. He was a great father. And I'm blessed that both my mother and father are still alive.

Starting point is 00:50:19 And he's, you know, he's a Navy captain. So he was, you know, he's like very regimented. He ate breakfast at 0600. He ate lunch at, you know, he's a Navy captain. So he was, you know, he's like very regimented. He ate breakfast at 0600. He ate lunch at, you know, 12 o'clock. He ate dinner at 6 p.m. I mean, like a precision guided missile. But he had one of the simplest definitions of life that I ever heard. And he just said it one day.

Starting point is 00:50:37 And I was like, wow, that's really profound. And he said, life is what happens to you when you're on your way to doing something else. And it sounds like that's kind of what happened to you. You know, you're on your way to building this real estate, you know, empire and you and, you know, you're in and you start pushing yourself and you have this marketing agency and that's your life. That's what you're doing. And yes, you're doing some races and then all of a sudden in really trying to push yourself to see how far you can take yourself you know this book emerges and then you realize that you have this influence and and with that influence comes this responsibility um so for you what's next where is life's journey gonna take you keep on leveling up no i always look

Starting point is 00:51:28 they're not any tougher races like exactly like whoa listen you'll be surprised really oh my god like once you start going into that route you see how crazy people are i'm telling you but anyways i have a few ideas but definitely the definition of level up is to take yourself beyond your limits in every single area of life, right? And I love to always remind myself that life is not just about one area. It's about all the different areas of life. I call it the wheel of life. So whether it's your career, your finances, your relationships, your physical and health, right? Your spiritual, there is intellectual areas. There's so many things that we sometimes forget about. We focus only on our career and become the best in there. And I do believe, and a lot of people might disagree with me, that you can become the

Starting point is 00:52:14 ultimate human in all different areas of life. You just need to set up the right targets, surround yourself with the right people and build yourself that foundation to keep on growing. And this is why we started to now focusing on not just leveling up, but I wanted to connect all the dots. We're building a community, level up community. We're building people that are also into health. And that's why we started to do this content creator houses. Yeah, we've done a creator house together. That went amazing. It was amazing. We were there together. And it brings the people together with one particular mission, to grow together. Yeah, it was really cool because you and Hafid came up with this idea to have an influencer house.

Starting point is 00:52:53 And when you think of South Beach or Miami and influencers, people immediately go to partying, drinking know drinking and you know having a good time and it was really cool because you you set up this whole home around healthy food meditation cold plunges um and some of the most beautiful people inside and out uh that i'd ever met were were at this house he had this van pull up and it had workout equipment in it we did did like max squat and max press. And it was really cool because it gave people a chance to like interact and network in a really, really healthy environment. And what broke the ice for people wasn't alcohol. It was like getting into a cold plunge. It was like, you know, a max squat press. It was getting into the red light it was

Starting point is 00:53:46 it was it was really cool and i and i hope that you guys continue to do more of those because that was that was like the networking event on steroids and you left there and you're like i feel really freaking good well that's the thing right because you just said it right there a lot of people think that in order for you to have a good time, you need to go to a restaurant or to go have a drink or whatever, right? And when you can bring together people in this beautiful home setup, where it's not just about meeting people, but interacting with each other, doing something that is going to help you elevate your health, whether it's workout classes, meditation, learning, right? Because you were also there speaking about things that people had no clue.

Starting point is 00:54:25 So people are acquiring knowledge, new relationships, new experiences. And I believe this is the ultimate way on how people can grow and really network. Yeah, I love it. I think it's the future of networking. And there's such an undercurrent of people that are focused on health and wellness and mindset and entrepreneurialism and there's actually an amazing community here and i think all over the country that's that's that's starting to create a groundswell where they are groups of peers that actually want to see their peers succeed and we've all been in environments where our peers actually really don't want to see us get it yeah unfortunately, unfortunately. You know, and unfortunately it creates, you know,

Starting point is 00:55:05 a lot of jealousy and a lot of haters. And I deal with a lot of that on social media. But seeing you create this community where it's like-minded people that actually want to see their friends just crush it is amazing. You know, I wind down every podcast by asking my guests the same question and there's

Starting point is 00:55:26 no right or wrong answer for this. Um, but I ask everyone what it means to them to be an ultimate human. I think it's a great question, by the way. It's a great question. And I've gotten some amazing answers, like really amazing answers and they're all over the place. Um, but I'm curious for you, what does it mean to be an ultimate human? To become the best version of yourself and to lead by example. To lead by example. That's amazing.

Starting point is 00:55:52 If these folks want to find out more about you, how did they find you? How did they follow you? How do they find out more about your courses? We're going to put a link to your book, Level Up Guys. That is, this is a must read. It is a must have.

Starting point is 00:56:06 It's available on audio too. If you want to listen to my voice one more time spanish i don't mind the accent i hope you guys don't mind the accent what kind of accent is that spanish spanish okay it's a nice spanish accent um we're in miami lots of spanish accents down here uh So where can they find out more about you? You can go to my website, alvaronuniez.com. alvaronuniez.com. You can also go to the Instagram, alvaronuniez. And that's where you'll see all the things that we're doing, whether it's the creator house, the crazy challenges, things about the book, the course, anything.

Starting point is 00:56:41 So I look forward to connecting with all the individuals that want to level up in life. I appreciate you, brother. So I look forward to connecting with all the individuals that want to level up in life. I appreciate you, brother. You're amazing. Guys, Alvaro Nunez, check him out on social media, make Level Up a part of your next book read. And as always, that's just science.

The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka - 33. How to Turn Obstacles Into Superpowers and Level Up Your Life with Alvaro Nuñez Alfaro and Gary Brecka

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