August 19, 2025 • 27 mins
Forging a New Chapter: Do Hard Things Returns with Brian Larson
The Do Hard Things Podcast is back and we are kicking off Season 5 with a brand new chapter. After years of leading conversations on resilience, mindset, and performance, Siegfried Jay Tiegs is joined by new cohost Brian Larson, a CrossFit coach, breathwork facilitator, nutrition specialist, and movement expert.
Together, Jay and Brian are bringing you raw, unfiltered conversations that blend inspiration with real tactics to help you strengthen both mind and body. In this episode, they share the vision for the future of the podcast, the story behind teaming up, and what you can expect in the weeks ahead.
You will discover how the Do Hard Things ethos is evolving with a stronger focus on mindset, movement, breathwork, and community and how you can be part of the journey.
Whether you are a long time listener or brand new to the tribe, this episode sets the tone for what is next: practical strategies, powerful stories, and a community built on forging resilience together.
Learn more and join the Do Hard Things Nation Wellness Academy at www.dohardthingsnation.com.
Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place. On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives.
Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.
Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about
Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller! Grab a copy and leave a review.
👉 Get the book on Amazon
Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel!
👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation
And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
All right, welcome back everybody to the do hard
things podcast.
I'm Siegfried JT.
Okay, we've got a long.
I got a story to to share withyou around that.
But uh, hey, I'm an enduranceathlete, veteran high
performance mindset coach andwe've spent a little bit of time
away and I have, I feel likeI've been in.
(01:03):
You've watched star Wars wherethey got the.
Uh, luke Skywalker goes to the,goes to the planet with little
green guy Yoda and he's going tolearn his Jedi training.
That's where I feel like I'vebeen the last 18 months and I'm
finally back to continue myjourney as a Jedi master and I'm
excited to relaunch the Do HardThings program and I'm here
with my brother from anothermother, brian Larson.
(01:26):
How you doing, brian, good man,how?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
are Brian Good man?
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Good man, Good to have you here.
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, so I'm Brian Larson.
I am a certified CrossFit coach, nutrition and movement expert
and just a guy who trulybelieves the gym is the training
ground for a better lifeoutside of it.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, that's awesome, man, and together, this is the
Do Hard Things podcast and it'sthe go-to podcast for everyday
high performers who want to getstronger, you want to improve
your mind, improve your body.
We blend real stories,science-backed strategies, real,
raw, relevant conversations tohelp you push past your limits,
(02:05):
recover smarter and really gainclarity on what you want from
life and help you live that life.
Achieve that and live a lifethat you're proud of inside the
gym, on and off the trail, andthen on and off the in and out
of the gym, and that's what it'sall about.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, I think that's great and I think this season
what everybody can expect arejust practical tools that you
can actually use.
Just real talk about challengesSig and I face but we all face
and then hopefully, some amazingguests, elite athletes and
coaches to everyday people doingextraordinary things.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, well, I think, from this podcast perspective,
if you go back into the historyof it, you know we've we've had
the pleasure of interviewingsome prominent people and also
many like everyday people.
It's just been like a mix ofvery diverse people, of
backgrounds.
We the aim of this podcast isalways to be real, raw and
relevant, and so we just tie itall together here in the Do Hard
(03:05):
Things community.
Now the latest and greatest iswe're launching the Do Hard
Things wellness community and inthis project, this is where you
(03:25):
get to connect in a have acommunity where we're going to
be offering mindset coaching,challenges, physical movement,
mindset, you know, personaldevelopment can feel really,
really lonely.
I mean, let's be real, mostpeople are squarely plugged into
the matrix and I mean Iremember when I was in the
military I'd come in, you know,off the weekend and Monday
(03:46):
morning everyone's talking aboutfootball and I'm talking about,
like man, I just I read thisgreat book called Think and Grow
Rich and everyone would talkabout football and I felt like
really lonely and so you need aplace to where you can like
connect with other like-mindedpeople, fill your cup so you can
go back out in the wildernessand be that lighthouse in the
world, and that's what the Doheart thing, uh, wellness
(04:07):
community, is all about.
It's really about amplifyingmindset and movement, and we'll
we'll do a deep dive into whatthat means.
But, um, but yeah, that's wherewe're at.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I yeah, it's funny Cause I I kind of had the same
experience of wait.
I didn't watch that sportingevent, I was reading some uh,
what was like Joe disp, joedispensa's book.
Um, it's escaping me, breakingthe habit of being yourself and
people are like what are youtalking about?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
so I feel you and I don't want to disparage anyone
that engages in that, but it'sjust like I just felt like I was
just cut from a different clothand and it's.
It can be a challenge to findlike-minded people like that,
but this is what it's all aboutyeah, yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Uh, I I think like the thought from from moving
forward.
I it's the, the concept of aswe do this.
And as for the listeners, ifsomebody is training for the
first 5k or they're setting prs,they're going for a pr in the
gym, or the concept of you'rejust sick of settling for good
(05:11):
enough, I think they're in theright spot.
Like, this is the place.
These are the things we'regoing to talk about and that's
where we go just go from hereand just and show up a little
unpolished, because I thinkthat's how we are sometimes, but
I love it, it's authentic.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, and I think, if it's getting comfortable with
being uncomfortable and knowingthat, there's another level and
that's what I've always tried tofind things and challenges and
create a community that'sscalable to everyone.
Whether you're a teenager oryou're someone you know just
chronologically, you know, 80,90 years old, you're still
getting after, you're stilllooking for something Like
(05:56):
finding opportunities to sharpenyour saw through uncomfortable
things, and I think that's.
There's just been a lot of lifelessons that I've learned from
doing hard things in acontrolled environment and
that's how we get better.
So season five starts now.
Here we go.
