October 17, 2024 • 31 mins
#119 - What happens when life throws curveballs that make staying in shape challenging? Join Coach Ricardo Mullinax, a dedicated father of four and an inspiring fitness coach, and me as he shares his transformative journey through challenges and wins. Ricardo reveals how he transitioned from traditional athletic training to become a leading advocate for functional fitness, even while navigating a nine-level spinal fusion and weight loss.
Whether you're over 40 or just starting, this episode is filled with inspiration and practical advice to help you achieve your long-term fitness goals with confidence.
Topics Covered:
- Explore Coach Ricardo's inspiring story of overcoming significant personal challenges.
- Learn efficient ways to integrate functional fitness into a hectic lifestyle.
- Discover strategies to maintain fitness while balancing career and family responsibilities.
- Prioritize celebrating small victories and fostering resilience.
Today’s Guest
Ricardo Mullinax
Coach Ricardo is a father of four who enjoys coaching clients to do their best in all areas of life, especially in hybrid sports such as Spartan Deka. He has coached several athletes to the podium at the world championships and many more who qualified and participated. Ricardo is also the co-host of the podcast Ricardo’s Rules of Resilience and enjoys talking to groups about what it takes to recover from difficulties.
Follow Ricardo Mullinax:
- Instagram - @coach.ricardo
- Instagram (podcast) - @ricardosrulesofresilience
- Facebook - Ricardo Mullinax (Richard)
- YouTube - @RicardosRulesofResilience
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Richard Conner (00:00):
Hi, my friend, Welcome to part two of the
three-part series as I sit downwith the new underdog fitness
coaches.
Today's topic will resonatewith many of you, as it did with
me, as we talk about fitnessover 40, resilience and ways for
you to restart your fitnessjourney in a way that fits your
lifestyle and schedule.
Hope you enjoy.
Intro/Outro (00:20):
Welcome to Inspire to Run podcast.
Here you will find inspiration,whether you are looking to take
control of your health andfitness or you are a seasoned
runner looking for community andsome extra motivation.
You will hear inspiring storiesfrom amazing runners, along
with helpful tips from fitnessexperts.
Now here's your host, richard.
Richard Conner (00:41):
Conner.
Hi, my friend, welcome toInspire to Run Podcast.
I have the pleasure of sittingdown today with Ricardo Mullinex
, who is a father of four and heenjoys coaching clients to do
their best in all areas of life,especially in hybrid sports
such as Spartan Deca.
He has coached several athletesto the podium at world
(01:02):
championships and many more whoqualified and participated.
Coach Ricardo is the co-host ofthe podcast Ricardo's Rules of
Resilience and enjoys talking togroups about what it takes to
recover from difficulties.
Welcome to the show, coachRicardo.
Ricardo Mullinax (01:17):
Thank you, Ver .
It's a pleasure to be here.
Richard Conner (01:20):
Well, it's a pleasure to have you here and
you know, I'm really excited totalk about your incredible
journey, which I heard just alittle bit about.
So I'm excited to hear it fromyou and also share it with our
listeners and also talk aboutrules of resilience and the work
that you're doing with UnderdogFitness and this is part two of
our series and we're talking tothe new underdog coaches so
(01:40):
excited to hear about the workthat you're doing there.
So, you know, let's kind ofjust jump into the conversation
and hear.
You know just a little bitabout your fitness journey and
some of the things that you'vebeen through throughout your
career.
Ricardo Mullinax (01:52):
Well, the first part of my fitness journey
is rather unremarkable.
I was, you know, an athlete inhigh school.
I did play one year of collegefootball.
I did stay active in my 20s,coaching wrestling and I got
into some running.
But I had some things happenthat really slowed me down.
(02:13):
I have two steel rods in myback that are about a foot long.
So, for medical people, I havea nine-level spinal fusion.
If you've heard anybody talkabout having a disc fused, I
have nine of them fused, fromthoracic 5, T5, all the way to
the second lumbar, L2.
And the surgery is really great.
(02:35):
I'm very, very thankful for it.
I was correcting what's calledSchurman's kyphosis.
Very thankful for it.
But you know, when you havenine joints in your body that
are supposed to be articulatingand moving and they're not
moving, then the joints aboveand below have to start making
up for that.
And so below those in my lumbarspine started to really get worn
(03:00):
out and a lot of arthritis, tothe point when I think I was 31
or 32.
The doctor looking at it saidjust looking at this, I would
say you have the spine of a 70year old man.
That and also I just gotoverwhelmed with life.
When my first son was born, Iwas about 29 and I was living in
(03:20):
the north side of Chicago,working on the west side.
My son was born.
His mother was going throughthe difficulties that come
postpartum.
I just got overwhelmed withlife.
I put on a bunch of weight at 30, which a lot of us do, former
athletes who were used to eatingso many calories and I wasn't
(03:42):
burning them off anymore.
I put on a bunch of weight andI'd get some off here and there.
But for the next decade Istayed obese until I was turning
40 and I met somebody who saidI'm going to help you, and so he
helped me and he'd grade myfood journal and he gave me
functional fitness.
(04:02):
You know, growing up in the 80sand 90s, like I did, it was all
about pumping iron and running.
That's pretty much what we didWell, discovered functional
fitness and ropes andkettlebells and different
movements, working your bodythrough ranges of motion rather
than isolating it, and justloved it, fell in love with,
(04:23):
itanged my fitness journeytremendously and through a whole
series of events that I, youknow it's not the subject of
this podcast but a few yearslater I ended up opening up a
gym.
It was a functional fitness gymand I did that for about four
and a half years.
And during the course of owningthat gym is when I discovered
(04:46):
hybrid racing.
Hybrid, you know, meaning thatyou may have running and you've
got functional fitness.
And DECA DECA just fired me upagain because even with my joint
issues, I could participate.
There's three different kindsof DECA.
One of them has no running andthat was yes, okay, you know,
(05:08):
because I'm not a great runner,as you can imagine.
Running with steel rods in yourback, I compare my running to a
dog walking on its hind legs.
You know it's awkward, kind ofhard to look at, it's not done.
Well, but then again, you'rejust surprised it's done at all.
So, but again, you're justsurprised it's done at all.
So, uh, but you know I could, Icould do these, uh, do these
hybrid events and just startedloving it and I saw what it was
(05:32):
doing for people in my gympeople you know athletes, you
know of any age, of any fitnesslevel and fell in love with it
and just really got into it, tothe point now that I actually go
around to gyms and put on deckof roadshow events at those gyms
so that they can experience itand fall in love with it as well
(05:53):
.
Richard Conner (05:56):
That's really incredible and you know, I'm
thinking about your personaljourney with your family and
then your medical journey andthe surgery to.
To be able to do what you'redoing today is absolutely
incredible and I, you know, I'dlove to talk to you a little bit
more about you know, kind ofgoing through that process, and
the pillars that we talk abouton the show is mindset, movement
(06:16):
and motivation.
