A Series of Serendipitous Mistakes with Tony Horton

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Every now and then we get lucky enough to interview a true titan of health and wellness business.
Today's guest is fitness industry legend Tony Horton.
You probably remember Tony as the creator of the Totally Crazy P90X workout,
which really was at the forefront of extreme fitness programming.
How many of us have pulled our P90X DVDs out of storage in the last few months of home workouts?

(00:22):
Well, he's also the author of top selling books, Bring It, Crush It,
and his latest motivational book, The Big Picture, 11 Laws That Will Change Your Life.
He's a world-class speaker and presenter and has appeared on countless television
programs as a fitness and lifestyle expert to promote healthy living through
exercise and proper nutrition.
Tony believes that real and lasting change can happen when we commit to health as a lifestyle.

(00:47):
Exercise, whole foods, and the right mindset is the formula that leads to a
vibrant, productive, and full life for anyone who focuses on being the best they can be.
He's a testament to this as his energy throughout this interview is off the
charts and totally infectious.
There's almost nothing more inspiring than talking to a person who's cruised
into their 60s with the level of health and vitality that Tony walks around with.

(01:11):
It will make you want to take a good hard look at what you're doing to make
sure you're still epic in your 60s.
We'd love to have you screenshot your podcast player and tag us on Instagram at health coach radio.
By the way, the show notes for this episode and all previous episodes of health
coach radio can always be found at primalhealthcoach.com slash radio.
In the meantime, let's get on

(01:32):
with the show and welcome absolute fitness industry legend, Tony Horton.
Hi, I'm Erin Power. And I'm Laura Rupsis. We're certified health coaches and
this is health coach radio.
This podcast is about the art, science and business of health coaching.
We share our Our insider tips to help you become a better coach and entrepreneur.

(01:53):
And we interview expert guests to discover how they've made it in this growing field.
It's time for health coaches to make an impact. It's time for Health Coach Radio.
Tony Horton, thank you so much for joining us. What an honor to have you on
Health Coach Radio. How are you?
I am very well. Thank you both. Ladies, I'm looking forward to it.

(02:14):
Us too. I've been looking forward to this one for a while.
So our normal MO here, we like to have every guest. Give us their version of your backstory.
So your sort of origin story about who Tony Horton is and how you got here.
All right. Well, you know, I grew up on the East Coast. I was an Army brat.
My father, we moved about six times before sixth grade, fifth grade.

(02:35):
So, you know, I was all over the place. Some locales, we weren't even there
an entire year, you know.
So that was a little difficult for me as a child, not really being settled into
one place, not having the same group of friends, going to different schools,
different teachers, different teaching methods.
And I was a scrawny little kid. I was I had a speech impediment called.

(02:56):
Called Cluttering, I later discovered, which made me a target, obviously.
So, you know, not athletic, speech impediment. I had ADD, probably ADHD, LMNOP, NYPD Blue.
I had all the acronyms when I was a wee lad.
So, you know, I was frightened to death most of the time, probably well into

(03:18):
my 40s. You know, I'm kidding.
But yeah, I mean, you know, it was really difficult for me.
And we finally settled in this place called Trumbull, Connecticut.
I was born in Rhode Island.
And, you know, I mean, it was rough. But then I got through high school and
I managed to go to deal with that. And I went off to URI, University of Rhode Island.

(03:40):
And I kind of felt like I kind of reinvent myself. I had this really interesting
conversation with my father's brother, my uncle.
He said, hey, you know, forget about what's happened to you all these years.
And I know you've been struggling quite a bit. But, you know,
you're going to this new place.
Nobody Nobody knows you kind of lay low, spend more time listening.
You know what I mean? Keep your, your trap shut for a little while.
And, um, and that helped me a lot. You know what I mean?

(04:01):
Um, I didn't, I didn't, you know, even in college, uh, you know, I had a C minus average.
I wasn't doing very well. I never even graduated. I'm still six credits short,
but I did take a weightlifting class.
I remember the one thing that sort of really, uh, uh, up to my GPA was the fact
that I was just taking this class just to get biceps so I could attract girls.

(04:22):
Apparently girls like personalities as well.
I was unfamiliar with that, knowing that. So that developed later.
But yeah, I mean, it did give me confidence. Obviously, you know,
if you know anything about exercise and fitness, just the fact that you're moving
and you're exercising and you're taking in this oxygen that you normally wouldn't
if you're just sitting around, you know, and hanging out with your friends.
But I just felt sharper and smarter

(04:44):
and my attention span improved and all these things were happening.
And I didn't really know why. I didn't know the science behind it, but it was happening.
And that one semester, my GPA went up. Weird. I showed up to class more.
More weird. I took more notes. You know what I mean? I slept better.
There were some interesting things happening.
But, you know, then I came out to California. I came out in 1980.

(05:07):
So I've been out here for a long time. I just, I came out here on a bet,
really. A friend of mine said, hey, you want to come out for the summer, see what happens.
And with no little, with no hesitation and 400 bucks in my wallet, I did.
You know, I ran out of money in Boulder, Colorado. And I was,
I was a street performer at that point.
I would, in the summers back in college, I was waiting tables,

(05:29):
but I would spend a lot of money on things I didn't need.
And so I'd have to go out in the street and do these mime routines.
Yeah, I mean, I was very animated. A lot of it was X-rated, stuff I probably
can't even do anymore, technically.
But it was, you know, it was provocative and it was outrageous.
And, you know, and I would make 25, 30 bucks. and I could live on that for a

(05:53):
little while. And so I had to do that in Boulder,
And Boulder is one of these places where there's street performers everywhere.
At least there was back then. I think it hasn't changed.
And I made about $125, as I recall, which is, you know, holy crap,
more than a fourth of what I had before I started.
So that got me all the way to Orange County, and I slept on my buddy's sister's
floor for the whole summer.

(06:14):
And the only way I made money was, you know, painting houses and doing mime
down at the Huntington Pier.
And I was in California, man. It was 1980, and I was loving it,
you know. And then when it was time to go back to finish those six credits,
I told my parents I'm going to wait one more semester.
And everybody on the East Coast was still waiting. So four years later,

(06:34):
here I am. But, you know, I was, like I said, I wasn't a fitness guy.
But, you know, the one thing about California then, and it hasn't changed much
now, but the whole country is like this now.
I mean, that's how the whole California kind of set some trends, right?
So there were gyms on every corner here. And it was really amazing,
you know. And back on the East Coast, you saw them at the high school or the college.

(06:56):
There weren't gyms that you could join. There was no aerobics gyms or bodybuilding.
And they were here. This is cool, and this is new. And this is where the women
were. So that's where I went. I was looking for a partner.
And I went to clubs, too. But it just seemed like a better way to meet real
people who were sort of interested in their health and their wellness.
And that's where I met people like Mark Sisson. Anderson and,

(07:19):
you know, back in the old days, guys like Andrew Lessman and many others that
are done really well in this industry.
And yeah, so I got, you know, I was into it. I was taking aerobics classes and
I was going to the track with Mark.
You know, Mark was a track athlete. So, you know, I was just sort of learning
about what it took to get fit and to get strong.
Now, I was still drinking beer and smoking pot and doing lines.

(07:44):
You know what I mean? I was still that idiot, you know what I mean,
on some level because I was a young kid in California and easily swayed to do
things I shouldn't have been doing.
And then eventually, you know, I got a real job. I mean, I was doing everything.
I was a handyman and I was a plumber and I was a carpenter and I was,
you know, I was an assistant manager at a men's retail store.
I mean, I had every odd job and going to the pier, you know,

(08:06):
there were points in those early days where I was completely out of money.
My parents weren't going to send me another dime. They said,
get in your car and come home.
And and I refuse to, you know, so I would put on the mime makeup and I go into
UCLA and I would do mime or I'd go down to the Santa Monica Pier or wherever.
And, you know, people make it. It's really hard when you're when you're performing to feed yourself.

(08:31):
It's completely different energy, you know, especially when people are screwing
with you and taking your money out of your hat.
And, you know, and I would just try to make whatever I could.
And on the corner there, I used to live on Pacific Avenue and Bay Street.
And there was a liquor store on the corner, and they would sell Cheerios and
yogurt. And I would live on that three meals. I mean, I would have just Cheerios

(08:52):
and yogurt for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
And, you know, whatever. I was in my early 20s, and I was having fun,
and I didn't care. It didn't seem all that strange to me.
And, you know, but I was still doing all those things. And I was going to the gym.
And then eventually I got a real job, sort of, as a production assistant at
20th Century Fox. So here I am on this movie lot and there's,
you know, Sly Stallone and Dolly Parton and, you know, all these big movie stars.

(09:16):
And there I was, you know, feeding cats and making coffee and delivering scripts
and hiding the pot, you know, whatever the gig was, whatever I was supposed to be doing.
And, you know, my boss at that time, a guy by the name of Harlan Goodman,
who was in the music industry prior to trying to make movies.
And Harlan noticed that I was getting fitter and fitter, you know,
because I was pretty dedicated. I was, you know, I was going to Gold's Gym and World Gym.

