April 25, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode of the Strength 2 Overcome podcast, hosts Ryan and Matt reconnect after years apart, sharing their personal journeys of transformation, struggles with mental health, financial challenges, and the impact of injuries on their lives. They discuss the importance of vulnerability and the need for men to share their struggles, emphasizing that they are not alone in their battles. The conversation highlights the journey of rebuilding oneself and finding strength in vulnerability, as they prepare to share their stories with a wider audience.
Takeaways
- Reconnecting with old friends can lead to powerful conversations.
- Personal journeys often involve struggles that shape who we are.
- Financial challenges can impact relationships and personal well-being.
- Vulnerability is essential for personal growth and connection.
- Life-altering encounters can change our perspectives.
- Injuries can lead to a reevaluation of identity and purpose.
- Sharing our stories can help others feel less alone.
- Expectations can weigh heavily on individuals, especially men.
- Finding strength in vulnerability can lead to healing.
- The journey of rebuilding oneself is ongoing and requires support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Leave your ego at the door and get ready to be
raw.
This is Strength to Overcome,where real men find their
strength in weakness.
Hi guys, welcome to the Strengthto Overcome podcast.
I'm your co-host Ryan with myman Matt here.
(00:20):
And Matt, we've reconnectedafter a number of years and I'm
pumped to be on here with you,brother.
SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
Ryan, it's amazing that it's been this long for
someone that I value so highly.
It's kind of sad and I kind ofwant to dig in on a little bit
of that and obviously just letyou know that I've thought about
you a lot during those 12, 13years.
So I apologize for the timeswhere I probably could have
(00:48):
reached out, wanted to reachout, but didn't.
So we're going to unpack some ofthat here today and moving
forward.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Yeah, it's been, like you said, 12, 13 years.
Probably haven't seen each othersince, I think, 2012, 2013
range, so...
you know, just to give folks abackground a little bit, you
know, you were my trainer at onepoint, a mentor at one point,
still a mentor, but we trainedtogether and you were one of the
(01:16):
ones that inspired my fitnessjourney and was kind of a role
model for me getting started inthe, eventually getting started
in the fitness space.
So really appreciative toreconnect and get back with you
here.
SPEAKER_00 (01:28):
Yeah.
And I can't wait to hear thestory because I actually don't
know it.
And the timeline of, you Meleaving that area and you doing
that obviously has quite a fewhours in there of dialogue to
unpack.
So I'm very excited to hear it.
And that's going to be somethingwe're going to be moving forward
with in future episodes.
So congratulations on it.
And I want to hear more abouthow you went from where you were
(01:51):
at the time to what you ended updoing.
Yeah, man.
So
SPEAKER_01 (01:55):
it's been a while, but like I said, pumped to be
back with you and catch me up alittle bit where you are now
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
and what's going on in your world.
Well, that's a really greatquestion.
And I think that, you know, thelast 18 months of my life will
probably snapshot that answerpretty well.
You know, I never likedFacebook.
So this is, you know, some goodirony here.
But I, 18 months ago, decided todo a 90-day challenge of my own
myself, right?
(02:22):
You know, I post a day for 90days.
You know, with the intent ofsharing, connecting, obviously
I'd been gone from Australia fora long time.
So I wanted to, you know,reconnect and share.
This is where I am.
This is what's happening.
And so I got...
90 days of post, I shared somestuff about my mom, my dad, my
brothers and sisters, mychildhood, put up some stuff
(02:42):
about my wife and kids, and alot of people didn't know me in
those roles.
And so it was a really kind ofcool experience.
As I got towards the end of that90 days, I realized that I was
going to take it in a directionof something that I'd been
battling with for about 10years, a project that had been
sort of given to me, but I'dnever really unpacked it.
And so I...
(03:04):
got to that 90th day in thatlast post and actually put up
three pictures.
I put up a picture of me and mypowers, you know, physically,
and then another picture of meand my lowest point.
But there was another picture.
It was just the logo.
And it was the logo of Strengthto Overcome.
And there was a caption therethat, you know, I went down the
process of sort of explaining,hey, listen, you know, The
(03:26):
backstory to this is a littledifficult.
It's got a lot to unpack andit's going to take a bit of
time, so be patient with me.
Well, thank you for everybodyfor being so patient.
It's something that I walkedaway from completely because I
didn't know how to share it orwhy to even share it.
And so fast forwarding to now,it's come full circle.
(03:52):
And so at the close of that 90days period, I had every
intention of going down thispath, but life got busy.
We had been in some financialtrouble around that time.
And so my wife, you know, wentout and said, well, I'm going to
start working.
And she went from being astay-at-home mom to accidentally
getting two jobs and workingseven days a week.
(04:13):
And it just happened so fastthat I ended up being a
stay-at-home dad, trying to dosome side jobs on the side.
And, you know, that wasn'tenough to cover our debt, let
alone our expenses.
And so I said, well, I'll...
I'll start Ubering, you know?
So I started Ubering and, youknow, getting up at three or
four in the morning and goingabout that as, you know, my
contribution to the household.
(04:34):
And so we were two ships in thenight, you know, and our
marriage was already in troubleat that point.
And, you know, I'd be up for,you know, different hours than
she was and she'd be late home.
And so we would be eating dinnerat, you know, 11 o'clock, 1130
at night, you know, after hernight shifts.
And so, you know, this went onfor a handful of months and, you
know, it really took a toll onus.
You know, it was long days forher, long days for me.
(04:55):
It was a real...
kicking the teeth from where wehad been financially.
We had been in a reallyincredible place, you know,
financial freedom.
And so we had this real shift inour household.
You know, nothing seemed to beworking.
Definitely a really tough time.
So I really started to thinkabout going back to training
after having walked away for afew years and just been that
stay-at-home dad.
And I got really, really closeto getting back into the
(05:17):
training field and putting onthat jacket, you know, that
crunch at the time, that crunchjacket of comfort.
that I knew and was good at.
And I had to make a decision andI chose not to go back.
And at the time of choosing notto go back, there was an
immediate shift in what washappening in my life.
I started to get carpentry jobsout of nowhere.
I started to get some realtraction on handyman work and
(05:41):
painting jobs.
And it just kind of exploded onme to the point where you know,
we started to have a realconflict with our schedules
because she was working so manydays a week and I, you know, had
this work coming at me that waspaying really good money and I
couldn't take it all.
So I'd take the kids with me onthese jobs and take snacks and
pillows and iPads and, you know,the jobs that I could, you know,
(06:01):
they'd sit there and they'd bethere for the whole day, you
know, just being littletroopers, you know, they're
three and, you know, at thetime, two and four, right?
And just, you know, reallytough, you know, tools in the
back of the sports van and babyseats and just, But, you know,
my wife couldn't take him withher and I could take him with
me.
