WHOOP Podcast - Neen Williams, Professional Street Skater, on being a high-performance athlete and extending his career as long as possible.

Episode Date: May 8, 2019

Professional street skater Neen Williams discusses how he got into skateboarding (3:08) and becoming a pro (4:31), the most "normal" job he ever had (5:31), a moment of clarity that changed his life (8:55), how he uses WHOOP (14:28), the strain of skateboarding (17:06), what makes him an artist (18:35), risk assessment when attempting tricks (19:47), diet and nutrition (23:03), sleep and recovery (24:44), advice for his 18-year-old self (32:34), his positive outlook and embracing the dark times (35:54), what mindfulness means to him (40:05), and a 1% recovery on WHOOP (42:09).Support the showFollow WHOOP: www.whoop.com Trial WHOOP for Free Instagram TikTok YouTube X Facebook LinkedIn Follow Will Ahmed: Instagram X LinkedIn Follow Kristen Holmes: Instagram LinkedIn Follow Emily Capodilupo: LinkedIn

We discovered that there were secrets that your body was trying to tell you that could really help you optimize performance, but no one could monitor those things. And that's when we set out to build the technology that we thought could really change the world. Welcome to the WOOP podcast. I'm your host, Will Ahmed, founder and CEO of WOOP, where we are on a mission to unlock human performance. At WOOP, we measure the body 24-7 and provide analytics to our members to help improve performance. This includes strain, recovery, and sleep. Our clients range for the best professional athletes in the world, to Navy SEALs, to fitness enthusiasts, to Fortune 500 CEOs and executives.

The common thread among WOOP members is a passion to improve. What does it take to optimize performance for athletes, for humans, really anyone? We're launching a podcast to dig deeper. We'll interview experts and industry leaders across sports, data, technology, physiology, athletic achievement, you name it. My hope is that you'll leave these conversations with some new ideas and a greater passion for performance. With that in mind, I welcome you to the Whoop podcast.

There's like a couple different kinds of skateboarding, the usual household skateboarding, like the X games and then there's street skating you don't really know about us as much because we're more of like the raw culture skateboarding the guys that you see on the streets and stuff basically the skateboard is our paintbrush and then the world is our canvas how are we doing today folks my guest today is professional skateboarder neen williams neen's stories of fascinating one, a serious knee injury at 28 years old made him realize he was throwing away his career from drinking and partying. And by the way, when you spend time with this guy, he has

just a great way about him. He's definitely reached a place in his life where he's calm and he's focused. And he's got a lot of performance hacks that I found pretty interesting. We talk about how he got into skateboarding and when he realized he could become a pro. The changes he made both physically and mentally after tearing his ACL and going sober, how he uses whoop and the strain skateboarding puts on his body, what makes him a high performance athlete and what he does to maintain that, and his goal's going forward. Neen was just recently made one of the faces of Lulu Lemon, so you can actually see him if you go to Lululemon.com on the men's section, he's one of the face of the brand, and you'll also

see a whoop strap there. Overall, Neen is an amazing dude, and I think you're going to enjoy this. here's Neen. Neen, thanks for coming on, man. Thanks for having me. So we're out here in L.A. for a whoop photo shoot. I've gotten to watch you in action the last two days. You've got some unbelievable handles on a skateboard.

Thanks, man. Appreciate it. So how'd you first get into skateboarding? Well, that was like a long time ago. Probably when I was 13, 14 years old, somewhere around then. I was never really good at playing sports or anything. So I was kind of like a nerd in school. And I mended in with this group of kids that were also kind of nerdish.

But the difference was that they skateboarded, you know? And I didn't even know what skateboarding was at the point. You know, I would see it on the Simpsons or something like that, like Bart Simpson's, like, skating or something. But I didn't even know what skating was. And these guys had skateboards and they knew how to do tricks and stuff. So after school, I would be hanging out with them. And where did you grow up? I grew up in Chicago.