(09:39):
So Gold's Gym and World Gym, this is where Arnold and Lou Ferrigno and saw a
lot of the bodybuilders were working out.
And then I would also go to, you know, other gyms that were kind of more about aerobics.
You know, I was spending most of my money on that. But I was feeling better.
I was looking different.
And Harlan noticed and he said, man, what are you doing? And at that point,
I had an agent. I was trying to be an actor as well.

(10:00):
And I was, you know, getting the occasional gig, not very much.
I had a low, I had a low and brow commercial that actually got me my first SAG card.
I did two beer commercials back to back, oddly enough.
And so, you know, I did whatever my agent told me, you know,
go to the gym. You look a little flabby and a little scrawny.
And so, you know, it was really my agent that got me going, going to the gym.

(10:21):
And it was purely for aesthetic reasons.
It wasn't for anything up here that, you know, it wasn't about health and wellness.
It was just about getting jacked, bro.
You know what I mean? Get buff, get a six pack. you know there's too many
people are still thinking that way and so that my boss
uh noticed and i and i started training
him in the morning before we both went to work and you know
um i had that job for i don't know maybe a year or two and in that time you

(10:45):
know he lost about 45 pounds was looking really good everybody was noticing
and so he couldn't make a movie to save his life he and he and uh julia phillips
who co-produced with her husband close encounters of the third kind taxi
driver and the sting with Robert Redford and Paul Newman.
So these two hooked up and they, they were on the lot and I was working for
them and they tried and tried and tried and couldn't make a movie.

(11:08):
And then eventually that little production company broke up.
And at that point, when it, when it finally broke up, I was training Harlan.
I was training some secretaries on, on the lot, you know, another person that
worked for that production company.
And I had a, I had a couple of this, one was a doctor, one was a lawyer,
and I would drive to their house and train them. And I thought,
you know, maybe I can make this thing grow.

(11:29):
And so Harlan went back to rock and roll and Julia, I don't know what happened to Julia.
But so all of a sudden I have a training business and I'm still doing mime at
the pier and I'm still doing carpentry and I'm still, you know,
whatever I gotta, you know, I gotta, I got rent to pay.
And then, you know, as the story goes, to make a long story good,

(11:49):
Harlan Goodman was walking down the halls of East End Management on Sunset Boulevard.
It's in the valley now, but it was on Sunset.
And Tom Petty was walking in the other direction. And Tom Petty from Gainesville,
Florida, saw Harlan Goodman.
He said, hey, Harlan, you look fantastic.
I'm fat and I'm going on tour. How do I look like you?

(12:12):
That's my Tom Petty. I get my Bruce Springsteen, okay? Because none of them are good. All right.
So Harlan said, call Tony Horton. You know, I write about this in my last book
and I wrote a book called The Big Picture and kind of a funny moment.
And so, the phone rings, my roommate Bob, the guy who said, hey,
let's go to California, I don't know umpteen years earlier.
He says, hey, somebody's saying that Tom Petty's on the phone.

(12:33):
I said, dude, hang up. Come on.
So we hung up on Tom Petty. The phone rang again. Hey, it's Tom Petty. I think he hung up on me.
So Bob looks at me and goes, dude, it sounds a lot like Tom Petty.
I said, hello. Hi, it's Tom Petty. I'm a friend of Harlan Goodman's,
and I'm fat, and I got to go on tour and keep coming to my house.

(12:55):
I live in Sherman Oaks. You know where Sherman Oaks is. I go,
yeah, I know where Sherman Oaks is.
And the next day I went to his house and, you know, the gate opened up,
the big long driveway with trees.
And it was a spectacular pad, you know, all rock and roll, golden record,
golden platinum records on the wall.
Tom comes out, he's smoking a cigarette at a.m.
I'm petty. Hi, how are you? I got to get, I'm going on two and four months.

(13:20):
What can we do? So, you know, I went in there.
We did some bodyweight exercises, but I got him a heavy bag and got him the
old life cycle. Remember the old life cycle? It was those gray monoliths that
you lined up in every gym.
And I got him a bench and some dumbbells and a couple of mats and, you know, whatever.
And, I mean, those first couple of weeks were pretty scary. I thought for sure
I was going to break the guy, you know. I mean, he didn't know what to do.

(13:41):
He had never lifted a weight in his life.
He'd only held a cigarette and guitars, you know, up to that point.
And I thought I was going to kill him, honestly, you know what I mean?
I put a couple of 10-pound weights in his hand on the bench press,
and his arms went, you know, like, oh, shit, great, dang it.
Now, Tom, you want to push straight up, you know. I had it on,
I put it on level three and he couldn't do it. And I put it on one and he couldn't do it.

(14:02):
So I just turned it off. And he was like, that's better. You know?
So I thought, Oh my God, I got four months. But in four months he was benching
45s, 12 reps, kicking the crap out of that heavy bag on level six or seven of
that life cycle for 25 minutes. I mean a massive transformation.
And he went off on tour and he was wearing like sleeveless leather vests without

(14:26):
shirts on you're like everybody's like what the hell what is it spring steam
now and so you know then the phone ran off the hook the next call was uh was
billy idol right mate what and bloody hell did you do that freaking time he
said they were f-bombs but i won't do that here
like oh great can you come to my house you know and then um.
And the boss, the boss called, you know, and, uh, Hey, you know, I'm in California.

(14:49):
Can you, this is my Bruce Springsteen, you know, and I had Sean Connery and
Shirley McClain and, and, um, Jason chef from who was the bass player for Chicago
and, and, um, Annie Lennox from the arrhythmics and, um,
uh, Bryce Dallas Howard, you know, Ron Howard's daughter.
And, you know, I mean, there were, and Steven Stills, I couldn't do much for

(15:11):
Steven. He wasn't really into it, but I tried.
But on my Monday, Wednesday, Friday, so here I was, this kid with a speech impediment,
you know, with two nickels rubbing together.
And now I'm getting up and I'm training Billy Idol, Tom Petty,
Annie Lennox, Stephen Stills, and Bruce Springsteen in that order,
like Mondays and Wednesdays and Fridays, on top of, you know, whoever else.

(15:31):
I mean, I was getting up, my first client was a producer over at Fox,
not anybody that I knew in the old days but you know that
was a that was a 5 30 5 o'clock a.m client
so you know i would start her in the dark and i would
finish her in the dark and then i would go train her sister who was also in
the in the movie industry and then i would drive out to the valley so i had
an old red mustang convertible and i would drive that thing all over town and

(15:54):
i you know i would wear out the transmission wear out the brakes and wear out
the the engine you know what i mean that thing was in the shop more than i drove
it almost and that's how it started you know that's how my early days were.
And I had a two-bedroom apartment that I lived in for 21 and a half years in.
Santa Monica with an awesome view of the convalescent home, which is where I thought I'd end up.

(16:17):
Go down the stairs across the alley and into the convalescent home,
get in a wheelchair and look back at my old apartment and go, those were the days.
But fortunately for me.
Um, you know, I was making a few bucks and I was starting to pay off some bills and things like that.
And I was, you know, I'm a skier, so I was able to go on some ski trips and
I wasn't charging these folks early, early, the early days, more than $25 a pop.

(16:40):
Like I'm driving to Malibu to train celebrities.
Yeah, this, well, this was the eighties and I didn't know better.
And then people said, Hey, you're not charging enough.
25 went to 50, 50 went to 75, 75 went to 125.
You know what I mean and then and then you know once the P90X stuff
and all that started kicking in you know it was it
was to change dramatically from there but so you

(17:04):
know here I was an actor and here I was a trainer and these two things
were separate and then I got a phone call from the folks at Nordic Track a friend
of mine worked for that production company and said hey you know will you come
out to Minneapolis and and shoot these things for for us you know so I did these
instructional videos for them and I did some commercials for them and they liked
me a lot because I could walk and chew gum You know, I actually looked the part,

(17:25):
I knew a little bit about exercise science and kinesiology.
I could hit my mark, I could read the teleprompter. You know,
they wanted to get trainers but, hi, my name is Bob and this is an order to track, you know, right?
Then they had actors who were just, you know, actors and I could do both which is pretty cool.
So, you know, I was my reel as we would call it. I was getting some stuff on

(17:45):
my reel and then I was training this guy, Ben Vandenbont,
who was the CEO of a company called Guffey Renker and they were one of the biggest
infomercial companies in the
world I mean you know they were huge and I met him through a friend and.
I started training him and I said, hey, he said, I want to bring this new kid
in from Philly. His name is Carl Deichler.
And he's got tons of ambition and he's a madman like you. And you guys would

(18:09):
hit it off. And he's going to work out with me once in a while.
And I'm going to hire this guy.
And so, you know, Carl came and we got along like gangbusters.
And then, you know, Carl was working for Guthrie doing whatever infomercials
they wanted him to do. But he wanted to do fitness. He was a fitness guy.
He was the eight minute abs guy.
He was the guy that commercial, you know, eight minute abs, you know,
you can't do abs in eight minutes,
you know, whatever that was that movie that was in remember yeah

(18:33):
so so carl said hey i'm gonna do a little side project for
you ben's gonna let me use the production folks and the
editors and some of the cameramen's in the studio and let's do this thing called
um great body guaranteed and so i'm gonna use you and my girlfriend's trainer
debbie sievers and let's just shoot this thing he paid me two grand and you
know i'm still pretty broke and broken down car and a view of that kind of lesson

(18:54):
at home and he paid me 2,000 bucks.
I was like, damn, that's all right. What the hell? I have to do some crunches
and some pushups. Sign me up.
And I was a little stiff back in those days. Hi, everybody. Tony Horton here.
And we're going to do some pushups. They're going to be great. Let's go.
I got all the silliness and the humor and the improv crazy town that came later.