So I spent the summer of lastyear just plowing through as
(06:23):
many jobs as I could, taking himwhere I could and, you know,
getting help when I couldn'ttake him with me from, you know,
her parents and even went downthe babysitting.
route and nannying and thingslike that so it's just a real
timeline of chaos but you knowwe were you know treading water
and then i started to get intosome self-help books and some
motivational stuff and things ofthat nature but i'd always done
(06:45):
but just got away from and soyou know one day i had uh you
know while i was ubering i'dtaken this chap to the airport
And in this 45-minute ride, itwas five in the morning, it was
pitch black, and I'd taken thischap to the airport, and it was
just the most powerful 45-minutedrive I'd ever had.
We were sharing things, and hewas just opening my world to a
(07:07):
whole new concept of, you know,creating your own path and
prayer and meditation and, youknow, your expectancy and such.
And so at the end of that Thatride, we had, you know, swapped
numbers, which, you know, I'msure you're not allowed to do,
but I did it anyway.
And we, you know, said, hey,listen, when you get back, he
was going out of the country formonths on end.
(07:27):
And so I said, listen, when youget back, I want to reconnect.
Well, I forgot all about that.
But later on in the summer, Igot this call from him and said,
hey, can I get you to come pickme up?
I'm coming back.
I said, man, I am so busy withwork.
I'm committed.
I, you know, I've got...
I got the kids I got it's justtoo much there's just no way and
(07:50):
so I said no and about an hourlater I just had this feeling to
change my plans and so I did andI got someone to cover for the
kids I went and picked this thisguy up and we picked right back
up where we left off and youknow I was picking him up as a
friend this time and so we uhspent that 45 minute drive home
and about five minutes from thehouse he said hey can you peel
into the bank here I gotta getsome cash So we did that.
(08:12):
We got to his house.
I jumped out, helped him unloadhis suitcases and, you know, we
shook hands and he put somemoney in my hand as he did that
and jumped in the van and tookoff.
And as, you know, as I opened myhand, I was shocked because he'd
given me 300 bucks.
And, you know, I'd done ridesfor 40 bucks.
for that same ride.
(08:32):
And at the time, it kind ofmoved me so powerfully.
I'm like, this guy's dialed in,right?
I mean, that's insane.
It's a lot of money and theconversation and just everything
that he had to tell me andinspire me with.
And I was just moved.
And so I pulled myself in to alot of that type of content and
really, really dug in on that.
And it was a a real time ofchallenge for me.
(08:55):
And the reason it was a time ofchallenge for me is because my
whole life I had battled withlust.
Finding myself as an Australianwith an Aussie accent, you know,
in a foreign land, you know, Istand out and it's easy to have
a lot of attention.
And I'd always battled with thatin my life.
But my marriage had beenstruggling for so long and our
love languages had just beencompletely abandoned to the
(09:16):
point where, you know, you canjustify self-gratification
through lust.
And that had been a realchallenge for me my whole life.
And so As I'm digging in on thiscontent, I'm finding that my
life is at a real crossroad.
There's not enough, there wasnot enough bandwidth, not enough
energy for me to create thefuture that I wanted for myself.
(09:36):
my personal journey, for mymarriage, for my house, for my
children.
There was just not enough roomwith this last being such a
powerful distraction in my lifeand spending time looking at
images and getting caught up inthat.
It's so easy on social media tofind things to look at and just
found myself wasting so muchtime.
(09:57):
But I was also pouring a lot oftime into creating a bright,
healthy, abundant, lovingfuture.
And so I was at war in thisperiod of time where eventually
my work became so overwhelminglybusy that my wife and I had to
sit down and say, right, you'regoing to cut back your hours.
(10:17):
Well, when she cut back herhours, it meant that she was
going to sacrifice healthinsurance.
Well, of course, that was adecision that we had to make
because obviously that was a bitof a safety net for us, but it
was also very expensive out of apaycheck.
And I was losing money by notworking.
that extra time that she wouldhave to to qualify.
(10:38):
So we made this really bigdecision in January and so she
cut back and I took on all thework that was coming at me full
throttle and just went nuts andthings started to look good.
I was digging in on my material.
I was making really good moneyand you know started to pay back
some of the debt let alone youknow pay our bills.
We were starting to actuallycatch up a little bit but my
marriage was still suffering andIt was because I was in this
(11:01):
prison cell of lust that justhad a hold on me for decades.
And so...
I continued to work hard oneverything that I could and I
was putting more time.
I was getting up earlier andgoing for these three mile walks
in the morning at four or fivein the morning and just leaving
my cell phone behind and justpouring myself into prayer and
meditation and manifestation andjust creating a future in my
(11:23):
mind.
And so it became this war withinme, this battle that I was
wrestling with because whenyou're in a marriage that's
suffering and you feel abandonedand you're not having your needs
met, you justify what you'redoing, right?
You justify falling back intoself-gratification and taking
care of that, thinking, well,you know, it's natural and I'm a
man with testosterone.
I've got needs and, you know,this is how, you know, I'm going
(11:46):
to do it.
And so it just became this cruxof war that I was in.
You know, you're not worthy tohave anything other than being a
carpenter.
You're never going to be able tohelp anybody if you can't
overcome anything yourself.
You're going to fail.
You're going to lose anothermarriage.
You're going to lose your kids.
You know, this wall.
And I was so busy with work thatwhen you're tired and you're
(12:08):
mentally fatigued, you just keepfalling.
And so there'd be days where I'dbe on fire, days where I'd
stumble.
And then one day I was workingon a job, which, you know,
again, 30 years of doing thisstuff.
I'm a one-man band of all donethings on my own and I was
working on this job and I'dgotten everything done.
I'd been there for weeks.
I got everything done to thelast task.
(12:28):
It was five o'clock.
My wife was waiting.
She goes out dancing onThursdays and she had said, hey,
will you be home in time for meto get going?
And, you know, thumbs up typestuff.
Just got one last thing to do.
Everything was ready.
Been there about two, threeweeks.
Last task on a Thursday night.
And I went to do this task.
And as I'm doing this task, I'mvisually looking at my arm and I
(12:49):
watch my bicep tear off thebone.
I felt it and I heard it.
And at that moment, I had thisvoice.
It was my right arm.
It had this voice here.
I didn't hear anything.
But this voice said, this isyour last chance.
And I just said, I said oneword.
I said, understood.
I had to call my wife and tellher, hey, I tore my bicep.
(13:09):
You'll have to come get me typething.
I didn't tell her any of thatstory, of course.
Most of this story is going tobe heard by her for the first
time.
But I saw the surgeon the nextday.
He took one look at it and said,cancel the MRI.
You need to have surgery.
He scheduled me on Monday byclearing his own schedule.
He doesn't Doesn't work onMondays, but he cleared his
schedule to do surgery.
(13:30):
He drilled a hole through thebone, reattached the tendon, put
me in a soft splint cast for twoweeks.
I went back after two weeks.
They cut that off and they putme in a far less comfortable
brace and said, you'll be inthere for eight weeks.
So you can imagine someone thathas been physically active as a
(13:52):
carpenter for 30 years And as atrainer for 20, you can imagine
that this is a real kick in theteeth.