So this is in Chicago. In Chicago. Yeah, so I would hang out with these kids and they'd skate and, you know, they'd let me borrow their board and stuff and try to teach me tricks. Super hard skill to learn, you know. But by process of trying and trying and failure on each trick, I kind of, like, grew an addiction towards it. you know and literally haven't put my skateboard down since it's been like 20 years 20 years plus and it's amazing skating since then at what point in your life did you realize it could actually be a career because that's a bit of a leap yeah i mean i just always skated for fun and

eventually like i got good enough with like the skill level and stuff that i started like i picked up some sponsors and stuff. And when I started picking up sponsors, I started getting, like, my skateboards for free or my shoes for free and stuff like that. And then you see and you hear about other people that were professional and getting actually paid to ride a skateboard. And that kind of always, like, lit, you know, it did something too. Like, I was like, wow, like, if only I could get to that level, you know, but it was so far-fetched.

But it was like, it was always something there. But at the end of the day, I always just love to just skate for fun, you know, and just kind of let things happen the way it happens, you know. What was the most like normal square job you've had in your life? Or literally did you just skateboard the whole time straight through? I was like a bar back for a little bit. Yeah, just cleaning up cups and mopping up drunk people's messes and stuff. must make you super appreciative of where you are today yeah definitely um a lot of hustling bustling

just whatever you know we'd get free skate product and you would just like hustle that for like a meal or pay bills or stuff like that you know and that's kind of those are like the jobs growing up well you know having spent the last two days with you like you're a super fit guy and you look ripped and like you look super healthy you look like you're very focused on performance now there was a period in your life when that wasn't the case right yeah um growing up i always partied and drank and stuff with friends um i live like that cliche skate life just drinking partying just having freedom basically you know um it it took to a couple years later after i turned pro is when like i made the change to uh

kind of go on more of a health and wellness journey than, like, really clean up my act. Was there a moment where you're like, I got to dial this back, or I've got a problem, or? Yeah, basically, I turned pro with a bunch of my sponsors. And at this point, I was, like, partying a lot and then skating a lot. And then the partying started getting more frequent, and I started skating less. And I started, like, really getting to a point where I was, like, kind of throwing away my career. I was just kind of, just, like, breaking even, you know. Like, you weren't getting better at skateboard.

I wasn't getting better. I was just constantly. I was pretty much, yeah. And what ended up happening was I kept trying to, like, film tricks and do my skateboarding job, you know. And I ended up tearing my ACL. Oh, shit. Taring your ACL, I'm sure, you know. it's like it takes like six months to heal from it but then like still like another year from

that to get back to where you were and progressing progressing and stuff you know yeah so I tore my ACL and when I tore my ACL it was like something clicked in my head saying like hey like you're throwing away your career because you never you never notice yourself doing a bad thing until something happens you know like I was going so far off the route that I was supposed to be on. And because I couldn't see this, I just kept going. And then I tore my ACL and then it made me realize, like, hey, you're messing up, dude. Like, time to snap in, get everything you can out of life, while you can.

How old are you at this point? I was 28. 28 years old. It was about four, four and a half years ago. yeah um basically what happened was i tore the ACL and everything snapped and i was just like wow you're throwing away your life like time to like really get everything you can out of life i i worked so hard to get to where i am in skateboarding like it's so hard to get to become a professional skater it's the hardest thing like it's like winning the lottery it's like you know like all

these other sports like basketball football all that it's like it's the same process to turn into a pro you know what i mean so it's like you get all the way up there and you're just partying and throwing it away you know just live in life like there is no tomorrow and it was the wrong way to live you know like when you get to a place like that you should be doing something positive for the community on some level do you feel like if you hadn't had that accident you know you may not have cleaned up your act yeah you know that's a that's like one of my fears really it's just you know the the things that i went through kind of shaped me to who i am today you know and if i didn't have that accident i probably wouldn't be where i am today you know i'd probably well there's a silver lining to that for anyone

listening, which is that sometimes the deepest moment of darkness comes at great outcome. You know, sometimes you need to hit rock bottom, so to speak. And it sounds like for you that was your moment of rock bottom. Yeah, it definitely was. It was my moment of