(19:15):
Right. But and it did. It did well. You know, when it comes to infomercials, you can ask anybody.
They're hard to do, you know, because everybody's trying to get in that lineup
and you're spending all this money and then you have to spend money on media
and then if you spend all that money on media and nobody picks up the phone
you can do that once or twice,
maybe again for two more three weeks and then you're out of money and so we

(19:36):
did this thing it worked and so we spent more money and more money and so we
were buying you know these what we call them wild spots you know Poughkeepsie
New York and Miami and you know San Diego and Kansas City and we would spend
five grand it would make 10 we'd spend eight it would make 16 we'd We'd spent 10,
you know, whatever we'd spent 12,
it would make 30. And it's like, Holy smokes. This is a real little company.

(19:58):
So he left Guthrie and he said, I'm going to do this thing for real.
And then we did something called Power 90.
And, you know, it was six days a week and eat right. It was the real deal.
He said to me, well, what do you do with Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen?
And can you put all that in front of a TV without all the equipment,
without the heavy bag, without the life cycle, without all the extra weights?
I said, yeah, I'll figure that out.
And so, you know, it was just another gig. And I was whatever,

(20:20):
still even, you know, doing mind gigs in Vegas, whatever, whatever I could do.
I was just trying to make ends meet.
And to make a really long story good and then we'll get to the q a nobody bought
it nobody bought it because i looked at tv and went damn it stays a week and eating vegetables,
where's that thing where i can just you know do this by the way i was in the

(20:47):
original thai master commercial too yeah google that one it's like i'm okay
i don't know what i'm doing this i don't know what I'm doing.
So, but what was weird is this is the advent of the internet.
Now the internet was brand spanking new and people were having,
you know, having cameras and getting in chat rooms.
And so people who were doing it, the few that did buy it started submitting

(21:08):
their before and after photos to us voluntarily.
We didn't ask for them. You know, we had a test group and we were using the
test group as a means in which to show what would happen.
But people probably looked at, looked at that with a lot of skepticism and said,
oh, you know, those are people in a test group they're probably you know eating
nothing but celery and work it out 16 hours a day and.

(21:29):
And, you know, the reality was that people were trying it. It really worked.
And they were submitting these pictures. So we took out the test group footage
and we put in this real grainy, hideous kind of at home, bad lighting footage
into the into the infomercial.
And it went like this. Boom.
Wow. You know, at that point, I'm getting royalty checks. You know,
early on, I get a royalty check for like 30 bucks for a month.

(21:52):
And then it was like the following with a hundred dollars. I know this is money for nothing.
Nothing and um and then once the the we were using footage from real folks and it went like that,
you know I went like oh I can pay off that visa bill I
can pay off that that American Express bill I can I can go buy that car now
I don't have to live in this apartment anymore oh what is that a five-bedroom

(22:17):
house take it you know I mean it was you know nothing nothing nothing and then
bang And then my life changed, you know, then my life changed.
Then I'm walking the streets, you know, whatever. I'm at the grocery store.
Oh my God, you don't know what you did for me.
I'm like, oh my God, who is this person? I hope I didn't do anything wrong. You know what I mean?

(22:38):
And, you know, it was just really, really crazy. And, you know,
I could, I didn't have any furniture in that house, right? I was just freaking
out every month trying to pay that mortgage.
I lived in a five bedroom home, you know, in Santa Monica with a great view of the Hollywood sign.
It was pretty, pretty spectacular. spectacular but you know
it's expensive and the car was expensive and all that
it was expensive and I you know I was in I was a I was

(22:59):
in my early 40s and I was
having you know money for the first time in my early 40s and I didn't do I didn't
wasn't smart with it early on you know I mean I got smarter later because it's
somebody you know hello Newman you gotta stop being an idiot you don't need
five hundred dollar shirts okay um so then you know then I started freaking out because,

(23:21):
you know, what goes up does come down. And then so Carl said, what do we do next?
And I said, let's do something for people who are overweight,
who are really struggling, you know what I mean, that part of the community
that's really, you know, that's being neglected right now, right?
And he goes, screw that. We're going to make Power 90 harder.
Like, oh, God. We could barely sell Power 90. So we made this thing called P90X, okay?

(23:41):
So, yeah, same thing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
People started submitting their before and after pictures and now some video.
And I could put furniture in my house and I could start, you know,
getting a, you know, 401ks and really, you know, getting my retirement funds put together.
And my life changed dramatically after that. I mean, it was,

(24:02):
you know, not everybody recognized me, but you know, when, when your infomercial
is on 24 hours a day, five or six channels at a time, right.
Once in months and months and months. So we, we had the number one show,
the number one media spend and that went on and on and on and on you know so
you know i mean and only a couple years earlier i was broke and uh.

(24:24):
So that's how it went, you know, and a lot of things have transpired since.
I was with Beachbody for 20 years, and we made P90X2 and X3 and 22-Minute Hardcore
and dozens and dozens. And the one-on-one series, there were three years of that.
And, of course, there were all the supplements that came with that.
And it was an amazing run, and I had a lot of other opportunities.
You know, I've been to over 60 military bases around the world,

(24:44):
the DOD, the Department of Defense, and Armed Forces Entertainment called me
and said, hey, we want to go to South Korea. We want to go to Japan. We want to go to Europe.
You know we want to we want to we want you to go to almost every
single base in this country and so um you know
that was an amazing thing so my whole world opened up
you know my whole world changed dramatically and during
that time i met my wife i watched met shauna and you

(25:07):
know i was still single for for most of it and she
didn't even know who i was she thought i was the shake wig guy or something she had
no idea it was a blind date and her
friend said he's the p90x guy and she was
like I don't what is that who's that me so you know not impressed
all right and but so
you know we've been together for 10 years and married five and you know

(25:29):
cinnamon it's been an absolutely cartoon like amazing life you know amazing
life and all the people that I met all the friends I mean you know there are
so many people who did my program who just you know showed up at the beach what
I was working out just find me and stalk me and half of them are my friends.
The other half have restraining orders.
No, but yeah.

(25:51):
So, you know, I mean, I know thousands of new people as a result of this thing.
I mean, I have these challenge groups, you know, I have these Paragon events
at my home now, you know, where I have people coming from around the world.
We have supposed to have one last weekend, but obviously we had to cancel it.
We might have to cancel the one in June. Right.
You know what I mean? And so, you know, all, all the experiences and all the

(26:11):
opportunities, you know, now I've got my own, my own supplement line called
Power Life, which is, you know, this company came to me. And my relationship
with Beachbody is still really strong.
I'm kind of an ambassador for them. We're not doing any new content.
They're kind of starting to move in another direction. And I felt like,
you know, I needed my freedom.
So, you know, I did Next Level with Guy M, TV Fit in New York,

(26:32):
and Next Level's, you know, out there for people if they have a Roku or Amazon
Prime or Spectrum or whatever it is.
And so that was really cool because they gave me tons of freedom to make that
the way I I want it to hopefully when this coronavirus thing is,
you know, gone, we can get back to work.
And then the supplements are a lot of them sold out and sold out in three weeks.

(26:53):
So we kind of didn't anticipate that.
And now with the coronavirus, we have the factories are sort of on hold.
But you know these are good problems to have and so right now you
know what i'm doing with myself is i'm doing three free workouts a
week on on facebook live last night i
did apply a workout for folks um i did yoga on saturday and then i did a cardio
one this week and i shot uh my first of many um workouts for the for the gold's

(27:18):
gym community there's 3.5 million goals gym members around the world and uh
you know they came to me and said hey will you do these for us so you know know,
I'm just trying to stay busy right now and do whatever I can.
And that's why I'm talking to you guys because, you know, it's just good to keep working.
You know what I mean? It's like staying at home and wigging out.
That's most of the story. Anyway. So can I, I just want to ask you a question.

(27:42):
First of all, I have so many notes, like I don't even know what direction to go.
There's so many questions I have, but the first one that comes to mind for me
is, let's say, imagine for a minute, this is 20 years ago.
Would you ever in a million years, imagine that you'd be here.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. My life has been a series of serendipitous mistakes.

(28:08):
You know what I mean? I mean, you know, what, what is luck?
Luck is opportunity meeting readiness. So there were a lot of times early on
when I came out here, you know, there was this, these two guys, they were young,
ambitious dudes, and they wanted to to do a audio program for people who would
go into the gym, put in their Walkman, and listen to me talk them through a series of workouts.