So at the time after thesurgery and then you had, you
mentioned that you put on someweight how did you get into that
mindset of, hey, I want to makea change and I want to kind of
do something different here?
Like, was the catalyst yourfriend or was there something
else that kind of triggered tosay, you know, now's the time,
you know?
Ricardo Mullinax (06:36):
I had been miserable by the time I got to
the place where I could take,where I could take the weight
off.
I'd had it on me for a decade.
And so from 30 to 40, I wasturning 40 and you know I do
what most of us do I get theweight down, down and then pop
it back up and pop.
You know, and I was.
I was just about a month or so,maybe two, from my 40th
(07:00):
birthday and I, a friend of mine, wanted me to take his son
surfing and we went surfing.
He sent me pictures and Iremember that night I'm sitting
on the couch in the reclinerlooking at these and just
disgusted and hopeless becauseit's been a decade of me trying
to get this off and just was notsuccessful.
(07:21):
And so just that discouragementto the point of I want to give
up.
You know I, I, I hate seeingmyself in pictures.
I'm always hiding behind mykids in photos.
You know I got to make surethat I get the right size shirt
that fits the right way so itdoesn't look.
You know the hides, my belly,and you know all the aches and
(07:43):
pains, the lethargy, everythingthat goes with having too high
of a body fat percentage youknow.
So I was ready.
You could say I was desperatefor it.
I just really, really wantedlife to be better, and so when I
had someone who said they wouldhelp me, let me tell you I
(08:04):
grabbed a hold of that, like adrowning man grabs a hold of a
lifeline.
I said this is my ticket out ofthis and I just would not let
go.
Richard Conner (08:15):
Well, great that you did that and
congratulations again.
And it sounds like functionalfitness was right for you.
And you know, I'm wondering forsomeone who's in a similar
situation.
They may be put on weight ormaybe they feel a little
hopeless and they've trieddifferent things that haven't
worked.
What is it about functionalfitness that you think really
kind of helps you kind of get towhere you are today, really
kind of helped you kind of getto where you are today?
Ricardo Mullinax (08:37):
Well, for one thing, when you, when you've got
a career and you've got kidsand you're trying to do well at
both of those, there's not awhole heck of a lot of time left
.
So, uh, you know, instead ofyou know four sets of 10 and
you're walking around for your60 seconds or 90 seconds or in
between or whatever.
You know 45, 50, 60 minutes offunctional fitness.
(09:02):
You know, three, four times ina week you're revving that
metabolism up super high.
You know, especially whenyou're doing the high intensity
interval training model, you'rerevving that metabolism up.
You're doing a whole lot ofstimulation of muscle growth and
you know you're just going tosee tremendous results for that,
(09:23):
for the time invested.
So you know, I just made it mygoal every week I was going to
get three of those, no matterwhat, and sometimes it was
Friday, saturday, sunday.
You know, sometimes life justgot away from me and my three
were Friday, Saturday, sunday.
But I'm going to get them.
And you know there was ahandful of time over maybe six
years where I only got two, butthen I'd make up for it by
(09:43):
getting four the next week, youknow, cause I just was not gonna
let this go.
So, functional fitness also.
You know I mean traditionalweightlifting.
You know it requires a lot ofequipment, you know.
And functional fitness, man, Imean I've used, you know, five
gallon water jugs.
You know I've used rocks,pieces of wood, you know,
(10:05):
because you're taking your bodythrough a range of motion,
integrated movements, ratherthan isolated movements, you're
working more of the body at once.
So it's tremendously timeefficient.
It's tremendously timeefficient, it's tremendously
equipment efficient, costeffective in those ways.
And so you know, for whenyou're 30s, 40s, 50s and you got
(10:28):
a whole lot of life going on,you still got to take care of
yourself.
But you just don't have twohours to spend at the gym, three
, four, five nights a week.
Richard Conner (10:39):
You know that functional fitness can do a
whole lot for you.
Yeah, and I love what you saidthere, especially about the time
part.
So I've been thinking aboutthis lately where I'm now
training for a marathon and evenbefore I was training for a
marathon I have high mileage aweek and just these last couple
of weeks I've really kind ofcrunched my running days kind of
into that Friday, saturday,sunday, as you mentioned.
Last week was probably Thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, but
(11:03):
you know, just not enough time.
So it's really interesting thatyou mentioned that because I've
been kind of dealing with thatfor a while now.
So that's great to know thatfunctional fitness is a good
solution for you know someonewho is in my situation, just
trying to combine, you know,different sports and training
for different things, butsomeone who just generally
doesn't have a lot of time orequipment, as you mentioned.
This is a nice option for them.
Ricardo Mullinax (11:24):
You know, and speaking of that, um, that blood
flow restriction is anothertremendous uh advantage.
Uh, it has amazing advantages.
Physical therapists have beenusing blood flow restriction for
years.
But you know another reason forit is you can accomplish a
whole lot and get your body intothat good anaerobic
conditioning and stimulate thehuman growth hormone release and
(11:48):
do it in very time, effectiveways.
I use the B3 Sciences bandsthat you know.
I just love how that product ismade and the different chambers
.
But that blood flow resistancetraining has that same advantage
of getting you really goodresults while also cutting down
on the amount of time.
Richard Conner (12:11):
So, you know, let's switch gears a little bit,
but kind of on the same topic.
So you mentioned, you know alittle bit about kind of the age
where you really started tokind of transition into this
form of workout and exercise andfitness, and I know that's a
little bit of your focus, rightas a coach.
So let's talk about that.
You know, I want to say andcorrect me if I'm wrong you're
really focusing on folks thatare maybe 40 plus in terms of
(12:34):
fitness and those that you workwith.
So so tell me a little bitabout that, like for someone
who's 40 plus.
Just talk a little bit about,you know, what are the needs of
those folks and what is it thatyou offer, again, kind of around
those pillars, around mindset,movement and motivation.
Ricardo Mullinax (12:50):
Well, I do a whole lot with mindset for
people of any age.
You know that's the Ricardo'srules of resilience podcast that
you mentioned.
We talk a lot about mindset,which is pretty universal, but
again, time effectiveness is abig need.
Like I mentioned, you're inthat time of life where
everything has serious demandson you.
(13:12):
You're pretty much at thezenith of your career in terms
of the amount of demand on you.
You're also at a very demandingtime, usually in terms of child
rearing and kids and sports andeverything that many people
have to try to balance.
So time effectiveness is a bigone for people over 40.
Also, for people over 40, weusually fall into one of two
(13:38):
camps.
Either my clients have beenathletes their whole lives and
are hard charging go-gettersThey've never let off the gas
once or they, like me, losttheir way for a long time and
are trying to come back.
And in both cases they havethis in common they feel like
there's no time to waste.
We got a pedal to the metal.
(14:00):
It's 90 miles an hour.
I can't let up.