clarity. You know, you can say. And what was your road to recovery? So basically when this all happened, I plan to just take off six months you know six months from no drinking no partying just so my ACL could heal properly you know I got the ACL reconstruction surgery and all that got a donor and all that stuff in my ACL so six months

and then you're basically good and then you have to do like physical therapy and all that stuff and build back the muscle but I was like I'll take off six months and the thing's going to heal properly and faster because when you're drinking while you're healing your body's trying to fight two things at once it's trying to it's trying to heal your body from the alcohol poisoning that you just put in and then it's also trying to heal your ACL or your injury that you have you know so I figured I'm gonna give it one thing to work was it hard for you to be sober for six months after that kind of a lifestyle it wasn't that bad because you know I at this point I had goals you know I was like I was 28, I was like, you know, I really want to skate as well as I can, and I want to get back

into work as fast as I can, you know, like I want to get back and fill my video farm. It's affecting your livelihood in a pretty dramatic way. Exactly. It's like, now I have to sit around and play video games for six months, you know? But like, I'm trying to get back out there on the field, you know, and skate. So basically the first two weeks, where the heart is, because you have to, I had to sacrifice a lot. Like, a lot of the friends and places and things that I did at the time, I had to, like, basically cut that all off in order to stay away from partying and drinking.

So I just spent, like, the first two weeks in my house, which was fine. I mean, I couldn't walk anyways, you know? You're not going to be the life of the party. You can't walk. Exactly. So I chilled inside my house and started healing up and all that good stuff. And after two weeks. weeks, I stopped. Like, the urge to drink kind of got smaller and smaller, you know? And the longer

I went, the easier it got. And then the days just started passing by. And one of my bosses, he told me this really good bit of information. He said, you know, whenever you get an urge to drink, wait 10 minutes. Because if you wait 10 minutes, nine times out of 10, your mind, ends up doing something else like you'll be like oh i want to drink like i'm gonna drink right now like don't act wait and then in 10 minutes you'll find yourself doing something else and you won't you don't even want that drink or that cigarette or whatever anymore you know so that was a very like valuable tool that i used while i was in the first few stages you know and so today i mean this is now four and a half years later from uh the accident are you sober like have you not had a drink since

Yeah, I haven't had one sip. Yeah, like, I haven't, I've been to a couple bars, but I've never, I haven't had a sip of beer. I haven't even been like, oh, let me try that cocktail. So it's like you flipped the switch. Yeah, I flipped a switch, and now, you know, my goals are, I want longevity, you know, I want to skate forever. And this is, it sounds like this is very, it's all in your mind, very goal-centric. You're not part of the communities like AA and other things. No, I never went to AA.

this is all just something I did by myself for myself for the better of my health and my my goals and my career you know the only the only regret in all of it is that we didn't have whoop data on you during your partying heyday like the before and after of that you'll look like two different human beings yeah for sure and I was bad like I was in a dark hole make that was bad so uh for you today like how do you use whoop and how do you think about it i mean i imagine that the technology contributes very nicely to what you've got as a lifestyle so how do you use whoop in your uh day-to-day life um you know i always have it strapped on my arm and well really what i use it for is just kind of like it's like acknowledgement like i like to see

how much I burn in a day, like how much I should be eating, you know, to replenish myself from that. I like to see how recovered I am from sleep. You know, it's just nice to have that data. Like, sometimes I wake up and I'll feel like shit.