(28:31):
And I just screwed that up. I just, I wouldn't show up. I was so nervous and
so freaked out. Because remember, I had a speech impediment, right?
And I was basically over it by that point.
But I had to read copy into the microphone to play so people would hear.
And I would practice it and I would screw it up over and over and over again.

(28:52):
And I was so embarrassed.
So that opportunity didn't happen because I wasn't ready.
But when I was doing all this acting work, I was going to improv class.
I was going to scene study class. I was going to auditions and getting rejected over and over again.
And I did stand up for two years. So, you know, and a friend of mine said, hey, man, you're funny.
Why don't you and I write some jokes and go do some open mics? And I just said, yes.

(29:16):
Right. And was I funny most of the time? No.
But, you know, but when I finally got my act down and I, you know,
smoke a little pot before I went on stage, you know, I didn't give a shit.
Right. So I just got up there and I went wild.
I mean, I did this my routine at the end that was crazy.
That you couldn't do now, can't do, but I would play Nine Inch Nails and I would

(29:38):
play Radiohead and I'd get up on stage and I'd go wild.
And it worked. You know what I mean? I didn't make any money.
I was just going to open mic nights and doing whatever.
But when you're building confidence in that arena, right? And you're also working
with celebrities and you go, oh, celebrities put their pants on just like everybody else.
And so, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm going to hang out with Bruce Springsteen.
I'm, you know, I'm going to Billy Idol's house, going, hanging out,

(30:00):
going to parties at Billy Idol's house.
So my confidence went from zero to a thousand.
And so, you know, when that opportunity came along, I went, okay,
yeah, let's go. Let's do this.
And then Carl said, the thing that the big, the big variable for P90X,
I'll be quick here, is he said, I want you to be the guy that you are when we work out together.
And if I have to bring you down, I'll bring you down, but I want you to be a frigging madman. Okay.

(30:24):
And I went like, all right.
Here it comes. You know what I mean? And so I could just be free, right?
I mean, I knew these routines inside and out. They gave me a whole year to develop
P90X. Who are your experts?
You know, how are you going to do Campo? How are you going to do Pilates?
You know, let's talk to your number one yogi guy.

(30:45):
Let's create something that's different than everything else on the market.
And somehow it still is. I mean,
you know, I've got a challenge group on Facebook called P90X Never Dies.
And I get a hundred people a week that want to join that group from around the
world. I'm around the world.
You know what I mean? And they're downloading all my stuff on Beachbody On Demand.
And that's basically how I'm paying my bills right now. I don't even work for

(31:06):
that company anymore. So- Has it gone up lately?
What's that? Has it gone up more lately? Oh my God. It's the same right now. Of course. Yeah.
I mean, Beachbody had 475,000 downloads last week.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, that doesn't surprise me at all. I'm on, you know, so I,
you know, we're in this industry, right? So a lot of the people we follow and

(31:26):
the groups that we're in are all fitness or health related.
And there's a couple of fitness specific groups. Cause I, I own a CrossFit affiliate,
but fitness is really my thing, especially for women.
And there's a couple of groups and now that nobody can go to the gym,
they're all freaking out.
Yeah. Yeah.
So Beachbody, P90X, all of those are fantastic. And, and I mean,

(31:47):
what a phenomenal opportunity for people that are looking for an opportunity
to start an online business.
Like now as good a time as any, but the reason I asked you that question earlier,
and I'm so glad you said this out loud that, that the serendipitous part,
what all sounds like one big accident or a series of accidents was opportunity meets readiness.
If you weren't ready, if you hadn't been out taking steps and doing things to

(32:11):
get you there, you wouldn't be here.
And I know Aaron has a story like that. I have a story like that.
I wouldn't be here if I hadn't done that before or that before.
And it's about just getting out there because like you, there are so many people,
I think that can relate to your feelings of insecurity, whether it's yours as
a speech impediment, or here's the other thing when it comes to just fitness
in general and weight training.
I know a lot of people that never identified as an athlete, that the minute

(32:35):
they pick up a barbell or any kind of fitness equipment, suddenly that mindset
changes. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I was that way. You know what I mean? I mean, if it wasn't for that weightlifting
class back at URI, who knows?
You know what I mean? It was just really interesting to see that,
oh, wow, if I just do what this guy tells me to do and I'm consistent with it. Things will change.
You know, anybody in this industry, if I was to give any kind of advice to your,

(32:55):
to your audience, you know, there's two things you need to do.
Number one, you have to build your knowledge and.
And you have to build your persona, all right? Because there's a lot of really
smart people with PhDs that are as dry as toast.
And, you know, we know how Americans and people around this world respond to people.
Why are certain television shows more popular than others? How come certain

(33:17):
celebrities keep going?
There's a certain formula that they follow, right? They're always reinventing the wheel, right?
They're always, you know, they're always staying up with trends. friends you know
if you're just a pilates instructor and and you
don't have much of a personality good luck naive hello
you know i mean i got pretty decent in martial arts i got pretty decent at yoga

(33:40):
i got pretty decent at resistance training i got pretty decent at proprioceptive
training i got you know i mean i do it because i you know i have the attention
span of a gnat on crack right i don't want to do the same routines over and
over and over again and i also So,
because here's three things that I learned that helped build my entire platform.
People stop exercising because of boredom, injuries, and plateauing over the

(34:04):
course of time or, you know, lack of results over the course of time.
So, if you're a bodybuilder, you know, then you're only going to get so much, right?
So, you're going to be pretty horrible at plyometrics. You know,
if you love spinning, don't try to do a pull-up anytime soon.
You know what I mean? So the idea here is to become, you know,
really diversify your platform, right?

(34:24):
Right. So that people go, wow, he can help me with this and he can help me with
this. And he's also a great motivator and he's got some great information and
his delivery system is unique.
So my delivery system is very different than than a lot of other people.
There's a company called Tonal.
And as soon as this whole thing clears up, I hope to start working for those
folks. You know, they want me to bring come.
I mean, Guy did that with me. Guy said, we want you to be the face like we have 20 other trainers.

(34:47):
But we based on how you do what you do, we're going to take you from somebody
who doesn't work for us as the face of Guy.
I am, which is pretty amazing because, you know, I mean, and my fan and right
now, if you look at Gaim's platform and not to pat myself on the back while
I tell you how awesome I am, but 80% of their downloads is next level.

(35:08):
It's my routine, my stuff, right? They have 20 something trainers,
but 80% is this thing because I already have a built-in fan base.
Tonal is going to be doing the same thing. They say, please come on our platform
and have fun, right? Because we know know that exercise kind of sucks.
All right. There's a very minute percentage of people who love it.
Do I love it? I don't love it. I did plyo last night in front of a thousand

(35:29):
people on Facebook. Did I want to do it before I started?
Not really.
But, you know, I read John Rady's book, John Rady's book, Spark.
I understand the importance of exercise.
It's the reason why it's a 61 year old. I don't know what that feels like compared
to a 21 year old, but it feels kind kind of better.
But when I was 21, I was sleeping in and drinking too much and smoking pot and

(35:52):
eating double cheese chimichangas. I'm not doing any of that anymore.
I haven't had a drink in 30 years. You know what I mean?
Taking an aspirin. I mean, my head's got to explode for me to take an aspirin.
You know what I mean? So how can I do this as organically and as authentically
and as cleanly and as healthy as I can?
You know, I eat vegan meals. I eat paleo meals. I eat keto meals.

(36:14):
I eat pescatarian meals.
I, you know, I eat Italian meals and French meals. I, you know,
I'm not any of those things. I just eat food that I know that is generally healthy.
So that if my great, great, great grandparents looked at it,
they go, yeah, that's cool.
Cause it ain't Fritos in Red Bull, you know what I'm saying?
So I stay away from the process that I mean, I, I, cause I like feeling good.
I like having energy. I like climbing ropes.

(36:36):
I like going around the pegboard, like I'm on the frigging moon.
You know what I mean? I like being strong. I like kicking the ass,
kicking uh you know the ass of kids that are half my age are you know what i'm saying and so,
and i i like funny i like funny and i like animated and and that you know i
mean i i grew up watching comedians like george carlin and sam kennison and

(36:56):
a lot of people that you know,
jim carrey you know and and buster keaton i used to want you know that's like
all week i've been watching three stooges three guys beating the crap out of
each other i mean i mean why is that funny to me? I mean, because I'm immature, I suppose.
But you know what I mean? It's like this is, and I think for people who are looking at.

(37:18):
And listening and want to get in this industry, don't try to do what you think
other people want you to do.
And don't do what you think is going to be popular. Do you.
Now, you might not know who you are yet.
And that's going to take some time. Like, I didn't know who I,
you know, I mean, I was funny with my friends and silly with my friends and

(37:39):
animated with my friends.
But to do that on camera, you know what I mean? That's a whole different ballgame.
You know, I mean, And I've been in front of 26,000 people, just me on stage
going out there and, wow, right?
And, you know, I'm more comfortable there than I am probably in this conversation with the two of you.
I'm more comfortable in front of a camera lens because it doesn't talk back.
It doesn't have any opinions.