And in both cases we have tolearn that less is more and to
trust the process.
And you know, zone two trainingis big and getting them to see
and understand the benefits ofthe zone two training and
understanding.
No, if I gave you a 60 minuteworkout, it's not good for you
(14:22):
to finish that and then go foranother five mile run afterwards
.
You know, I've thought thisthrough.
This is on purpose and you know, less is more and more is not
always better.
So those are some of the thingsthat people over 40 face as well
, as you know not giving up whenthey feel, you know it's either
(14:51):
put the pedal to the metal I'mnever too sore, you can't stop
me now or it's, you know, oh, Ithink I'm going to fall apart.
You know I better, ah, you know, and uh, get a.
You know we get an injury or weget something that happens and
think, oh well, I better justshut everything down because you
know I can't, I can't go have asurgery or whatever, and so,
(15:12):
okay, no, we, we do need to stopusing this and we do need to
focus the shift, to focus alittle bit, but we don't need to
quit and we don't need to justgo back to the couch, you know
yeah, for sure, for sure.
Richard Conner (15:26):
And you know I'm thinking back to the two.
You know two main types ofclients that you work with.
I'm definitely falling in thatsecond camp where, you know,
semi-athlete in high school andthen I went to college and
started a family and work fulltime and just didn't prioritize
fitness and exercise until justa few years ago almost 10 years
(15:47):
ago and then, in earnest, youknow, back in I would say, 2018,
when I ran my first Spartanrace and that really kind of
sparked kind of where I am today.
So so I definitely fall intothat second camp and you know
we'll see kind of where, wherelife and fitness and races take
me.
But I could definitely relateto to what you said there.
And you know I'm so curiousabout the rules of resilience
(16:11):
and you know it's just asking mebefore we started recording is
this more of a philosophy or doyou have like specific rules?
And maybe you've alreadytouched on them already, but if
you could share just a couple ofthose rules oh, yeah, there are
.
Ricardo Mullinax (16:24):
Yeah, I have the seven rules of resilience.
Uh, we won't go through all ofthem, but uh, where they stem
from?
Was that?
Over and over again in my yearsof owning the gym, I saw that
there were common pitfalls.
I kept having the same talkover and over.
You know different areas, like,okay, and I developed you know
(16:46):
what I hoped would be memorablethings so they could keep it in
their mind.
And there's one time I wasasked to give a talk to my
mastermind group of otherfitness professionals, and so I
actually that's when I firstformulated them into the seven
rules.
You know before that they'djust kind of been a go-to list
(17:07):
in my head of things that I sayto my clients all the time.
And I formulated those andreally began to use those
frequently put them on shirts,whatever and eventually it
became the podcast of let's talkabout resilience.
So resilience is defined in thedictionary as the ability to
(17:28):
withstand and recover fromdifficulty.
So two aspects there withstandand recover from.
So sometimes bad things arehappening, life's kicking us in
the teeth and we just got to getthrough.
That's resilience.
Sometimes life not just notonly kicks us in the teeth, it
kicks us down on the ground andkeeps kicking for a little bit,
(17:49):
and we got to find a way to getback up.
That's recover fromdifficulties.
So the first one is thatsomething's better than nothing.
Okay, something's better thannothing.
What gets us in trouble sooften?
Whether it's because work wastoo demanding, or you know, I
(18:10):
had to have this and this happenat work and then I had to run
to my kid's game and you know,or whatever, and we feel like,
oh well, I can't get in my fullworkout, I'm going to just skip.
Yeah, no, no, don't do it.
Don't do it, something's betterthan nothing.
And you know, people would tellme oh well, you know, I was
(18:32):
running late and I knew I wasonly going to get half the
workout, so I decided not tocome.
And I'd tell them look, I'm nomathematician, but you know, I'm
pretty sure 30 minutes of aworkout's at least 3000% better
than zero.
So get it here, so get it here,let's get it done.
(18:53):
Uh, you know.
So we have to realize that wecan set ourselves up for failure
and set ourselves backwards.
Uh, when, when we're?
You know we're not willing tojust accept that.
Not, not every day is going tobe perfect, which is another
rule of resistance or resilience, and that is that the perfect
(19:13):
is the enemy of the good.
The perfect is the enemy of thegood.
I had a lady one time in theweigh-in room and we were
talking about did she do herfood journal?
Cause you know whenever someonewould come into the weigh-in
room and we were talking aboutdid she do her food journal?
Cause you know whenever someonewould come into the weigh-in
room and they were mad aboutbeing up.
Now, if somebody came up andtheir weight was up for their
weekly weigh-in and they weren'tsurprised about it I'm not
(19:36):
saying this applied, but ifsomebody came in and they got on
that scale and they were madbecause their weight was up and
they didn't lose, then I canguarantee you what was about to
happen.
I'm about to ask where's yourfood journal?
And they're about to say Ididn't do it Right.
That's what's going to happenevery time.
I'm not psychic, I just knowthis is what about to happen,
right?
(19:57):
And the lady said I didn't do it.
And I said why not?
Well, it takes too long.
And I well, wait, wait, wait,wait.
What's a perfect food journal?
A perfect food journal is onethat takes one minute or less
per meal.
You know, I just want you.
And she's like well, no, I Igot.
You know, like I, they don'teven have my foods in there.
I went to put artisan bread andit didn't have artisan bread.
(20:20):
So I pull out my phone and Iopen up, I type in artisan bread
and there's, you know, I don'tknow six, eight, twelve of them
that pop up so well, that's notmy brand.
Oh, my goodness, so I.
So you didn't food journalbecause they didn't have your
brand of artisan bread.
The perfect just killed the good.
(20:43):
It would have been good for youto food journal and pick any
brand of artisan bread, butbecause you didn't hit the
perfect, it killed the good, andthat's why you're in here and
you're mad because your weightis up this week.
That happens to us all the time, you know.
Well, I just didn't have agreat workout.
I was just sore and tired fromyesterday and and we start
(21:05):
poo-pooing right and we're madbecause it wasn't perfect,
instead of celebrating the factthat it was good, which is
another rule of resilience thosewho don't celebrate their wins
will stop having them you keepgetting done with a workout and
saying, oh well, it wasn't mybest, guess what.
(21:26):
One of these days, days, you'regoing to start to go to a
workout and you're not going tobe able to talk yourself into it
because you've been beatingyourself up for so long and
instead of celebrating I got aworkout, in beating yourself up
that you, you know you didn'twin the Olympics that day.
Like your, your, your soul canonly take so much negative
self-talk, right.
(21:49):
Your, your, your soul can onlytake so much negative self-talk,
right.
And if you keep not celebratingthose wins and focusing on
what's wrong instead of onwhat's right, you're going to
talk yourself out of doinganything, right so when we get a
win, I don't want to hear aboutwhat was wrong with it.
I want to hear about what wasright with it, you know.
So those are just some of therules of resilience.
I won't talk the rest of theday.