And I'm like, why do I feel like shit? But now I have that data so I could look at the app and be like, oh, like, I'm only 23% recovered. I'm in the red. Like, no wonder why I feel like shit. I guess I should take a nap today you know so it's just i use it every day and it's really been helping my uh my performance and

even my confidence you know like just days i'm into green i'm like all right full throttle today like we're going gung-ho you know so it's just it's been a really uh it's been an eye-opener and it's really helped my performance in my life you know well that that's a good point that you made about confidence because i've found in talking to people like yourself who are competing, right? And, like, trying to be super high performance. Like, you already have built a mindset of, I'm going to win today, I'm going to win today, I'm going to win today. But when you have a product that's also then telling you, you know, literally based on your physiology,

you're going to perform really well today. It's like a huge added lift I've found. Definitely. And then the other thing is you're an animal, right? Like, you know, now knowing a day that you have a low recovery, that's actually may hold you back in a healthy way. because otherwise you would have just ripped it. Yeah. Like, yeah, I have a hard time trying to hold myself back every day

because I want to go full throttle every single day, every single moment. Yeah, what does full throttle look like for, like, paint a picture for the average listener? Full throttle to me is like I wake up, a stretch, mobility, and then I work out for like an hour or so, and then I hit the Stairmaster for like another half an hour. and then from there I usually skate from like for like about four or five hours or so you know come home make dinner all that stuff and I might even check in for some more like unconventional workout like kettlebells or something like that how does the skateboarding

for three or four hours on who like what is the strain of skateboarding it's super gnarly really it's almost like I think an hour is close to like seven 800 calories burnt Wow Yeah so if you're doing like Five hours it's like give or take It's well you're moving All day

You're on the schedule you just told me Skateboarding too is like It's a full body Like it's explosive It's full body It's a lot of cardio You know you're using everything Yeah I mean I was watching

You yesterday like take off For a couple tricks and you're It looks like you're like running full speed Yeah it's a sprint Yeah it's like a road and have you compared the activity strain on whoop of like a skateboarding activity versus say your you know your morning hour workout or high cardio workout the skateboarding definitely is a lot

higher higher strain yeah yeah that's interesting the body even just like the adrenaline because when you're jumping downstairs and grinding handrails like your heart's going because It's kind of like a make or break situation. Like you have to do everything correct or else you're, you know, you're going to sack your balls or, you know, you're going to fall down the stairs, you know. So you got to, it's a very like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, like your heart's pumping moment, you know. Now we were talking about this, you know, earlier today.

You like to create in the environment. Like, explain more about that. So with skateboarding, there's like a couple different. kinds of skateboarding. There's like the usual household skateboarding where it's like the X games and like half bike vert ramp kind of skating. And then there's street skating, which I am. I'm a professional street skater. You don't really know about us as much because we're more of like the raw culture skateboarding, the guys that you see on the streets and stuff. We basically like the skateboard is our paintbrush and then the world is our canvas like the streets downtown

the benches the stairs yeah yeah the handrails just a nice way to look at life too man yeah it's it's all like you create what you want it's like full like mind to muscle to physical it's just like we have the power to kind of create what we want in the day so it's like full freedom to create And what percentage of the time, I mean, I'm playing this out, you're kind of connecting these dots, like, you know, you're walking down the sidewalk, you see, like, some steps going up to something, you see a bench over there, and then immediately you think, okay, I'm going to fly off the steps and land on the bench, right? At what moment were you like, that's a great idea, that's a bad idea? And by the way, it was like, you're not even really sure if you can do it. So when you see, like, a bench to stairs or stairs to a bench, a stairs to a bench, a handrail. risk assessment there's always going to be a risk like i put skateboarding as like if you're going to

pick up a skateboard today and start trying to learn tricks 90% of the time even for like a professional like me you're falling you know 10% you're landing stuff yeah that's just how it is because it's like you're taking an object on some wheels a moving object and you're like flipping it around and jumping and you're landing on it there's so many factors that could go wrong you know So the key is knowing that you can fall at any time, but putting the confidence in your mind that I'm not going to fall. So when I see stairs, handrail bench, and I'm like putting things together and I'm like, oh, I could jump off those stairs and slide that bench and then like grind down that handrail, I know the risk factors there, but in my mind I'm trying to be as confident as possible. You know what I mean? Yeah.

So you're always ready to fall. So if something goes wrong, like you could get out of it. You've got to have like cat-like reflexes. You could get out of it. But going into a trick, are you only visualizing how it's successful? Or will you also, in your mind, know how you're going to bail? You kind of have them both. But you lean more towards a success.