(38:00):
And I can tell it who's boss. I can tell it, you know, here we are. Let's do this thing.
Let's have some fun. Let's get to work. Let's work out. Ba-da-boom, you know?
And so, you know, you have to be extraordinary. Extraordinary.
You have to have a, I mean, Richard Simmons, extraordinary.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, a big, a big animated individual.

(38:23):
Right. So, you know, and if that isn't in you, then you've got to find something
else that makes you unique and special and different than everybody else.
And that's, that's, that's how you get success in this industry.
Mark Sisson did it. Right. Mark Sisson did it purely on tenacity and smarts.
And you know what I mean? And he's like a fish in water.

(38:43):
I'm going around it. I'm going to find the answer. And he's incredible at that.
I was thinking. I mean, that's part of it too.
I was thinking when you were telling your story that it reminds me a lot of Mark's story.
Although, to your credit, you're even a more nimble fish.
Like some of the zigs and zags you took seem to come out of nowhere.

(39:04):
Like, I'm just going to be a mime. Okay.
Completely random. When you have a speech impediment and you want to perform,
you know, it's got to be. Yes.
But I just, I love that story because what I was taking from it when you were
telling it was like, here's a young man who's trying to figure out what he's good at.

(39:25):
And it turns out you're good at a lot of different things. A lot of different
things, completely all over the map things that happen to come together in this
perfect way to create P90X and all the things that have launched you into success.
And just this great life you're living.
And so I think that your advice is really sound in the sense of like,
don't try to be something that needs to, you know, don't try to fill a hole in the marketplace.

(39:49):
Just find out what you're good at. Like go through exploration and try stuff
out and you're going to figure out,
what you are good at, what you aren't good at, what comes naturally to you.
And then it's also just easier to kind of go in that direction.
If you're, if you're trying to become something to fill a need or fill a hole,
it's just, that's a lot of work because you've got to try to become that and
it might not come naturally to you. Right.

(40:10):
But that was a really good pep talk. And this whole idea of pivoting and just
like kind of changing directions on the dime that that's Mark's number one advice
for, for business success is be nimble enough to pivot when the opportunity,
either when the opportunity in front of you slams the door shut you got to be
able to pivot away from it or an opportunity presents itself you got to be able
to pivot towards it but if you're if you're just if you got these lead shoes

(40:32):
on you can't pivot quickly then you're stuck right.
Health coach radio listeners have i got a treat for you to get 72 hour free
trial access to primal Health Coach Institute and a 50% off coupon code to the
How to Become a Health Coach virtual summit featuring video interviews with

(40:55):
over 30 industry experts.
Visit primalhealthcoach.com forward slash HCR today.
Music.
Early on, it just even happened before I came to California,
I had never experienced personal development.

(41:15):
You know, we used to call it self-help, but we don't, we don't call it that anymore.
We also don't call it aerobics anymore. Cause I used to teach aerobics.
Oh, oh yes. Yeah. We call it cardio.
What do we call it? Group fitness. Group fitness. There you go. Yeah.
Aerobics. Well, I mean, you know, I come from the eighties, but you know,
I mean, I I've read, I mean, if you, I don't know if you can see behind me there,

(41:37):
most of those books, if they're not personal development books,
they're sort of mountaineering books or adventure books, or,
you know, finding the edge of the envelope kind of fiction and nonfiction.
And so, you know, I read Looking Out for Number One.
I keep wanting to say it's Andrew Weil, but it wasn't Andrew Weil.
And then the next book was Your Erroneous Zones, right?
So I just picked these up at like a used bookstore when I was waiting tables

(42:01):
in Newport Beach, Rhode Island a bunch of years ago.
And I was like flipping pages as fast as I could.
You know what I mean? It just gave me so much confidence. confidence that that
simple first book said yeah this person that you are that would that's,
not where you want to be and you're incredibly unhappy how about
you abandon some of the things that you're doing and i would read like oh
my god i'm doing that i'm doing that it's not working okay i'm not gonna do

(42:23):
that anymore i'm gonna start doing these things you know and my brain never
went oh that's gonna be strange or hard or weird it's like hell yeah just whatever
it takes whatever phone calls i gotta make whatever you know there's no emails
back then but whatever conversations i I have to have whatever doors I have
to knock on, I'm going to do it, you know what I mean?
And maybe, you know, things weren't happening and proving right away,
not by any means, but it was really fun to just start practicing,

(42:46):
you know, and being fearless maybe for the first time.
And, you know, I mean, I was the world's number one procrastinator.
I would put everything off.
But, you know, you can only be so miserable for so long and so broke for so
long and so single for so long before, you know, something's going to kick you in the ass.
And so, you know, I just kept reading and reading and reading.
You know, Keith Ellis's book, The Magic Lamp, it was a big game changer for me.

(43:10):
You know, it really helped me, you know, steer me in the right direction as
to who I am and what I'm supposed to do.
And he even said, write down all the stuff you ever want to be.
Like, here's one list. if it would be given to you like airplane
pilot astronaut president united states you
know brad pitt and jim carrey and what just if they just
said here tony you can be this thing what would that list of 20 things
be the other list was if you're willing

(43:32):
to work your ass for it what would it be so these two lists are different right
right the richest man in the world don't have to do anything you know whatever
i'll open up my own gym or something and so you would pit them against each
other right you would go okay and then then eventually you'd come down to one
or two things You'd have to, you'd have to narrow it down to one or two things.
And then he would say, do it over and over again, make two different lists.

(43:52):
And the same crap came up over and over again.
Like it was, you know, movie star and, and gym owner was kind of, yeah.
You know, so I don't want to deal with bricks and mortars thing,
but you know, I'm not a movie star and I'm all not a gym.
I'm not a gym owner, but I'm a popular fitness guy.

(44:15):
That, that, and then, you know, So, okay, I better go take acting classes and
I better go do improv and I better learn a little bit more about what I need
to be a better trainer so that my clients get the results they're looking for.
There's a lot at stake early on because when Tom Petty calls,
his management company was on the phone with me every other day.
What's going on? How's Tom doing? He seems to be happy, whatever.

(44:40):
So I had them in my ear the whole time.
But, you know, Tom and I just got along, you know, Bruce and I just got along.
Billy and I just got along. Sean Connery and I just got along.
Submarines don't react well to bullets. I'm trying to think of what the what
like an equivalent metaphor would be to Tom Petty phoning you,

(45:01):
you know, like Tom Petty's not going to call anybody.
Okay well the japanese
call that a satori right a sudden moment of enlightenment
or a tipping point you know i mean like uh gladwell's
tipping point you know there yeah these things only occur as a result of the
hard work that you've done before they occur like going to the gym and exercising

(45:26):
and then getting harlan in shape and then harlan getting those kinds of results
so there you had proof positive that whatever he was doing was working what's
the source of that oh tony horton.
You know yeah you know what i mean it's like for
these these tipping points to
occur there's got to be some groundwork before they occur right that takes weeks
months years you know what i mean i mean i was i got here in 80 that didn't

(45:52):
happen until maybe maybe nine years later eight eight nine, 10 years later.
I don't know what time, but yeah. Thank you for, thank you for just like putting
that in a nice little bow because people listening might say,
I know we get into, we get into a little pessimistic mind minds mindsets a little bit.

(46:13):
And I think that's what part of the journey of entrepreneurship or,
or branching into a passion project or whatever it is.
It's like, ah, the imposter syndrome stuff, whatever it might be,
who am I? This isn't going to work for me.
Oh, Oh, Tom Petty called you. Oh, great. great, that's not going to happen to
me. But Tom Petty calling you didn't just happen out of the blue.
There were absolutely specific steps that led up to Tom Petty calling you.

(46:38):
You know, there has to be a certain amount of tenacity with this thing.
I have, and I'm going to say their names.
I have a friend, one of the most talented, handsome, funny guys I've ever met.
I mean, you know, I just, I wanted to mentor him and I, and I tried to mentor him.
Fortunately, this coronavirus kind of slowed things down, but you could kind

(47:00):
of, I could kind of feel that, you know, he came from a small town in another state.
And then I, you know, he stayed here with my wife and I for,
for several months and, you know, he got a gig, but there were these other opportunities
that kept coming his way.
And I knew he was ready, but he would shut them down because he didn't want
to piss off the people that he was working for. And I said, Hey man,
you got to make that work.
You know what I mean? I mean, here's another guy that wants to,

(47:21):
you know, this one acting coach wanted to take him and said,
dude, I can make you a star.
Yeah, I don't have time for that right now. Or there was other little things.
And, you know, he just is as funny as he was, as handsome as he was,
as fit as he was, as diversified and as fitness as he was.
I, you know, he just didn't want it as badly as I did. Well,

(47:44):
another friend of mine who's a former Israeli Navy SEAL came here from Israel.
A year and a half ago, he couldn't speak English.
He's a stuntman. He's an actor. He's, you know, he's, he's just,
I mean, he would have been the next Arnold Schwarzenegger.
You know, he had to go back to Israel because of this whole thing.
And hopefully he'll be back. But I mean, he saw no obstacles.