(22:10):
I have a whole podcast on it.
So obviously I could talk along time about the rules of
resilience, but those are someexamples.
Richard Conner (22:17):
No, no, I love that.
I love that and I feel likethese are, you know, also life
lessons, right?
They could apply not only tofitness but other areas of your
life.
So this is so practical and Iappreciate you sharing that.
So let's let's talk a littlebit about kind of the work that
you're doing with underdogfitness.
So you're a new coach withcoach Kevin and and you're
(22:39):
working through the underdogtraining system, and so I love
that and this is, like I said,part two of the series, so let's
talk a little bit about that.
You know what made you decideto join Coach Kevin and become a
coach?
And then again, who are you,who's kind of your ideal client
or who are you focusing on interms of athletes and others?
Ricardo Mullinax (22:58):
I got a roll down.
I might I don't know if it wasin a second roll down or what
but I got two roll downinvitations for deca world
championship in 2022.
Uh, one of them was for the fitand the other one was for the
strong.
And you know I was like, oh man, I'm gonna invite a world
championship.
I don't care that, you know.
(23:19):
I mean at that time it was thetop 12 and I'm like 26 or
something.
But I got the invite.
I'm going to go try it.
I don't care if I'm the littleengine that could in the back of
the pack.
You know I'm going to do this,you know.
So I went to that 2022 WorldChampionship in Atlantic City.
(23:39):
Two of my daughter my olderdaughter got two World
Championships.
She got the strong and the fitas a World Championship in the
14-17 age group and got secondin the mile.
Actually, I think I have thatbackwards.
I think it was second in thestrong and first in the mile.
My younger daughter in the10-13 age group got second in
(24:01):
the world and some of our otherclients did pretty well and some
of our other clients did prettywell and I just I was standing
there watching people my age upon that podium and I'm like, why
not me?
You know, why can't I do that?
You know, particularly thestrong because, like I said, I
know I'm not a fast runner, butI'll have to run to do the
(24:23):
strong, you know.
So I'm like, why not me?
And that was right beforeThanksgiving and right around
the first of the year, I took itin my head.
I said, man, I'm going to tryto win a world championship, I'm
just going to try.
I've seen other things that Iwanted to do and went and done
them before.
I just want to try this, youknow, went and done them before.
(24:50):
I just want to try this, youknow.
And so I set that to my mindand I managed to connect with
the world record holder, worldchampion at that time.
His name is Ryan Kent and hecoached me a lot in 2023.
Ryan's tremendous guy taught meso much, took so much off of my
time in terms of reducing myperformance time, learned a lot
from him.
Very thankful for him.
(25:12):
But through that year of 2023,as we went to different events,
my kids kept connecting withKevin, even in Atlantic City.
My kids had reffed him and myson's like you know that guy.
He's really funny, he has thisclown voice and they call him
Bubbles, and so they wereconnecting and unbeknownst to me
(25:35):
.
Kevin's wife, jess, and I.
We connected through becausesomeone else there actually a
deck of staff was having a verydifficult circumstance.
That happened to him with avolunteer and a false accusation
and everything.
And uh, jess and I were there,uh, becoming friends as we were
helping mark a little bitthrough that situation.
(25:57):
I had no idea she was relatedto kevin.
And then, uh, again, through allof 2023, my, you know, my older
daughter races against Kevin, Ithink, at Knoxville and also in
North Carolina, charlotte, andthen in Dallas last year.
Kevin and I are helping set upfor Worlds and we just start
(26:20):
chatting and talking a littlebit and I'm getting to know him,
him and I'm definitelyinterested in everything he's
doing.
And, uh, and after words, afterthe three-day competition is
over and of course, during thattime he won like five world
championships or something.
But we end up going to the samerestaurant barbecue restaurant
(26:42):
and seeing each other there.
Uh, uh and uh talk a little bitand I'm like, hey, you know
that program you mentioned.
I would be interested in justtrying it, just to see, you know
what the differences are.
I mean you can run, learn frommore than one master, you know
different strokes and uh.
So I ended up uh trying it outand and just and just have
(27:07):
really benefited from theunderdog training system.
It's helped me lower my timemore and, by the grace of God
and through some good coaching,I am blessed to say, I'm
thankful and grateful to saythat I did finish the regular
season on the top of my agegroup in the deck of strong, and
(27:28):
so obviously it's working.
Thank you, thank you.
So it's working for me.
I've learned so much from it.
And because I had sold my gymthis year, you know I had
coached my own clients toseveral podiums, finishes at the
world and done a lot of goodstuff there.
But uh, you know, having soldmy gym, I was available and uh,
(27:48):
kevin asked me if I could uhcome under the underdog system
and very natural thing for me Imean I love the system, I love
what it does and uh.
So for me to to get to work withsome underdog clients is great.
Richard Conner (28:04):
That's incredible.
It's almost like the universejust kind of brought you two
together and that's wonderfulthat you're here now to to help
and support.
You know athletes and you knowI'm really excited to see the
work that you do.
So congratulations on you knowgetting to podium,
congratulations on you knowwhere you are in in world
championships and as well asjoining the underdog team so
(28:25):
well.
Ricardo Mullinax (28:25):
I haven't yet the championships coming up in
december.
So you know, uh, I'm traininghard.
I don't take it for granted atall.
You know, we'll just have towait and see what happens on
that day.
Richard Conner (28:38):
Right, it's, it's who's the best that day, so
you got to bring while I'mspeaking into existence, then,
all right, well, thank you,thank you, uh, so you know kind
as we wind down here.
So you know, I love everythingthat you shared in terms of your
journey.
Uh, just incredible doing thework that you're doing,
considering you know that, thejourney that you've been on and
how you're helping others, and Ilove the rules of resilience,
(29:01):
so I definitely have to checkout all seven with your podcast.
So, you, you know, just as wewind down here, what is the one
thing in your journey thatyou're most proud of.
Ricardo Mullinax (29:12):
Oh, most proud of.
I like to talk about what I'mgrateful for, because pride goes
before a fall.
So I would say that I am mostgrateful for the fact that I
have got to do so much of thiswith my four kids.
(29:32):
We have had just tremendoustimes together attending the
World Championship or refereeingtogether.
We've done at local gyms andcoaching each other through and
being there and having you knoweach other around when we get
these.
And so the fact that my kidsand I have gotten to connect at
(29:59):
these events and you know, I'vegotten to model for them the
importance of living a healthylifestyle and discipline and all
the good things that sportsteach us.
I am so grateful for that thatit's not a solo journey of dad
does something when comes home,but it's us.
We're in this together.
Richard Conner (30:20):
I love it.
I love it.
Coach Ricardo, thank you somuch for spending time with me
today.
Really appreciate it.
I'd love to end with how canour listeners find you business
about resilience?