Because confidence is key with skateboarding. Like you have to be comfortable. Well, you have to thread a needle, right? Exactly. And if you're looking out. the lines. Yeah. You're going to end up outside the lines. You have to know the possibility of you failing is there, but you want to do everything it takes to do it right and do it first try and right away clean. Now, now that you're monitoring yourself on whoop, like, will you look at

on a day you've gotten, you know, not enough sleep or your recovery is super low? Will that make you rethink some of the tricks that you might try that day? Oh, definitely. If I have like low recovery, I'm going to go out and just kind of push around and have fun, you know, just be free, like, carve around some bowls or some transition, like maybe skate a bench. But like mellow, I'm not going to like flip my board into a slide and flip my board out because that takes too much physical and mind power, you know. And if I'm not recovered enough, there's so much chance for me to like hurt myself, you know, or injure myself. Yeah, totally. So what are some things in your daily life that you find also contribute to, you know, you being a high-performance athlete? Our audience loves to think about different life hacks and, you know, biohacks that they can try to incorporate in their life to improve their bodies.

Yeah, just getting the right amount of sleep is one thing that helps, you know, just, I mean, at least eight hours a night. also just being on a nice diet, you know, a good diet plan. What's your diet look like? I eat right now very lean, kind of low carb, higher fat, you know, that's just kind of... Very popular in L.A., by the way. Yeah, it is. But I'm a little bit... I haven't seen someone eat a sandwich out here.

Yeah, bread's like the devil. Yeah, but I eat a little bit more high carb because... or I eat a little bit more carbs than like the normal high fat person just because... You're not like full keto. No, no, I'm not full keto. So you'll eat what rice? Yeah, I eat rice, white rice, or like use bone broth to make my rice. Bone broth I've heard great things about it.

Yeah. I haven't done a deep dive on it. It's really nice, you know, good nutrition, you know? A lot of goodness in that. Now, do you take any supplements? Yeah, just the normal ones, like natural supplements, like amino acids. Vitamin C, vitamin D for my bones. I mean, I'm wrestling with the concrete.

Yeah, I imagine bones that's critical for you. Exactly. I take some neutropics, you know, for the brain to focus, you know. And have you seen value in that? I feel like it works. I feel a lot sharper, you know, but... What kind of brand do you take? On it.

Okay. AlphaBrain. I like taking that one a lot. I just did a podcast with Kyle Kingsbury on the Ona podcast. Oh, sick. Yeah. Hell yeah. Yeah, they're a good brand.

Yeah, I'm not a big supplement guy myself, but they seem to have... They have all the right... Yeah, they have a good product, and I respect the people who are behind the business. Yeah, they're cool people. Yeah. How about on the sleep side of things? Will you ever take anything before bed, any tricks to sleeping that you find helpful? Just put the phone down.

What's your phone routine? I try to put it down like an hour before bed. That's great. Yeah, and just kind of lounge there and zone out, basically, you know. I actually do well with noise. Like, I'll watch, like, a documentary or something. So something monotone just puts me out. I sleep really easy.

Like, I'll go right out really fast. Well, you're so active, and it helps a lot. Yeah. That's another thing. It's, like, if you have trouble sleeping, it probably means that you aren't doing enough during the day, possibly. Or there's so much on your mind. Yeah, that's one way to think about it.

But one way to go to sleep easy is just tire yourself out, you know, like just get out there and, like, go for it, you know? And when you get home, you're going to see your bed and you're just going to be so stoked and you're going to lay down and go to sleep, you know? Yeah, I think that's true for 90% of people. There's definitely a population of people that is tired that can't sleep. Definitely. And those are the people that, I think more recently we've been adding those people. to the woo population and it's interesting to see how they're trying now to because those are the people that's like they need to really really focus on all these things and every little detail