(48:06):
There was no point at any time, time regardless of whether
he got you know 10 no's in a row he just
kept going right and so that's Arnold Schwarzenegger maybe
that's me to a certain degree I still have a little bit of a procrastination factor
you know I mean like you know I like
sleep until nine going to bed at one you know
I mean like oh why not I'll do that for a couple days

(48:27):
then I'll go back to work so I'm you know I'm a believer in yin and yang you
know I mean the pendulum's got to swing in both directions work really hard
go like crazy and then just you know i mean i don't know mark's not that mark's
like over here all the time um that's it he has his moments right erin like he just needs to,
kind of shut it down and step away sometimes too but you know there are so many

(48:51):
things i i hear and hear and first of all one of the things that i really took
away too is that you have to be willing to say yes to a lot of different things
to try different things in order to be able to move forward.
I hear that over and over again in your story. The other thing that I really
took away that I think can be powerful for a lot of people is it really only takes one.
It takes one great opportunity, one person, in this case, Harlan, right?

(49:15):
Who changes the game for you.
And you get, and then things tend to snowball in referrals.
And here's the other thing. We talk about this a lot on Health Coach Radio and
in our course, you've got to be good at what you do because you've got to get results for people.
Someone can refer you a client, but if you're You're not following through and,
and, and getting results doesn't necessarily mean you have to know everything.

(49:35):
It just means you got to be willing to work your ass off for that person and
be there and give them a great experience. Right.
So, you know, I, I hear from folks all the time that are just,
they're nervous. They're like, I don't know where my clients are going to come
from. Who's going to pay me?
You know, how do I even build this? How do I keep a pipeline of clients?
I'm like, you've got to start with one.
You got to get out there. Right. And start with one and get results for people

(49:58):
and be willing to say yes.
Yeah, I think a lot of people are starting out. Their head is already two years
down the road. You know what I mean?
It's how I perceive it to be, and I don't know how the hell I'm going to get
there. Don't worry about getting there. Totally. Exactly right.
Just, you know, say, become super knowledgeable. You know, go hang out with other people.
Go to rock climbing gyms. Go to spinning classes. You know what I mean? Go to various gyms.

(50:18):
You know, whatever it is. And then, you know, go impress people with who you
are and how you communicate and what you're doing.
And then they go, wow, that's, you know, that's what I did.
You know what I mean? I mean, I walked into the office and Harlan looked at
me like, dang it, dude, you look different than you did three months ago.
I'm finally noticing, you know what I mean? Like people got to,
you know, I mean, I see a lot of these trainers in that particular that are

(50:40):
kind of out of shape, you know what I mean?
They're still eating freaking donuts and soda pop and they got tons of knowledge, but they look like.
What is that? You know what I mean? I mean, when you're super vascular and really
striated and really muscular and you can do really cool physical things,
other people are going to notice that.
Right away. I mean, you know, this here, the gob and the bod is how you present

(51:03):
yourself before you even open up, open up your mouth. So that's, that's number one.
You know what I mean? And then you, then you increase your knowledge and then
you start offering free classes.
Hey man, I'm doing this class. It's going to be really great.
You guys are going to dig it. No charge, you know, just come on down and you do that a lot.
You know what I mean? You gotta, you gotta throw the, right?
You guys throw that thing in the water and then nothing, throw it in the water,
nothing, but you got to keep throwing it in. Right.

(51:25):
And sometimes you're working for free, like these Facebook live things I'm doing right now.
You know, I got to put it together. I got to set up a time. I have to put out
these announcements, but you know, I don't, I don't expect anything,
but I'm just trying to keep people moving and grooving because I know where
everybody's headspace is. I mean, people are freaking out.
So, you know, do it because it's the right thing to do. Do it because,

(51:48):
you know, karma is real, right?
Do it from the goodness of your heart. It's because when you're building your
own business and you're working on personal development, guess what?
Ultimately, it's not about you. Right.
It's what you can do for other people.
And if you're honest and you're authentic in that process, then of course,
you're going to be like a magnet, right?

(52:08):
Maybe not right away, but that's it. It's all about your intentions,
man. It's about your intentions and your authenticity.
And if you can start there, and that's your mindset when you begin,
you know, and you know, my old acting coach said, you need two gigs.
One gig is not enough. So all you actors in here, all 35 of you that are in
this class, the odds of any of you making it is zero.

(52:31):
It's not 0.000. It's zero, okay? Because this industry is a monster.
But I'm going to show you every tool I can give you.
To be the actor that you want to be you know i mean i know what your version of
making it is movie star you know being in local theater whatever
it is but this industry is up there right so go find another gig that you love

(52:52):
as much all right and for me it was fitness right so here i was trying to be
an actor and then i you know this fitness thing worked out for me um you know
but before that it was painting houses and being here whatever else just to feed myself,
so you know i tell a lot of people what's your second career all right you got
to split yourself self in half here a little bit because you have responsibilities

(53:12):
maybe you have a family maybe you know obviously everybody has bills to pay
and shelter and roof over their head and so you know,
for me that look what i ended up with i ended up with a hybrid right
i didn't end up with one or the other i ended up with a hybrid because i was working on
two things at once and that's really that's you know maybe a
way to look at it i think but people have different aptitudes for

(53:32):
that that as well and i was thinking back to the story you're talking about
your two friends the the the handsome man and the israeli
navy seal and wondering if it's both handsome
by the way like ridiculous of course i stand next
to him and i feel like an ewok i hate it you know but like the the handsome
the handsome devil has aptitudes he just hadn't quite targeted them yet he has

(53:57):
some aptitudes like we all have aptitudes and we all have um because we call
them zones of genius in in the personal development, AKA self-help world.
And it might take a while to uncover what your zones of genius are,
but I actually also think.
On the flip side of that is that we've always had them, we just suppress them.
So like, I always think like, I said this to my clients, too,

(54:19):
that I work with, like, because clients really get down on themselves,
people get down on themselves.
Whoever you are entrepreneurs, clients, whoever you are, we get down on ourselves.
I'm not good enough. I don't, I don't have this talent. I don't have this skill.
And it's like, what were you really good at when you were a kid?
What were you super good at? Well, I used to have a really good imagination.
Okay, let's go with that. Like, what did that look like for you when you were a kid?

(54:39):
And why don't Don't you have, why do you think you don't have that imagination
now? And let's tap that because that's a natural aptitude that you, you have.
Like, I just think part of the human condition is for a lot of us,
not you, obviously, Tony,
but for a lot of us is to just kind of like just sort of melt under the weight
of, of responsibility and, and not living our dreams.

(55:03):
And, but we all have these aptitudes that can be uncovered.
That's my thoughts. Well, you know, to tie into that, I read Steve Wolf's book,
Romancing the Shadow, years and years ago.
It's so funny. Quick story. So I used to live at 1438 15th Street in Santa Monica,
right there between Santa Monica and Broadway, if you know anything about L.A.

(55:23):
And the food co-op, which was, you know, right around the corner from me,
which organic foods and stuff.
And, I mean, it closed at 10 p.m., so I'd usually walk out my front door at
9.50, walk over there and get some stuff.
And they'd always put flyers in the bags, right? Right. And so,
you know, talk about serendipity. Right. So I'm taking out the groceries and
I see this flyer and I throw it in the trash.
And then and then, you know, I'm in a kind of a bad place. And I went,

(55:45):
I don't know what tiny little voice said, reach your hand back in the trash and pull up the flyer.
And so I pulled the flyer and it says, you know, join Steve Wolf at his,
you know, free seminar for getting your shit together or whatever,
you know, personal development.
And it happened to be a little synagogue, you know, two blocks away, like like a week later.
So, you know, I show up over there and, you know, I walk into this room and

(56:09):
it's like 20 people and there's one seat left in a circle and he's in the circle.
And I sit down and there's a stunning girl next to me for six months.
And, you know, and when I when I read that book, Romancing the Shadow,
it it was just one more tool to show me, you know, am I being my authentic self?

(56:31):
You know, am I really, because there's the person you put out into the world, right?
Hey, Tony Horton here, everything's great, making lots of money, really fit, happy.
And then there's a person when you close the door, I'm so nervous, you know what I mean?
And so, you know, it was just one more amazing tool because I just said yes.
I know you were talking about that before. I just, you know,

(56:53):
who knows why I reached back into that bag and pulled that out.
And there was this very, very powerful.
Step to change my life as a result of doing that you know
so I don't know absolutely and there
are there are things I think that people are good at that they don't really realize
are a talent and that they can leverage to really grow and be authentic and

(57:16):
turn it into something amazing you know um so Erin you're absolutely right and
thanks for bringing that up you know because there are lots of things that because
kids for the most part every single one of my kids all four of them
when they knew exactly what they were good at and wanted to show the world what they were good at.
And it wasn't until they got a little bit older and had to learn humility for

(57:37):
some reason that they kind of hide that light, you know?
And I see it again. I have kind of two sets of kids, my older kids,
and then I've got five-year-old twins and I'm seeing it again with them.
And boy, do I want to cultivate that, you know?
The difference between like, what do you want to be when you grow up yeah versus
what do you like to do what are you really good at and like maybe that's the

(58:00):
question we should be asking even our grown-ass adult selves because we see
people who come to school with our with our school to be a health coach it's like yeah okay i mean.
Yeah you're gonna get a health coaching certificate but like what do you want
to like who do you want to be and who do you want to help and how and you know
we just kind of get bogged down in this sort

(58:20):
of like who I want to be when I grow up and like these labels kind of silos.
And we're not, we're not thinking kind of those little tendrils that,
that made us who we are, the foundational kind of root system of us.
It kind of, I don't know, it goes away after a while.
I think it's hard for people to think outside of the box sometimes,
you know, because when you look at the world that we're in right now,

(58:43):
I mean, I can look around the room and I can, you know, there are things that
didn't exist 10 years ago and fight 15 and 20 years ago.
The same thing with what we're doing, you know, how we're trying to help people.
I mean, look at the Stretch Lab, you know, you guys are familiar with Stretch Lab.
A friend of mine, just this kid, Tim, that was in one of my original test groups.
He's like, well, why don't we open up a place where you don't have to stretch?
We'll stretch you out. You know what I mean?