So before we dive in, what we'rereally going to do today, this
(06:18):
is going to be a fairly shortepisode.
We're kind of up against theclock today, but we just wanted
to kind of briefly introduceourselves.
In coming episodes Brian isgoing to interview me, like do a
deep dive interview, and I'mgoing to do a deep dive
interview with Brian, and thenin future episodes, brian and I
are both going to co-hostepisodes together.
Sometimes it might be meinterviewing someone, brian
(06:41):
might be interviewing someone.
Maybe it's a monologue, butwe're just going to kind of go
with it.
But that's what you can kind ofexpect going forward in the
season.
So before we get into that, Ijust want to make this is.
I guess this would be oursponsored moment, right?
So most people wait until thisis feeling really rough, man, I
(07:02):
feel like I've definitely beenaway from the mic for 18 months.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Good, good it's authentic man.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yes, most people wait until life punches them in the
face before they get seriousabout their health, mindset and
purpose, but this is where theDo Hard Things Wellness
community comes in.
This is where everyday peoplebecome high performers
physically, mentally andemotionally.
We have weekly mindset coachingcalls, training plans,
challenges, breathwork clinics,meditations.
(07:28):
This is a tribe that refuses tosettle for average.
So your next level isn't goingto wait and just magically pop
up in your life.
You got to go get after itright, and so if you're looking
for a tribe of like-mindedpeople, this message resonates
with you Then I encourage you togo to do hard things nationcom
and check out the do hard thingsnation wellness community.
(07:49):
We got merch and a bunch ofother things, upcoming schedule
of events but go check out doour things nationcom to learn
more and uh, and that's it.
So all right, brian man, it'sgood to have you here yeah, good
to be here, man, good stuff soyeah, so we're gonna keep this
episode fairly short, but, um, Iguess, I guess we can just talk
about.
Let's just talk about how wemet and what, what we're doing
(08:12):
together.
So how do we meet?
How did we meet?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
it's through through our women.
It was I don't remember at whatstage, but it's been over five
years now that your wife and mygirlfriend have had that
longstanding friendship andintroduced us, and I've told you
this story many times.
I was like oh, after the firstmeeting, I had this intuition
(08:36):
that said you're going to workwith that guy at some point.
And here we are.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, we knew it, we had that conversation, we had
very similar interest mindsetmovement.
We're talking about coaching.
I remember that you hadexpressed interest in being a
coach and I was still fairly newon my coaching journey and,
yeah, there's definitely somesynergy there and we've been
really good friends.
And then there was definitelysome synergy there and we've
been really good friends.
And then in this last year, man, we've both we, we we've both
(09:04):
uh, went down the rabbit hole inour own personal development
journey, uh, truly unpluggingfrom the, the matrix I think the
matrix was a documentary, butwe've had some pretty deep
experiences.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, I would agree.
It's funny Cause I I, everytime I watch that movie, I
conclude oh, that's just adocumentary, it's so true.
And that whole concept ofunplugging I think that's
probably what the common threadthat we shared is that we both
were unplugging at the same time.
And then those final pieces forme came in, some of our time
(09:37):
together of just going, yeah,this is it, this is the mission.
The mission is what we'retalking about right now Helping
everyday people get to a newlevel physically, mentally,
spiritually, all of it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
And so we, we, as we weretalking and collaborating about
what we see for the future andjust serving other people.
We're just like you know whatteaming up like one plus one
equals 10 in this situation.
You know, I've got a backgroundin endurance sports.
I'm a veteran, I, you know,certified high performance coach
, and then you have a deepbackground in, just you know,
(10:12):
being a CrossFit coach movement.
Like you're, an expert innutrition, we're both going
through this breathworkcertification, which was not on
my bingo card for this year, ifI'm honest.
It's been amazing, though,absolutely amazing, and really
eager to roll it out Once again,going to the concept of rolling
out challenging people andthings, because breathwork is
(10:35):
one of those things.
It's an uncomfortable thing todo but the benefit of it is
absolutely transformative, andwe've been on this journey
together and we're really eagerto roll that out in the wellness
community.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah, yeah, it has been interesting and it was not
on my bingo card either, but Ihad been doing some Wim Hof
breathing for a couple of yearsand love Wim Hof and wasn't
doing the cold exposure which Igot really introduced to
recently.
I knew there was something tothe breath work and so when I
(11:06):
found this training resource Ijust knew that was it, and it's
kind of blown my mind with someof the techniques and how it's
made me feel, how my body feels,how I'm connecting more with my
body and my brain, like all thepieces are syncing together
better than they ever have.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and I had dabbled
with cold.
My first cold exposure on aregular basis was through 75
hard, and this podcast wasfounded on that program.
But when you go into phase two,you got to do the five minute
cold shower and I remember thefirst time, the first few times.
Like this is absolutelymiserable, this is absolutely
horrible.
Now a five minute cold plungein 45 degree water is my daily
(11:47):
routine.
In fact, sometimes I do itmultiple times a day.
It's so refreshing and so good.
And someone might be listeningto this like, oh my gosh, you're
, you're, you're.
I can never do that.
Well, if you believe you can orbelieve you can't, you're right
, but I am telling you it hasbeen an absolute game changer
for me personally.
And then, incorporating thebreath work on top of that, I
dabbled with Wim Hof.
I'm like this is souncomfortable, I'm feeling
(12:07):
lightheaded.
Why would you do this?
What are the benefits?
But now that I'm doing itregularly and consistently and I
understand the purpose of eachtype of breath man, absolute
game changer.
Like you want to talk aboutJedi mind trick, like I can get
triggered by something andimmediately put space between me
and my thoughts and and resetmy nervous system, so I respond
(12:31):
versus reacting.
In addition to it helps me inregards to my athletic
performance.