Ricardo Mullinax (30:31):
get a hold of me through social media
coachricardo on Instagram orricardomullinax on Facebook, and
(30:54):
if you reach out to me thoseways, we can also talk about
getting you into the underdogtraining system and joining the
tremendous team that Kevin hasput together and see what we can
do for you to be your very best.
Richard Conner (31:09):
Sounds good.
So, as usual, I'll put thatinformation in the show notes to
make it easy for listeners tofind you, coach Ricardo, thanks
again.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Good luck for the rest of thisyear and have a great rest of
the weekend.
Ricardo Mullinax (31:22):
Thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure.
Intro/Outro (31:26):
That's it for this episode of Inspired to Run
Podcast.
We hope you are inspired totake control of your health and
fitness and take it to the nextlevel.
Be sure to click the subscribebutton to join our community and
also please rate and review.
Thanks for listening.
Hi, my friend, Welcome to part two of the
three-part series as I sit downwith the new underdog fitness
coaches.
Today's topic will resonatewith many of you, as it did with
me, as we talk about fitnessover 40, resilience and ways for
you to restart your fitnessjourney in a way that fits your
lifestyle and schedule.
Hope you enjoy.
Intro/Outro (00:20):
Welcome to Inspire to Run podcast.
Here you will find inspiration,whether you are looking to take
control of your health andfitness or you are a seasoned
runner looking for community andsome extra motivation.
You will hear inspiring storiesfrom amazing runners, along
with helpful tips from fitnessexperts.
Now here's your host, richard.
Richard Conner (00:41):
Conner.
Hi, my friend, welcome toInspire to Run Podcast.
I have the pleasure of sittingdown today with Ricardo Mullinex
, who is a father of four and heenjoys coaching clients to do
their best in all areas of life,especially in hybrid sports
such as Spartan Deca.
He has coached several athletesto the podium at world
(01:02):
championships and many more whoqualified and participated.
Coach Ricardo is the co-host ofthe podcast Ricardo's Rules of
Resilience and enjoys talking togroups about what it takes to
recover from difficulties.
Welcome to the show, coachRicardo.
Ricardo Mullinax (01:17):
Thank you, Ver .
It's a pleasure to be here.
Richard Conner (01:20):
Well, it's a pleasure to have you here and
you know, I'm really excited totalk about your incredible
journey, which I heard just alittle bit about.
So I'm excited to hear it fromyou and also share it with our
listeners and also talk aboutrules of resilience and the work
that you're doing with UnderdogFitness and this is part two of
our series and we're talking tothe new underdog coaches so
(01:40):
excited to hear about the workthat you're doing there.
So, you know, let's kind ofjust jump into the conversation
and hear.
You know just a little bitabout your fitness journey and
some of the things that you'vebeen through throughout your
career.
Ricardo Mullinax (01:52):
Well, the first part of my fitness journey
is rather unremarkable.
I was, you know, an athlete inhigh school.
I did play one year of collegefootball.
I did stay active in my 20s,coaching wrestling and I got
into some running.
But I had some things happenthat really slowed me down.
(02:13):
I have two steel rods in myback that are about a foot long.
So, for medical people, I havea nine-level spinal fusion.
If you've heard anybody talkabout having a disc fused, I
have nine of them fused, fromthoracic 5, T5, all the way to
the second lumbar, L2.
And the surgery is really great.
(02:35):
I'm very, very thankful for it.
I was correcting what's calledSchurman's kyphosis.
Very thankful for it.
But you know, when you havenine joints in your body that
are supposed to be articulatingand moving and they're not
moving, then the joints aboveand below have to start making
up for that.
And so below those in my lumbarspine started to really get worn
(03:00):
out and a lot of arthritis, tothe point when I think I was 31
or 32.
The doctor looking at it saidjust looking at this, I would
say you have the spine of a 70year old man.
That and also I just gotoverwhelmed with life.
When my first son was born, Iwas about 29 and I was living in
(03:20):
the north side of Chicago,working on the west side.
My son was born.
His mother was going throughthe difficulties that come
postpartum.
I just got overwhelmed withlife.
I put on a bunch of weight at 30, which a lot of us do, former
athletes who were used to eatingso many calories and I wasn't
(03:42):
burning them off anymore.
I put on a bunch of weight andI'd get some off here and there.
But for the next decade Istayed obese until I was turning
40 and I met somebody who saidI'm going to help you, and so he
helped me and he'd grade myfood journal and he gave me
functional fitness.
(04:02):
You know, growing up in the 80sand 90s, like I did, it was all
about pumping iron and running.
That's pretty much what we didWell, discovered functional
fitness and ropes andkettlebells and different
movements, working your bodythrough ranges of motion rather
than isolating it, and justloved it, fell in love with,
(04:23):
itanged my fitness journeytremendously and through a whole
series of events that I, youknow it's not the subject of
this podcast but a few yearslater I ended up opening up a
gym.
It was a functional fitness gymand I did that for about four
and a half years.
And during the course of owningthat gym is when I discovered
(04:46):
hybrid racing.
Hybrid, you know, meaning thatyou may have running and you've
got functional fitness.
And DECA DECA just fired me upagain because even with my joint
issues, I could participate.
There's three different kindsof DECA.
One of them has no running andthat was yes, okay, you know,
(05:08):
because I'm not a great runner,as you can imagine.
Running with steel rods in yourback, I compare my running to a
dog walking on its hind legs.
You know it's awkward, kind ofhard to look at, it's not done.
Well, but then again, you'rejust surprised it's done at all.
So, but again, you're justsurprised it's done at all.
So, uh, but you know I could, Icould do these, uh, do these
hybrid events and just startedloving it and I saw what it was
(05:32):
doing for people in my gympeople you know athletes, you
know of any age, of any fitnesslevel and fell in love with it
and just really got into it, tothe point now that I actually go
around to gyms and put on deckof roadshow events at those gyms
so that they can experience itand fall in love with it as well
(05:53):
.
Richard Conner (05:56):
That's really incredible and you know, I'm
thinking about your personaljourney with your family and
then your medical journey andthe surgery to.
To be able to do what you'redoing today is absolutely
incredible and I, you know, I'dlove to talk to you a little bit
more about you know, kind ofgoing through that process, and
the pillars that we talk abouton the show is mindset, movement
(06:16):
and motivation.
So at the time after thesurgery and then you had, you
mentioned that you put on someweight how did you get into that
mindset of, hey, I want to makea change and I want to kind of
do something different here?
Like, was the catalyst yourfriend or was there something
else that kind of triggered tosay, you know, now's the time,
you know?
Ricardo Mullinax (06:36):
I had been miserable by the time I got to
the place where I could take,where I could take the weight
off.
I'd had it on me for a decade.
And so from 30 to 40, I wasturning 40 and you know I do
what most of us do I get theweight down, down and then pop
it back up and pop.
You know, and I was.
I was just about a month or so,maybe two, from my 40th
(07:00):
birthday and I, a friend of mine, wanted me to take his son
surfing and we went surfing.