And there's a part of me thatsays, you did it to yourself.
Because for the first time, Ihave felt all of my energy
shift.
There is no room for anythingelse.
There is nothing but a goal nowof rebuilding myself into a
(14:14):
completely new man.
A lot of people out there knowme as someone who has changed
their life.
You said kill one of them.
But it's been done behind a veilof my own battles and mistakes
that I've made in my marriage,my prior marriage.
And, you know, I'm going toshare that journey with you.
I'm going to share that journeywith those that want to hear it.
I'm going to share that journeywith those that are struggling
(14:37):
through a lot of things becauseright now I'm in financial
ruins.
You know, my marriage is on thebrink, has been for years, but
it's really being tested now.
And of course, physically, I'mback to start again and just
hope that I can, you know, getback to the active Matt that I
am.
I'm driven more now than everand focused.
(14:59):
There's no sharing of thatenergy.
That energy that I am is notsplit between my goals, my
dreams, my hopes, my passions,expectancy for abundance, my
loving, caring, affectionatemarriage that I know I can have
and that I have causedpersonally.
wall to the up and physically Ineed to rebuild so thank you for
(15:21):
letting me share that with youand I'm excited more than ever
to do that
SPEAKER_01 (15:27):
yeah man that's that's powerful stuff I can hear
it in your voice and you know Ididn't know that whole story
until till now either so that'suh that's pretty powerful and
You know, you and I were justtalking on the, through text,
you know, a few weeks ago, wewere planning to get together
right before the accidenthappened.
And, you know, it's almost likesomebody had other plans that
(15:49):
kind of shifted us in adifferent direction because we I
think we were going to gettogether.
I was going to come down.
We're both in Florida now, and Iwas going to come down, and we
were going to just smack itaround the golf course like old
times.
That would have been fun, but Idon't know if the same thing
would have come from it asthat's come from that now
(16:10):
because out of that singularaccident with your arm, your
bicep, we're now speaking tohundreds of people, possibly
thousands.
hopefully millions down the roadand sharing our journey and our
struggles.
And hopefully that's going tolead to helping somebody else
(16:32):
out there.
SPEAKER_00 (16:32):
That's the plan.
I've had a vision of this for 10years and we're going to go back
in time and look at why thatdidn't happen 10 years ago.
But before we dig into theOrigin series, I'd like to hear
about what's been happening withyou and kind of what brought you
to the position that you're theright man to be on the other
side of this journey for me.
(16:53):
So walk me through a little biton what's been happening with
you.
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
Yeah, I think there's a reason that you came
up with this strength toovercome vision, this idea.
And it's not two T-O, it's twoas in the number two, right?
That's right.
It's almost like it's meant tobe with the two of us here.
And I can relate to a lot of thepain that you're feeling just
(17:17):
because I've struggled I'll saymy whole adult life with
depression and riding the highsand lows, the roller coasters up
and down.
Probably I was that way as a kidas well.
It just wasn't really diagnosedor looked at, but there were
probably some underlying thingsthere from the past.
(17:38):
But ever since I was 19 yearsold, I've been on antidepressant
medication.
I can probably list you...
more medications than you couldever think of that I've been on.
It's like a dictionary at thispoint of medication.
And it's kind of sad becauseover the years, it's almost like
(17:59):
some things work, some thingsdon't, some things work for a
while, then they stop working.
And at this point, if I was 19when I started, I think I
started taking Prozac at age 19,At this point, it's almost like
I have to have some sort ofcocktail of medication to work
(18:20):
correctly.
Currently, I'm on an atypicalSSRI type of medication and an
antipsychotic medicationcombined.
This is the type of medicationthey give folks with
schizophrenia and bipolardisorder.
but it's used in my case to kindof interact with the SSRI and
(18:42):
have a greater effect.
And that's something that not alot of people know about me is
that I've, I've I'm on fairlystrong medication to handle my,
my day-to-day life.
And, you know, my whole lifeI've been an achiever.
I call myself an achiever.
And I think a lot of that, a lotof those achievements and those,
those things that people know meas, whether it's a, you know, a,
(19:05):
a high school basketball player,a college golfer, a PGA
professional, a fitness trainer,a coach, a gym owner, soon to be
father now.
We've got a baby coming in July.
But a lot of those things, thoseachievements that I've racked up
over the years have been kind ofa coping mechanism to deal with
(19:29):
a lot of the pain I feel on aday-to-day basis.
So when I see someone and hearsomeone like you struggling at
this point, I can relate to it.
I can put myself in their shoes.
And I think that's partly one ofthe reasons that you and I both
(19:50):
went into the fitness space isto help people that are hurting
and struggling.
Sometimes it looks like, yeah,they've got to lose some weight
and they want to put on musclemass or they want to fit into
this dress or they, you know,they want to get the
triglycerides down for thedoctor.
(20:10):
But I think there's a lot ofunderlying emotional pain and
struggle there that you and Ihave helped have helped people
with in the past.
And, you know, it's it's eyeopening.
I know it's going to be eyeopening for for a lot of folks
out there listening that bothyou and I have struggled and
kind of been on the the paincalled the pain train ourselves,
(20:34):
you know, even though we're theones in position to try to be
helping others.
Yeah, I mean,
SPEAKER_00 (20:38):
that that's so happening to me.
I knew you pretty well back inthe time.
And that's news to me.
But it doesn't change anything Ithink of you, because the lens I
look through now is completelydifferent.
And it's been that way for awhile.
But I look at your story.
And obviously, we're nottogether now in the same space.
But you know, I'd be like highfiving you for sharing that and
(21:00):
coming coming out with yourbattle on that because i think
as leaders in fitness peoplejust expect us to have
everything else taken care ofyeah and that hasn't always been
the case so thank you forsharing that portion of your
battle yeah is that somethingthat kind of works on you as you
(21:20):
come up to being a father againand not again but you know in
addition to rather how does thatfeel
SPEAKER_01 (21:26):
Well, it's that feeling of not having it all
together and struggling on aday-to-day basis just to exist,
just to be, just to function.
And then now the thought is outthere and the reality is coming
that I've got to take care ofand I'm responsible for another
human being.
And I think there's a lot offathers out there, a lot of men
(21:46):
out there that are in a similarboat or will be at some point.
And I'm getting ready to gothrough it myself.
And, you know, it's tough, butit's also an amazing, you know,
thing that my wife and I areabout to embark on.
And, you know, I'm excited toshare it with the folks out
(22:07):
there and kind of share mystruggles.
And like you and I have talkedabout, there's no real prep for
it.
There's nothing, no help outthere.
So, We're going in blind, andI'm going to learn on the fly
like I think a lot of fathersdo.
But it's definitely achallenging time for me just
(22:31):
because, like I said, I've gotthat underlying past with the
depression.
We've uprooted our whole livesover the last year, moving away
from Roanoke and down toFlorida.
We're here for at least threeyears with Erica's medical
residency at the Mayo Clinic.