Like there's so many benefitswhich will go down on a deep
dive, I'm sure yeah, it's allthat.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
It reminds me just of the same thing you're doing in
the gym.
It's hormesis, it's positivestress on the body to teach it
how to do something differentlater.
And it's funny because what yousaid makes me think of your
reaction, or that Viktor Franklquote that says, um, oh, I
always forget it in this space,or there's a space between
(12:58):
stimulus and response, and inthat space lies your freedom.
Yes, and when somethingtriggers me, if I take a step
back and just go, all right,this made me feel this way, I
can react this way, but I'm notgoing to.
I'm going to react this way,and it's like all of these
things teach you how to takethat step back and respond
differently.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yes, and it's still a work.
I'm probably not.
I'm a mindset coach and I'mstill.
I caught myself.
Last week I got really upsetabout something.
I went out in my garage and I Ikicked something my wife's like
what I had to go like for awalk and I felt like man, I just
(13:38):
felt like a little child.
Again it pops up, but thosemoments are few and far between
now because of the tools.
But sometimes I mean we're alla work in progress.
But these tactics work and themore that you can, the more
awareness that you have and themore tools that you have, you
begin to really really change.
And then there's moments whereyou're not your best self,
become fewer and fewer and youcan truly heal yourself.
Yes, for sure, and somethingthat we've talked about
(14:01):
significantly and something I'velearned about myself and my own
journey is I do hard thingsbecause I mean.
This mantra came from mychildhood, when I came from a
emotionally and physicallyabusive upbringing and I found
cross country and I'm like man.
If I just do this hard thing,you know, my life is infinitely
better.
And over my life, you know,being in the military, I've
(14:22):
always leaned into that mantra,but I found that I was escaping
by doing hard things, like doingthese really long bike rides
and these big challenges, whichI love them.
But what I learned about myselfis and we've talked about this
extensively is the nervoussystem.
What I was doing was I wasbasically escaping the pain of
(14:45):
my day-to-day life by engagingin running or some type of race,
which there's nothing wrongwith that.
But when I was done, it wasjust like, well, now I'm back in
my, in my day-to-day life, andI'm oh, here we go again.
I'm back to, I'm just on edgein my, my, I'm in fight or
flight all the time, and what Ihave learned is to regulate
(15:06):
myself so I can get into, restand digest and that
parasympathetic nervous systemand deregulate out of that, and
I think that's the.
This is where the nextevolution of doing hard things I
think it is prudent to get up,lift weights, run, do all the
physical things, but then youneed to learn how to rest and
recover and and one of thehardest things I've learned is
(15:29):
to sit in stillness and be withmyself.
So that's the new evolution ofthe do hard things communities.
That's what we teach in the.
Wellness is how to activateyour nervous system and then how
to deregulate and be withyourself.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah.
So it's interesting because inCrossFit a CrossFit has a line
that says CrossFit's the cure,and they're absolutely right for
people who are struggling withdifferent diseases like type 2
diabetes, high cholesterol,hypertension.
They're overweight.
It's a great cure for thosethings if you show up and do the
(16:02):
work.
But it can also be a disease inthe standpoint that when people
are so committed to it, they'reescaping their pain and they
show up there and punish theirbodies and never D or D.
They they're over.
They're over like activated,and they don't come into that
parasympathetic.
They don't get the rest.
(16:22):
The body breaks down, yep, andso I'm.
I see it in the gym all the time, people, they just show up and
go hard all the time.
But we are, we're not made togo hard all the time.
We can't.
We have to have those timeswhere we reset our nervous
system to it's all neurologicload right.
(16:42):
If I go and work out reallyhard and then I have a fight
with Laney or somethingstressful at work, my brain is
just nerve fibers.
Central nervous system.
Load appears the same to thebrain and we have to teach it
how to rest and how to get intothat state of relaxation too.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, it's the same with my runners.
It's like if I'm not running, ifI miss a day, like they feel
guilty about it.
You know, and and that's that'swhere you rebound, you, you,
you re rebuild stronger on thoserest days and, as a as a
running coach, like I'm tryingto coach my runners to slow down
, like have a couple of qualitysession days where you're either
running for volume and distanceor speed, and then the other
(17:23):
days you're going on a scale ofone to 10, a four, which is like
a conversational pace, and thenand then take your day off
where you just might do somelight stretching or active
recovery walking and be okaywith that.
But it's that's hard forpeople's wiring, especially when
you're a high performer, causeit's like if I'm not on all the
time, then I'm.
Then then you beat yourself upLike well, I'm lazy, or I'm not
(17:45):
performing well, and you're likeand it's just, um, it's a trap
that I've fallen in through andit's not it, it doesn't serve
for me, like as I hear thosewords, it's the concept of doing
.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
High performers, do, do, do, do.
But sometimes we just have tobe meaning don't do, just sit
there, just be, be present, bein your body, be relaxed.
Don't do, and so there's.
Both are important, but anytimeyou go in one direction it ends
(18:20):
up not it's not homeostasis forthe body.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, yeah, got to learn to be, be at peace.
And happiness can only be foundin the present moment.
And we were trying to run fromfrom something or run towards
something.
I, you're not in peace.
And I think a lot of people usethe gym, I mean, as a way to,
like I said, like in my ownjourney, like just running all
the time, like it's just a way.
(18:44):
It is a great stress reliever,but it can be we can rely too
much of it to find our peacewhen we need to just be in
ourself a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So it served as distraction from pain for me.
Yeah, it was the place I wouldgo, that my, my analytic brain
would shut off and I wouldn'thave to feel the pain that I
couldn't work through.
Yeah, so I've just found nowthat I go and it's my place of
(19:18):
enjoyment.