can make a huge difference cold room no noise wear an eye mask you know no blue light put your phone away uh all these things can start to compound on themselves and all of a sudden you can finally fall asleep you ever uh try taking like magnesium or anything like that zinc i like magnesium i like magnesium i think especially like it for athletes i personally take melatonin oh yeah now i won't take it every night but i probably take it four or five nights a week well it's kind of like coffee it's like if you take it every night it's not going to have the same effect almost like your body kind of it's a means of it. Yeah, you want to trick your body a little bit from that way. Yeah. So I probably won't take it on weekends or on a day where I've exercised a lot and I feel like I'm going to be able

to fall asleep easily. Whereas if I'm traveling, that's the biggest time. I always have it with me. And I prefer the ones that dissolve. Okay. Have you taken melatonin at all? Not really. I don't, like, I'm telling you, I just pass out. I'll take my museum from time to tell. much are you here most of the time? I do travel a lot. So the next time you're on a different time zone, if that affects you at all, it's melatonin can be good if you're trying to get onto a new time zone. Back into schedule, basically. Right. Now, there's actually benefits to not switching onto a different time zone. So if you're going like East Coast, West Coast, East Coast, you're only going to spend 36 hours on the West Coast. It actually may be better to stay on an East Coast time horizon.

So if you normally, you know, if you'll normally wake up at, I don't know, 7.30 a.m., then actually try to wake up at, you know, 10.30 when you're on the West Coast, you know, so it's an equivalent. It's an interesting phenomenon. We've seen this now with a number of sports teams where if they actually stay on the same time zone, so they're literally eating at the same time, they're, you know, going through the same sketch. literally that they would have done on the East Coast. That's awesome. I never thought of that. It actually, yeah, it improves their performance. Yeah. Because it's as if they'd ever change time zones.

Now, if you're going to be on a new time zone for a week or longer, that's where also a product can help you kind of get on schedule. At least that's how we've worked with some of our lead teams. See. Now, for you, what about different recovery products? I mean, in LA, I imagine a lot of stuff's been. I imagine a lot of stuff's popular. Have you ever done things like cryotherapy, do anything in contrast therapy, things like that?

Yeah, I've done cryotherapy. Cryotherapy. Yeah, it's called cryo. I've done cryo. I like that a lot. Personally, I like using a thorough gun, just keep into blood going, you know, anything like that. I use the hyper-ice one, hyper-bolt. Oh, sick.

But there's effectively similar products. Yeah, it's really. beneficial, I think, for keeping me from getting sore and just warming my muscles up before I skate or a workout or anything like that. Lots of stretching, um, just anything like that, you know, really, just kind of. Stretching, yeah. Yeah, um, I used to do this thing called ARPWave. Have you ever done that? No. It's super gnarly. It's like, so it's like those, uh, what are they're called like electric stem

those things. So it's like those things, but like on crack it's like super intense. And they crank the thing up as high as you can go. So your muscles just start pulling it. It feels like your muscles are going to rip, you know?

And then when you're like, all right, that's it. Like you stand up and you have you do squats or like Superman's or something while the thing is pulling on your muscles. Holy shit. And it's supposed to just like realign all your muscles because you end up compensating like certain muscles when you're hurt and injured or you play a sport a certain way you compensate for like certain muscles so this

machine help this kind of therapy helps all your muscles like fire again wow i haven't tried that i'm going to look that up it's called arc wave all right we'll include that in the show notes for people interested yeah super crazy so at this stage in your life life what are some of your personal goals some of my personal goals right now um i'm building a business like my own business you know just i want to make merch and just like random things that i'm into and i'd like to share with people like my little like lunch containers and just stuff like that i use on the day to day and you could kind of see all of this stuff on my social media like my youtube and my Instagram. Like I post stories of like the meals I'm making. And what are your handles for

people listening? My handle is just Neen Williams, N-E-E-N Williams. It's just plain and simple my name, you know? Perfect. But yeah, just I'm building a business right now. I'm getting all that legal stuff done and all that and I'll have stuff coming out pretty soon. Oh, that's awesome. And then another goal is just kind of help people, you know, help my skate community. Just help people like just kind of just deal with like what I dealt with you know all the information that I've learned today and that I put out on my social media and all that stuff is like stuff that I wish I knew when I was younger when I was partying super hard yeah you know like just like how to take care of your body like longevity like exercise fitness like all this stuff I put on my