And for me, I gave up my career.
(22:51):
Essentially, I sold my gym up inRoanoke, gave that up to be able
to move down here and reallysupport her dream and her
vision.
And so it was an interestingthing for someone like me as
such an achiever, like I callmyself, to give that up.
(23:13):
And now I'm on a track whereit's looking like I'm going to
be a stay-at-home dad.
And that's tough for me to finda purpose in.
And do I think it'll happen?
Yes, because I think it's goingto be amazing.
But for someone who's labeledthemselves as an entrepreneur or
as a business owner, a coach, atrainer, former golf pro, to now
(23:35):
have none of those things tofall back on, to identify myself
as, it's going to be Ryan, thefather.
And that's going to changethings.
dramatically.
Physically, I'm not where youare in terms of your injury, but
folks out there will notice I'vegot a big scar on my neck here
(23:55):
if you're watching the video.
Really, I didn't tell anybodyabout this, partly because it
was almost like a falling fromthe top type of situation where
I had become so injured and sodebilitated by my neck pain and
There's a lot of people outthere that know I dealt with
(24:17):
some neck and shoulder pain.
And back in my gym, I wouldn'tpress things overhead or do a
lot of overhead movements overthe last few years.
But it had gotten to a pointwhere it was just affecting my
day-to-day life, affecting mymood, affecting my relationship.
And I went ahead and lastSeptember had...
(24:39):
neck surgery.
So I had two discs replaced inmy neck at C5-6 and C6-7.
And I didn't really post aboutit.
Didn't tell anybody.
You know, my family knew, acouple of close friends knew,
and then my wife was kind of myrock getting me through that
period.
But now we sit here about, youknow, seven, eight months later,
and I'm probably in the worstshape I've been in, in what, 10
(25:03):
years?
Since about the time you and Iwere getting after it at 180.
And, um, Then I transitionedinto gold and the whole CrossFit
revolution there at the gold gymin Roanoke.
At this point, I'm prettydeconditioned.
(25:24):
I haven't gained the weight andthings like that, but in terms
of muscle mass and aerobicability and just the volume of
training I'm doing, it's nowherenear the amount that it was
before.
And there's a lot of shameinvolved in that as someone who
came from the top and was apretty fit individual and led
(25:48):
others to become fitter.
And now I'm sitting around andI'm doing a lot of sitting,
sitting at home and a lot ofthinking, a lot of watching
YouTube and scrolling onFacebook.
And, you know, things have havegotten to a point where, you
know, yeah, my neck's OK.
I'm able to able to move around.
(26:09):
I don't have I would say thesurgery was a success, but
there's always that thought inthe back of my mind.
I shouldn't do this.
I shouldn't do that.
I don't want to re injuremyself.
And, you know, I've kind of Ihaven't joined a gym down here.
I haven't really found a fitnesscommunity.
And a lot of those things weighon me as well as coming from
(26:30):
someone who was Yeah, you know,as you were just saying that,
I...
SPEAKER_00 (26:54):
Just had that moment of, wow, here we are, really,
probably shocking.
I mean, over the years, I'vetried to count how many sessions
I may have trained over theyears.
And at one point, I think I cameup with this number of 40,000
sessions between my careers,even when I was in a gym back in
Australia when I first started.
And we'll get to that at somepoint.
(27:15):
But I think of that number, if Ihave, if it's 40,000 times I've
walked out and said, hey, how'syour day going?
You know, hay film.
And we all know, especially inthe golf community, they say
10,000 hours to be competent atsomething.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (27:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:31):
You know, so if I've done 40,000 hours, you know, I'd
consider myself a trainingveteran.
And obviously you've got a lotof hours in your resume too.
Yeah.
And yet here we sit knowing whatwe need to do, but with our
hands tied just a little bitfrom our own thoughts, our own
emotions, our own limitationsthat we've put on ourselves.
And neither of us have a gymmembership.
So I see a real opportunity forboth of us.
(27:54):
Partly why I wanted to be onthis and share this journey is
because quite often you'll jumpon a podcast or you'll watch a
video clip of some guy that'smade it all, right?
He's got the house, the car, thebeautiful wife, the kids, the
multi-million dollar paycheckper talk or performance.
And sometimes it's a bridge toofar to reach mentally.
(28:16):
Like, man, I can't even moveanymore.
My hand is so swollen that Ican't even make a fist with it.
During the last week, I've had afever for four days.
My face swells up.
It's gone down now, but my faceand lips, nasal area and into my
mouth and throat has swollen upso significantly that my wife
said, if it closes over, youjust can't breathe.
(28:36):
I wake up every day justthankful that I've been woken up
at this point because I'vealways historically had a hard
time recovering from anesthesia.
I don't take any medicationsthat recover naturally and my
body just doesn't like theprocess.
And so as you share your storyabout being on the other side of
the surgery and recovery, I'mkind of realizing that you and I
(28:57):
are teaming up, not just forthis podcast series, but for the
physical side of making acomeback.
SPEAKER_01 (29:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think there's a, there's areason we've reconnected and
gotten back together.
And, uh, you know, a lot of, alot of folks know us from
different eras of our lives.
And so, uh, You know, a lot ofpeople have different realities
of how we are or were.
And I think this is going toshock some people that we're two
(29:28):
guys sitting here.
And, you know, we've got somethings that are going on in our
lives.
And we're willing to take peoplethrough this journey with us as
we overcome and overcome.
You know, like the tagline says,you know, finding strength in
the weakness that we'reexperiencing.
SPEAKER_00 (29:47):
Well, three weeks ago, I was just excited to get a
little bit of debt paid off fromsome work that I had done.
And now here I am at theabsolute lowest point.
One of my lowest points.
I've got some pretty low lowsthat I'm going to be digging in
with you that you don't know.
In fact, I'm going to share somestuff that nobody knows.
(30:11):
Not a soul.
And it's going to be a lot offun to share that stuff.
So it's no coincidence in mymind that you're at this point
in your life and that I'm hereat the same time.
And I can't be more excited, tobe honest with you, of filming
the process of getting up.
You know, so much stuff outthere is already done.
And you're reading about what'salready happened and hearing
(30:32):
about it.
And that's fine.
They're good, too.
And I love them.
So I'm excited to be the guysout there that are actually
saying, right, we're in it rightnow.
We're with you.
We're in that hole together.
And we'd love to be on thejourney with other guys out
there that resonate and coulduse some support.
Because I know that along myjourney, there's been some guys
that have really stood up andcarried me through this.
SPEAKER_01 (30:51):
And I think there's a lot out there.
There's a lot of guys out there.
And it's not necessarily kosherto talk about.
It's more...
It's more accepted to put on amask and hide the pain and
provide and support and put asmile on your face.