I don't go there because I havepain.
I go there because I reallylike to move.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, yeah.
So I think that's, that's thejourney that that we have been
on, and I think the um this isanother thing I love about
breath work is that I struggledwith meditation, but breath work
forces you to be in the momentbecause you're just focusing on
the rhythm and the cadence andthen it puts you in a deep
meditative state.
It's so good, man it is.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I agree it's.
It's been such a profound,unexpected experience and I'm
the same way.
I get on the tail end of likesome of this dynamic that will
introduce everybody at somepoint and you can't help but to
slip into meditation becauseyour body is just ready for it.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
It's been so amazing yeah, so so good in so many
different ways.
So so, yeah, we're excitedabout the uh, the next chapter
of the uh, the do hard thingssaga, if you will.
So we're excited aboutlaunching the uh the community.
We've got our annual racecoming up in september.
I've got the hard copy.
This is the final proof copy ofthe book, so it life on offense
(20:25):
is coming out.
So we're we're super excitedabout, you know, getting a
community of like-minded peopletogether, teaching them the
things that we have learned,maybe bringing in some other
experts and just helping peoplejust dominate life, find peace
(20:45):
and be a lighthouse for otherpeople, because there's so many
people out there numbing,distracted, trying to find peace
, and we want to be a placewhere those people that want to
make an impact can come, take aknee, take your armor off,
recover, gain some knowledge soyou can go back out in the world
(21:06):
and serve, and with withclarity, and and serve those
people that are relying on you,and that's what, uh, that's
that's what I see the do hardthings nation being all about,
and I love that.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
And so, before you wrap up I know we'll get to this
, uh, next time when I sit downwith questions for you, but just
for listeners who might'vestumbled upon it tell people
what the heart of do hard thingsstands for, because it took me
forever to remember that and Isometimes still forget some of
the letters.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, so I do a deep dive on the on the book life on
offense, that's what it is andhard are basically the four
pillars of your life, and weneed to just like a house, you
have to have your four walls.
These are things that you needto focus on, these with some
level of intentionality each andevery day.
And the H stands for health,and I think health is broken
(21:59):
down into two buckets mentalhealth and physical health.
So we need to maintain both.
Affluence Affluence is yourability to generate wealth, and
wealth enables you to have moreoptions in life Relationships.
Like you know, our greatesthuman desire is to be loved and
appreciated and connected, andso understanding how to have
(22:23):
healthy relationships is really,really important.
And then, finally, the D is fordevelopment, and I truly
believe if you're not learninglike we are constantly evolving
and learning and developingskills, and then when you
develop and have amazingexperiences, you grow as a
person.
And if you're not growing Ithink it's Tony Robbins said if
you're not growing, you're dying.
And so these are the four areasof your life that you need to
(22:44):
focus in on every single dayhealth, affluence, relationships
and development.
And that's the uh.
Those are the, the, thecornerstones, to uh uh pillars,
if you will, to a healthy,healthy life.
Do means take action.
And then the things.
Well, the things are the thingsthat truly matter.
Like, are you really focused onthe things that matter?
Are you getting there's so muchdistraction in the world?
(23:05):
I mean, are you getting there'sso much distraction in?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
the world.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I mean, dude, I went to yeah, confusion, yeah, and
the opposite of clarity isconfusion and there's a lot of
distraction.
I think when I was out ofcountry, I went to Machu Picchu
earlier this year in Argentina,so I was gone for a month, uh,
outside the United States.
I love our country here, but assoon as I got back I just felt
this energy, like I'm pluggedback into marketing and the
(23:29):
media and just this constantdrumbeat of negativity.
It just it blows me awaybecause we live in the most
abundant time in human history,like we live better than than
royalty did just a hundred yearsago and and we're miserable,
like, by and large, ourcountry's there's a, there's a
depression or an all-time highsuicide rate is an all-time high
(23:52):
.
Yet we live like the mostabundant time known to man.
And it's just sad, it's justreally, really unfortunate and
I'm sorry this is, yeah,unprofessional.
I didn't turn my phone off.
There we go.
I'm not editing it out, you getreal, raw and relevant here.
So what was I saying?
Yeah, it's just sad that wehave those challenges, but I
(24:17):
don't think this the Do HardThings community is a reminder
of your God-given purpose ingiving you the tactical tools,
knowledge in a place where youcan ask questions, gain guidance
to help you avoid all thatdistraction, to live a life
where you're thriving and notmerely surviving.
(24:37):
That's good right there.
That's the mission.
So beautiful.
Love it, man.
So any any final thoughtsbefore we call it a day?
Yeah, man.
So any any final thoughtsbefore we call it a day?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
No man, I I'm excited .
I think we have a lot of valueto bring A lot of topics people
are going to find interesting.
I think it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
It's going to be a fun road.
Yeah, man, I I'm, I'm excited.
I know that I had to take abreak from this for a while
because after I left themilitary, I mean, I went through
this well, all the podcastepisodes about the stages of the
dark night of the soul.
I went through that, man, and Ifelt like for a bit, like, can
I even do this?
Am I even right for this?
Like who am I?
The imposter syndrome, and so,like I said, I had to go off and
(25:24):
learn to become a Jedi in thatprocess.
You know, we definitely deeplyconnected in that Cause.
You're, you're going throughthe same thing, man, and I'm
like, and I feel like God's likeno man, every, every time I
stepped off the path, like God'slike no, you got to come back,
you got.
There's something here and it'snot just, it's not just about
me, it's about just creating acommunity of like-minded people
(25:45):
trying to just, you know, getout of their pain, frequency and
live a life of power, live alife of clarity, live a life of
abundance, because life can betremendously hard.
What I've noticed about life onthis planet is that every
single person has some type ofcross to bear.