(59:05):
You know, it's like, you know, it's different than a massage.
You'll give you a little bit of massage as well. You know, but there are people that are like, boom.
And I don't know how many he had in the end when he finally sold it.
But there has to be a certain amount of that. You have to look at society and say, what?
You know, like I created these things called power stands. I have a patent and
trademark for power stands. Because whenever I went to the store,

(59:26):
I would see these push-up stands that were horrible.
Like the handles were horrible and they were rickety and, and they hurt my hand.
Like who would, what, how about a wider handle?
How about tip four to protect my wrist? How about a round base?
Because they're not going to go anywhere. To me, it just made sense.
You know what I mean? And, and Aaron, the point that I want to make was when
I was doing that, that, that shadow group.

(59:48):
So we would, we would go to these shadow groups, you know, there was this course
that you would take and I did it for a long time.
And we'd have these resolution exercises where one person would have an issue
or a problem they're dealing with.
And this took us, you know, it was like an eight or 12 week course.
And so I think in the end, after that group of 20, we came, became a group of
eight and we would go to, to Dr.

(01:00:08):
Wolf's office and we would sit and we would, you know, kind of collaborate and
talk about what was going on and where we were struggling.
And this resolution thing was, was so basic and so simple. I wish I had in front
of me, I think I can remember it.
You'd have one person and you had one minute to describe what the issue was
like what you were struggling with and there was another person who you were
facing we had a candle in between us you know is this kind of this really really

(01:00:31):
really kind of a nice moment everybody else sat in a circle and so let's say
I was the person who was trying to figure it out whatever it was.
Yeah, you know, hey, I know I only have a minute, so I'm just going to tell you this one.
When you look right in the eyes, you couldn't look away and keep your eyeballs
on somebody. You know, at least you had that sort of intention, right?
And I would say, I'm trying to start this business and I don't really know what

(01:00:53):
to do. And I feel like I'm all over the place and I feel like I'm wasting my time.
And my boss at the restaurant is up my butt for, you know, cutting out hours
because I'm trying to start this business.
And I'm just, you know what I mean? I don't, should I stop?
Because I need this other job because I need to pay my bills.
But this is my passion over here. I don't know what to do.

(01:01:13):
All right. And then the other person's job is to say, say to you,
um, I hear, I hear what you're saying.
Um, let me ask you a series of questions. How does that make you feel?
All right. And, um, it makes me feel confused and awful and terrible and, and, uh, whatever.
And then they would say, okay, um, can you go deeper?

(01:01:33):
Does that feeling that you have, that feeling of frustration and anger,
does it, does it trace back to something
that you dealt with early on in your life with your parents or your
school or whatever it is can you take it back like other other
examples of when this sort
of you know when you had you're on an impasse and you couldn't find a solution
for it and then you go deeper how does what is that what kind of emotions come

(01:01:55):
up there you know and then you know you're asking people to go in deeper and
deeper it's like ineptitude or or great sadness or or it brings
up depression because there's a pattern here in my life.
You know what I mean? And then they would, they, and then they would say,
okay, um, can you, is there anything that you think as of right now that you can do about it?

(01:02:20):
Like, what can you do between today and when we meet seven days from now?
What are the tasks? What are the action steps? I know I sound like Tony Robbins.
All right. What kind of paradigm shift? I'll go all the way.
What do you need to freaking do? Who do you need to call?
Who do you need to write? What kind of conversations do you need to have? Right.

(01:02:41):
Do you need to go to a bank to get a loan to start this? What are the things?
And then, you know, maybe you come up with something there or not. but
the following week there was that
group waiting for your list and like what
did you do right um and that
was the whole point because some people just sort of like you said before
aaron they're just like the weight of it like they'll just sit the

(01:03:03):
muck and the mire of it as opposed to taking whatever steps and
it doesn't mean those steps that you take in the course of those seven days are going
to change anything but at least to get the ball rolling at
least you're doing something right at least you're getting answers yeah
you're standing at the bottom of the staircase looking at the top
stair thinking that's an impossibility and all you have to do is drill down to
the little micro stairs and i always i always love

(01:03:24):
this analogy um or the story i guess that um seth godin uses the story of the
quarter inch drill bit i don't know if that's familiar to either of you guys
but like people people don't go to the store to buy a quarter inch drill bit
they go to the store because they need to make a quarter inch hole but they
don't actually need a quarter inch hole they need to be able to install the shelf bracket bracket,
into their wall, but they don't actually need a shelf bracket,
they need a shelf. And they don't really need a shelf, they need the books up off the floor.

(01:03:47):
And they don't really need the books up off the floor, they just need their
house to be tidier. Like the quarter inch drill is the thing you think you need,
but really what you need is this.
And so what happened in that session was like you, you got really expertly coached
down to the granular next step you needed to take.
And then you could take that little piece home and say, okay,
I just got to build an action plan around this. That's all I have to do right now. That's coaching.

(01:04:07):
You know, I write that in in my book, The Big Picture, it's about reverse engineering.
You know, it's that simple. Like, you know, you're basically trying to predict
the future by looking at all the steps prior to the.
You know, that final moment. I want to be on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Okay.
Picture yourself on the top of Kilimanjaro. You got to flag it with your friends.
You're taking pictures. You be, I, yeah.

(01:04:29):
Great. What did it look like that morning? Like, what were you doing that morning
before you're going to go to the, well, we're, we're packing up our tent, right?
We've set up a time. We had a communication before, right? I'm putting our stuff in our backpack.
We know we got another six hour hike to get to the top. And so that's what the,
okay. So what did the day before look like?
Well, the day before we were like, you know, maybe 2000 feet short from the summit.

(01:04:51):
All right. We're in a different kind of climate. We were in different kind of
clothes because we weren't that, you know, we were having, but what did that
look like? What did breakfast look like?
Right. What did it all the way down to, you know what?
I think I want to climb Kilimanjaro.
All the way down that way. Right. All right. So what was your next step? I pick up the phone.
Who do I want to go with? I email, you know, Hey, Billy, Sally,
Tom, and Ann, I want to go to Kilimanjaro.

(01:05:12):
Do you want to go? None of you want to go. Then you can go F off.
I'm going to to find another friend you know what i mean and so you you have
to actually see it now will it happen exactly that way my friend scott did that
he went to kilimanjaro on the fourth day a hundred pound rock was dislodged
rolled down the hill and landed and smashed and broke his big toe,
everybody everybody said dude you got to go down we got a sheriff but we'll

(01:05:36):
take you down he goes no we're going to cut open my shoe i got a knife i'm going
to cut open my shoe we're going to wrap it up with whatever to keep it warm
and he stumbled his way to the top right so,
you know his reverse engineer didn't happen exactly the way it did but there
he was you know a couple days from the top and he did it and so that's everything I mean.

(01:05:56):
I don't know, man. And that's how I still live my life.
You know what I mean? For example, this whole supplement line,
this Power Life supplement line that I have right now, there was tons of that.
Like, okay, what's the bottle look like? What are the colors?
What's the font? Am I in the cover or not? You know what I mean?
Are we going to have HMBs and vitamin D and BCAAs?

(01:06:17):
Maybe the BCAAs are, maybe the HMB is too expensive. No, maybe we can make it a small pack, right?
And a lot of that, no man is an island, no woman's an island.
A lot of times, people who are trying to start these businesses,
they're the only employee, right?
Just because you're the only employee doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to 50 people.
You know, get their experience. Read a couple autobiographies. Holy smokes.

(01:06:39):
I mean, it's really about reaching out to other people.
You know, there's certain aspects of my life that I don't deal with anymore.
That's why I have an assistant, right?
That's why I have, you know, social media people. I don't do the social media thing.
I'm in that place now where I can have other people do the stuff that I used to have to do myself.
And at this stage of your career, if you're starting out, you know,

(01:07:00):
even though you're the only person who's trying to create this business to help
other people, you have got to ask questions.
Like Ben Vandema, the guy that introduced me to Carl, I still talk to him all the time.
I still communicate, even though I don't work for Beachbody,
I still communicate with their lead attorney and Carl.
And I have a manager now and I'm always going to Peter and asking him those
questions. My wife is a tremendous resource.