(31:12):
And there's a lot of people outthere hurting that need to hear
that there's people goingthrough it with them.
and we can grow together and andand come out the other side
together
SPEAKER_00 (31:24):
yeah absolutely brother i'm pumped to be doing
it with you i can't wait to filmthe first episode in our origin
series and uh and start diggingon some of that and getting it
out to people so we appreciateyou guys out there that are
listening some of you arewatching we look forward to
getting to know those that wedon't and obviously reconnecting
with some that we've lost trackwith in the past so until that
(31:44):
time i'll sign off there andtell you guys to stay strong
you're not alone you guys willuh We'll
SPEAKER_01 (31:50):
catch you next Friday for next episode.
Take care out there.
Leave your ego at the door and get ready to be
raw.
This is Strength to Overcome,where real men find their
strength in weakness.
Hi guys, welcome to the Strengthto Overcome podcast.
I'm your co-host Ryan with myman Matt here.
(00:20):
And Matt, we've reconnectedafter a number of years and I'm
pumped to be on here with you,brother.
SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
Ryan, it's amazing that it's been this long for
someone that I value so highly.
It's kind of sad and I kind ofwant to dig in on a little bit
of that and obviously just letyou know that I've thought about
you a lot during those 12, 13years.
So I apologize for the timeswhere I probably could have
(00:48):
reached out, wanted to reachout, but didn't.
So we're going to unpack some ofthat here today and moving
forward.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Yeah, it's been, like you said, 12, 13 years.
Probably haven't seen each othersince, I think, 2012, 2013
range, so...
you know, just to give folks abackground a little bit, you
know, you were my trainer at onepoint, a mentor at one point,
still a mentor, but we trainedtogether and you were one of the
(01:16):
ones that inspired my fitnessjourney and was kind of a role
model for me getting started inthe, eventually getting started
in the fitness space.
So really appreciative toreconnect and get back with you
here.
SPEAKER_00 (01:28):
Yeah.
And I can't wait to hear thestory because I actually don't
know it.
And the timeline of, you Meleaving that area and you doing
that obviously has quite a fewhours in there of dialogue to
unpack.
So I'm very excited to hear it.
And that's going to be somethingwe're going to be moving forward
with in future episodes.
So congratulations on it.
And I want to hear more abouthow you went from where you were
(01:51):
at the time to what you ended updoing.
Yeah, man.
So
SPEAKER_01 (01:55):
it's been a while, but like I said, pumped to be
back with you and catch me up alittle bit where you are now
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
and what's going on in your world.
Well, that's a really greatquestion.
And I think that, you know, thelast 18 months of my life will
probably snapshot that answerpretty well.
You know, I never likedFacebook.
So this is, you know, some goodirony here.
But I, 18 months ago, decided todo a 90-day challenge of my own
myself, right?
(02:22):
You know, I post a day for 90days.
You know, with the intent ofsharing, connecting, obviously
I'd been gone from Australia fora long time.
So I wanted to, you know,reconnect and share.
This is where I am.
This is what's happening.
And so I got...
90 days of post, I shared somestuff about my mom, my dad, my
brothers and sisters, mychildhood, put up some stuff
(02:42):
about my wife and kids, and alot of people didn't know me in
those roles.
And so it was a really kind ofcool experience.
As I got towards the end of that90 days, I realized that I was
going to take it in a directionof something that I'd been
battling with for about 10years, a project that had been
sort of given to me, but I'dnever really unpacked it.
And so I...
(03:04):
got to that 90th day in thatlast post and actually put up
three pictures.
I put up a picture of me and mypowers, you know, physically,
and then another picture of meand my lowest point.
But there was another picture.
It was just the logo.
And it was the logo of Strengthto Overcome.
And there was a caption therethat, you know, I went down the
process of sort of explaining,hey, listen, you know, The
(03:26):
backstory to this is a littledifficult.
It's got a lot to unpack andit's going to take a bit of
time, so be patient with me.
Well, thank you for everybodyfor being so patient.
It's something that I walkedaway from completely because I
didn't know how to share it orwhy to even share it.
And so fast forwarding to now,it's come full circle.
(03:52):
And so at the close of that 90days period, I had every
intention of going down thispath, but life got busy.
We had been in some financialtrouble around that time.
And so my wife, you know, wentout and said, well, I'm going to
start working.
And she went from being astay-at-home mom to accidentally
getting two jobs and workingseven days a week.
(04:13):
And it just happened so fastthat I ended up being a
stay-at-home dad, trying to dosome side jobs on the side.
And, you know, that wasn'tenough to cover our debt, let
alone our expenses.
And so I said, well, I'll...
I'll start Ubering, you know?
So I started Ubering and, youknow, getting up at three or
four in the morning and goingabout that as, you know, my
contribution to the household.
(04:34):
And so we were two ships in thenight, you know, and our
marriage was already in troubleat that point.
And, you know, I'd be up for,you know, different hours than
she was and she'd be late home.
And so we would be eating dinnerat, you know, 11 o'clock, 1130
at night, you know, after hernight shifts.
And so, you know, this went onfor a handful of months and, you
know, it really took a toll onus.
You know, it was long days forher, long days for me.
(04:55):
It was a real...
kicking the teeth from where wehad been financially.
We had been in a reallyincredible place, you know,
financial freedom.
And so we had this real shift inour household.
You know, nothing seemed to beworking.
Definitely a really tough time.
So I really started to thinkabout going back to training
after having walked away for afew years and just been that
stay-at-home dad.
And I got really, really closeto getting back into the
(05:17):
training field and putting onthat jacket, you know, that
crunch at the time, that crunchjacket of comfort.
that I knew and was good at.
And I had to make a decision andI chose not to go back.
And at the time of choosing notto go back, there was an
immediate shift in what washappening in my life.
I started to get carpentry jobsout of nowhere.
I started to get some realtraction on handyman work and
(05:41):
painting jobs.
And it just kind of exploded onme to the point where you know,
we started to have a realconflict with our schedules
because she was working so manydays a week and I, you know, had
this work coming at me that waspaying really good money and I
couldn't take it all.
So I'd take the kids with me onthese jobs and take snacks and
pillows and iPads and, you know,the jobs that I could, you know,
(06:01):
they'd sit there and they'd bethere for the whole day, you
know, just being littletroopers, you know, they're
three and, you know, at thetime, two and four, right?
And just, you know, reallytough, you know, tools in the
back of the sports van and babyseats and just, But, you know,
my wife couldn't take him withher and I could take him with
me.
So I spent the summer of lastyear just plowing through as
(06:23):
many jobs as I could, taking himwhere I could and, you know,
getting help when I couldn'ttake him with me from, you know,
her parents and even went downthe babysitting.
route and nannying and thingslike that so it's just a real
timeline of chaos but you knowwe were you know treading water
and then i started to get intosome self-help books and some
motivational stuff and things ofthat nature but i'd always done
(06:45):
but just got away from and soyou know one day i had uh you
know while i was ubering i'dtaken this chap to the airport
And in this 45-minute ride, itwas five in the morning, it was
pitch black, and I'd taken thischap to the airport, and it was
just the most powerful 45-minutedrive I'd ever had.