And it's individual, it'sunique to the individual.
(26:07):
And trying to make meaning ofthat, and, and, and, and I don't
know, man, I, I, and I knowthat when you, I try to do this
alone and it just doesn't workas well than when you're
connected with like-mindedpeople.
So that's what it's all about,brother.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Good stuff, man.
So that's it for this episode.
We appreciate you tuning in andgo to do hard things, nationcom
.
If you'd like to learn more,make sure you smash that
subscribe button and, uh, welook forward to seeing you in
the next episode.
Meantime, keep doing hardthings.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Let's go.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Let's go.
All right, welcome back everybody to the do hard
things podcast.
I'm Siegfried JT.
Okay, we've got a long.
I got a story to to share withyou around that.
But uh, hey, I'm an enduranceathlete, veteran high
performance mindset coach andwe've spent a little bit of time
away and I have, I feel likeI've been in.
(01:03):
You've watched star Wars wherethey got the.
Uh, luke Skywalker goes to the,goes to the planet with little
green guy Yoda and he's going tolearn his Jedi training.
That's where I feel like I'vebeen the last 18 months and I'm
finally back to continue myjourney as a Jedi master and I'm
excited to relaunch the Do HardThings program and I'm here
with my brother from anothermother, brian Larson.
(01:26):
How you doing, brian, good man,how?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
are Brian Good man?
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Good man, Good to have you here.
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, so I'm Brian Larson.
I am a certified CrossFit coach, nutrition and movement expert
and just a guy who trulybelieves the gym is the training
ground for a better lifeoutside of it.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, that's awesome, man, and together, this is the
Do Hard Things podcast and it'sthe go-to podcast for everyday
high performers who want to getstronger, you want to improve
your mind, improve your body.
We blend real stories,science-backed strategies, real,
raw, relevant conversations tohelp you push past your limits,
(02:05):
recover smarter and really gainclarity on what you want from
life and help you live that life.
Achieve that and live a lifethat you're proud of inside the
gym, on and off the trail, andthen on and off the in and out
of the gym, and that's what it'sall about.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, I think that's great and I think this season
what everybody can expect arejust practical tools that you
can actually use.
Just real talk about challengesSig and I face but we all face
and then hopefully, some amazingguests, elite athletes and
coaches to everyday people doingextraordinary things.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, well, I think, from this podcast perspective,
if you go back into the historyof it, you know we've we've had
the pleasure of interviewingsome prominent people and also
many like everyday people.
It's just been like a mix ofvery diverse people, of
backgrounds.
We the aim of this podcast isalways to be real, raw and
relevant, and so we just tie itall together here in the Do Hard
(03:05):
Things community.
Now the latest and greatest iswe're launching the Do Hard
Things wellness community and inthis project, this is where you
(03:25):
get to connect in a have acommunity where we're going to
be offering mindset coaching,challenges, physical movement,
mindset, you know, personaldevelopment can feel really,
really lonely.
I mean, let's be real, mostpeople are squarely plugged into
the matrix and I mean Iremember when I was in the
military I'd come in, you know,off the weekend and Monday
(03:46):
morning everyone's talking aboutfootball and I'm talking about,
like man, I just I read thisgreat book called Think and Grow
Rich and everyone would talkabout football and I felt like
really lonely and so you need aplace to where you can like
connect with other like-mindedpeople, fill your cup so you can
go back out in the wildernessand be that lighthouse in the
world, and that's what the Doheart thing, uh, wellness
(04:07):
community, is all about.
It's really about amplifyingmindset and movement, and we'll
we'll do a deep dive into whatthat means.
But, um, but yeah, that's wherewe're at.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I yeah, it's funny Cause I I kind of had the same
experience of wait.
I didn't watch that sportingevent, I was reading some uh,
what was like Joe disp, joedispensa's book.
Um, it's escaping me, breakingthe habit of being yourself and
people are like what are youtalking about?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
so I feel you and I don't want to disparage anyone
that engages in that, but it'sjust like I just felt like I was
just cut from a different clothand and it's.
It can be a challenge to findlike-minded people like that,
but this is what it's all aboutyeah, yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Uh, I I think like the thought from from moving
forward.
I it's the, the concept of aswe do this.
And as for the listeners, ifsomebody is training for the
first 5k or they're setting prs,they're going for a pr in the
gym, or the concept of you'rejust sick of settling for good
(05:11):
enough, I think they're in theright spot.
Like, this is the place.
These are the things we'regoing to talk about and that's
where we go just go from hereand just and show up a little
unpolished, because I thinkthat's how we are sometimes, but
I love it, it's authentic.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, and I think, if it's getting comfortable with
being uncomfortable and knowingthat, there's another level and
that's what I've always tried tofind things and challenges and
create a community that'sscalable to everyone.
Whether you're a teenager oryou're someone you know just
chronologically, you know, 80,90 years old, you're still
getting after, you're stilllooking for something Like
(05:56):
finding opportunities to sharpenyour saw through uncomfortable
things, and I think that's.
There's just been a lot of lifelessons that I've learned from
doing hard things in acontrolled environment and
that's how we get better.
So season five starts now.
Here we go.
So before we dive in, what we'rereally going to do today, this
(06:18):
is going to be a fairly shortepisode.
We're kind of up against theclock today, but we just wanted
to kind of briefly introduceourselves.
In coming episodes Brian isgoing to interview me, like do a
deep dive interview, and I'mgoing to do a deep dive
interview with Brian, and thenin future episodes, brian and I
are both going to co-hostepisodes together.
Sometimes it might be meinterviewing someone, brian
(06:41):
might be interviewing someone.
Maybe it's a monologue, butwe're just going to kind of go
with it.
But that's what you can kind ofexpect going forward in the
season.