He sent me pictures and Iremember that night I'm sitting
on the couch in the reclinerlooking at these and just
disgusted and hopeless becauseit's been a decade of me trying
to get this off and just was notsuccessful.
(07:21):
And so just that discouragementto the point of I want to give
up.
You know I, I, I hate seeingmyself in pictures.
I'm always hiding behind mykids in photos.
You know I got to make surethat I get the right size shirt
that fits the right way so itdoesn't look.
You know the hides, my belly,and you know all the aches and
(07:43):
pains, the lethargy, everythingthat goes with having too high
of a body fat percentage youknow.
So I was ready.
You could say I was desperatefor it.
I just really, really wantedlife to be better, and so when I
had someone who said they wouldhelp me, let me tell you I
(08:04):
grabbed a hold of that, like adrowning man grabs a hold of a
lifeline.
I said this is my ticket out ofthis and I just would not let
go.
Richard Conner (08:15):
Well, great that you did that and
congratulations again.
And it sounds like functionalfitness was right for you.
And you know, I'm wondering forsomeone who's in a similar
situation.
They may be put on weight ormaybe they feel a little
hopeless and they've trieddifferent things that haven't
worked.
What is it about functionalfitness that you think really
kind of helps you kind of get towhere you are today, really
kind of helped you kind of getto where you are today?
Ricardo Mullinax (08:37):
Well, for one thing, when you, when you've got
a career and you've got kidsand you're trying to do well at
both of those, there's not awhole heck of a lot of time left
.
So, uh, you know, instead ofyou know four sets of 10 and
you're walking around for your60 seconds or 90 seconds or in
between or whatever.
You know 45, 50, 60 minutes offunctional fitness.
(09:02):
You know, three, four times ina week you're revving that
metabolism up super high.
You know, especially whenyou're doing the high intensity
interval training model, you'rerevving that metabolism up.
You're doing a whole lot ofstimulation of muscle growth and
you know you're just going tosee tremendous results for that,
(09:23):
for the time invested.
So you know, I just made it mygoal every week I was going to
get three of those, no matterwhat, and sometimes it was
Friday, saturday, sunday.
You know, sometimes life justgot away from me and my three
were Friday, Saturday, sunday.
But I'm going to get them.
And you know there was ahandful of time over maybe six
years where I only got two, butthen I'd make up for it by
(09:43):
getting four the next week, youknow, cause I just was not gonna
let this go.
So, functional fitness also.
You know I mean traditionalweightlifting.
You know it requires a lot ofequipment, you know.
And functional fitness, man, Imean I've used, you know, five
gallon water jugs.
You know I've used rocks,pieces of wood, you know,
(10:05):
because you're taking your bodythrough a range of motion,
integrated movements, ratherthan isolated movements, you're
working more of the body at once.
So it's tremendously timeefficient.
It's tremendously timeefficient, it's tremendously
equipment efficient, costeffective in those ways.
And so you know, for whenyou're 30s, 40s, 50s and you got
(10:28):
a whole lot of life going on,you still got to take care of
yourself.
But you just don't have twohours to spend at the gym, three
, four, five nights a week.
Richard Conner (10:39):
You know that functional fitness can do a
whole lot for you.
Yeah, and I love what you saidthere, especially about the time
part.
So I've been thinking aboutthis lately where I'm now
training for a marathon and evenbefore I was training for a
marathon I have high mileage aweek and just these last couple
of weeks I've really kind ofcrunched my running days kind of
into that Friday, saturday,sunday, as you mentioned.
Last week was probably Thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, but
(11:03):
you know, just not enough time.
So it's really interesting thatyou mentioned that because I've
been kind of dealing with thatfor a while now.
So that's great to know thatfunctional fitness is a good
solution for you know someonewho is in my situation, just
trying to combine, you know,different sports and training
for different things, butsomeone who just generally
doesn't have a lot of time orequipment, as you mentioned.
This is a nice option for them.
Ricardo Mullinax (11:24):
You know, and speaking of that, um, that blood
flow restriction is anothertremendous uh advantage.
Uh, it has amazing advantages.
Physical therapists have beenusing blood flow restriction for
years.
But you know another reason forit is you can accomplish a
whole lot and get your body intothat good anaerobic
conditioning and stimulate thehuman growth hormone release and
(11:48):
do it in very time, effectiveways.
I use the B3 Sciences bandsthat you know.
I just love how that product ismade and the different chambers
.
But that blood flow resistancetraining has that same advantage
of getting you really goodresults while also cutting down
on the amount of time.
Richard Conner (12:11):
So, you know, let's switch gears a little bit,
but kind of on the same topic.
So you mentioned, you know alittle bit about kind of the age
where you really started tokind of transition into this
form of workout and exercise andfitness, and I know that's a
little bit of your focus, rightas a coach.
So let's talk about that.
You know, I want to say andcorrect me if I'm wrong you're
really focusing on folks thatare maybe 40 plus in terms of
(12:34):
fitness and those that you workwith.
So so tell me a little bitabout that, like for someone
who's 40 plus.
Just talk a little bit about,you know, what are the needs of
those folks and what is it thatyou offer, again, kind of around
those pillars, around mindset,movement and motivation.
Ricardo Mullinax (12:50):
Well, I do a whole lot with mindset for
people of any age.
You know that's the Ricardo'srules of resilience podcast that
you mentioned.
We talk a lot about mindset,which is pretty universal, but
again, time effectiveness is abig need.
Like I mentioned, you're inthat time of life where
everything has serious demandson you.
(13:12):
You're pretty much at thezenith of your career in terms
of the amount of demand on you.
You're also at a very demandingtime, usually in terms of child
rearing and kids and sports andeverything that many people
have to try to balance.
So time effectiveness is a bigone for people over 40.
Also, for people over 40, weusually fall into one of two
(13:38):
camps.
Either my clients have beenathletes their whole lives and
are hard charging go-gettersThey've never let off the gas
once or they, like me, losttheir way for a long time and
are trying to come back.
And in both cases they havethis in common they feel like
there's no time to waste.
We got a pedal to the metal.
(14:00):
It's 90 miles an hour.
I can't let up.
And in both cases we have tolearn that less is more and to
trust the process.
And you know, zone two trainingis big and getting them to see
and understand the benefits ofthe zone two training and
understanding.
No, if I gave you a 60 minuteworkout, it's not good for you
(14:22):
to finish that and then go foranother five mile run afterwards
.
You know, I've thought thisthrough.
This is on purpose and you know, less is more and more is not
always better.
So those are some of the thingsthat people over 40 face as well
, as you know not giving up whenthey feel, you know it's either
(14:51):
put the pedal to the metal I'mnever too sore, you can't stop
me now or it's, you know, oh, Ithink I'm going to fall apart.
You know I better, ah, you know, and uh, get a.