(01:07:22):
You know, I'll come up with some convoluted, goofy idea and she'll say,
do you really want to waste your time with that?
And I'll go, yeah, God, God, I just saved like five days.
And what that means is find your tribe because your tribe will help guide you to the right place.
So you're not meandering off and all these kinds of weird places that are not

(01:07:45):
really, really want to go. And you have to trust your tribe, right?
A lot of people have people around them and they ask questions and then they
ignore their good, good advice.
You know, sometimes that's not good.
And so a lot of times, and you have to kind of clear out the people who you
no longer, they don't bring any value.
Yes, but it's my brother and we've been, you know, we were busy.
Okay. Well, your life sucks. You're still a bit depressed. You're,

(01:08:08):
you know, you're, you're all out of money. You know what I mean?
And it's your brother's the problem. So you need to have a conversation with
him and you gotta know exactly what you gotta say before you have that conversation,
and you gotta do it with love, and you gotta do it with authenticity,
and you can't bark and scream and yell at the guy. You know what I mean?
It's gotta come from a really honest,
beautiful place because you know your life is tick tick tick death you know

(01:08:30):
i mean birth school work death that's it that's the whole freaking journey so
so you better make it work you know especially if you're in your 30s or your
40s right so um is your book out now.
It's been out for quite a while it's called the big picture uh
you can go on amazon and get it there they have

(01:08:51):
selling paperback i think it's nine dollars right now big
picture yeah can't me to get it this was
amazing this was just like pep talk from start
to finish got a little weird at the end there with the whole birth work death
thing but that's uh that those are lyrics from an 80s 80s alternative song i
think you know the godfathers the godfathers they had like two or three hits

(01:09:11):
and that's a lyric from their song so i'm you know i'm just a i'm just a version
of many any stolen things.
I am literally 3% Billy Idol and 5% Tom Petty.
I'm 1% Bruce Springsteen. You know what I mean? I'm just a combination of all
the people I've ever met.

(01:09:32):
Well, you did, you know, sort of by way of wrapping up, like you mentioned that knowledge.
Like build knowledge. So build knowledge is one of your sort of,
you've repeated it a few times on this interview, like build knowledge.
And that doesn't necessarily mean going back to school and getting more degrees or more certificates.
It just means getting out into the world and just like uncovering,

(01:09:52):
yeah, learn things like lift up rocks and look underneath them, whatever.
And so I think that, you know, your, your combination of many stolen things
is just that's, that's knowledge, right?
All the knowledge you've accrued from this like kind of wild ride of your life.
And we all have the opportunity to do that.
Having experiences, you know, physically taking yourself and going someplace else.

(01:10:15):
You know, I mean, I've been heli-skiing.
I was scared to death of it for years, but I went and did that.
And the people that I met and the experiences that I had build that knowledge,
you know, deciding to get up on stage and doing stand-up comedy, right?
These are experiences that I kept immersing myself into that helped me learn things.
It also exposed me to people that altered my life forever, right? Right.

(01:10:37):
So it really is. It's a combination of the people that you know,
your tribe and the experiences you have with them.
And you've got to keep doing that. Like, you know what? You have a little bit of success.
Like when my when the window for Beachbody closed, you don't think I didn't
scramble like hell. I mean, I have I have a supplement company.
I have a fitness project with with Guyam.
I've got another one in the works with Tonal.

(01:11:00):
I'm doing another fitness program, which is kind of top secret.
But I can't talk about that yet.
So it's in the work. I'm writing my next book.
I can't tell you the working title because it's so good. Someone's going to steal it.
It's really about diet, nutrition, my experience with food growing up and my
experience with food now and how we eat and everything else, supplementation.

(01:11:21):
And then, you know, a lot of just public speaking gig.
You know what I mean? There's a lot of those that I still do.
I do often, you know, the military stuff. I hope to get back to that again as well.
So, you know what I mean? If you're super myopic about one thing,
my career took off because I was doing the fitness thing and the acting thing.
You have to have your hands in a lot of stuff, but if you have your hands in

(01:11:43):
too much stuff, then certain things don't get done.
It's a juggling act, and you just have to figure out. Some people have a greater bandwidth than others.
I finally found these projects I can do, and I can manage the supplements,
different workout programs, and the book, and all these things.
I can manage that. At one point, when P90X was at its peak, I was saying yes
to everything, and nothing got done. So you've got to avoid that, too.

(01:12:06):
Can I give you a backhanded compliment, please?
All right i'm so i get so excited when i speak to people who are in in their
60s and you are technically in your 60s and in the early stages of your 60s
but like you mark hanging around people,
like just vibrancy that comes through and the energy that comes through it just

(01:12:28):
it fills me with so much optimism like i'm i'm in this game for longevity that's
my whole like raison d'etre,
and so i i have no line of sight as to what i'm gonna be like when i'm 60 or
beyond so i love I love being in the energy of people like yourself because
it's like, yeah, that's how I'm going to be. I'm going to be just like Tony when I grow up.
That is an awesome point. And here's the thing that I want to add to that.

(01:12:51):
I know we're past the hour, but whatever.
I mean, you know, your health and wellness is everything.
That's the foundation of who I am. All right. There's two things I can control,
what I do physically and what I put in my mouth.
The weather and the coronavirus and people's moods and traffic.
And I can't control those things.
But the two things that I can control change everything.

(01:13:14):
It changes my perspective on how to deal with the things I can't control.
And it also prolongs your ability to be successful long-term.
Right. So, you know, a lot of people are 61 are done.
You know what I mean? They don't look like me. They don't act like me.
They can't do what I can do.
And so, you know, any hope that they're going to have a second career is toast

(01:13:34):
because they've abused themselves physically, mentally, emotionally,
and spiritually for decades.
Right. I did that for the first 20, 30 years.
Right. Right. For the last 30 years, not a drop of alcohol.
You know what I mean? No drugs at all. You know, a lot of the insanity that
I was doing earlier, I stopped it. Like I don't even go in the sun.

(01:13:57):
It's a giant death ball in the sky. I think I hate that thing.
I was I was in a tanning booth at the Sports Connection four times a week.
I was the brownest man you ever met.
But, you know, now I'm still paying the price, you know, with all kinds of different
skin things and Obagi this this and whatever, you know what I mean?
I've got a basal cell right here in my cheek that I'm working with right now.

(01:14:18):
And, you know, like bad behavior in your youth comes out later on in life and,
you know, you can get it back.
You got to go to yoga. You got to have your mindfulness practice.
You should be meditating by now.
You should be, you know, doing tons of cardiovascular exercise because that
replenishes the heart, the lungs, the legs, your organs.
You know what I mean? This is important as well, especially now with the coronavirus.

(01:14:38):
The virus lives in your lower lungs. Most people only use the top half.
When you have a part of your lung removed, they take out the bottom because
most people don't use it anyway.
But during cardiovascular exercise, and I learned this from Mark Sisson,
that's what you're doing. That was too much.
Right. So, you know, I mean, there's basic rules to the road.

(01:15:00):
And if you know what they are and you follow them, then you can start this career
in your 30s, in your 40s, 50s, in your 60s, because your 70s and 80s and 90s,
don't look like everybody else's.
You know what I mean? Why shouldn't you be a beacon of hope,
based on your behavior that is the antithesis of everybody else in your age group i mean come on,

(01:15:23):
well i had that i had that thought because like right now i work with women
in their 40s right because that's who i am and it's like well what happens when
i'm 50 i'll work with women in their 50s and then it was like i someday i'm
going to be a health coach working with women in their 80s,
and like it's wild to imagine that you know 40 years from now when i'm in my
80s that that's going to be a viable that that potentially will be a viable

(01:15:44):
community like 80 year old women in 40 years, aren't going to all be walking with canes.
Like we're all going to be still lifting in the gym, right?
Maybe not if they're working with you, girlfriend, right?
You're going to have your tribe.
Awesome. Thank you so much for giving us this hour. Thank you. Thank you. Well.

(01:16:04):
You're very, very welcome. My pleasure. I'm glad to be here. Yeah.
And, you know, and it's good that you're doing this.
You know, it's good that you guys are still working in the midst of all this insanity and
uh i'm glad to do it you know what i mean i try to stay as
busy as i possibly can right now you know
what i mean our house has never been cleaner i will tell you
that the garage is next oh it's just so funny how you know because you can only

(01:16:28):
watch the news for so many minutes and go okay all right i know i mean i say
the same thing over and over yeah to clean up house i mean cleaning house is
everything you know i mean organization gives you the freedom to live the life
that you want and when things are where they're supposed to be and
you can access them, and you don't have to spend 25 minutes finding your phone,
then that's just one more step in the quiver of important things that one needs

(01:16:51):
to do to become successful, I think.
I love it. Awesome. Thank you so much, Tony.
This podcast was brought to you by Primal Health Coach Institute.
To learn more about how to become a successful health coach,
get in touch with us by visiting primalhealthcoach.com forward slash call.
Or if you're already a successful health coach, practitioner,

(01:17:13):
influencer, or thought leader with a thriving business and an interesting story,
we'd love to hear from you.
Connect with us at hello at primalhealthcoach.com and let us know why we need
to interview you for Health Coach Radio. Thanks for listening.

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