We were sharing things, and hewas just opening my world to a
(07:07):
whole new concept of, you know,creating your own path and
prayer and meditation and, youknow, your expectancy and such.
And so at the end of that Thatride, we had, you know, swapped
numbers, which, you know, I'msure you're not allowed to do,
but I did it anyway.
And we, you know, said, hey,listen, when you get back, he
was going out of the country formonths on end.
(07:27):
And so I said, listen, when youget back, I want to reconnect.
Well, I forgot all about that.
But later on in the summer, Igot this call from him and said,
hey, can I get you to come pickme up?
I'm coming back.
I said, man, I am so busy withwork.
I'm committed.
I, you know, I've got...
I got the kids I got it's justtoo much there's just no way and
(07:50):
so I said no and about an hourlater I just had this feeling to
change my plans and so I did andI got someone to cover for the
kids I went and picked this thisguy up and we picked right back
up where we left off and youknow I was picking him up as a
friend this time and so we uhspent that 45 minute drive home
and about five minutes from thehouse he said hey can you peel
into the bank here I gotta getsome cash So we did that.
(08:12):
We got to his house.
I jumped out, helped him unloadhis suitcases and, you know, we
shook hands and he put somemoney in my hand as he did that
and jumped in the van and tookoff.
And as, you know, as I opened myhand, I was shocked because he'd
given me 300 bucks.
And, you know, I'd done ridesfor 40 bucks.
for that same ride.
(08:32):
And at the time, it kind ofmoved me so powerfully.
I'm like, this guy's dialed in,right?
I mean, that's insane.
It's a lot of money and theconversation and just everything
that he had to tell me andinspire me with.
And I was just moved.
And so I pulled myself in to alot of that type of content and
really, really dug in on that.
And it was a a real time ofchallenge for me.
(08:55):
And the reason it was a time ofchallenge for me is because my
whole life I had battled withlust.
Finding myself as an Australianwith an Aussie accent, you know,
in a foreign land, you know, Istand out and it's easy to have
a lot of attention.
And I'd always battled with thatin my life.
But my marriage had beenstruggling for so long and our
love languages had just beencompletely abandoned to the
(09:16):
point where, you know, you canjustify self-gratification
through lust.
And that had been a realchallenge for me my whole life.
And so As I'm digging in on thiscontent, I'm finding that my
life is at a real crossroad.
There's not enough, there wasnot enough bandwidth, not enough
energy for me to create thefuture that I wanted for myself.
(09:36):
my personal journey, for mymarriage, for my house, for my
children.
There was just not enough roomwith this last being such a
powerful distraction in my lifeand spending time looking at
images and getting caught up inthat.
It's so easy on social media tofind things to look at and just
found myself wasting so muchtime.
(09:57):
But I was also pouring a lot oftime into creating a bright,
healthy, abundant, lovingfuture.
And so I was at war in thisperiod of time where eventually
my work became so overwhelminglybusy that my wife and I had to
sit down and say, right, you'regoing to cut back your hours.
(10:17):
Well, when she cut back herhours, it meant that she was
going to sacrifice healthinsurance.
Well, of course, that was adecision that we had to make
because obviously that was a bitof a safety net for us, but it
was also very expensive out of apaycheck.
And I was losing money by notworking.
that extra time that she wouldhave to to qualify.
(10:38):
So we made this really bigdecision in January and so she
cut back and I took on all thework that was coming at me full
throttle and just went nuts andthings started to look good.
I was digging in on my material.
I was making really good moneyand you know started to pay back
some of the debt let alone youknow pay our bills.
We were starting to actuallycatch up a little bit but my
marriage was still suffering andIt was because I was in this
(11:01):
prison cell of lust that justhad a hold on me for decades.
And so...
I continued to work hard oneverything that I could and I
was putting more time.
I was getting up earlier andgoing for these three mile walks
in the morning at four or fivein the morning and just leaving
my cell phone behind and justpouring myself into prayer and
meditation and manifestation andjust creating a future in my
(11:23):
mind.
And so it became this war withinme, this battle that I was
wrestling with because whenyou're in a marriage that's
suffering and you feel abandonedand you're not having your needs
met, you justify what you'redoing, right?
You justify falling back intoself-gratification and taking
care of that, thinking, well,you know, it's natural and I'm a
man with testosterone.
I've got needs and, you know,this is how, you know, I'm going
(11:46):
to do it.
And so it just became this cruxof war that I was in.
You know, you're not worthy tohave anything other than being a
carpenter.
You're never going to be able tohelp anybody if you can't
overcome anything yourself.
You're going to fail.
You're going to lose anothermarriage.
You're going to lose your kids.
You know, this wall.
And I was so busy with work thatwhen you're tired and you're
(12:08):
mentally fatigued, you just keepfalling.
And so there'd be days where I'dbe on fire, days where I'd
stumble.
And then one day I was workingon a job, which, you know,
again, 30 years of doing thisstuff.
I'm a one-man band of all donethings on my own and I was
working on this job and I'dgotten everything done.
I'd been there for weeks.
I got everything done to thelast task.
(12:28):
It was five o'clock.
My wife was waiting.
She goes out dancing onThursdays and she had said, hey,
will you be home in time for meto get going?
And, you know, thumbs up typestuff.
Just got one last thing to do.
Everything was ready.
Been there about two, threeweeks.
Last task on a Thursday night.
And I went to do this task.
And as I'm doing this task, I'mvisually looking at my arm and I
(12:49):
watch my bicep tear off thebone.
I felt it and I heard it.
And at that moment, I had thisvoice.
It was my right arm.
It had this voice here.
I didn't hear anything.
But this voice said, this isyour last chance.
And I just said, I said oneword.
I said, understood.
I had to call my wife and tellher, hey, I tore my bicep.
(13:09):
You'll have to come get me typething.
I didn't tell her any of thatstory, of course.
Most of this story is going tobe heard by her for the first
time.
But I saw the surgeon the nextday.
He took one look at it and said,cancel the MRI.
You need to have surgery.
He scheduled me on Monday byclearing his own schedule.
He doesn't Doesn't work onMondays, but he cleared his
schedule to do surgery.
(13:30):
He drilled a hole through thebone, reattached the tendon, put
me in a soft splint cast for twoweeks.
I went back after two weeks.
They cut that off and they putme in a far less comfortable
brace and said, you'll be inthere for eight weeks.
So you can imagine someone thathas been physically active as a
(13:52):
carpenter for 30 years And as atrainer for 20, you can imagine
that this is a real kick in theteeth.
And there's a part of me thatsays, you did it to yourself.
Because for the first time, Ihave felt all of my energy
shift.
There is no room for anythingelse.
There is nothing but a goal nowof rebuilding myself into a
(14:14):
completely new man.
A lot of people out there knowme as someone who has changed
their life.
You said kill one of them.
But it's been done behind a veilof my own battles and mistakes
that I've made in my marriage,my prior marriage.
And, you know, I'm going toshare that journey with you.