You know we get an injury or weget something that happens and
think, oh well, I better justshut everything down because you
know I can't, I can't go have asurgery or whatever, and so,
(15:12):
okay, no, we, we do need to stopusing this and we do need to
focus the shift, to focus alittle bit, but we don't need to
quit and we don't need to justgo back to the couch, you know
yeah, for sure, for sure.
Richard Conner (15:26):
And you know I'm thinking back to the two.
You know two main types ofclients that you work with.
I'm definitely falling in thatsecond camp where, you know,
semi-athlete in high school andthen I went to college and
started a family and work fulltime and just didn't prioritize
fitness and exercise until justa few years ago almost 10 years
(15:47):
ago and then, in earnest, youknow, back in I would say, 2018,
when I ran my first Spartanrace and that really kind of
sparked kind of where I am today.
So so I definitely fall intothat second camp and you know
we'll see kind of where, wherelife and fitness and races take
me.
But I could definitely relateto to what you said there.
And you know I'm so curiousabout the rules of resilience
(16:11):
and you know it's just asking mebefore we started recording is
this more of a philosophy or doyou have like specific rules?
And maybe you've alreadytouched on them already, but if
you could share just a couple ofthose rules oh, yeah, there are
.
Ricardo Mullinax (16:24):
Yeah, I have the seven rules of resilience.
Uh, we won't go through all ofthem, but uh, where they stem
from?
Was that?
Over and over again in my yearsof owning the gym, I saw that
there were common pitfalls.
I kept having the same talkover and over.
You know different areas, like,okay, and I developed you know
(16:46):
what I hoped would be memorablethings so they could keep it in
their mind.
And there's one time I wasasked to give a talk to my
mastermind group of otherfitness professionals, and so I
actually that's when I firstformulated them into the seven
rules.
You know before that they'djust kind of been a go-to list
(17:07):
in my head of things that I sayto my clients all the time.
And I formulated those andreally began to use those
frequently put them on shirts,whatever and eventually it
became the podcast of let's talkabout resilience.
So resilience is defined in thedictionary as the ability to
(17:28):
withstand and recover fromdifficulty.
So two aspects there withstandand recover from.
So sometimes bad things arehappening, life's kicking us in
the teeth and we just got to getthrough.
That's resilience.
Sometimes life not just notonly kicks us in the teeth, it
kicks us down on the ground andkeeps kicking for a little bit,
(17:49):
and we got to find a way to getback up.
That's recover fromdifficulties.
So the first one is thatsomething's better than nothing.
Okay, something's better thannothing.
What gets us in trouble sooften?
Whether it's because work wastoo demanding, or you know, I
(18:10):
had to have this and this happenat work and then I had to run
to my kid's game and you know,or whatever, and we feel like,
oh well, I can't get in my fullworkout, I'm going to just skip.
Yeah, no, no, don't do it.
Don't do it, something's betterthan nothing.
And you know, people would tellme oh well, you know, I was
(18:32):
running late and I knew I wasonly going to get half the
workout, so I decided not tocome.
And I'd tell them look, I'm nomathematician, but you know, I'm
pretty sure 30 minutes of aworkout's at least 3000% better
than zero.
So get it here, so get it here,let's get it done.
(18:53):
Uh, you know.
So we have to realize that wecan set ourselves up for failure
and set ourselves backwards.
Uh, when, when we're?
You know we're not willing tojust accept that.
Not, not every day is going tobe perfect, which is another
rule of resistance or resilience, and that is that the perfect
(19:13):
is the enemy of the good.
The perfect is the enemy of thegood.
I had a lady one time in theweigh-in room and we were
talking about did she do herfood journal?
Cause you know whenever someonewould come into the weigh-in
room and we were talking aboutdid she do her food journal?
Cause you know whenever someonewould come into the weigh-in
room and they were mad aboutbeing up.
Now, if somebody came up andtheir weight was up for their
weekly weigh-in and they weren'tsurprised about it I'm not
(19:36):
saying this applied, but ifsomebody came in and they got on
that scale and they were madbecause their weight was up and
they didn't lose, then I canguarantee you what was about to
happen.
I'm about to ask where's yourfood journal?
And they're about to say Ididn't do it Right.
That's what's going to happenevery time.
I'm not psychic, I just knowthis is what about to happen,
right?
(19:57):
And the lady said I didn't do it.
And I said why not?
Well, it takes too long.
And I well, wait, wait, wait,wait.
What's a perfect food journal?
A perfect food journal is onethat takes one minute or less
per meal.
You know, I just want you.
And she's like well, no, I Igot.
You know, like I, they don'teven have my foods in there.
I went to put artisan bread andit didn't have artisan bread.
(20:20):
So I pull out my phone and Iopen up, I type in artisan bread
and there's, you know, I don'tknow six, eight, twelve of them
that pop up so well, that's notmy brand.
Oh, my goodness, so I.
So you didn't food journalbecause they didn't have your
brand of artisan bread.
The perfect just killed the good.
(20:43):
It would have been good for youto food journal and pick any
brand of artisan bread, butbecause you didn't hit the
perfect, it killed the good, andthat's why you're in here and
you're mad because your weightis up this week.
That happens to us all the time, you know.
Well, I just didn't have agreat workout.
I was just sore and tired fromyesterday and and we start
(21:05):
poo-pooing right and we're madbecause it wasn't perfect,
instead of celebrating the factthat it was good, which is
another rule of resilience thosewho don't celebrate their wins
will stop having them you keepgetting done with a workout and
saying, oh well, it wasn't mybest, guess what.
(21:26):
One of these days, days, you'regoing to start to go to a
workout and you're not going tobe able to talk yourself into it
because you've been beatingyourself up for so long and
instead of celebrating I got aworkout, in beating yourself up
that you, you know you didn'twin the Olympics that day.
Like your, your, your soul canonly take so much negative
self-talk, right.
(21:49):
Your, your, your soul can onlytake so much negative self-talk,
right.
And if you keep not celebratingthose wins and focusing on
what's wrong instead of onwhat's right, you're going to
talk yourself out of doinganything, right so when we get a
win, I don't want to hear aboutwhat was wrong with it.
I want to hear about what wasright with it, you know.
So those are just some of therules of resilience.
I won't talk the rest of theday.
(22:10):
I have a whole podcast on it.
So obviously I could talk along time about the rules of
resilience, but those are someexamples.
Richard Conner (22:17):
No, no, I love that.
I love that and I feel likethese are, you know, also life
lessons, right?
They could apply not only tofitness but other areas of your
life.
So this is so practical and Iappreciate you sharing that.
So let's let's talk a littlebit about kind of the work that
you're doing with underdogfitness.
So you're a new coach withcoach Kevin and and you're
(22:39):
working through the underdogtraining system, and so I love
that and this is, like I said,part two of the series, so let's
talk a little bit about that.
You know what made you decideto join Coach Kevin and become a
coach?
And then again, who are you,who's kind of your ideal client
or who are you focusing on interms of athletes and others?