Instagram because back then if there was someone like me in this place right now like I would have been so stoked to learn all this stuff earlier and if I would have learned it earlier I'd probably feel a million times better right now you know just as a whole you know what's what's the number one piece of advice you'd give to you know an 18 year old need I would just say you know stretch and moderation is key moderation in all things like drinking alcohol partying like you could party you could drink but just don't go so hard you know what I mean like like have a beer or two or three like don't you don't need to drink the whole 30 pack by yourself you know what I mean like just like things like that you know it was just I I live a very extreme life I mean I'm in extreme sports you know

So I always took things to the next level. And there's a culture around extreme sports too. I think like the culture around extreme sports is you have to be extreme all the time. Yeah. And you're just used to. Yeah. And I think you're a great example for anyone who still loves that from a passion standpoint. You know, wants to compete in a sport or be part of a sport that is cutting edge where you may fall,

where you have to be on kind of the edge of your seat, where you have to have big balls, so to speak, you know. But you can also. be like a healthy person yeah you could be healthy there's nothing wrong with being healthy you know it's only gonna it's only gonna help you in the end and that's what i'm about it's like longevity in skateboarding but it doesn't only apply to skateboarders or extreme sports people it applies to everybody like if you just follow like like if you're just mindful with what you do in life like you could do whatever you love forever Totally. And how do you think about social media now? I mean, you've obviously built a meaningful

following. It seems like you've got lots of fans out there. Is it something for you where you think of it as part of your business? Is it for you to connect with younger people and tell those stories? And how do you also make sure you don't overdo it? I mean, I just do a post a day for the most part. So I'm trying not to overdo it, you know, just one. random thing a day and I think it's a really awesome tool you know like back in the day you couldn't reach anybody but now with social media you can reach all sorts of people of all ages you know whoever follows you so if you want to help someone or people could directly message you like with their problems or if they have a question you know and if I have some time

and stuff to sit down and read it and like answer it back like I do I answer like five or six a day, you know, which is actually a lot. It takes a lot of time to answer them back heartfelt, you know, like from my heart, you know. Yeah. And I'm the guy that takes care of all my social media. Like, no one touches it, you know, and I just put positive. So it's really authentic. It's really authentic, and I just try to put positive messages out there.

You know what I mean? I'm not there to show off or be like, oh, do this, do that. It's like, no, you know, it's, this is just what I'm doing, and it's help. me as a person and it's helping my career and like you know here it is like if you like it you like it and you can try it too if you want to but if not like it's okay like you got a very positive way about you know just being around you you strike me as someone who's generally like happy and uplifted is that something that you find you have to work at or you know have you just built a lifestyle that makes you happy I mean I think for a lot of people being

happy is the hardest thing yeah i mean i go through like i go through what the normal person goes through you know like traffic anger people things going wrong whatever you know but i always feel like you manifest your own reality so if you're happy and you're positive like positive and happy things are going to come your way totally you know what i mean if you're pissed off and mad all the time Like, guess what? That other pissed off mad person is going to run into you and now you guys are fighting and then you're going to jail and blah, blah, blah, you know? So it's like, I just think, you know,

if we all just help each other and keep it a little bit more on the positive side, obviously there's going to be negative to yin and the yang, but like kind of more focus on the positive will live better lives, you know? Yeah, I think it's a great message. And I think that at least for me, in spending time with you, the way that you frame it having come from this world of extreme sports and having come from, you know, a point of view that, frankly, was like a little bit off the spectrum, right, where you're just going too hard all the time. Do you think there's a gratefulness that comes with that today, too? Yeah, I mean, I'm super grateful for everything that came my way, you know, and I'm grateful for. for like the dark period of times that I had because it's what built me, you know?