So before we get into that, Ijust want to make this is.
I guess this would be oursponsored moment, right?
So most people wait until thisis feeling really rough, man, I
(07:02):
feel like I've definitely beenaway from the mic for 18 months.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Good, good it's authentic man.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yes, most people wait until life punches them in the
face before they get seriousabout their health, mindset and
purpose, but this is where theDo Hard Things Wellness
community comes in.
This is where everyday peoplebecome high performers
physically, mentally andemotionally.
We have weekly mindset coachingcalls, training plans,
challenges, breathwork clinics,meditations.
(07:28):
This is a tribe that refuses tosettle for average.
So your next level isn't goingto wait and just magically pop
up in your life.
You got to go get after itright, and so if you're looking
for a tribe of like-mindedpeople, this message resonates
with you Then I encourage you togo to do hard things nationcom
and check out the do hard thingsnation wellness community.
(07:49):
We got merch and a bunch ofother things, upcoming schedule
of events but go check out doour things nationcom to learn
more and uh, and that's it.
So all right, brian man, it'sgood to have you here yeah, good
to be here, man, good stuff soyeah, so we're gonna keep this
episode fairly short, but, um, Iguess, I guess we can just talk
about.
Let's just talk about how wemet and what, what we're doing
(08:12):
together.
So how do we meet?
How did we meet?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
it's through through our women.
It was I don't remember at whatstage, but it's been over five
years now that your wife and mygirlfriend have had that
longstanding friendship andintroduced us, and I've told you
this story many times.
I was like oh, after the firstmeeting, I had this intuition
(08:36):
that said you're going to workwith that guy at some point.
And here we are.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, we knew it, we had that conversation, we had
very similar interest mindsetmovement.
We're talking about coaching.
I remember that you hadexpressed interest in being a
coach and I was still fairly newon my coaching journey and,
yeah, there's definitely somesynergy there and we've been
really good friends.
And then there was definitelysome synergy there and we've
been really good friends.
And then in this last year, man, we've both we, we we've both
(09:04):
uh, went down the rabbit hole inour own personal development
journey, uh, truly unpluggingfrom the, the matrix I think the
matrix was a documentary, butwe've had some pretty deep
experiences.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, I would agree.
It's funny Cause I I, everytime I watch that movie, I
conclude oh, that's just adocumentary, it's so true.
And that whole concept ofunplugging I think that's
probably what the common threadthat we shared is that we both
were unplugging at the same time.
And then those final pieces forme came in, some of our time
(09:37):
together of just going, yeah,this is it, this is the mission.
The mission is what we'retalking about right now Helping
everyday people get to a newlevel physically, mentally,
spiritually, all of it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
And so we, we, as we weretalking and collaborating about
what we see for the future andjust serving other people.
We're just like you know whatteaming up like one plus one
equals 10 in this situation.
You know, I've got a backgroundin endurance sports.
I'm a veteran, I, you know,certified high performance coach
, and then you have a deepbackground in, just you know,
(10:12):
being a CrossFit coach movement.
Like you're, an expert innutrition, we're both going
through this breathworkcertification, which was not on
my bingo card for this year, ifI'm honest.
It's been amazing, though,absolutely amazing, and really
eager to roll it out Once again,going to the concept of rolling
out challenging people andthings, because breathwork is
(10:35):
one of those things.
It's an uncomfortable thing todo but the benefit of it is
absolutely transformative, andwe've been on this journey
together and we're really eagerto roll that out in the wellness
community.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah, yeah, it has been interesting and it was not
on my bingo card either, but Ihad been doing some Wim Hof
breathing for a couple of yearsand love Wim Hof and wasn't
doing the cold exposure which Igot really introduced to
recently.
I knew there was something tothe breath work and so when I
(11:06):
found this training resource Ijust knew that was it, and it's
kind of blown my mind with someof the techniques and how it's
made me feel, how my body feels,how I'm connecting more with my
body and my brain, like all thepieces are syncing together
better than they ever have.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and I had dabbled
with cold.
My first cold exposure on aregular basis was through 75
hard, and this podcast wasfounded on that program.
But when you go into phase two,you got to do the five minute
cold shower and I remember thefirst time, the first few times.
Like this is absolutelymiserable, this is absolutely
horrible.
Now a five minute cold plungein 45 degree water is my daily
(11:47):
routine.
In fact, sometimes I do itmultiple times a day.
It's so refreshing and so good.
And someone might be listeningto this like, oh my gosh, you're
, you're, you're.
I can never do that.
Well, if you believe you can orbelieve you can't, you're right
, but I am telling you it hasbeen an absolute game changer
for me personally.
And then, incorporating thebreath work on top of that, I
dabbled with Wim Hof.
I'm like this is souncomfortable, I'm feeling
(12:07):
lightheaded.
Why would you do this?
What are the benefits?
But now that I'm doing itregularly and consistently and I
understand the purpose of eachtype of breath man, absolute
game changer.
Like you want to talk aboutJedi mind trick, like I can get
triggered by something andimmediately put space between me
and my thoughts and and resetmy nervous system, so I respond
(12:31):
versus reacting.
In addition to it helps me inregards to my athletic
performance.
Like there's so many benefitswhich will go down on a deep
dive, I'm sure yeah, it's allthat.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
It reminds me just of the same thing you're doing in
the gym.
It's hormesis, it's positivestress on the body to teach it
how to do something differentlater.
And it's funny because what yousaid makes me think of your
reaction, or that Viktor Franklquote that says, um, oh, I
always forget it in this space,or there's a space between
(12:58):
stimulus and response, and inthat space lies your freedom.
Yes, and when somethingtriggers me, if I take a step
back and just go, all right,this made me feel this way, I
can react this way, but I'm notgoing to.