I'm going to share that journeywith those that want to hear it.
I'm going to share that journeywith those that are struggling
(14:37):
through a lot of things becauseright now I'm in financial
ruins.
You know, my marriage is on thebrink, has been for years, but
it's really being tested now.
And of course, physically, I'mback to start again and just
hope that I can, you know, getback to the active Matt that I
am.
I'm driven more now than everand focused.
(14:59):
There's no sharing of thatenergy.
That energy that I am is notsplit between my goals, my
dreams, my hopes, my passions,expectancy for abundance, my
loving, caring, affectionatemarriage that I know I can have
and that I have causedpersonally.
wall to the up and physically Ineed to rebuild so thank you for
(15:21):
letting me share that with youand I'm excited more than ever
to do that
SPEAKER_01 (15:27):
yeah man that's that's powerful stuff I can hear
it in your voice and you know Ididn't know that whole story
until till now either so that'suh that's pretty powerful and
You know, you and I were justtalking on the, through text,
you know, a few weeks ago, wewere planning to get together
right before the accidenthappened.
And, you know, it's almost likesomebody had other plans that
(15:49):
kind of shifted us in adifferent direction because we I
think we were going to gettogether.
I was going to come down.
We're both in Florida now, and Iwas going to come down, and we
were going to just smack itaround the golf course like old
times.
That would have been fun, but Idon't know if the same thing
would have come from it asthat's come from that now
(16:10):
because out of that singularaccident with your arm, your
bicep, we're now speaking tohundreds of people, possibly
thousands.
hopefully millions down the roadand sharing our journey and our
struggles.
And hopefully that's going tolead to helping somebody else
(16:32):
out there.
SPEAKER_00 (16:32):
That's the plan.
I've had a vision of this for 10years and we're going to go back
in time and look at why thatdidn't happen 10 years ago.
But before we dig into theOrigin series, I'd like to hear
about what's been happening withyou and kind of what brought you
to the position that you're theright man to be on the other
side of this journey for me.
(16:53):
So walk me through a little biton what's been happening with
you.
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
Yeah, I think there's a reason that you came
up with this strength toovercome vision, this idea.
And it's not two T-O, it's twoas in the number two, right?
That's right.
It's almost like it's meant tobe with the two of us here.
And I can relate to a lot of thepain that you're feeling just
(17:17):
because I've struggled I'll saymy whole adult life with
depression and riding the highsand lows, the roller coasters up
and down.
Probably I was that way as a kidas well.
It just wasn't really diagnosedor looked at, but there were
probably some underlying thingsthere from the past.
(17:38):
But ever since I was 19 yearsold, I've been on antidepressant
medication.
I can probably list you...
more medications than you couldever think of that I've been on.
It's like a dictionary at thispoint of medication.
And it's kind of sad becauseover the years, it's almost like
(17:59):
some things work, some thingsdon't, some things work for a
while, then they stop working.
And at this point, if I was 19when I started, I think I
started taking Prozac at age 19,At this point, it's almost like
I have to have some sort ofcocktail of medication to work
(18:20):
correctly.
Currently, I'm on an atypicalSSRI type of medication and an
antipsychotic medicationcombined.
This is the type of medicationthey give folks with
schizophrenia and bipolardisorder.
but it's used in my case to kindof interact with the SSRI and
(18:42):
have a greater effect.
And that's something that not alot of people know about me is
that I've, I've I'm on fairlystrong medication to handle my,
my day-to-day life.
And, you know, my whole lifeI've been an achiever.
I call myself an achiever.
And I think a lot of that, a lotof those achievements and those,
those things that people know meas, whether it's a, you know, a,
(19:05):
a high school basketball player,a college golfer, a PGA
professional, a fitness trainer,a coach, a gym owner, soon to be
father now.
We've got a baby coming in July.
But a lot of those things, thoseachievements that I've racked up
over the years have been kind ofa coping mechanism to deal with
(19:29):
a lot of the pain I feel on aday-to-day basis.
So when I see someone and hearsomeone like you struggling at
this point, I can relate to it.
I can put myself in their shoes.
And I think that's partly one ofthe reasons that you and I both
(19:50):
went into the fitness space isto help people that are hurting
and struggling.
Sometimes it looks like, yeah,they've got to lose some weight
and they want to put on musclemass or they want to fit into
this dress or they, you know,they want to get the
triglycerides down for thedoctor.
(20:10):
But I think there's a lot ofunderlying emotional pain and
struggle there that you and Ihave helped have helped people
with in the past.
And, you know, it's it's eyeopening.
I know it's going to be eyeopening for for a lot of folks
out there listening that bothyou and I have struggled and
kind of been on the the paincalled the pain train ourselves,
(20:34):
you know, even though we're theones in position to try to be
helping others.
Yeah, I mean,
SPEAKER_00 (20:38):
that that's so happening to me.
I knew you pretty well back inthe time.
And that's news to me.
But it doesn't change anything Ithink of you, because the lens I
look through now is completelydifferent.
And it's been that way for awhile.
But I look at your story.
And obviously, we're nottogether now in the same space.
But you know, I'd be like highfiving you for sharing that and
(21:00):
coming coming out with yourbattle on that because i think
as leaders in fitness peoplejust expect us to have
everything else taken care ofyeah and that hasn't always been
the case so thank you forsharing that portion of your
battle yeah is that somethingthat kind of works on you as you
(21:20):
come up to being a father againand not again but you know in
addition to rather how does thatfeel
SPEAKER_01 (21:26):
Well, it's that feeling of not having it all
together and struggling on aday-to-day basis just to exist,
just to be, just to function.
And then now the thought is outthere and the reality is coming
that I've got to take care ofand I'm responsible for another
human being.
And I think there's a lot offathers out there, a lot of men
(21:46):
out there that are in a similarboat or will be at some point.
And I'm getting ready to gothrough it myself.
And, you know, it's tough, butit's also an amazing, you know,
thing that my wife and I areabout to embark on.
And, you know, I'm excited toshare it with the folks out
(22:07):
there and kind of share mystruggles.
And like you and I have talkedabout, there's no real prep for
it.
There's nothing, no help outthere.
So, We're going in blind, andI'm going to learn on the fly
like I think a lot of fathersdo.
But it's definitely achallenging time for me just
(22:31):
because, like I said, I've gotthat underlying past with the
depression.
We've uprooted our whole livesover the last year, moving away
from Roanoke and down toFlorida.
We're here for at least threeyears with Erica's medical
residency at the Mayo Clinic.
And for me, I gave up my career.
(22:51):
Essentially, I sold my gym up inRoanoke, gave that up to be able
to move down here and reallysupport her dream and her
vision.
And so it was an interestingthing for someone like me as
such an achiever, like I callmyself, to give that up.
(23:13):
And now I'm on a track whereit's looking like I'm going to
be a stay-at-home dad.
And that's tough for me to finda purpose in.
And do I think it'll happen?
Yes, because I think it's goingto be amazing.