It's what positive, like it was a negative time, but it made me the positive person that I am today. Well, that's a super important thing that you just said is that you were grateful for that dark period. Yeah, definitely was. Like, I read a lot of these different self-help books and whatnot because I find the whole thing interesting. And one of the things that for me seems like a recurring theme, is if you can find gratefulness and darkness, that reframes your life in a really interesting way. Because then the next time that something doesn't go your way, and you can think about, hey, how can this actually be a positive? You just start looking for positive things.

Exactly. You just start looking for opportunities. For me, as an entrepreneur, I mean, that's been transformative. This is the concept of, if something doesn't go my way, how can I actually turn this into an opportunity? and it takes a little bit of creativity too for sure but that I love how you just put that yeah so what else can we expect from Neen over the next couple years do you have any big events coming up or anything you know I mean tons of stuff I never stop hustling I never stop going you know I'm going to keep doing me to the fullest you know and whatever comes my way I'm going to do it you know I'm going to try to

to throw a couple skate events, you know, in this upcoming, like, upcoming months year or whatever, you know, skate events, give back and also, like, bring awareness to just, like, health and wellness to the body and skate at the same time, you know, and just kind of teach people one-on-one, you know, here I am in the flesh, let's talk, you know? I like that marriage. It's a little disruptive when you first hear it, like health and wellness with skateboarding. Yeah. Because when I hear health and wellness, I think.

You know, from a stereotypical standpoint, you kind of see yoga, you know, people eating kale. But then you peel it with a pair of skateboarding, and then there's this image of, you know, someone doing this crazy trick and falling and getting bruised. So the idea of pairing those two things, I think, is really disruptive in a fun way. And I think people will get behind it. Yeah, I'm just trying to teach, you know, mindfulness, you know. Just bring awareness of mindfulness in life. Ned, do you have any meditation practice, or what does mindfulness mean to you?

Mindfulness is just being aware of your surroundings, you know? That's kind of just being present, being here, you know, like knowing your body from head to toe, you know. And understanding each person is an individual and being open to like talk to them and let them in, you know. instead of being like, oh, I don't like you. It's like, hold up, let me, you know, let me understand the being that you are, you know, and just being mindful, mindful to everything. Like, how can you help yourself in a sport? How can you, like, reach your optimal level?

How can you have longevity in your sports or whatever you love to do, you know? Like, that's what's mindful to me. Well, the point that you made about waiting 10 minutes to see if you actually wanted a drink. Yeah. That to me is a form of mindfulness. You know, you're second-guessing your own instincts to try to build better instincts on some level, right? And you're just, there's a therapeutic process to that. That method works perfectly.

It's insane. What are some resources or books that you find, you know, helpful for you as you try to better understand wellness and health? I don't read a lot. Right now I'm reading the day. David Gaghan's book. I like him. He's a very motivational person. Yeah.

He's gone through a lot. So I really like reading his words because, you know, he went through a rough upbringing and, like, found himself, you know? Totally. So I'm reading that right now. Yeah, I listen to a lot of podcasts, you know,

and that's where I get a lot of my information. Where are some of your favorite podcasts? I mean, I like a lot of the Joe Rogan ones. You know, I like when he has, like, a lot of the scientists and nutrition on his. I think Rogan's great. We're fortunate now to be partners with Joe and he's a user, so that's cool. Yeah, sick, man. Yeah. So I like his podcast. What's been your lowest recovery on whoop and why? So I've been trying to get to one. I haven't made it to one yet, but

I see a 1%. I'm going to know that was a blowout relapse from me. I'll send it to you. Like meth bender. Oh my God. Now, I think the lowest, 21. Okay. Yeah. It's pretty civilized. I'm always around like 20. I'm like in the red or the yellow normally just because I go hard every day.

You know, I do like triples, doubles every day, you know, and then I'll recover one day and then I'll like to stay again. Yeah. So I'm just steady going, you know, mentally, physically. There's always something to be done. Cool, man. Well, look, we love having you. on WOOP and it's been really fun spending time with you for the last couple of days and best of luck in your next adventure.

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