I'm going to react this way,and it's like all of these
things teach you how to takethat step back and respond
differently.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yes, and it's still a work.
I'm probably not.
I'm a mindset coach and I'mstill.
I caught myself.
Last week I got really upsetabout something.
I went out in my garage and I Ikicked something my wife's like
what I had to go like for awalk and I felt like man, I just
(13:38):
felt like a little child.
Again it pops up, but thosemoments are few and far between
now because of the tools.
But sometimes I mean we're alla work in progress.
But these tactics work and themore that you can, the more
awareness that you have and themore tools that you have, you
begin to really really change.
And then there's moments whereyou're not your best self,
become fewer and fewer and youcan truly heal yourself.
Yes, for sure, and somethingthat we've talked about
(14:01):
significantly and something I'velearned about myself and my own
journey is I do hard thingsbecause I mean.
This mantra came from mychildhood, when I came from a
emotionally and physicallyabusive upbringing and I found
cross country and I'm like man.
If I just do this hard thing,you know, my life is infinitely
better.
And over my life, you know,being in the military, I've
(14:22):
always leaned into that mantra,but I found that I was escaping
by doing hard things, like doingthese really long bike rides
and these big challenges, whichI love them.
But what I learned about myselfis and we've talked about this
extensively is the nervoussystem.
What I was doing was I wasbasically escaping the pain of
(14:45):
my day-to-day life by engagingin running or some type of race,
which there's nothing wrongwith that.
But when I was done, it wasjust like, well, now I'm back in
my, in my day-to-day life, andI'm oh, here we go again.
I'm back to, I'm just on edgein my, my, I'm in fight or
flight all the time, and what Ihave learned is to regulate
(15:06):
myself so I can get into, restand digest and that
parasympathetic nervous systemand deregulate out of that, and
I think that's the.
This is where the nextevolution of doing hard things I
think it is prudent to get up,lift weights, run, do all the
physical things, but then youneed to learn how to rest and
recover and and one of thehardest things I've learned is
(15:29):
to sit in stillness and be withmyself.
So that's the new evolution ofthe do hard things communities.
That's what we teach in the.
Wellness is how to activateyour nervous system and then how
to deregulate and be withyourself.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah.
So it's interesting because inCrossFit a CrossFit has a line
that says CrossFit's the cure,and they're absolutely right for
people who are struggling withdifferent diseases like type 2
diabetes, high cholesterol,hypertension.
They're overweight.
It's a great cure for thosethings if you show up and do the
(16:02):
work.
But it can also be a disease inthe standpoint that when people
are so committed to it, they'reescaping their pain and they
show up there and punish theirbodies and never D or D.
They they're over.
They're over like activated,and they don't come into that
parasympathetic.
They don't get the rest.
(16:22):
The body breaks down, yep, andso I'm.
I see it in the gym all the time, people, they just show up and
go hard all the time.
But we are, we're not made togo hard all the time.
We can't.
We have to have those timeswhere we reset our nervous
system to it's all neurologicload right.
(16:42):
If I go and work out reallyhard and then I have a fight
with Laney or somethingstressful at work, my brain is
just nerve fibers.
Central nervous system.
Load appears the same to thebrain and we have to teach it
how to rest and how to get intothat state of relaxation too.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, it's the same with my runners.
It's like if I'm not running, ifI miss a day, like they feel
guilty about it.
You know, and and that's that'swhere you rebound, you, you,
you re rebuild stronger on thoserest days and, as a as a
running coach, like I'm tryingto coach my runners to slow down
, like have a couple of qualitysession days where you're either
running for volume and distanceor speed, and then the other
(17:23):
days you're going on a scale ofone to 10, a four, which is like
a conversational pace, and thenand then take your day off
where you just might do somelight stretching or active
recovery walking and be okaywith that.
But it's that's hard forpeople's wiring, especially when
you're a high performer, causeit's like if I'm not on all the
time, then I'm.
Then then you beat yourself upLike well, I'm lazy, or I'm not
(17:45):
performing well, and you're likeand it's just, um, it's a trap
that I've fallen in through andit's not it, it doesn't serve
for me, like as I hear thosewords, it's the concept of doing
.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
High performers, do, do, do, do.
But sometimes we just have tobe meaning don't do, just sit
there, just be, be present, bein your body, be relaxed.
Don't do, and so there's.
Both are important, but anytimeyou go in one direction it ends
(18:20):
up not it's not homeostasis forthe body.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, yeah, got to learn to be, be at peace.
And happiness can only be foundin the present moment.
And we were trying to run fromfrom something or run towards
something.
I, you're not in peace.
And I think a lot of people usethe gym, I mean, as a way to,
like I said, like in my ownjourney, like just running all
the time, like it's just a way.
(18:44):
It is a great stress reliever,but it can be we can rely too
much of it to find our peacewhen we need to just be in
ourself a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So it served as distraction from pain for me.
Yeah, it was the place I wouldgo, that my, my analytic brain
would shut off and I wouldn'thave to feel the pain that I
couldn't work through.
Yeah, so I've just found nowthat I go and it's my place of
(19:18):
enjoyment.
I don't go there because I havepain.
I go there because I reallylike to move.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, yeah.
So I think that's, that's thejourney that that we have been
on, and I think the um this isanother thing I love about
breath work is that I struggledwith meditation, but breath work
forces you to be in the momentbecause you're just focusing on
the rhythm and the cadence andthen it puts you in a deep
meditative state.
It's so good, man it is.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I agree it's.
It's been such a profound,unexpected experience and I'm
the same way.
I get on the tail end of likesome of this dynamic that will
introduce everybody at somepoint and you can't help but to
slip into meditation becauseyour body is just ready for it.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
It's been so amazing yeah, so so good in so many
different ways.