Ricardo Mullinax (22:58):
I got a roll down.
I might I don't know if it wasin a second roll down or what
but I got two roll downinvitations for deca world
championship in 2022.
Uh, one of them was for the fitand the other one was for the
strong.
And you know I was like, oh man, I'm gonna invite a world
championship.
I don't care that, you know.
(23:19):
I mean at that time it was thetop 12 and I'm like 26 or
something.
But I got the invite.
I'm going to go try it.
I don't care if I'm the littleengine that could in the back of
the pack.
You know I'm going to do this,you know.
So I went to that 2022 WorldChampionship in Atlantic City.
(23:39):
Two of my daughter my olderdaughter got two World
Championships.
She got the strong and the fitas a World Championship in the
14-17 age group and got secondin the mile.
Actually, I think I have thatbackwards.
I think it was second in thestrong and first in the mile.
My younger daughter in the10-13 age group got second in
(24:01):
the world and some of our otherclients did pretty well and some
of our other clients did prettywell and I just I was standing
there watching people my age upon that podium and I'm like, why
not me?
You know, why can't I do that?
You know, particularly thestrong because, like I said, I
know I'm not a fast runner, butI'll have to run to do the
(24:23):
strong, you know.
So I'm like, why not me?
And that was right beforeThanksgiving and right around
the first of the year, I took itin my head.
I said, man, I'm going to tryto win a world championship, I'm
just going to try.
I've seen other things that Iwanted to do and went and done
them before.
I just want to try this, youknow, went and done them before.
(24:50):
I just want to try this, youknow.
And so I set that to my mindand I managed to connect with
the world record holder, worldchampion at that time.
His name is Ryan Kent and hecoached me a lot in 2023.
Ryan's tremendous guy taught meso much, took so much off of my
time in terms of reducing myperformance time, learned a lot
from him.
Very thankful for him.
(25:12):
But through that year of 2023,as we went to different events,
my kids kept connecting withKevin, even in Atlantic City.
My kids had reffed him and myson's like you know that guy.
He's really funny, he has thisclown voice and they call him
Bubbles, and so they wereconnecting and unbeknownst to me
(25:35):
.
Kevin's wife, jess, and I.
We connected through becausesomeone else there actually a
deck of staff was having a verydifficult circumstance.
That happened to him with avolunteer and a false accusation
and everything.
And uh, jess and I were there,uh, becoming friends as we were
helping mark a little bitthrough that situation.
(25:57):
I had no idea she was relatedto kevin.
And then, uh, again, through allof 2023, my, you know, my older
daughter races against Kevin, Ithink, at Knoxville and also in
North Carolina, charlotte, andthen in Dallas last year.
Kevin and I are helping set upfor Worlds and we just start
(26:20):
chatting and talking a littlebit and I'm getting to know him,
him and I'm definitelyinterested in everything he's
doing.
And, uh, and after words, afterthe three-day competition is
over and of course, during thattime he won like five world
championships or something.
But we end up going to the samerestaurant barbecue restaurant
(26:42):
and seeing each other there.
Uh, uh and uh talk a little bitand I'm like, hey, you know
that program you mentioned.
I would be interested in justtrying it, just to see, you know
what the differences are.
I mean you can run, learn frommore than one master, you know
different strokes and uh.
So I ended up uh trying it outand and just and just have
(27:07):
really benefited from theunderdog training system.
It's helped me lower my timemore and, by the grace of God
and through some good coaching,I am blessed to say, I'm
thankful and grateful to saythat I did finish the regular
season on the top of my agegroup in the deck of strong, and
(27:28):
so obviously it's working.
Thank you, thank you.
So it's working for me.
I've learned so much from it.
And because I had sold my gymthis year, you know I had
coached my own clients toseveral podiums, finishes at the
world and done a lot of goodstuff there.
But uh, you know, having soldmy gym, I was available and uh,
(27:48):
kevin asked me if I could uhcome under the underdog system
and very natural thing for me Imean I love the system, I love
what it does and uh.
So for me to to get to work withsome underdog clients is great.
Richard Conner (28:04):
That's incredible.
It's almost like the universejust kind of brought you two
together and that's wonderfulthat you're here now to to help
and support.
You know athletes and you knowI'm really excited to see the
work that you do.
So congratulations on you knowgetting to podium,
congratulations on you knowwhere you are in in world
championships and as well asjoining the underdog team so
(28:25):
well.
Ricardo Mullinax (28:25):
I haven't yet the championships coming up in
december.
So you know, uh, I'm traininghard.
I don't take it for granted atall.
You know, we'll just have towait and see what happens on
that day.
Richard Conner (28:38):
Right, it's, it's who's the best that day, so
you got to bring while I'mspeaking into existence, then,
all right, well, thank you,thank you, uh, so you know kind
as we wind down here.
So you know, I love everythingthat you shared in terms of your
journey.
Uh, just incredible doing thework that you're doing,
considering you know that, thejourney that you've been on and
how you're helping others, and Ilove the rules of resilience,
(29:01):
so I definitely have to checkout all seven with your podcast.
So, you, you know, just as wewind down here, what is the one
thing in your journey thatyou're most proud of.
Ricardo Mullinax (29:12):
Oh, most proud of.
I like to talk about what I'mgrateful for, because pride goes
before a fall.
So I would say that I am mostgrateful for the fact that I
have got to do so much of thiswith my four kids.
(29:32):
We have had just tremendoustimes together attending the
World Championship or refereeingtogether.
We've done at local gyms andcoaching each other through and
being there and having you knoweach other around when we get
these.
And so the fact that my kidsand I have gotten to connect at
(29:59):
these events and you know, I'vegotten to model for them the
importance of living a healthylifestyle and discipline and all
the good things that sportsteach us.
I am so grateful for that thatit's not a solo journey of dad
does something when comes home,but it's us.
We're in this together.
Richard Conner (30:20):
I love it.
I love it.
Coach Ricardo, thank you somuch for spending time with me
today.
Really appreciate it.
I'd love to end with how canour listeners find you business
about resilience?
Ricardo Mullinax (30:31):
get a hold of me through social media
coachricardo on Instagram orricardomullinax on Facebook, and
(30:54):
if you reach out to me thoseways, we can also talk about
getting you into the underdogtraining system and joining the
tremendous team that Kevin hasput together and see what we can
do for you to be your very best.
Richard Conner (31:09):
Sounds good.
So, as usual, I'll put thatinformation in the show notes to
make it easy for listeners tofind you, coach Ricardo, thanks
again.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Good luck for the rest of thisyear and have a great rest of
the weekend.
Ricardo Mullinax (31:22):
Thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure.
Intro/Outro (31:26):
That's it for this episode of Inspired to Run
Podcast.
We hope you are inspired totake control of your health and
fitness and take it to the nextlevel.
Be sure to click the subscribebutton to join our community and
also please rate and review.
Thanks for listening.
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