But for someone who's labeledthemselves as an entrepreneur or
as a business owner, a coach, atrainer, former golf pro, to now
(23:35):
have none of those things tofall back on, to identify myself
as, it's going to be Ryan, thefather.
And that's going to changethings.
dramatically.
Physically, I'm not where youare in terms of your injury, but
folks out there will notice I'vegot a big scar on my neck here
(23:55):
if you're watching the video.
Really, I didn't tell anybodyabout this, partly because it
was almost like a falling fromthe top type of situation where
I had become so injured and sodebilitated by my neck pain and
There's a lot of people outthere that know I dealt with
(24:17):
some neck and shoulder pain.
And back in my gym, I wouldn'tpress things overhead or do a
lot of overhead movements overthe last few years.
But it had gotten to a pointwhere it was just affecting my
day-to-day life, affecting mymood, affecting my relationship.
And I went ahead and lastSeptember had...
(24:39):
neck surgery.
So I had two discs replaced inmy neck at C5-6 and C6-7.
And I didn't really post aboutit.
Didn't tell anybody.
You know, my family knew, acouple of close friends knew,
and then my wife was kind of myrock getting me through that
period.
But now we sit here about, youknow, seven, eight months later,
and I'm probably in the worstshape I've been in, in what, 10
(25:03):
years?
Since about the time you and Iwere getting after it at 180.
And, um, Then I transitionedinto gold and the whole CrossFit
revolution there at the gold gymin Roanoke.
At this point, I'm prettydeconditioned.
(25:24):
I haven't gained the weight andthings like that, but in terms
of muscle mass and aerobicability and just the volume of
training I'm doing, it's nowherenear the amount that it was
before.
And there's a lot of shameinvolved in that as someone who
came from the top and was apretty fit individual and led
(25:48):
others to become fitter.
And now I'm sitting around andI'm doing a lot of sitting,
sitting at home and a lot ofthinking, a lot of watching
YouTube and scrolling onFacebook.
And, you know, things have havegotten to a point where, you
know, yeah, my neck's OK.
I'm able to able to move around.
(26:09):
I don't have I would say thesurgery was a success, but
there's always that thought inthe back of my mind.
I shouldn't do this.
I shouldn't do that.
I don't want to re injuremyself.
And, you know, I've kind of Ihaven't joined a gym down here.
I haven't really found a fitnesscommunity.
And a lot of those things weighon me as well as coming from
(26:30):
someone who was Yeah, you know,as you were just saying that,
I...
SPEAKER_00 (26:54):
Just had that moment of, wow, here we are, really,
probably shocking.
I mean, over the years, I'vetried to count how many sessions
I may have trained over theyears.
And at one point, I think I cameup with this number of 40,000
sessions between my careers,even when I was in a gym back in
Australia when I first started.
And we'll get to that at somepoint.
(27:15):
But I think of that number, if Ihave, if it's 40,000 times I've
walked out and said, hey, how'syour day going?
You know, hay film.
And we all know, especially inthe golf community, they say
10,000 hours to be competent atsomething.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (27:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:31):
You know, so if I've done 40,000 hours, you know, I'd
consider myself a trainingveteran.
And obviously you've got a lotof hours in your resume too.
Yeah.
And yet here we sit knowing whatwe need to do, but with our
hands tied just a little bitfrom our own thoughts, our own
emotions, our own limitationsthat we've put on ourselves.
And neither of us have a gymmembership.
So I see a real opportunity forboth of us.
(27:54):
Partly why I wanted to be onthis and share this journey is
because quite often you'll jumpon a podcast or you'll watch a
video clip of some guy that'smade it all, right?
He's got the house, the car, thebeautiful wife, the kids, the
multi-million dollar paycheckper talk or performance.
And sometimes it's a bridge toofar to reach mentally.
(28:16):
Like, man, I can't even moveanymore.
My hand is so swollen that Ican't even make a fist with it.
During the last week, I've had afever for four days.
My face swells up.
It's gone down now, but my faceand lips, nasal area and into my
mouth and throat has swollen upso significantly that my wife
said, if it closes over, youjust can't breathe.
(28:36):
I wake up every day justthankful that I've been woken up
at this point because I'vealways historically had a hard
time recovering from anesthesia.
I don't take any medicationsthat recover naturally and my
body just doesn't like theprocess.
And so as you share your storyabout being on the other side of
the surgery and recovery, I'mkind of realizing that you and I
(28:57):
are teaming up, not just forthis podcast series, but for the
physical side of making acomeback.
SPEAKER_01 (29:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think there's a, there's areason we've reconnected and
gotten back together.
And, uh, you know, a lot of, alot of folks know us from
different eras of our lives.
And so, uh, You know, a lot ofpeople have different realities
of how we are or were.
And I think this is going toshock some people that we're two
(29:28):
guys sitting here.
And, you know, we've got somethings that are going on in our
lives.
And we're willing to take peoplethrough this journey with us as
we overcome and overcome.
You know, like the tagline says,you know, finding strength in
the weakness that we'reexperiencing.
SPEAKER_00 (29:47):
Well, three weeks ago, I was just excited to get a
little bit of debt paid off fromsome work that I had done.
And now here I am at theabsolute lowest point.
One of my lowest points.
I've got some pretty low lowsthat I'm going to be digging in
with you that you don't know.
In fact, I'm going to share somestuff that nobody knows.
(30:11):
Not a soul.
And it's going to be a lot offun to share that stuff.
So it's no coincidence in mymind that you're at this point
in your life and that I'm hereat the same time.
And I can't be more excited, tobe honest with you, of filming
the process of getting up.
You know, so much stuff outthere is already done.
And you're reading about what'salready happened and hearing
(30:32):
about it.
And that's fine.
They're good, too.
And I love them.
So I'm excited to be the guysout there that are actually
saying, right, we're in it rightnow.
We're with you.
We're in that hole together.
And we'd love to be on thejourney with other guys out
there that resonate and coulduse some support.
Because I know that along myjourney, there's been some guys
that have really stood up andcarried me through this.
SPEAKER_01 (30:51):
And I think there's a lot out there.
There's a lot of guys out there.
And it's not necessarily kosherto talk about.
It's more...
It's more accepted to put on amask and hide the pain and
provide and support and put asmile on your face.
(31:12):
And there's a lot of people outthere hurting that need to hear
that there's people goingthrough it with them.
and we can grow together and andand come out the other side
together
SPEAKER_00 (31:24):
yeah absolutely brother i'm pumped to be doing
it with you i can't wait to filmthe first episode in our origin
series and uh and start diggingon some of that and getting it
out to people so we appreciateyou guys out there that are
listening some of you arewatching we look forward to
getting to know those that wedon't and obviously reconnecting
with some that we've lost trackwith in the past so until that
(31:44):
time i'll sign off there andtell you guys to stay strong
you're not alone you guys willuh We'll
SPEAKER_01 (31:50):
catch you next Friday for next episode.
Take care out there.
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