So so, yeah, we're excitedabout the uh, the next chapter
of the uh, the do hard thingssaga, if you will.
So we're excited aboutlaunching the uh the community.
We've got our annual racecoming up in september.
I've got the hard copy.
This is the final proof copy ofthe book, so it life on offense
(20:25):
is coming out.
So we're we're super excitedabout, you know, getting a
community of like-minded peopletogether, teaching them the
things that we have learned,maybe bringing in some other
experts and just helping peoplejust dominate life, find peace
(20:45):
and be a lighthouse for otherpeople, because there's so many
people out there numbing,distracted, trying to find peace
, and we want to be a placewhere those people that want to
make an impact can come, take aknee, take your armor off,
recover, gain some knowledge soyou can go back out in the world
(21:06):
and serve, and with withclarity, and and serve those
people that are relying on you,and that's what, uh, that's
that's what I see the do hardthings nation being all about,
and I love that.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
And so, before you wrap up I know we'll get to this
, uh, next time when I sit downwith questions for you, but just
for listeners who might'vestumbled upon it tell people
what the heart of do hard thingsstands for, because it took me
forever to remember that and Isometimes still forget some of
the letters.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, so I do a deep dive on the on the book life on
offense, that's what it is andhard are basically the four
pillars of your life, and weneed to just like a house, you
have to have your four walls.
These are things that you needto focus on, these with some
level of intentionality each andevery day.
And the H stands for health,and I think health is broken
(21:59):
down into two buckets mentalhealth and physical health.
So we need to maintain both.
Affluence Affluence is yourability to generate wealth, and
wealth enables you to have moreoptions in life Relationships.
Like you know, our greatesthuman desire is to be loved and
appreciated and connected, andso understanding how to have
(22:23):
healthy relationships is really,really important.
And then, finally, the D is fordevelopment, and I truly
believe if you're not learninglike we are constantly evolving
and learning and developingskills, and then when you
develop and have amazingexperiences, you grow as a
person.
And if you're not growing Ithink it's Tony Robbins said if
you're not growing, you're dying.
And so these are the four areasof your life that you need to
(22:44):
focus in on every single dayhealth, affluence, relationships
and development.
And that's the uh.
Those are the, the, thecornerstones, to uh uh pillars,
if you will, to a healthy,healthy life.
Do means take action.
And then the things.
Well, the things are the thingsthat truly matter.
Like, are you really focused onthe things that matter?
Are you getting there's so muchdistraction in the world?
(23:05):
I mean, are you getting there'sso much distraction in?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
the world.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I mean, dude, I went to yeah, confusion, yeah, and
the opposite of clarity isconfusion and there's a lot of
distraction.
I think when I was out ofcountry, I went to Machu Picchu
earlier this year in Argentina,so I was gone for a month, uh,
outside the United States.
I love our country here, but assoon as I got back I just felt
this energy, like I'm pluggedback into marketing and the
(23:29):
media and just this constantdrumbeat of negativity.
It just it blows me awaybecause we live in the most
abundant time in human history,like we live better than than
royalty did just a hundred yearsago and and we're miserable,
like, by and large, ourcountry's there's a, there's a
depression or an all-time highsuicide rate is an all-time high
(23:52):
.
Yet we live like the mostabundant time known to man.
And it's just sad, it's justreally, really unfortunate and
I'm sorry this is, yeah,unprofessional.
I didn't turn my phone off.
There we go.
I'm not editing it out, you getreal, raw and relevant here.
So what was I saying?
Yeah, it's just sad that wehave those challenges, but I
(24:17):
don't think this the Do HardThings community is a reminder
of your God-given purpose ingiving you the tactical tools,
knowledge in a place where youcan ask questions, gain guidance
to help you avoid all thatdistraction, to live a life
where you're thriving and notmerely surviving.
(24:37):
That's good right there.
That's the mission.
So beautiful.
Love it, man.
So any any final thoughtsbefore we call it a day?
Yeah, man.
So any any final thoughtsbefore we call it a day?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
No man, I I'm excited .
I think we have a lot of valueto bring A lot of topics people
are going to find interesting.
I think it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
It's going to be a fun road.
Yeah, man, I I'm, I'm excited.
I know that I had to take abreak from this for a while
because after I left themilitary, I mean, I went through
this well, all the podcastepisodes about the stages of the
dark night of the soul.
I went through that, man, and Ifelt like for a bit, like, can
I even do this?
Am I even right for this?
Like who am I?
The imposter syndrome, and so,like I said, I had to go off and
(25:24):
learn to become a Jedi in thatprocess.
You know, we definitely deeplyconnected in that Cause.
You're, you're going throughthe same thing, man, and I'm
like, and I feel like God's likeno man, every, every time I
stepped off the path, like God'slike no, you got to come back,
you got.
There's something here and it'snot just, it's not just about
me, it's about just creating acommunity of like-minded people
(25:45):
trying to just, you know, getout of their pain, frequency and
live a life of power, live alife of clarity, live a life of
abundance, because life can betremendously hard.
What I've noticed about life onthis planet is that every
single person has some type ofcross to bear.
And it's individual, it'sunique to the individual.
(26:07):
And trying to make meaning ofthat, and, and, and, and I don't
know, man, I, I, and I knowthat when you, I try to do this
alone and it just doesn't workas well than when you're
connected with like-mindedpeople.
So that's what it's all about,brother.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Good stuff, man.
So that's it for this episode.
We appreciate you tuning in andgo to do hard things, nationcom
.
If you'd like to learn more,make sure you smash that
subscribe button and, uh, welook forward to seeing you in
the next episode.
Meantime, keep doing hardthings.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Let's go.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Let's go.
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